This past week I was able to go to Scout Camp with Brad and Jake.  However, when I got back home and went to work, I ran over my phone at work with the forklift and smashed it.  The crappy part is that it had a lot of pictures on there that will now be forever gone.  Jake was only 11 this year but since his 12th birthday is coming up so soon, we were allowed to let him go with the group.  I'm glad he was able to.  The group went to Camp Maple Dell down in Payson and they had a great time.  I was able to go on Monday and Tuesday to spend a couple days with them.  It is so good to just be there and try to be a part of their lives.  Yesterday, after Brad and Jake got home from camp, I came home after work.  I came in and saw both of them sacked out on the couches.  It was a pretty great scene.  Both of them exhausted after a great week away from home.

After getting home from Scout Camp, I had a doctor's visit the next day.  They took some blood tests and I finally got an answer as to why I am having some of the troubles that I have been experiencing.  I have two types of anemia.  I have Iron-deficiency anemia and anemia due to a low hematocrit count. They told me that I should be in a 42-52 count range and I was at 36.  I have had symptoms of fatigue, tiredness, low energy levels, shortness of breath, lack of oxygen/breathing, poor skin coloring and headaches.  It has been pretty frustrating to experience because I know I should be able to do so much more than my body is allowing me to do.  I have felt that I have been okay with my fitness but have been unable to perform.  As soon as a I put forth any type of effort, my body just seems to shut down.  

Since my last logged in post, I have done 4 events.  I did the St. George Half Ironman, Wasatch Ragnar, Lake Echo Olympic Triathlon and the Hotter than Heck Century Ride.  I will try to write something about those in the next few posts.  I have one more scheduled event this year in September which will be the Bear Lake Half.  I think this year I was trying to do something a little different than just run events.  It has been fun to get off the knees and brake up the monotonous routine.

My kids are cuter than ever and growing up so fast.  The other day, both Eli and Ava were climbing all over Nichole.  Nichole and I had to say to each other that these were the great moments, because as they get older they won't want to be with mom and dad anymore.

Ethan worked with me for about a month.  He lasted a month and I thought that was pretty good.  He was excited at first because I think he was excited about earning a little bit more per hour than what he was earning at Papa Murphy's.  He worked part time at first with us at the shop but then he started working longer hours with me a little bit out in the field.  Well, there were three days in a row that we worked over 10 hours each day and I think that brought him to the breaking point.  He was done at that point.  I tried to make it fun, but it is hard to make work "fun" sometimes.  I guess that's why they call it "work."  I told him not to feel bad because I did the stone work 1 day before my mission and decided that kind of work was definitely not for me.  It's funny how things turn out.  I was glad Ethan made it a month.  I only made it 1 day when I was his age.  He's been looking for a job ever since without much success.  He's put in his application at numerous places with no response.

Ava has spent a lot of time playing this summer.  After learning how to ride her bike, she has ridden her tires out on the bike.  Yesterday, I was out in the yard doing some yard work and she had some friends over at the house.  I was fixing a couple of her friend's bikes and was looking at Ava's.  I asked her why she wasn't riding her bike and she told me that the tube had a huge hole in it.  Well, as I looked at it, I realized she had ridden the tires until the treads were all gone.  She loves riding her bike and it has allowed her to have a newfound confidence and freedom.  She rides all over the place with Hope and Zaiah and at times with some other friends.

Eli gets fixated on one thing.  It used to be basketball playing, then watching football games that had been recorded and not lately it has been to watch "Frozen".  He sings at the top of his little voice.  I once sat down with him the other day to watch it since I had not seen it yet.  When he started singing I would look at him.  As soon as I would look at him while he yelping out the song, he would look at me and say in his sassy voice, "Dad, no."  He did not want me to look at him at all while he was singing.  It was so cute.

Jake is still pretty cool.  Yesterday, he was walking around in his cool pants and shirts attire with a necklace.  These were long pants and and a long sleeved t-shirt.  Everyone else in the family are all wearing shorts and practically nothing.  I asked him if he was hot, and he said yes.  But, he was stylish.  He is very fashionable

Brad has been pretty sickly lately.  He's had mono twice, pneumonia, c-diff, and seems to always get sick.  A couple weeks ago when we were at Disneyland, he was sick almost the whole time.  He had to sit in the front seat of the car both there and back.