I know that Ryan's days in his cell have been long and difficult...my days are difficult, but flying by at an extremely fast pace.  I feel somewhat guilty about this because he just wants to come home, and I feel like I should be doing more to get him out somehow.  Sage has a plan to release the Kraken if he isn't home by the Bundy reunion, but I am pretty sure that the Kraken is sea monster??? Not sure that will work.  Her plan is flawed, and I just want to go up there and say, "hey thanks for all of this,but we are done...going home."  I am just kinda tired of the whole thing.  We analyzed the Kraken plan, and a sea monster isn't going to work in Pahrump, and Oak brought up the biggest problem with the plan...the Kraken isn't even real.  That kinda took the wind out of our sails.
     So...we have had trek, I took a trip up to visit Ryan, Sage and Jerusha have had Volleyball camp, Jamie has had FFA camp, and Jamie actually made zone officer, and next week is another volleyball camp for Sage.  I know she desperately wants to make the JV team, and she is going to have to put in the work to do that.  She is doing just that.
     I wanted to fly to Portland, so that I could meet Lisa during the second week in June.  My biggest hesitation with this, was the fact that the kids would be gone to trek, and I would have no babysitter.  In a way that was ok, because on the last trip up, I recieved so many phone calls of fighting, that I had decided to leave an adult there anyway.  Not just someone to check in with them every once in awhile.  My other hesitation, was that the girls were going on trek, and when the kids come back from trek, the whole town shows up to welcome them home.  I asked the girls repeatedly how bad they would feel if they didn't have a parent there.  They told me over and over that they really didn't care.  I am sure that they did kind of feel bad...my kids are going to be so strong after all of this.  I was also really glad that Ryan had both hand written them a letter to read on the trail.  Both of the girls said that his letter made them cry.  I am so grateful for the kids to have the opportunity to grow and feel the spirit.  Ok...so back to my original thought...I needed a sitter.  Gary kept offering Kristiann, and as bad as I didn't want to make her drive the whole way to Nevada, just for me, I knew that I couldn't possibly leave my kids in better hands.  I would seriously not have one second of worry while I was gone, and the trips to Portland are wonderful and terrible all at the same time.  They are really emotionally exhausting.  Anyhow, I finally just came to the conclusion, that I needed her, and I knew she would be the person that would love on my heartbroken kids better than anyone.  She came, and she did a wonderful job.  The kids were sad when she left, and Moroni turned into a huge show off.  He ran back and forth and round and round the house to show how fast he could be.  And he is fast as all get out.
     My trip to Portland was nice..any visit I get with him is so wonderful, and yet I hate the glass in between us, and I just want to bring him home with me.  Lisa and I went by and waved at the windows of our husband's, and there were people out there who were protesting around the clock.  It was so good to see them and to thank them for all the good that they were doing.  We visited with them until pretty late, and that was a mistake because the streets of Portland were unusually bad that night.  There was some parade happening the next morning, and the streets were lined with tents and all kinds of interesting people.  Drugged up Zombie types are often seen on the streets up there and this night was especially bad.  We ended up finally running back to our hotel.  And of course, we had to get a donut at Voodoo Donuts....that is a given.  We also learned how to use their public transit system, which saved us a ton in a rental car expense.  It was also a nice little ride, and I saw first hand how many homeless people there are up there.  They live under the bridges and everywhere up there.  I feel way bad for all of them.  I am so grateful that I am blessed with a home and family.  I hope that all of them end up out of their difficult situations soon.
     All in all a great a visit, and some crappy flights back and forth.  I really struggle with flying.  Anyhow, but to fly that far in 2 hrs is a huge blessing too.
     My Dad also had back surgery that week.  I drove up so that I could be with my mom while he was getting operated on.  He came out feeling so much better.  He had been in pain for so long.  He was so grateful.  When the nurse asked if he needed anything, or if he had any complaints, I told her that he hadn't liked the food very much during his last hospital stay.  When she asked him about it, he told her that it was worse than leftovers from the Donner Party....I was glad that he still had his sense of humor.
     After all of my crazy trips, I was grateful to be home.  I came back to the same old shenanigans.  And I dealt with some funny stuff before the trip too.  I had purchased camelbacks for the girls for trek.  According to their leaders, the kids that could drink easily out of camelbacks usually didn't dehydrate.  I was kinda annoyed one night when Wazz came and got in bed with me with a camelback on.  I mean, why is that necessary?  She kept loudly gulping from it, until I got kinda annoyed, and told her that if she wanted to sip out of a camel back all night, then she was going to have sleep in her own bed.  She agreed with that, and went to bed...I am grateful that water was so convenient for Wazz that night.
     We have also had some difficult times at shrsh.  Dill wanted to play a loud game of peek-a-boo on one Sunday, and I caught Oak running back and forth on another Sunday.  Last Sunday was Father's day...Dill ended up in the hall again.  The other ward was serving pie to the Dad's in Priesthood.  Ivona was in the kitchen, and served up Mo and Dill a huge plate of all kinds of pie.  Then, all of the kids ended up with candybars that were being served to the Dad's in our ward.  How does that even work when they aren't even Dad's?  Needless to say that Mo and Dill had a nice pie face for awhile.  Mo looked like he had bright red lipstick on because of his berry pie.
     Dill has also had a bad habit of scribbling all over everything lately.  EVERYTHING.  Mo woke up one morning and the whole side of his face and body had been scribbled on by the Dill because he had slept in longer than her.  She had also gone downstairs and gotten in to the maple syrup.  When I went to get her, she was literally stuck in a pool of syrup on the table cloth.
     Another night, a kind family brought us a pan full of enchiladas, and some salsa.  She warned me that the salsa was a bit on the hot side when she was leaving, but I was so grateful for the dinner.  I had driven Jazz to Cedar and back that day for an orthodontist appointment, and it was  a huge blessing.  Anyhow, Dill loves chips and salsa.  She went to town on the salsa, and usually she just dips the chip and sucks the salsa off of it.  This salsa was hot, and she just couldn't figure that out.  She kept on eating it and whimpering at the heat of it.  Her face was beet red, and tears were rolling down her cheeks, but she wouldn't stop.  I finally filled her bowl with some milder stuff, and that seemed to go better for her....my goodness little Dill....pace yourself with the salsa!!
     Mo has made a nice imaginary friend named Viter...he is from a lost city, and he is eight and looks like his cousin Braxton.  I hope that Viter will keep Mo out of trouble, because trouble seems to find my Mo boy at times.  He also demanded a dry drink of water the other morning.  I wasn't sure how to help him with that one...none of the wet drinks that I gave him would do.
     Margaret and Lily showed up on Wednesday, and told me that I had the day to do whatever I wanted to do.  I went to the Vegas temple, and I felt so good after being in there.  I just really feel like everything is going to turn out ok.  I just need to have faith and patience.