Surgery Number Two

In the spring Craig, with a little prompting from Jared…okay…a lot of prompting from Jared…went to see John Richards for a physical. His blood work came back with a PSA count that was a little above normal. Then with some additional, very strong prompting, from Bridget this time, he went to see an urologist…Dr. Clark. He did a biopsy on Craig's prostate and found that he had Prostrate Cancer. He went in for surgery to have his prostrate removed on June 29, 2009. We were blessed to have all our children and grandchildren here on the Sunday before. We all fasted for Craig and then celebrated Rebecca's, Kailee's, Payton's and Maddie's birthdays. That gave us the opportunity to get a good picture of Craig with all the grandkids. The surgery went well. Craig had a few rough days in the hospital, but nothing serious. By Friday he was feeling great and was ready to go home…He was released on Saturday, July 4 and has recovered very well. It was found that the cancer was all contained within the prostrate. We are very grateful for all the love and blessings that we have received. We received a lot of calls and concern from ward members. We also had some of the young men and their dads come over and mow the grass for us…but of all the love and caring we received there is one moment that we will never forget at our house and I think a couple of other homes will be laughing about this for a long time to come. On the Sunday after Craig came home we were blessed to have 2 young men and one of there leaders show up at our door with the sacrament. That is an opportunity that we have never experienced before. I went up to our room and asked Craig if he wanted them to come up to the bedroom or if he wanted to come down.
He said he would come down. Well…he came down the stairs with his loosely tied pajama pants and a t shirt on. They were about to bless the sacrament when I looked over and noticed that Craig's pajama pants had fallen down. The boys reacted great to that…at least until after the sacrament had been blessed and given to us…then we all had a good laugh and yes…we are still laughing.

Sundance and North Fork of the Duchesne

Because of Craig's surgery we missed the Family Moon Lake trip, but took the opportunity to go on a couple of others. The first was just visiting Sarah and Trevor when they were camping up by Sundance. We only got pictures of Anna that night…but then she was the cutest one there. Over the 24th of July we went with Chris and Megan and Sarah and Trevor to the North Fork of the Duchesne. Craig grew up going to the North Fork with his family so this is a really special place for him to go…brings back a lot of memories.

Cousin's Sleepover

One of our annual events…okay this is the second time we have done it…but it is going to annual…is to have all the grandkids over…yes all at once…for a sleep over. We made sock dolls and tin can lanterns because my kids all missed being able to do that at Moon Lake. We set up the tent in the back yard, roast hot dogs and make smores and then we all sleep out in the tent. Well most of us sleep out in the tent. Craig seems to have memory lapses and momentarily thinks he has a meeting in the morning so he has to sleep inside. Then claims in the morning that he just couldn't remember if he had a meeting…but he didn't. Anna and Straton were not able to stay overnight this year.…too young, but they were at Sage's Birthday Party. We look forward to when they are old enough.
The highlight of this sleepover is walking into church with all nine kids. They were pretty quiet…they just can't stay in their seats. We ended the day by celebrating Sage's birthday. We really did have a great time.

FISH LAKE

We ended our summer with a trip to Fish Lake. Craig and I went down there on Saturday, August 29th and spent the first few days with Judy and Gene in a camp site just past Johnson's Reservoir. Jared and his friend Daison were down there hunting so they stayed with us on Saturday night. Then on Thursday, Jared came back down with Joshua and Bailee. Bridget and Sage and Trevor, Sarah and Anna came late Friday afternoon.
Becky and Rob came down and spent Sunday with us. The only thing that would have made the trip better is to have had Chris and Mindie and their families join us.
We came home on Labor Day, but left the trailer and Jared's truck and 2 of his four wheelers up there because he and Craig were going back down there hunting 3 days later…which is where they are right now.