Update on Toby

Toby has been doing really well so far. His surgery went according to plan and he is recovering nicely. This morning he got his chest tube out and later today they will take out the epidural and the foley. IT will be nice to not have so many tubes coming out of Toby's body. And then he will be able to get up and around a bit easier. He has felt much better after they removed the chest tube. The nurses keep telling Toby that he has been the perfect patient - he does whatever they ask without much complaint and is doing well. Hopefully we will be going home on Monday or maybe sooner if theing s continue to go well. We'll let you know.

Horse Back

Just a few more pics from the Dude Ranch.

Home Sweet Home

After being on vacation for a month, it is good to be home. Being away always seems to make me appreciate my own place. I think the kids are glad to be home too. I've posted a month's worth of pictures (there are so many more, but I'll refrain). I don't have many from the Dude Ranch. After a month, I think I got tired of taking pictures and so I'll have to bum some from everyone else. But we had a great time.

Now we are leaving for Dallas tonight. Toby is having back surgery on Tuesday. We would appreciate you keeping him in your prayers. Toby has scoliosis and so they are fusing together portions of his upper spine. We have a great doctor, but it is always a little scary, for Toby and for me. Earl has come to take care of Isaac and Aspen at home and we are glad that he could help out. We'll be in Dallas for about a week. We'll keep you posted.

Dude Ranch

For the Brunner Family Reunion we all went to the Windwalker Guest Ranch in Spring City, Utah. We had a great time with all the cousins and all the fun things there were to do. Everyone got to ride horses, shoot a bow, BB guns, a 22 and clay pigeons with the shot guns. The boys had lassoing lessons. We roasted marshmallows every night, were entertained by a cowboy singer, watched the wranglers break a colt, looked at the stars with Nate's telescope, got caught in the rain during a wagon ride into town, and even went swimming. Some of the adults went to the Manti temple. We played horseshoes and lots of pool. We went fishing and caught some trout. (Which were delicious). Toby skipped rocks (always a favorite past time, unfortunately for the serious fishermen). All in all it was a great vacation.

More Vacation

We went to Temple Square on Sunday. Unfortunately, Isaac forgot his shoes (he thought they were in the car but they obviously weren't) so we had to carry two kids. But it was a nice Sabbath Day activity.

Aunt Kris has a great climbing tree in her back yard. The kids spent a lot of time in the tree.

Ice Blocking

This was probably one of the kids' funnest activities. I used to go ice blocking as a kid and wanted to let my kids in on the fun. All you need is a block of ice, a towel, and a big grassy hill. Simply put the towel over the top of the ice, sit on it and slide down the hill. Just remember when choosing a hill to go down, you will have to carry the ice back up it. We went to Sugarhouse park, which has many lovely hills and it was near Hannah's house.

Road Trip Part Deux

On our way across America we stopped in St. Louis to see the Momument to Westward Expansion (The St. Louis Arch). It is probably the place that I liked best to see during our whole trip. It was very cool. We then got to visit with Leslie and Tom. Ellen kept my kids entertained and Aspen keeps saying she wants to go back and visit again.
Next we stopped in Denver to visit Matt and Kristi and Andrew and Mandy. Hazel loved having someone her size to play with! Katie (the dog) was a little scary for her though. One day she get over it I'm sure.
We drove to Dinosaur National Monument next. But the quarry has been shut down due to structural damage and so we werent able to see anything. We did buy slushies from some local kids in Dinosaur, Colorado and take pictures with the dinosaur statues.(I wish they would have noted that in big letters on their web site. It was a long drive out of the way for a slushie.)
We finally made it to Jake's house in Idaho Falls. They kids had fun running through the sprinklers. We went fourwheeling (my boys' favorite activity) and huckleberry picking (which was short lived due to lots of poison ivy in the bushes); but the berries were great.
Katanya is the cutest little girl! I think she got fatter in the 3 days I saw her. She is such a good baby.

We had fun feeding the ducks on the Snake River.

Hazel and Cruz had fun too.

DC

My children are worth millions!

My kids thought that the blue water at the Navy Memorial (Which we found by accident the day we walked and walked and walked trying to find somewhere to eat that wasn't $10 a plate (which by the way doesn't exist anywhere near the Mall)) anyway, the blue water was cool.

My kids have just discovered the Muppet Show and so it was fun for them to see the actual Muppets themselves at the smithsonian.