Rachel's Wedding; Barb's Surprise 70th Birthday Party; Dad's Canceled Back Surgery; Eli's Broken Arm

A happy day for the five of us is when we get to go to Hale and watch a play. This time it was The Nutty Professor. It was such a cute, fun, colorful, entertaining couple of hours for us. We all loved it. 

The next day we had Sunday dinner at our home with Rebecca's and Sarah's families. 

Ben's family was still in New York with Haley's family. 

Their family all enjoyed boating while they were there.

They had their Independence Day celebration.

Ben had some dental work done, taking advantage of Haley's father being a dentist.

These are some other fun things they did while they were in New York.

Ben and Haley love to play frisbee golf.

I was never so happy when Ben sold his motorcycle and then here he is with Haley on a motorcycle.

Ben says every time they go to New York it seems like they end up in the emergency room. 

This trip was no exception. He spent hours there with Maverick who had gotten a nasty burn from touching the motorcycle.

He ended up leaving without care and went somewhere the next day where Maverick emerged with his arm all bandaged up.

That was a bit of a sad way to end their vacation. We were happy when they arrived back in Utah safe and sound.

It was time to celebrate Debi Winder's birthday. She picked Gourmandise for the restaurant. All the beautiful desserts in the showcase looked very tempting.

July 20th was my niece Rachel and Nathan Womack's wedding at the Ogden Temple. Dad was having some troubles with back and leg pain and couldn't walk or stand for too long, so he felt like he would do better in a wheelchair. Glen was the wheelchair pusher. 

Rachel is always so exuberant and it was fun to see the excitement on both their faces as they made this eternal commitment to each other.

We were invited to the wedding luncheon which was originally going to be held in Andy and Amanda's backyard. Thankfully, they decided to move it indoors since it was 100 degrees that day. It was held at the church across the street from their home. The air conditioning was much appreciated!!

The evening reception worked out well in their backyard since it was shady by that time of the day. They are a cute couple and just perfect for each other. 

Rebecca and Sarah went with me to the reception and we sat with Nani at the table for refreshments. They served popcorn and popsicles. 

Mark and Michelle had come to Utah for the wedding and to enjoy a couple of days celebrating their anniversary. They spent a night with us, two nights at Anniversary Inn, and then their last night with us.

Glen and I took a tour of JD Hadfield's bottle-making plant in American Fork. It was interesting to see how that process works and to see their new warehouse. JD was one of our assistants on the mission and was a hard-working, go-getter from the moment he arrived in the mission. 

He suggested a Mexican restaurant for lunch and we were ecstatic over how deliciously moist and tasty the refried beans were at that restaurant. Although Mexican food is not our favorite, we were both pleasantly surprised.

We usually have a monthly Mexican restaurant date with Dave Ziemski at El Matador. 

I really enjoy the queso-smothered burrito I get there, but the refried beans are always so dry. This time I added some water to the beans which made them more palatable. Hence the reason for us raving over the refried beans at the other restaurant.

We did something a little different for our monthly dinner date with Glen's sisters. 

Rich and Barbara's daughter Jennifer wanted to have a surprise 70th birthday celebration at a park near us. Glen got the park reserved and he was supposed to come up with a great idea of how to get Rich and Barb there. 

He decided to plan for the dinner to be at our home instead of a restaurant. He grilled up some steaks and we enjoyed a tasty meal together. Then Glen told his sisters and their husbands that he wanted them to follow us to a park where we would have dessert.

I couldn't believe how readily they agreed to that plan. Rich was not in on the surprise either, and he was going right along with it. 

Once at the park, they were both very surprised to see family members and friends there in Barbara's honor.

The birthday cake was beautiful. I was so impressed with the beautifully decorated cookies. I wonder how long it took to decorate with all those different-colored flowers. 

The day was slow approaching for Dad's scheduled back surgery. It felt like he waited way too many weeks before the big day. 

Unfortunately, he spent several days in the hospital right before the surgery dealing with his heart racing and pain in his chest. The back surgery had to be canceled. 

Nani, Glen and I went to visit Dad and Mom on the canceled surgery day to help buoy up their spirits. We all went out to lunch together. It has been very frustrating for Dad ever since then because he hasn't felt great at all.

My Dad was not the only bad news we had received. Sarah let us know Eli had broken his arm. It happened right after Glen and I helped get him to his orthodontist appointment. He had been telling us all about the big jumps he had been doing on his bike. 

During dinner he said to his parents, "I have to show you my new trick. Mom will freak out when she sees it but Dad might like it." He went out to practice while they cleaned up and then the accident happened. He didn't even get to show them his trick.

It doesn't even require a trained radiologist to see the definite break in Eli's right (dominant) arm. Poor boy!

He had it wrapped for a few days until he could get a cast put on. 

We were a little surprised at the color he chose for his cast. This is what Sarah wrote about it. "Eli did pick the pink. Was a bit of a surprise to all of us, but it's what spoke to his heart in the moment." 

Good thing Eli was able to enjoy his week at Especially For Youth at BYU before he broke his arm.

That meant Sarah was down to just three boys for the week.