We have had a full week of playing with family.  It's been a blast, but I'm exhausted too.  Tim and I have been trying to be good and do homework every morning.  We have finished 6 credits this summer and we have one 3-credit class left to complete. 
    My sister, Yvonne, and her family have been visiting from Dubai, so we've been trying to soak up as much of them as we can.  Their twin girls and little boy are so cute.
    Tuesday my sister, Lisa, brought up her kids to join the fun.  We all went to Green Canyon together on Wednesday and then the sand dunes together on Thursday.  We were having so much fun, that Lisa didn't leave for home until hours after her original plan.
    Friday we all headed to Mapleton for Emmett's baptism.  Once again we enjoyed hanging out with tons of family.  Later today we're headed up to the Lee reunion for all of my maternal grandparent's posterity.  It's been a long time since I've seen any of my cousins on that side of the family, so it will be good to reunite.

     As per usual for our summer vacation, we had a lot happen to us this past week.  Let me wrap it up.  On Monday we traveled with Marshall to Cooke City, Montana to spend a few days with him and his family at Jani's family ranch.  They best way to get to Cooke City, MT is to drive through Yellowstone National Park.  It was fun.  I've (Tim) only driven through it once before and it was near sunset then.  This time it was the middle of the day and it was cool to see a lot of the park.  Kaitlyn and I are taking a few classes this summer and needed to turn in our last assignment (our big project) while we were in Cooke City, unfortunately we didn't feel like amazing guests because we were busy finishing that up.  However, Marshall and Jani still managed to show us a good time.  They took us up the Bear Tooth Pass, which drives directly over the Bear Tooth Range.  The road reached heights in excess of 10,000 feet.  It was pretty cool.  Along the way, we stopped and had a snow ball fight followed by some impromptu car mat sledding.  We had a great time with them.  

On Thursday of this week I (Tim) went in for LASIK surgery.  The doctors told me I had about -7 3/4 prescription in both of my eyes.  I have been in glasses since the first grade and contacts since the 7th grade.  I haven't been able to see my alarm clock at night for years, so laser correction surgery was something to look forward too (no pun intended).  The procedure took about 20 - 30 minutes.  It was very interesting, allow me to describe the process to you.  First, before any cutting or lasering could be done the doctors needed to secure my eye by suctioning it to stay still.  The suction cup worked just like you would imagine.  After the suction cup was attached and my eye lids were securely pulled back I was taken the short distance to a machine that would cut a flap in my cornea to allow access to my eye.  The cut was made by two lasers.  The laser didn't actually cut my cornea, rather, where the two lasers met a small bubble of air formed.  The lasers simply  make hundreds of little bubbles in the shape the doctor wants and that's what makes the flap the doctors could pull back to access my eye.  After the flap was made I was taken over to the laser correction machine.  The laser correction part simply removes material away from the front of my eye so that it is the shape that it should be.  After the correction is made, the doctor put the flap back in place and sent me on my way.  I have to put drops in my eye every hour for the first few weeks (to help healing) and I can't get any water in my eye for at least three-four weeks. The doctor told me that the suction cup gave me a hickie, or at least burst a blood vessel on the right side.  However, these are small prices to pay for 20/20 vision.  I'm happy with it.  
                        Creating the flap                                                        Pulling the flap back

     On Saturday Kaitlyn, her sister Valerie, and her brother-in-law Matt ran in a 3k/5k obstacle course.  This race was called the Hurdle for Hope and was, essentially, a community fun mud run to raise money for an orphanage in Equador.  The race was a giant obstacle course where runners had to run through tires, jump over fire, wade/swim through a pond, and make it through a mud pit.  I (Tim) just had LASIK on two days prior so there was no race for me.  Instead, I stayed on the sidelines and took pictures of them where I could.  It was a fun day, and I suspect that this will turn into a annual community event.  Kaitlyn did come out with a twisted ankle from the race.  She can't remember where. Below are a few pictures from the event. There is also a new photo album with more pictures from the event. Hurdle for Hope Photo Page

    Tim and I had quite a fun-filled week.  Monday morning we waved goodbye to the Gharts (the Gus Hart family) as they headed home.  We had a blast playing games with them all weekend.  I don't think I have ever played so many games in one 24 hour period in my life.  For lunch, we headed to Rigby Lake to crash the family BBQ of our friends the Christians and Passeys.  It was very nice of them to be willing to let us hang out with them even though we didn't share blood like everyone else there.  I went on a 12 mile bike ride that afternoon in preparation for the triathlon I would be doing later in the week.  It was only my third time on a bike since I decided to do the triathlon and my first time on a road bike.  If any of you are wondering, road bikes are MUCH faster on the road than mountain bikes.  I cut 13 minutes off my 12 mile time just by switching bikes.  That evening Tim and I packed a picnic dinner of fried chicken and headed for Idaho Falls.  Tim had never seen the fireworks there, so I figured it was worth braving the traffic and the crowd.  We were able to meet up with the Cook family to watch the fireworks.  It was a lot of fun to visit with them, wonder around the different booths, and watch the fireworks.  Although, after an hour and a half of wading through traffic on the way home I wondered if I would ever brave the Idaho Falls fireworks again.
    Tuesday morning I got my last wisdom tooth taken out and Tim had a preop appointment for lasek surgery.  Needless to say, neither of us did anything too exciting for the rest of the morning.  I did spend the afternoon/evening with Sarah Liggett.  She made me some pretty yummy soup, which I was so grateful for.  I was getting pretty hungry since I just had my wisdom tooth out.
    Wednesday afternoon Tim and I left for South Weber, Utah to see my sister, Lisa, and her family.  As soon as we got there we headed to Echo canyon.  Lisa and Bob were taking me to do a practice swim and bike before the actual race that weekend.  I was so glad they did.  I had swam in a wetsuit yet and it was good to ride the route and get some coaching on how to shift on the bike I was going to ride.
    Thursday, Tim and I went to Logan to visit Patrice and the Mickelsens.  It was so good to see them.  Friday we got to have dinner with Tim's sisters in Salt Lake.  Unfortunately, we couldn't stay too late.  I figured I should get plenty of sleep before the triathlon.

    Saturday morning we got up at 4:30 am so we could leave just after 5:00 am.  We drove to Echo canyon were the triathlon was being held.  Tim came to be our personal paparazzi.  Bob, Lisa, and I did the sprint triathlon: 1/2 mile swim, 12.4 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run.  Lisa and Bob helped me make sure that I got everything set up correctly and got in the right place.  My first goal for the triathlon was just to finish, but I really wanted to do it in less than 2 hours.  My official time was 1:47:25.  My swim time was 25 minutes, which was the same as my time I was doing in a pool.  My bike time was 44 minutes.  I was really happy with that.  It was fun to pass everybody on the bike.  My run was a bit slow, 33 minutes.  I would like to do another triathlon, but I definitely need to practice swimming first.  I'm glad Lisa and Bob were there to show me how to do everything and teach me all the tricks.
  After the triathlon, Tim and I had pizza, soaked in the hot tub and played in the pool with the Blacks.  Before heading back to Idaho, we made one more stop at Scott Wadman's house, Tim's cousin.  It was good to see his family.  His kids seemed to grow up a lot in the past year.
    Today, Tim and I went to church in our old ward.  It was so fun to see everyone again.  I'm so glad we were able to go to church there. 

     On Monday, we left Zillah for Rexburg.  As we continue to family hop we move from my parents to Kaitlyn’s parents.  Our current schedule is to be with them for the remainder of our summer vacation.  We both really like Rexburg.  We lived there for the past 3 years before moving to Alaska and have lots of friends to see.  Since starting our summer vacation we have flown from family to family, which, seemed necessary because of time restrictions.  However, as we pondered upon how to get to Rexburg, we came to the realization that continuing to fly would be very expensive, especially since Alaska Airlines doesn’t fly into Idaho Falls anymore (we have the most airline miles on Alaska Airlines, so we try to fly them most).  We decided to simply rent a car, which surprisingly was much cheaper, even when adding on the one-way drop of in another state fee (yes, that really exists).  When we got the rental agency, they said they didn’t have the car we wanted, so they upgraded us to a Lincoln Towncar.  These are pretty sweet rides, I must say.  Super plush and comfy.  However, I noticed that it was nicer to ride in the Towncar than drive it.  The driver seat didn’t conform to your body very well and didn’t leave very much room for your legs, but the passenger seats were gold!

     When we got to Rexburg, we had a whole slough of medical appointments to catch up on, namely the optometrist, dentist, and ear/nose/throat doctor.  For the past few years, I’ve (Tim) been living with overgrown tonsils and a deviated septum.  The combination has led to difficulty breathing through my nose and mouth.  For those of you who enjoy breathing, you’ll agree with me that air is an important part of life.  I saw the ear/nose/throat (ENT) doctor last year and he suggested a surgery to correct the deviated septum and a tonsillectomy to remove my tonsils.  I didn’t have any insurance last year (just graduated college) so I scheduled it for the following summer, which is now.  When I went to my pre-op appointment with the ENT, the day before my scheduled surgery, they told me my insurance company didn’t want to pay for it.  This was quite a shock to me, since I’ve been planning on this for quite a while.  Without getting into the bureaucracy of the whole thing, my insurance company wont pay for it until August 6, 2011 (one year after joining their insurance).  Since that doesn’t work for me, I’m going to wait until next summer to have my surgery.  L  However, this story doesn’t have a totally unhappy ending.  After accepting that I wasn’t going to get the surgery I needed until next year, I decided to go back to the optometrist and ask for LASIK surgery on my eyes.  I had originally planned on having a nasal surgery this year and a LASIK surgery next year.  Since I have to wait on the nasal surgery, I decided to just swap years and do my LASIK this year.  I am currently scheduled to have LASIK surgery on July 14, 2011.  I’m really excited, especially since I wasn’t planning on it.  Fingers crossed that everything goes well!

     Friday evening of this week, Gus and Cindy and kids came to Rexburg to visit, as well as to attend Gus’s 25-year high school reunion.  We are super lucky they came up.  We’ve been having a blast visiting and playing with them.  On Saturday, all of us went to Rigby Lake and spent a few hours wading in the water, swimming, and just soaking up the sun.  We just love visiting and spending time with family!