Bear Lake

We just got back from our annual Washburn family trip to Bear Lake. As usual, we had a lot fun. We spent two days out on the lake, and lots of time talking, eating, and playing with cousins at the cabin. Zander had a blast playing in the water and sand, while Lucas was perfectly content sitting under the canopy in his chair eating and chatting to those next to him. He did eventually find his way to the water and had fun towards the end of the first day, so the next day he was more willing to get in the water for bit before he sat under the canopy again.

Uncle Loren let Zander drive the boat the first day, and the second day Stephen took Zander out to the boat for a little tube ride. He kept asking to go faster until he got splashed in the face, then he was done. I really had a fun time with everyone watching the Olympics.

One night I put Lucas to bed early because he was wiped from being in the sun all day and no nap. At about 9:00 Zander came to me and asked if he could go to bed, so of course I said yes and put him to bed. He laid in his bed and I kissed him goodnight before leaving the room. About an hour later he came out of the bedroom covered in green stuff ALL OVER his body. He had some brown stuff on his head to, so I was confused as to what was going on. He came out to tell me Lucas was crying. I asked him what he had been doing and he said he was playing with make-up. What?! I was fuming as I marched him back to our bedroom only to discover all my make up opened and dumped out all the over the floor, my bag, clothes, bed you name it, it had make up on it somewhere. The light was on, and Lucas was just screaming and crying from being so rudely awakened. I put Zander in the bathtub to wash the make up off of him, and tried to calm Lucas down and clean up the clothes and the floor. Long story short, the make up did not come out of the carpet or the clothes, and Stephen and I ended up not sleeping that night.

The next night was just as full of drama as the previous. Somehow Bekah managed to step on a phone charger cord, the end that plugs into the wall, and one of the prongs went through her foot. Not ten minutes later her brother Josh, attempted to jump off the balcony and got his foot stuck in the slats as he jumped and ended up breaking his arm. There is never a dull moment with the Washburns. It was a great vacation!

 Playing under the bed

 We rented a bike cart to take the boys around town a little bit

 Zander got to drive the boat with uncle Loren

 Making "rock music"

Scales and Tails

Last weekend we took the boys to a little reptile zoo in West Valley City. I bought a groupon for it a few months ago, and decided to take a family outing so we could all get out of the house for a bit. I was largely disappointed at first because half of their animals were out for parties or other social events, so we didn't get to see the alligator and some of the other snakes and spiders. It wouldn't have been worth the money to go except we got to hold and pet some of the animals. The python was my favorite and I was really hoping I would get a chance to hold it. When he asked if anyone wanted to I jumped at the chance and he put it around my neck. I could not believe how heavy that thing was, it was 40 lbs! I never would've guessed by looking at the snake it'd be that heavy.

Zander kept asking him if he could touch it every couple minutes as our guide talked about the snake. Even Lucas pet the snake! Zander got to hold another snake a little closer to his size, and also asked to hold a tarantula! I couldn't believe he was actually asking to hold a spider! Zander is so afraid of the spiders at home, but he thought that was pretty cool.

The Power of God

Stephen doesn't know I took this picture of him. This was right before he went into surgery two weeks ago to get his tonsils removed and his sinuses fixed. This was his first surgery ever, so he was pretty nervous, as expected. It was an outpatient surgery that took all day. I was only expecting it to take three or four hours but we were at the hospital from 11:30 to 8:00 that night. A huge thanks to Rachel for watching the boys for us!

His recovery was really rough. He couldn't eat, sleep, talk, or even take his pain meds because the pain of swallowing was so bad. He lost somewhere between 10-15 lbs in a week. There were two times that we were close to having to take him to the ER for dehydration, but he managed to slowly take in some liquids.

One particular Sunday, a week after surgery, Stephen was feeling especially horrible and could not swallow his pain medications. He was in a lot of pain, but I couldn't get him to eat or drink anything. He wanted me to take him to the ER so he could get some IV fluids because the act of swallowing was so painful for him. We waited an hour or two and then called two priesthood holders from our ward to give Stephen a blessing. We gathered in the living room and they anointed and blessed him that he would be able to take his medicine and drink some fluids to help make him feel and heal better. They were here about 10 minutes and then left. A few hours passed and it was time to get the kids ready to go to church. I checked in on Stephen to see how he was doing and if I could get him anything before I left. He was able to swallow his pain meds and drank a whole 12 oz. glass of water before I left for church.

I didn't think anything of it until a week later during fast and testimony meeting; I sat on the bench and thought about his blessing and how quickly it was answered--that within two hours after being blessed he was able to take his pain medication and not only take sips of water, but drink a whole glass just like his blessing said he'd be able to. Not to mention that we ended up not having to take him to the emergency room. He received a lot of little tender mercies that morning.

I have always had a solid testimony of the power of the priesthood; it is the power of God given to those who are worthy to use it in times such as these. This power was restored on the earth through Joseph Smith. It is comforting to know that our Father in Heaven is always with us not only in thought, but also through priesthood holders like Stephen. I am so grateful we have the priesthood in our home and that Stephen is able to use it whenever it is needed. I know our Heavenly Father loves us and knows us personally; he knows our every need. All we need to do is come to him and ask. I am grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.