The day of my last radiation, Robert hopped into the car and drove all five kids all the way to Santa Rosa.  I had been hoping to feel well enough to join him and the Jones family for their reunion, however, the radiation ended up hitting me harder than I had anticipated.  During that last week I was sleeping at least 4 hours during the day, waking up for a couple hours and heading back to bed.  I had headaches daily and felt nauseous when I got in the car.  I finally realized that I need to just let my body heal during that next week instead of trying to fit in everything I wanted to do.  So, Robert left and I was sad thinking about missing out on seeing family and enjoying a family vacation together.  Then I went back to bed.

Robert made the trip just fine and fortunately took loads of pictures, so I got to live a little bit vicariously through him.  The Joneses rented out a lodge at Camp Liahona in the redwoods (usually it is set up for Girls Camps but the week of July 4th, it is open to the public.)  Since it made for big groups of campers, it has tons of fun activities in place.  Things like, rope courses, archery range and a climbing wall.  It is also close to a stream with a swimming hole.  The lodge has a common room and beds for everyone.  I really hope we go back to that site next year!

The first day Robert took pictures of all the families.  Here is the whole gang.

Mom and Dad with all the Grandkids.

And Tonnette with all the grandkids

Then Robert took pictures of each of the individual families.

Dad & Mom

Jonathan, Jennifer, Devin, Levi, Sienna, Jett & Cole

Robert, Ethan, Emmett, Alaina, Jason and Austin

Tonnette

Ron, Arianne, Makenna, Ella, Wyatt, Kyla

Nathan, Lindi, Ryan, Benji, Anna

After all the family group photos, Robert tried to gather together the grandkids for individual pictures.  Unfortunately, Mom told me that the kids pretty much scattered after that, and so Robert just got who he could catch.

Ethan

Austin

Alaina

Dad, Tonnette, Mom

Cole

Levi

Sienna

Ryan

Anna

Benjamin

Arianne & Ron

Makenna

Kyla

Wyatt

Ella

Ron Jones kiddos

Mom and Dad smooching :)

Tonnette

That is one awesome family!

After scout camp, Robert and the boys made it back up to Utah just in time for Father's Day.  It was so wonderful to have everyone back together again.  We were able to have a nice big breakfast with my family and my parents that morning.

That afternoon, all the Utah kids came up for a lovely Father's day dinner.  I loved seeing my brothers and their families.  I was surrounded by all these wonderful fathers; each one of them so different in their parenting but all of them working hard to be the best father for their children.

Here is our Father's Day group.

And of course, I was grateful for the chance to help celebrate my own Dad.  All these years, Dad has been an example of patience and love.  Whenever I come to him with a personal challenge he listens and emphasizes with me.  After that he tells me that he has faith that I will make the best choice possible.  I would love having all the answers given to me instead, but after our talks, I feel more confident in my own choices.  Still parenting, I see, even though I'm now 41.

The person I really want to talk about this year, however, is Robert.  This whole year of 2016 has been one long challenge for our family.  My health has impacted every aspect of our lives, from cutting some of the kids activities to Robert working so much from home.  I have required Robert to carry so much more than I ever thought possible.  He has supported me emotionally when I have felt at my most vulnerable.  He has supported my choice to have all of my doctors, appointments and surgeries in Utah when we both know that would make everything so much harder and more complicated than if we did it all in Henderson.  Going back and forth was difficult for me, but it was even more difficult for him to care for those kids without me.   I tried to alleviate some of that stress by taking the little boys with me as much as I could, but being a single, working parent is hard.  Robert never made me feel guilty for putting him in this situation.  Instead, he pulled up hard on his bootstraps and got to work.  I felt like we were a team, working together to get my health back on track.  I admire his love for his family and his determination to be a good Dad.  I know I'll be asking him to take over one last time in October, but I'm hoping that 2017 will be a relatively stress free year.  You can see what a wonderful Dad he is when you see how much his kids adore him.  The little boys can hardly be peeled off of him whenever he is around.  The big kids crave any time they can get from him.  He is definitely the fun parent and we all love the fun and spontaneity he brings to our lives.  So, for this father's day, I need to have it in print that Robert is by far our favorite Dad on the planet.  Here are our Father's day pictures for this year.

Here is the family "HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!" hug.

Our original photos with Robert and the kids turned out super blurry (someone had touched the lens after this picture.)  Robert and the kids were all super indulgent to me when I asked them to repose later.  I just love this picture so much and was sad when none of them had turned out.  So...the ties are different but I think Robert managed, by chance, to wear the same shirt.

WE love you Rob!

We had one more little visit on Father's Day.  My girlfriend/roommate from my college days, Chelsea Waite Williams, was visiting her extended family in Utah and broke away from her family to visit with us for about an hour.  It was so great to see her and her 5 girls.  They were so gracious and wonderful to visit with.  I enjoyed talking to her husband for the first time, too.

Chels and I were inseparable when we were 20-21 years old.  I felt so lucky when she ended up being one of my roommates when I started my time at BYU.  She is kind and generous.  She made me laugh all the time and was a stellar example of what consisted of being a good friend.  When you are young and trying to figure yourself out, like I still was at 20, it is a blessing to find someone like that in your life.  Chelsea worked harder than anyone I'd ever met and never took anything or anyone for granted.  She wasn't perfect or an angel, but I'd have to say, she was pretty close.  :)  (That's how I felt when I knew her back then and not just nostalgia talking.)   

Throughout these last (gulp!) 20 years, we haven't kept in great contact.  Every few years we catch up on each other's lives.  Even though I haven't seen her since college, and so, so many years have rushed past us, I have to say that time seemed to stand still when we met again.  She was so much the same awesome person I knew so well.  I only wish that we could have visited longer.  Maybe one day I'll just drop by on her doorstep and force her to hang out with me for a few days.  You don't know...I could do it.

I'm not a fan up super-up-close head-shots, but since that is what we got...that's what I'm putting in.

Since we only had a quick stop in Henderson, most of my weekend was caught up with laundry, folding clothes and packing all the kids for their upcoming trips.  They little boys and Alaina had their Utah clothes as well as their California trip.  The big boys and Robert had to pack up completely for their Boy Scout Camp.  We did take one quick break in the pool before we got back to the grind.  I'm pretty sure everyone needed it!

On Sunday, I jumped in the car with Mom, Alaina and the little boys and we headed on back to Utah to continue with my treatments.  It was quite the drive, but great to have at least some of my kids back with me again.

Alaina a lot of that week working in the back yard with Mom (earning a whole lot of money while she was at it!)  One day she came up to S. Jordan to visit with my very sweet friend, Arianna.  Arianna graciously watched my kiddos while I went up for another appointment.  Alyssa, who is Ethan's age, stayed for the day as well.  After my appointment we stayed a little while longer to visit.  It was so nice to catch up.  (The week before I picked up my kids, I was able to spend an evening with her.  It had been quite awhile since I had just gone out to a movie with a girlfriend...that was pretty awesome.)  Here is our little crew.  Alaina, Emmett, Jason, Bryce, Alyssa.  

Alaina was also able to go and spend a few days with Yve at Jim's house.  While she was enjoying cousin time, Mom had the two little boys working for their dinner.  She taught them the correct way to punch down bread.  (I think they enjoyed this a little too much, if possible, yelling out the names of who they were imagining they were punching...like their brothers. :)

Dad had Jason help him with the mowing.

Mostly these two little boys just hung out with each other and played.  That's the thing about Mom's house.  Unlike Henderson, they have grass and temperate weather.  Those boys could run and run outside all day.  They played in the sandbox and with Moko.  They played downstairs with the dress up clothes and with cousins whenever they showed up.  It was so nice to see them so active and playing so well together.  I guess I just need to move somewhere with a large yard.  And somewhere that doesn't get up to 115 degrees in the summer.   Utah is wonderful in the summer, but it does get awfully cold in the winter.  Maybe Santa Rosa, would be a better choice.  Mom and Dad Jones' beautiful yard amuses those two just as much AND it has an awesome apple tree!  Plus...no snow.  :)

Love these boys.

The weekend before my 4th week of radiation, Mom and I drove back to Utah with the little boys so that we could watch the big kids perform in their dance recital.  I went to an 8:00 appointment, drove back to Payson, picked up Mom and we drove straight to Henderson.  We got home in time to do Alaina's hair, put on her make-up and run out the door.  We ended up getting their 10 minutes late but they ended up starting 45 min. late, and so we were able to breathe a little.  I almost fell asleep for a few of the numbers, but I was wide awake to catch my kids rock out on stage.  It was totally worth coming back for!

Best of all, the kids loved performing.  Even Austin, who has been asking me to let him stop dance since about the second class, asked if he could do it again next year.  I love to see those kids do something they enjoy so much.