Headstone and a blast from the past

Lisa's headstone is finally done. It turned out so well too. It's exactly the way she wanted it. After we put Lisa on home hospice care, she and I took a trip to the funeral home so that she could pick out her casket and headstone and plan out her entire funeral. This is what she picked out. It's still weird for me to see my own name on a headstone.

On a crazy side note, one of Kamille's friends was browsing Lisa's facebook page and came across this photo from the Big Cottonwood marathon back in 2013. Her friend noticed that the guy in the red shirt in the background is Kamille's late husband Clint. Clint was battling his bone cancer at that time and it was the motivation for Kamille to run a marathon. Lisa had finished up her year long chemo and radiation treatments a few months earlier and was using this race as motivation to keep pushing herself. I love that this photo captured two amazing cancer warriors in the middle of their trials and battles.
Upon discovering this photo of Lisa and Clint in the same shot, some other friends did some digging and found some more photos that showed how our paths had crossed three years ago. We found out that Kamille and Lisa not only ran the same race, but finished at the same time. The official race times show that they finished 3 seconds apart.

You can see Kamille's son Gunner in this photo running along side Lisa and Aubrey.

And this photo shows that Gunner was out there supporting Kamille. Had the camera panned out we would have captured both Lisa and Kamille easily in the same photo.

You can see Lisa's mom and dad in the background of this photo of Kamille, Neiska and Wyatt.

It's funny how the world is so much smaller than we realize. I'm convinced that the Lord is much more intimately involved in our lives than we even realize.

Camping with cousins

Last weekend my brother and his wife came in town with their kids. My parents took their kids up camping by where we go elk hunting. Kristin and I decided that we would lend a hand helping our parents and get all the cousins together for a fun weekend of red neck fun. My cousin Jaron caught wind of this trip and brought his family along as well. It was a great weekend in the mountains spent with family.

I brought some pistols and rifles for the kids to shoot. They all really enjoyed shooting.

 Charlie was her normal adorable self.

Here's a picture of all my parents grandkids, plus Jaron's two kids, in one photo. It was quite the crew.

That evening my dad, Jaron, Chris and I went out to do some scouting for my dad's elk hunt. It is such beautiful country up there.

That night I slept out under the stars with Blake. He was so excited to sleep by me and look at all of those stars. I showed him some constellations, some of the planets, the milky way, and we even saw a brilliant, long lasting shooting star.

I brought my RZR up there and took everyone for some fun rides. I taught my nephew Trevor how to drive it, and let my mom, Jaron, my dad, Kristin and Chris drive it. They are all fans. It's been super fun to use with the family.

We had to leave home Saturday afternoon before everyone else because we had tickets to the Heber Valley demolition derby. Not long after hitting the highway all of the kids were out cold. That's always a good sign of a successful trip when they are exhausted like that.

That night I took all of the kids to the demolition derby. They loved it!

As soon as we were leaving and walking back to the truck they were all begging me to take them again next year. I think I'm doing this dad job right by the looks of the smiles on my kids faces.

Boston Trip!

This past weekend was the annual AGD convention in Boston. I was receiving my Fellowship award and traveled out there for the awards ceremonies. For those that don't know what the Fellowship award is, basically it's an award that is designed for dentists to be able to distinguish themselves from their peers. Only about 15% of general dentists earn it. To qualify for it you need to complete over 500 hours of continuing education. To put that in perspective, in Utah the minimum amount of CE required is 16 hours a year. It would take you 30 years of doing the minimum to accomplish that. In addition to the CE you need to pass a very rigorous written exam. It was a tough test, but thankfully I passed my first try. I gave myself a personal goal several years ago to get this award as a way to keep pushing myself in dentistry to learn more and improve.

I flew out on Wednesday, but before leaving I did my weekly morning boating session with the guys. It was another fantastic sunrise. They caught this sweet photo of me spraying it up with the sun behind me.

After the session at the lake, I headed off to work for the day. I caught a late flight to Boston and didn't get to my hotel until about 1:30 in the morning. The classes on Thursday were fairly boring unfortunately. It was weird being at this convention all alone. Lisa would almost always go to these with me. Also, when I passed my exam last fall, Lisa and I were planning on going to this together so that she could celebrate in the award with me since she was supporting me by my side every step of the way through my dental career. Unfortunately that didn't happen, but I'm certain she was smiling down on me from heaven.
Thursday night I went out to dinner at a nearby restaurant and had the most divine meal. Lobster tails and steak. Wow. That hit the spot.

After dinner I had a small opening before I had to attend a reception, so I took a walk over to the Charles River and enjoyed the views of the sail boats on the water.

Friday's classes were better thankfully. That evening I met up with my good friends from dental school, the Kuzmaks, for dinner. Lyndsay was receiving her Fellowship award as well. It was so fun catching up with them.

Saturday was the big day for the awards ceremony. The AGD treats this as a big deal and you wear the caps and gowns and go through all the pomp and procession of a normal graduation.

Of the 250 recipients of the award I was randomly assigned to sit right next to another friend from dental school, Kyle Marshall. We had a good time laughing and chatting during the two hour ceremony. It made it much more enjoyable sitting next to him.

My friends the Kuzmak's snapped this photo of me as I was being presented with my award.

I flew back home on Sunday, and after a long day of travel it was so good to be back home with the kids. Thankfully they missed me and were excited to have me back home. Now that I have earned my Fellowship, it's time to set some more dental goals.

Happy 6th birthday Blake!

Blake is our 7-11 birthday. Born on July 11th. I can't believe my youngest is already six years old. He's such a sweet and gentle boy. I asked what he wanted for dinner that Sunday and he said 'spaghetti and corn on the cob'. Simple enough to make. I also baked an orange cake (his favorite color) for him, and then after he blew out the candles we enjoyed some cake and ice cream. It wasn't quite as elaborate or fancy of a cake as Lisa could make, but I don't really have the time to do something that grand, so it was just a regular rectangular cake for this dude this year. He didn't seem to mind though. He mostly got a bunch of legos for his birthday. 

The next day on his actual birthday we headed up Snake Creek Canyon after I got home from work for some more four wheeling. I had asked him what he wanted to do on his birthday and he said he wanted to go four wheeling and eat some sushi. What a cool kid.

More summer fun!

It's crazy that summer is half way over. We have been trying to maximize our time this summer and have been trying to get out multiple times a week. I went out boating with the Remunds one night and I got the kids out on the surf board. Tucker really enjoys it. He can even surf without holding the rope now.

Aubrey was a little less sure of herself out there and was afraid that I was going to run into the boat.

Cole loved it. He was hooting and hollering and having the time of his life.

Every year Lisa's family gets tickets to the Oakley Rodeo. We went up on July second to the cabin and spent the day up there, then went and had a fun evening at the rodeo. Good old fashioned red neck fun.

The next day we drove up to where my parents and my sister's family were camping. It was a beautiful weekend to be in the mountains. We did some four wheeling and the kids had fun shooting their BB guns at the camp.

I love the scenery up there.

We did some dutch oven chicken and potatoes for dinner that night. Here's my dad working his magic for a delicious dinner.

The kids and I have been exploring all the roads and trails back up Snake Creek Canyon. It's been fun to find new corners and surprises.

We found this old engine outside an abandoned mine. It is huge.

The evenings up there are so beautiful.

We went one evening up there and explored an old mine. It was only a 70 yard shaft that went straight in and straight out, but the kids still thought it was quite cool.

The wildflowers up there are so pretty right now. Go check them out if you haven't yet.

We even took one really rough and gnarly road all the way to the back. We ended up on a ridge that overlooks Brighton ski resort and Lake Mary. What a view!

A week ago my dad and I headed up on Saturday to our elk hunting area to set up the trail cams for his elk hunt. He drew out this year on the limited entry rifle hunt and we are so excited to get him in on a big bull. It was a fun morning hiking around with my old man.

On our way up and out of a really steep canyon we spotted a momma golden eagle sitting on her eggs in a nest. I only had my cell phone to take a photo unfortunately. If I would have had my telephoto lens you would have been able to see it better. It was so fun to sit and watch her through our binoculars for awhile.