The ancient Romans called the hottest days of summer "dies caniculares" or "dog days." The name came about because they associated the hottest days of summer with the star, Sirius. Sirius was also known as the "Dog Star" because it was the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major.
-- Google Search
Matt bought a pool to help keep cool during these hot days and to help entertain the kids throughout the days of chemo. It has been well worth the money! The kids beg to get in the pool and they are in it for close to 2 hours each time. Our kids must be part fish.
On July 16th, my mom offered to take our kids to Gunnison for a couple days. Just to give me a bit of a rest. I was healing from Chemo and starting to feel well enough to watch them myself, but she insisted. during those 2 days, I wasn't sure what to do with myself. I ran errands all of Tuesday - mailed my hair to locks of love, visited the bank, picked up a do-terra order, went to DI, etc. I was done in less than 2 hours. With two kids in tow, those things would have taken me all day!
On Wed., July 18, Mom brought the kids back home and Auntie Kim came for a short visit. We went to the Asian Buffet for lunch and had a good time. Laynie was acting all out of sorts to get attention, but 1/2 way through Aunt Kim's visit, she came to her senses and said, "I think I DO like Aunt Kim." Then she became Auntie Kim's little side kick for the rest of the afternoon.
On July 14th, one of our chickens layed the first egg!
Gavin got to go to a dinosaur party and he won the excavation set. He brought it home and let Laynie have a go at excavating for semi-precious stones. She found a rose quartz and threw a bit of a fit because it wasn't pink enough for her liking.
This is our window well, covered with a grate. And one of our chickens (Elinore) insists on falling down in there each day to lay her egg then squawking to be let out. We ended up taking the grate off for a time so she can fly herself out of there.
On July 24th, we went to Mayfield for their town's Pioneer Day celebration. I had NEVER been before, and I feel like I really missed out my whole childhood because of this! Mayfield had a fun little parade then a carnival at the park. Gavin and Laynie played a few games and got a snow cone then we all headed up the mountain to cool down. We went to Emery Reservoir. My parents and all three brothers were there along with 6 kids. Tyler let Matt and me ride up on his 4-wheeler. Tyler helped Gavin reel in a fish. We ate lunch then went to Blue Lake and down the mountain again. It was a nice day.
It was also the last day of me having hair. It was falling out pretty badly by this point, and I didn't want to clog the drain when I got home and showered so at 11pm, Matt buzzed it all off. I was surprisingly okay with it. Only shed a little tear. I think I was mentally prepared for it. Mom tells me I look like one of the witches from Roald Dahl's book The Witches.
Pretty accurate.
My first thought was that I looked like a Holocaust victim in a concentration camp. Matt told me I now looked liked my older brother, Brian. When the kids woke up the next day, they didn't even seem to care that my hair was gone. Laynie told me that if I ate a certain "rainbow candy" (candy drops for nausea) it would grow back that day. I sucked on one just to appease her.
And here she is as a "princess" - high heels and towel tied around her, complete with a dragonfly tattoo. She was feeling quite pretty at the moment.
