Where does the summer go?

Wow....over a month since I blogged! Amazing how the summer is flying by.

I guess its to be expected, since it was so full of:
-Summer camps
-Summer band
-family health emergencies
and
-BBQ Competitions.

My family is completely exhausted from all the activity. We hustled down to CA to see my Dad. He suffered a stroke at the end of July. Lots of worry about him. But the Lord saw fit to let us have Dad for awhile longer, and he is doing remarkably well.

My Dad...he really is amazing. He has such a drive.  So it had been like 10 days since his stroke...and his physical abilities and his speaking...all back. The problem he is having is the relationships between words. For instance, he knows who my girls are, but not which name goes with which kid. He knows that pillows and towels are linens, but confuses the two.  But there he was...10 days post-stroke, and he's in there studying the map of the western United States. He wanted to remember Idaho, because its where we are from! He's the best. The speech therapist said he was about 50% back and it will just take more time. I love this man!

We stopped in Bishop, CA to see my Aunt Phyllis and Uncle Leroy. My aunt is sick with ovarian cancer, which they now tell us is in remission. She has gained 8 lbs. and is still such an upbeat lady. We hadn't seen them in a few years, all our own doing....we should have stopped more. My kids love seeing their bird fly around the house, and they have a cool little stream next to their house. My cousin, Donna, their daughter lives across the street and its always fun to see the woman who is the reason I play music, and subsequently my daughter plays too. We didn't stay too long, we still had 3 hours ahead to drive to our hotel room. But it sure was good to see Aunt Phyllis making progress...she looks good, and our prayers will continue for her.

So, we get home from nine days on the road. Four days of rest, and its time to compete at the Western Idaho State Fair. While it was great to be so close to home....it was still exhausting. BBQDude took Reserve Grand Champion, making all the work worthwhile. We did have a sweet spot on the grounds, and got in for free. My two youngest girls got to ride their first round ever of carnival rides. Scary! (My oldest was camping and horseback riding with her aunt in Warm Lake.) We had a really good time, and got some yummy BBQ and fair food. Good times.

Now its time to get back to school, on Monday. We had a really fun summer, despite my Dad's stroke. It was great to see my family. We got lots of swimming and other activities in, even cutting back like we did. All the school shopping is done, and packed, and its time to get back to my meal planning, so I don't waste food/money in that area.

Yesterday I made one of my favorite restaurant soups, it came out pretty good! Here is the recipe:
Greek Lemon Chicken Soup. And these delicious rolls. The family gave it the "make again" seal of approval. John said it needed more seasoning (not a shock!)

So I guess I'm back on the bandwagon of getting life back on schedule. I like having a plan. It may not be everyone's ideal plan...but it works for us!