The zoo with the Despains!

Way back on June 30th we took Brenda, Lauren, and Wyatt to the zoo. Lauren and Wyatt had never been! We had a really great time seeing all of the animals, and an even better time acting like them!

The zoo crew!
Kayleigh, Jonah, Kaitlin, Kloe, Lauren, and Jacob!

Lauren and kloe!

Lauren checking out Kayleigh's new shell!
Who knew you could ride wild cats bareback!Kaitlin the nose picker!

The playground was SO fun

Kloe the tree hugger!

Wyatt

Kaitlin's trip to Europe!

Kaitlin is home from Europe. She had a WONDERFUL time. She saw so many different places, things, and cultures in the 6 countries she visited. She had a blast in London, and even managed to get a glimpse of the queen. (But not a picture!) She also enjoyed seeing a West End play, Blood Brothers. In Paris, she toured the Louve and saw the Mona Lisa, she went to Versailles, Notre Dame, and the Eiffel Tower. She even cruised down the Seine. In Switzerland she visited Lowendenkmal (Lion Monument), a sandstone statue carved in a rock. She stayed right on Lake Lucerne. She even walked across the Kapellbrucke (a covered bridge with a history dating back to mideveil times!). She shopped a LOT here. The Swiss chocolate she brougt us was divine! She thought Liechtenstein was beautiful and was fascinated by the Royal families hilltop castle there. She thought Austria was so lush and green. She toured Neuschwanstein castle on the way from Innsbruck to Munich. It's the castle Walt Disney got his inspiration for Sleeping Beauty's castle from. She was sad no pictures were allowed to be taken on the tour. In Munich she toured Dachau, a WWII concentration camp. She was humbled by the expereince. She saw gas chambers as well as ovens used to kill the jewish people.
All in all, she loved the entire trip. She bonded with the kids she traveled with and hopes to maintain those friendships. London was her favorite place. She loved the VIBE and the people! She really wants to go back. Anyway, here's a few of the nearly 1500 pictures she took........

Kailtin with the group from Hunter High + 1 from Olympus High!

She couldn't resist the phone booth in London!
Outside Versilles in Paris


Eiffel Tower
From the observation deck on the Eiffel Tower

Being French!

Outside the Louve

Inside the Louve

On the Seine

Notre Dame

At the Lion Monument in Switzerland

In Lucerne

This old castle is being turned into a hotel in Lucerne

A cool castle
Austria

Swine-tastic!!!!!!!!!

The first two weeks of summer were a HUGE bust here at Camp Stanger, we all got Swine flu! (Yes the real thing!) We went down like Domino's with varied degrees of ailments. Jacob and I had the worst of it! Kloe and Kaitlin, who was in Europe, didn't get it at all thankfully! Kayleigh did recover quickly enough to go to camp at Millhollow. (She LOVED camp and can't wait to go back again next year!)

So now that we are all somewhat healthy again, Jon has Bronchitis and I have a sinus infection, we are going to start enjoying our summer in earnest!

And she's off!

Kaitlin and her big pink suitcase got off safe and sound for her European Adventure! She even got to see David Archuleta in the airport. What more could a girl want! Stay tuned for more updates!

Happy 22nd Birthday Kami!

Today is Kami's 22nd Birthday! She is spending the day at Disneyland with her best friend Katie. A benefit of living in Southern California! We only wish we were there to help celebrate her! :~) Happy, Happy Birthday Princess!

Nana's Visit

My Mom, AKA Nana, spent 10 days with us. We had so much fun. We were on the go the entire time, just enjoying life and being together!
Our first adventure was a trip to downtown Salt Lake to walk around Library Square. Then we drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon to the Brighton Resort. Our plan was to walk around Silver Lake but it was frozen solid and covered in snow. Who knew it would be like that mid-May? Not us, the ignorant California transplants!

We shopped in Park City. We went to the Gateway mall. We haunted thrift stores. We had late breakfasts and long lunches. A favorite lunch was at the historic Lamb's Grill Cafe downtown. FUN FUN FUN!

Since mom had never been to the Great Salt Lake when visited the marina. It was a bit chilly, but a great day!
Our last grand adventure was a trip to This is the Place. Nana really enjoyed walking around and seeing life as it was in the past. The kids really enjoyed beating rugs, plowing, washing on a washboard, and the train.


All in all, it was a great visit that ended too quickly. We can't wait until Nana gets to visit again!

What a week!

Here at camp Stanger we joke that the full moon starts strange things a-brewin' a few day before the actual event. This week makes the theory seem more air tight than ever!


On Monday Judy (Jon's mom) wasn't herself. She seemed stressed and exhausted! On Tuesday afternoon she coughed up the reason.....the IRS had seized her bank account!!!! She was stressed to the hilt as she did NOT believe she owed the IRS anything. She went to her tax goddess (as we now call her) and she agreed. Together, they were able to talk to real person at the IRS. GUESS WHAT......She didn't owe anything. The IRS made a mistake! Better yet, they had to admit it in writing!!!! She got a fax to take the bank releasing her funds back to her. Talk about RELIEF!!!!
You can imagine the emotional let down! We were making dinner and chatting, the kids were playing outside. It was a beautiful evening on multiple levels! Kloe came in and sat down on the couch to watch TV with Kaitlin. She mentioned in passing that her leg hurt. As this is a common complaint (my toe hurts, my finger hurts, my eye hurts etc) I didn't pay much attention. Then Jacob races in the door Mach 10 with his hair on fire, screaming like a Banshee! A strange dog was chasing him and he is terrifed of dogs! Kloe got up to run to the door. (She isn't afraid of anything and has a particular fondness for dogs!) But she couldn't walk on her leg. It seemed to buckle under pressure and she had to do a limp- hop combo type thing! She now had my FULL attention! I looked at her leg, there was some sort of bite with a dark red ring around it. It felt hot and seemed swollen. She then told me that wasn't where it hurt. She pointed to her upper thigh. It had a similar wound, but it had a wider red hot circle! I was VERY concerned at this point. Of course, this is the first night in weeks Jon had worked late! (Murphy's Law!) I call him. He was only 5 miles away and agreed to clean up, call it a night and come right home so we could take her to Urgent care. I was on the phone for less than 2 minutes. In that time Kloe's lower leg had started to swell even MORE and the red area had tripled in size. She also felt warm to me. It was then that I decided Urgent care wasn't going to cut it, the ER at Primary Children's Medical Center would be a better choice! I called a friend and asked for a blessing. They were so quick to arrive. I was so thankful! I loaded her in the van just as Jon pulled in. He took one look at her and agreed with my decision! So off we sped. Kloe was a little out of sorts, but not much. She chattered on and on and on all the way!
We finally got there and checked in at the ER at 8:10pm! Being swine flu phobics we chose the only 2 chairs on the polar opposite side of the waiting area from everyone else! Kloe really wanted to play with the toys but we bribed her with $2 M&M's from the vending machine. Seriously, you should have seen the condition some of these kids were in as they spread their germs ALL OVER the toys! EWWWW!!!!! Finally we got got our get of germ hell free card when the a nurse called KLOW STRANGER! For once name slaughtering didn't bother me. We made it to an ER room by 9:30pm. By this time Kloe's leg was swollen from knee to toes. She had a cankle! It was awful looking. It only took 6 hours, 1 nurse, 1 intern, 1 resident, and 1 attending to decide it was most likely a spider bite (Recluse or Hobo if they had to guess) or other insect. She had an allergic reaction and cellulitus was a result. They admited her to the Rapid Treatment Unit for overnight observation. She was put on an antibiotic, a steroid, and Benedryl. We finally got to bed at 3:30am. She was awake the whole time up until then! Poor kid! What a trooper! Nurses woke us up hourly for vitals and/or meds. It was AWFUL and exhaustive! By 8am when the Dr. came in the swelling was down and the red gone. We could go home by noon! YIPPEE! She is now feeling great and you can hardly tell how bad it was.
Coming home was WONDERFUL! We were all the walking dead. None of us really slept at the hospital, and the other kids were beside themselves with worry at home and wouldn't go to bed for Grammie. We looked like a crew from a zombie movie. It was as close to pathetic as a family can come I fear! We went to bed early. At about 12:30AM Jon sat up and said he needed to lock his truck. This isn't a normal routine. He checked his truck, my van, and Judy's car to make sure all were locked up then crawled back into bed. At 6:30AM he was leaving for work and noticed his mom's car was gone. It had been stolen!!!!! We called the police, filed a report, and numbly piled into to my van to get everyone where they needed to go for the day. I think we were all shell-shocked! I picked Judy up when she got off work and we picked up Tyler from preschool so he could hang with us for the evening. Mom and Dad both had work engagements for the evening! We were making dinner and the doorbell rang. A very nice police officier came to let Judy know her car had been recovered, and if we followed him, she could drive it home! We hopped in the van and followed him 1/8 of a mile from the house to her car. Not a scratch on it. Not even the ignition was harmed. All the contents of her glove box and trunk were even all present and accounted for! We both nearly cried! Prayers were answered yet again this week!
So, we've been up and down more then the stockmarket this week! We decided that normal and boring would be just fine for awhile now. But wait....my mom is coming tomorrow for 10 days. Maybe instead of boring we'll just try FUN on for size! Stay tuned, after all, the moon is still FULL!