Justin's In Town

Justin (Shawn's sister's second son) surprised us all by announcing he would be coming through Utah on his way to Florida
Which part is surprising you might ask ... all of it. He's been living up north in Bend, Or and Boise, Id and a number of parts in between. But he and his dad have decided they're going to make the big trek across the country and live on the east coast for a while.

We were excited to see Justin but sorry we only had a few days to get together between our whirlwind month - so at Justin's request we went out to dinner at Marie Calendars.


This shot is not necessarily reflective of the good time Keith was having ... really!! If our crazy yet enthusiastic waiter spent more time writing down our order correctly, there would probably be less chaos in the kitchen and more food on the table- and less of him running around our table. I don't see the food service industry in this waiter's long term career path, except if it includes the phrase, 'would you like to super-size that?'.

But this shot IS reflective of the good time Jordan and Jared were having at the end of table with their straws and drinks. Luckily, we did get our drinks....

Even Cole's confused at what's up with our dinner.

Good to see you Justin. We hope you don't stay away so long the next time.

Saturdays in June - Round 3

Hydrocephalus Conference - Park City 

Shawn, Cole, and I were lucky enough to the Hydrocephalus conference in Park City at The Canyons a few weeks ago. They hold a conference every two years. The last few conferences have been in Chicago, Baltimore, San Francisco. But this year they came to Park City - a mere 50 min from our house! The Hydrocephalus Association was able to secure a pretty good rate in the condo / resort on site, and with the cost of gas and the sessions starting at 8:00 and ending at 5:00, and not to mention we needed a break - we decided to use some vacation funds and stay up in Park City. It was lovely (as you can see from the pictures below). And the weather up north is about 8-10 degrees cooler, which we didn't fully appreciate until we came DOWN off the mountain. 

Although not clear from the pictures, we spent Thu evening through Sun afternoon (like I said 8-5:00) in general sessions and break out sessions. It was a fairly typical conference in that the first and last session included open lectures and the rest of the day was filled with no less then 4 break out sessions each hour. Some were not as applicable (Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, Siblings feelings, Adults dealing with HR issues and Hydrocephalus) but there were plenty that were. 

And most of the time Shawn and I split up because we wanted to get as much info as we could. There were people there from all over the country with all levels and all abilities of Hydrocephalus. Beyond the break out sessions, meeting with the doctors, neurosurgeon (including ours and his team), neurologists, etc. we got to meet with parents who were able to share the day-to-day stuff with us. In fact the picture above was a group picture they took on Tue afternoon before all of the entertainment (Shawn and Cole are a little left of center). 

Here is Shawn and Cole (and crowd) doing the Chicken Dance -- come on, you know you know how to chicken dance!

  

And here is Cole enjoying the Chicken Dance, especially the clapping (you can almost hear them ... da da da da da da da, clap, clap, clap, clap, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle  ... repeat --- But just in case it's not immediately coming to you, we've added it to our song list so you can Chicken Dance at home with those YOU love! (Take pictures and send them - we'd love to see everyone doing the Chicken Dance)

    

Sunday they had a few sessions before closing out the conference. After which, we went up to the top of (well as far up as the gondola goes - we each received a ticket with our conference attendance) the hill. Here are just a few shots of the mountain (up and down). They have a restaurant up there (you can see it in the slide show) - and had we not been so hungry and the food so scrumptious we might have taken pictures for you to see. But you'll just have to imagine the creme brulee french toast... yummy (no syrup needed!!).

  

Cole loved the ride up as evidenced in the pictures. Apparently change in altitude can effect some folks with hydrocephalus, so we were watching him pretty close. But in speaking with the parents and doctors, the altitude would have to be pretty drastic (more so than the altitude pressurization in a plane at 8000 ft) which we were well below (we live at 4500 roughly). So he had a blast and was so good for all of the sessions. Grandma Jacquie came up one day to relieve us - but don't tell her, but we think it was more for her and Cole's benefit than ours -- :-)

They had brought some pretty amazing things. One of the pictures in the slide show above is of these gel brains (made from jello molds you can apparently find on the internet (got to get some of these) and these researchers helped anyone who was interested (we TOTALLY were) in understanding what it would be like to install a shunt in a brain including how we would test to ensure it was functional and what it might feel like (the pressure in the fluid) if it wasn't. Another doctor brought video (I would have taken pictures if I hadn't been totally absorbed) of actual brain surgery where they drill through one of the ventricles to allow the fluid to move better. We'll post drawings to describe that process later. It was really amazing to think how far we have come from really a short time where they were doing completely open brain surgery to now fairly laproscopic work (but which has to be so precise given all of the major arteries and brain matter up there. 

Saturdays in June - Round 2

Here we go again. This weekend actually started on Thursday with Alisha's (Shawn's niece) arrival into town on her way home to Alabama via Idaho (doesn't everyone make this trip via Utah?).

Birthday Dinner with Alisha

We all got together at Red Robin for a little birthday dinner for Alisha. The below shot is moments before a slight catastrophe. Let's just say Jordan's shirt wasn't nearly this dry when we left the restauant. Then we headed back to Jim and Kris' for dessert, a little drum solo by Jared (a newly acquired and budding skill) and of course, some serious Rock Band.

Alisha rocked out on the drums, while Ryan took turns playing bass and doing vocals. Shawn was really, really into vocals. But I recall he only got 'kicked out' of the band once, where Ryan was struggling on a few songs - more with lyrics and tone - and claiming he didn't recognize the tune. That's ok, Shawn made up for it in volume and energy. Wonderful Tia held Cole the whole time who hardly seemed fazed by the whole thing - - Lucky Cole!

Relief Society Birthday Luncheon

Our RS decided to hold the birthday activities (normally held in the spring) a little later in the year. It was a great decision as the weather was nicer and allowed us to 'picnic' in a neighbor's yard who has some really beautiful landscaping - - all personnally designed and maintained!

Each person was assigned to sit on the blanket marked with their birth month. And then we were asked to bring a small bag with 5 items that most represented us or that we could associate with (yes, diet coke was one of my 5). We shared each of our items with the other women on the blanket while we waited mostly patiently for the yummy food. It was a great ice breaker - get to know you game.

This is a shot of one of the women who played a significant role in coordinating and organizing the event. I was hurrying because this was already my second activity of the day (no pictures of the Davis Democrat Breakfast that morning ... sorry!) and I was late to go get Shawn in prep for the next activity. She made this face, I'm sure not thinking I would snap a picture. And even if I would snap a picture, surely I wouldn't post it to the blog. People have to realize, I'm posting nearly everything - especially shots like this!

Jacquie's 75th Birthday Celebration

After several months of planning, we were actually able to keep the big birthday a surprise. That afternoon a ton of people collected at Wheeler Farm for her party - folks from her last job, folks she works with in the Jordan River Temple, family, friends. It was a blast. Jim and Kris collected and scanned a bunch of pictures we covertly got from Jacquie herself. (Ironically enough a lot of the pictures that made it in the slide show were of Jim and Jacquie, Jim, Kris, and Jacquie, Jim's family and Jacquie...coincidence ?) All kidding aside they did a great job. We brought a book for note and signing. (If you didn't get a chance to sign it, you should still stop by and leave a note!)

After lunch all three of Jacquie's sons got up and said some really nice things about their mom, their childhood, the posive impression she's made on their lives. They were all lovely, even those that were a little less rehearsed! Unfortunately, I couldn't find my camera early in the chaos so I'll need to post more pics that Jim and Kris took ... they're so good!

After Jim, Chris, and Shawn got up, they opened up to our little crowd. Marilyn (Jacquie's sister) spoke and shared some really sweet childhood memories and then Garth (Jacquie's son-in-law) spoke and shared some tender thoughts he and his family share since Jacquie married Keith and the impact she's had on their whole family.

It's hard to tell how much fun -- or how much trouble the grandkids are getting into in some of these shots! But they seem to enjoy the lawn games we played afterwards.

Jacquie swears she was surprised and I think she really enjoyed herself. Although sometimes it did sound (and she commented on the same) a little like her eulogy! But we definitely missed some folks (Jeff & Cheryl and their kids, Cory and the rest of their clan, Janet's family, Tom & Carol and their kids, Don & Shirley and their kids, Penny & Cranford and the rest of their kids (Alisha went home that afternoon to get ready for school -- good girl!!) a few more folks from the temple), and a bunch more people I'm probably forgetting.

Families Supporting Adoption Movie Night

Yes, we had one more event today. We participate in a support group for folks who have or are trying to adopt here in Northern Utah. We get together for information exchanges, lectures, and of course parties. And tonight was no exception. We had another movie night (similar to what we did in an earlier post) outside in their back yard. We had a little trouble with directions and so didn't arrive until the movie had just barely started - but it was nearly dark. So no pictures for this event either. So you'll just have to imagine us all (there was about 20 couples, some with kids) spread over the back yard.

Saturdays in June - Round 1

Through an amazing set of circumstances, every week in June in completely booked - in fact, the closer we get to July, we start to not only fill the weekend but spill over into Thursday and Friday. I'll be so glad for July - so far we only have 2 big events scheduled. 

Family Connect Center - Run for the Kids

I'm fortunate enough to sit on the Board of Directors for the Family Connection Center. They provide services to help low and middle income 

 families become more self-sufficient through job and parenting

training, nursery support, education, therapy, and  food bank support. Anyway, as money from federal and state grants become less and less available, we've started moving to holding public 

events to raise money. So this Saturday we held our first 'fun run' (it's not necessarily as fun as it sounds... ). But it was open to walkers, runners, strollers, and even bikers

The weather ended up being cold and a little miserable - at least until we were wrapping up the end, after the raffle. 

The turn around was great for volunteers - and mild to moderate 

for participants. But my feeling is it's better to work out the kinks when you have 50 people than 200 people. And we made enough money to cover

our costs and add some support to the nursery that provides crisis and respite care in Bountiful. So we've set our date for next year. 

-+- Cole definitely had the right idea - bundled up and being pushed around -+-

-+- This girl in the crutches is with the Bountiful Youth Council and while not able to run or walk today, did a really awesome job calling out the winning tickets. Just the kind of good energy we needed -+-

-+- Here's Shawn hanging around with our Executive Director (standing) waiting for his raffle ticket to be drawn -+-

-+- You can only just barely make it out, but the guy in the blue shirt j

ust barely beat me out of the spiffy bike and helmet next to him. Oh well, maybe another time-+-

Breakfast with the Family

After the Fun Run, we met with Tami, Jay, Nick, Shaylee, Chad, Tracey, and DJ at a little bakery in Bountiful (Paradise Bakery). 

At our last visit in Feb, Tami and I had been talking about meeting Tracy and DJ (Cole's 2nd and 3rd counsin, respectively) this year since DJ has the same Hydrocephalus diagnosis as Cole.

It was great to see all of DJ's energy and happy and loving attitude and discuss the progress he continues to make (he just recently

graduated from elementary school and received a standing ovation from his school!!)

We were glad we got to see Nick and Shaylee. They had a cold the last time Jay was in town

and so couldn't join in with the visit. We spent a fair amount of time just visiting on happening between our last visit and making plans for the big party in August with both families - birth and adoptive, our second annual event. If you're around, we hope you'll stop by. 

Hydrocephalus Parents Group - Fiesta

Apparently we were call worn out because we completely forgot to take ANY pictures -- duh. It was a really nice time. The national hydrocephalus association paid for most of the meal and the parents just brought a few things to supplement Costa Vida - yummy. Mostly it was relaxing. We sat and talked to other families. Some were new and some we just got reacquainted with over dinner and the 'ice breaker' games. Not my personal favorite, but they were fun as long as we were winning. We're looking forward to other activities with this group in June, July, and again in September (with the second annual Hydrocephalus Walk - watch for emails about Team Cooper). 

Summer is officially here!

Shawn, Cole, and I got to go to the Morris' annual movie night this past weekend. It's their sixth annual movie night and they just get better each year. 

It's a really relaxing evening - especially for those of us just attending (I'm guessing the Morris' would NOT describe it as relaxing, at least not until the next day).

Everyone brings something to share along with what ever meat they want to grill. 

We had a lot of scrumptious side dishes and desserts as evidenced by nearly every picture ended up with folks eating - yum!. We brought a quick and easy dessert with strawberries, cream, and angel food cake - the simple man's strawberry shortcake. 

The Morris' provide drinks, the grill, and the movie along with all of the chairs, extra blankets and do a good job of inviting a lot of lively friends and neighbors. 

We arrive early enough to visit and laugh - a lot. 

~ this shot is immediately before Mark did a back flip in this very chair - regrettably the dinner did not remain on the plate, but Mark survived and it will live on for YEARS to come, way to go Mark~

Then once it gets close to dusk, we start the movie. They project the video on a huge piece of canvas (it's progressed from a white sheet) outside so they can accommodate a pretty large crowd.

 

This year the movie was National Treasure - Book of Secrets.

~don't worry, at some point he does move out of everyone's view ~

I think they had a little over 25 people attend this year. Clearly I think their reputation is starting to get out! Although I'm sure a lot came to celebrate Megan's birthday - what a nice surprise! See how surprised and happy Megan is!!

~Megan is reported to have really enjoyed her cake and this shot is not reflective of how it tasted in any way --

good job Annisa!~

The yard and garden was lovely (we hate them & hope they'll leave at least one 

or two weeds visible next year)! The weather was terrific. It was sunny and warm during the early evening while we grilled and ate dinner. And then it got a little cooler once the movie started - perfect for bundling up in one of the 200 or so blankets Megan has made 

:-)

Thanks Morris' for continuing to invite us - can't wait until next year!