Thursday, June 4th

Micah and I will be going to Salt Lake City to meet Sam for the first time. During this visit we will be able to review his case file and the progress he has made up to this point.

We are still awaiting the results of our background checks - Hopefully Micah won't find about that one time when I was . . . Never mind where I was going with that! I was just joking anyways - geeezh!

At this point what we do know is that we are planning on taking Sam into our home regardless of his past. Hopefully our background checks will be back by the time he returns from his group home activity. Last we knew Sam was not aware of his transition to our home, but is looking forward to an activity the weekend of June 19th-21st where he is going camping and boating. So in order for him not to miss that he has to remain in the group home until that activity is over.

What we do know about him is:

• He is 17 years old
  

• He will be a Senior next year at Syracuse High School.

• He has made such great progress that he can function just as any other teenager, he can have a job, he can go out on dates, he can hang out with friends, and can participate in after school activities such as sports and clubs.

We will keep you posted as we learn more.

We planted a GARDEN!

Left to Right: Tomatoes, Radishes, Cilantro, Jalapenos peppers.

Two years ago we planted six (6) strawberry plants on the North side of our house. Since that time they have pretty much taken OVER. As you can see from the photo on the left that have completely over taken my flowerbed. The photo to the right is the second half of that flowerbed - Not completely taken over! Last year the little neighbor boy, Braxton picked the strawberries and was charging .25 cents per berry. This year I do believe that we are going to have four times the strawberries we did last year. Maybe I can make some strawberry jam! :)

Here on the left is the start of one of two pumpkins we planted. To the right is my dwarf apple tree that already have five apples growing!

What else did we plant you ask? We planted everything you could need for salsa; tomatoes, jalapenos, Cilantro, the onions were planted at the neighborhood garden. We also planted zucchini, red-yellow-green peppers, watermelon, green beans, radishes, and crook neck squash.

This is my first time gardening with vegetables so hopefully I am successful!

Lovin the Yard work!

Left: Is the whisk barrel beside the drive way. That is some kind of Japanese plant that has flowers that look like bells. And to fill the space some pink and purple petunias.
Right: This is the whisk barrel coming up the stairs to my front door. My mom send me some flower seeds that were mixed in a baggy so I planted them and waiting with anticipation to see what comes. In the meantime I planted some verbena in there also to add some color.

Left: My mom picked out this creeping ground color and is has the cutest little flowers. They are growing in my whisky barrel that looks like a pumping well. She also mixed in some small yellow panies to look like it is flowing with "water". I know water is not yellow but I really wanted some yellow flowers in that front flower bed.
Right: This is just a portion of the flower bed int he front of the house along the drive way. I have a buring bush, slavia and some shurb that blooms some yellow flowers. The gerber daisy is MY FAVORITE this was another gift from my mom and dad during their last visit.

Left: Micah and I planted this Quake Aspen last year. It was the tinest thing ever ($5.00 at Home Depot) and this year it has doubled in size.
Right: This is the whisky barrel that looks like a pumping well. I think this small flower bed is a nice additional to our home - When then builder built the house I am not sure what they were thinking by leaving a 4 x 12 secetion between the stairs and the house.

Left: My bicycle from my mom and dad last spring. I love love LOVE this yard decoration. Unfortualty the plants surrounding it cover up the petals that are also flower pot holders.
Middle: A picture of my salvia that have like quadtrupled in size since we planted them three years ago. We have white ones also that are even bigger then these. All summer long I spend a full day just trying to cut them back and keep them looking nice.
Right: My newest project! Micah cleaned out our back flower bed that runs along the back yard and our neighbors property line. Over the last three years the grass from their yard had taken over. So we have cleaned it out and are collecting rocks to create a second level for additional planting to come.

Tanya's Theory on Yard work!

I know it is such a silly thing to blog about, but I can not even begin to explain the excitement I have when the snow has melted away and the once deathly looking shrubs begin to turn green and bring color to my yard!

I am a complete "yard Nazi" when it comes to the yard! I love everything to grown in a nice direction; that includes the trees growing straight up and down - none of this leaning to the right - leaning to the left nonsense! I also like there to be a pattern when I am planting in the flowerbeds; such as I have alternating saliva's in purple and white. I noticed that I have a bare spot and it means I need another saliva! So rather then buying one pink one to add another color I told Micah that I need TWO PINK ones to balance it out. Therefore, I would have one at the beginning and one at the end! (That will be my project NEXT YEAR!) My other yard request is that Micah cut the grass diagonally, and of course Micah has to tell me how healthy it is to cut the grass in a different pattern each time. I of course think he is just telling me stories!

The day after the rain!

The four of decided to stay after the neighbors showed up and it turned into a day! That evening once we went to bed it began to rain again and I was certain that in the middle of the night I was going to be sleeping in the truck or bailing all together to head home (without our things!)

That next morning we awoke to the most beautiful day! The sky was clear & crystal blue, the birds were singing and we all woe up with a new attitude after being drowned by the rain!

All in all the camping trip was a huge success - even under the bad circumstances! I am looking forward to our next camping trip to 'Uncle Robert's' and the camping trip that is being planned for July to some place near Tip . . of something!

Lynette and Sydney riding the Motorcycle

The Van Fleet family brought up Hunter's motorcycle.

Lynette was giving the kids rides up and down the hill. As you can see her little girl, Sydney, really enjoyed her first ride with her mom! The kids really enjoyed being able to run around freely and explore our new found camping retreat!

Darin and the iphone!

I know the photo is blury, but I had to snap quickly to catch Darin with iphone in hand trying to download the instructions to make a whistle in the great outdoors!
And to prove to Darin that no matter where he is or what he is doing he has that phone in hand!

After the rain and joined by friends!

Lynette with all of the kids taking turns for rides.

Mike and Sydney were spending time next to the campfire. Mike slipped into the water while fishing earlier in the evening.

As we were packing up to head home, the four of us thought our neighbors would never chance it out due to the rain so. Once the Van Fleets arrived we were joined by the Lord's and Megan and the kids! We are lucky to have such a close neighborhood and we all enjoy spending time together when we can.

The fire pit was built and assembled by Jared and Micah the day before we went up to set up camp. How nice it was that once the rain stopped we could keep warm by the fire.

Kylie and Kaci spend the afternoon collecting "salad" for dinner.

Dinner was great! If I have said it once let me say it again - this group of people is great! There was a great dinner and great company.

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY!

I would LOVE to post pictures of the camping trip during the rain, however, it was raining so much that I was stuck in my tent alone (Micah, Jared, Braxton and Kylie were M.I.A) that I was not about to tempt to run to the truck to document this experience!

I was sitting in my tent, snuggled into the covers, listening to the rain pour down, reading a good book when ALL OF A SUDDEN I noticed that the tent was slowly creating small puddles from the drops of rain that had somehow entered my tent!

That was it - - - -> I ran to the outhouse because my bladder was about to BUST. I had no communication with Melissa to even know if the missing husbands or the kids had returned! I then ran for cover in the only place that would be WARM. I sat in Micah's truck running the heater when Melissa came to join me.

Braxton had been returned to the safety of his tent, however, Micah, Jared and Kylie were still missing! Melissa and I were done - it was time to call it quits and head for home!

Just as we were about to go in search the three dripping wet campers showed up. Due to Micah's assurance that there was to be no rain his one and only sweatshirt was SOAK and WET and he had no pants to wear!

By popular demand it was decided that we were going home! Down came the tent, away went the food and the truck was PACKED!

Just as we were about to call it quits the rain stopped and the Van Fleet family came to spend Sunday afternoon with us! We had planned that since the neighbors would not be able to join our camping trip that we would spend Sunday afternoon together at our camping spot and have a dutch oven dinner.

Fishing before the RAIN!

Micah and I went camping with the Redington Family over Memorial Day weekend; what an adventure this was going to be, right?

YEA RIGHT! The first night was awesome, just after going off to bed in our 5-star tent it began to rain. No big deal it was just a little rain - No worries!

The following morning we awoke and saw some dark clouds to the Southeast of us. I was assured not to worry that the weather report that I had seen was incorrect. We enjoyed a good breakfast among friends.

Shortly after eating it began to sprinkle a little - Again I was assured that it would pass us by. So Micah and I took a short walk between the willows and went over to a nice fishing spot.

This camping spot has it all; lush green grass, surrounded by large trees, an awesome fire pit, a first class outhouse, lots of room to roam, fishing spots, chirping birds, NO mosquitoes, and some it warms up a nice place to use an inter tube to float down stream!

Our Camping Trip!

Meet Braxton, Jared, Tregan, Kylie and Melissa; these are the neighbors who thought it would be a great idea to go camping - with Micah and I. Silly neighbors camping is not for city folk!

So as I mentioned Micah and I decided to go camping with our neighbors. Micah packed the truck Friday night with anything you could possibly need for a camping trip.

Tent- check
Bed (OK so it was a blow up bed) and bedding - check
Food for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks - check
Clothes after a day you tend to smell less then friendly - check
Supplies such as; toilet paper, cooking equipment, bug be gone juice, and etc.

The truck was completely loaded and there was no extra room! If did forget something did I mention we were 4.9 miles from town?!?!?!?

Saturday afternoon Micah dropped me off to sit with Roma and he was going to met up with the Redington family and set up camp. At 8:00 o'clock Micah came to pick me up and take me back up to our camping site.

During our drive up it began to rain. I again asked Micah for reassurance that it was not going to rain. After all, I had his handy tandy phone in my hand showing rain and thunder & lighting for the forecast. " No, No, No it is not going to rain. We are going into a canyon and the rain will just skip right over us!"

When we pulled up I was greeted by my little friends Kylie and Braxton who were already looking as if they had been camping that whole week. They were determined to share with me every detail of our new adveture . . . first stop - the Outhouse!

I must say Micah and Jared put in a lot of wrk to make this place tip-top! I was amazliing surprised that the outhouse was not to scarey - still there was a small part of me wondering what lives down there!

It was after 9:00 o'clock when I showed up, however, what I was able to see what beautiful! The area they cleared away was breath taking, the sound of the nearby river was memorizing. I was looking forward to the morning!

The Ultimatum!?!?!?!

So today, Micah and I joined the neighbors for a Sunday chit chat session when to my surprise Melissa gave me an ultimatum!

This is exactly how it goes:

"Tanya, you have two choices! You can either go camping with us or be my sub for my primary class??!??"

What do I say? - - - - -> "Of course I will go camping!" I can not believe that just came out of my mouth!

I am a city girl - I prefer to have all the modern essential in life such as; running water, a toilet that flushes, food that stays fresh in the refrigerator and a bedroom that has four walls made with drywall and a window of glass!

Tanya + a tent + bugs + no running water + no flushing toilets = TROUBLE - BIG TROUBLE!

Camping is not something that I would think of as fun or entertaining. In fact, I do believe that I could count on both hands the amount of times that I have been camping.

For the sake of having to teach to primary children I am willing to rough it! Melissa's Uncle has a place up near Hyrum that we can use to camp out on during Memorial Weekend.

My only request when camping - running water, flushing toilets and a place to wash my hair out! Guess what!? This place has running water; its the river that runs through the property. There is also a toilet; did I mention that it has a tree growing through the?

Oh the things I will do for neighbors! Stay tuned - I am sure the best is yet to come!

Utah Youth Village Training - Complete!

Micah and I have completed our Utah Youth Village training and are now First Aid and CPR certified!

Now what? We are still waiting the results of our background check! Since Micah and I spent that 18 months in California helping with Jerry the process takes a bit longer then the usual three to four weeks!

However, we have been talking with our Consultant Casherie and they have a 17 year old named Sam that they would like to place in our home the first or second week of June. We have been given the approval from the director at UYV, but we are hopeful the results will be back before that.

We will keep you posted!

Update: Our training at Utah Youth Village

"Help one child ~ Help a generation to come."

Micah and I have completed the first five days of a nine day training period. We both have really enjoyed attending the classes and learning all that we have in those days.

UYV has an amazing program they use to aid in the treatment of the children they have. The techniques they have taught us will not only be useful working with the children within the program, but also when we have children of our own.

Micah and I have yet to decide what population of children we would like to work with, but we do not want to limit ourselves with one group: girl vs boy; 6-10 year old, or teenagers. So we are going to keep our options open - we have been asked to consider helping children who are sexual reactive*.

* Micah and I do not know all the details of sexually reactive children, but we have started to research the issue and found this:

Though there is no rigid profile of the sexually reactive child, there are some characteristics that are found most often in these children, and include:

• A history of sexual abuse.
• Acting out with children younger than themselves.
• Has a knowledge of sex that is beyond their age level. (Ex: Vibrators, dildos, condoms, etc).
• Simulates copulation with dolls, toys, other children, and even animals and adults.
• Appears to have little or no age-appropriate fear of strangers.
• Has no sense of boundaries, modesty, or privacy where their personal physical space is concerned.
• Often acts in a flirtatious or promiscuous ways that are not age-appropriate.
• Uses coercion, bribery, or force in what would appear to be otherwise normal sex play with same-age friends.
• Sexual contact with other children appears to be more adult in nature than age-appropriate.
• Demands secrecy, and makes threats of harm if the acts are disclosed.
• Lies or manipulates when confronted with knowledge of the sexual contact.
• Uses objects, violence, or weapons during a sex act.
• Touches children and adults inappropriately, and in public (breasts, vagina, groin, buttocks). Excessive masturbation and exposure.
• Sexualized themes during play and conversations, including drawing, painting, and playing with dolls and dollhouses.

Utah Youth Village is looking for concerned people who want to be foster parents. Earn an income working with kids in your home. We have a 40 year tradition of helping children throughout Utah. We are looking for motivated and caring couples to provide structured foster care in their homes.
Training and 24 hour support provided.

Happy Mothers Day!

Just wanted to share some photos of my mom for Mother's Day~ as you can see I only could find a few pictures! My mom and I both dislike having our pictures taken so it was hard to find one that is just the two of us :P Hope you have a great Mother's Day Mom! Love you, Me