Summer Updates

Just wanted to catch up on some of the activities of the summer. It seems that time flies by so fast and I don't always get the blog updated. We are doing well... Dan is actively pursuing his therapy and travels to SLC 2-3 times a week. He has been going to a therapy center that specializes in spinal cord injuries (Neuroworx http://www.neuroworx.org). He has now started going to LDS Hospital for occupational therapy... he also got a gym pass at a local gym that he works out at on the days that he is not going to Salt Lake City. He is truly "giving it his all..."

We have had some fun this summer -- here is Dan on his bike up Provo canyon. Dan rode up the canyon and met Angie and I (we threw our bikes in a trailer and rode up the canyon - we only wanted to ride DOWN the canyon and we weren't as energetic as Dan. We did bring some food and had a nice picnic in the canyon park before we made the trek down the mountain...


This canyon is very close to our home... in just a matter of minutes we can enjoy beautiful scenery like this! There is a bike trail that is very close to our house that you can bike up the canyon, next to the Provo river... very nice to get a quick get-away!



Here is Dan with his brother, Bill at Lagoon (a local amusement park). We went there for a family get together in August... (do they look like twins or what?!)



Jeff and Riley enjoying an exciting ride...



Jeff and Cody (cousin) on the Sky Coaster ride... this was quite the thrill!



This is a very high ride where they harness you up and lift you up between two tall metal towers. They then drop you and you swing down and back up -- a little too much adrenalin rush for me!




Angie, Mckayla (friend) and Keyanee (cousin) get suited up to ride on the sky coaster!


Back to earth safe and sound after the BIG ride...!



Dan gets LOST....
(ok - so maybe we left him... oops!)

This is my excuse... when my kids are with me, I get the opportunity to relax a little as they help push Dan about on the wheelchair. Well, we decided to go ride the "Rattlesnake Rapids" ride, a very fun river rafting simulation.. and I (being the wise woman that I am...) brought rain ponchos for everyone to wear on this ride. But no, everyone was too macho to have a rain poncho, so I was the only chicken of the bunch. I got to carry all of the cell phones under my poncho (apparently the group was all smart enough to let me protect their phones..!).

Well, this is what Dan looked like after a couple of times through on the ride...
This is what you call "See Dan Drenched!"


We all had a good laugh and then decided to walk around to the other side of the park for some more adventures. After we had almost reached our destination... I said "where is Dan?!" I thought that one of the boys was pushing his wheelchair, but he was not with the crowd. We had all walked off and left him! (our bad...) The worst part was that I still had his cell phone from the river rafting trip, and so he couldn't even call us and tell us how stupid we were! I hurried back to see if I could find him.. and at the same time, called Jeff and he came from another direction. Jeff found him about where we had left him... just smiling like "I wondered how long it would take you guys to wake up... duh!" We are grateful that Dan gets some "watching over and protection from Above" when we are such idiots!

Next story.... Bear Lake!
Bear Lake is a beautiful lake that is about 2 1/2 hours from our home. We were fortunate enough to get to go up there this summer and spend a couple of days relaxing... one day we went out on the lake and rented a wave runner to have some fun on. Here is Dan and Angie on the wave runner...



The funny part of the story was getting Dan out to the wave runner and up on it... it was just Angie and I, so I walked with him out to the water. We then proceeded to push and pull to get him up on the wave runner. I decided to run back to the shore to get the camera (can't miss this photo opportunity!) and so I jumped off the one side. Apparently.... Dan was not holding on and the rock of the wave runner caused by my sudden departure sent him flying into the water. It was kind of like a catapult effect... off goes LaNae on one side and there goes Dan off the other side! Luckily, Angie was still there on that side and caught her father in her arms! So... back to square one... tug and pull and get him back up on the water craft! (The things we do for a fun time... !)

It was worth it though... we got to "See Dan DRIVE" as he drove me all around the lake for a ride. It was fun, and when we got back, Dan said "I'm going to get me one of these..."

Here is Angie and her friend Kika enjoying the wave runner!



Dan "chillin" in the lake...


The water is really not very deep here....


Walking back to shore after our fun day of adventure!


Now we are back in the grind of daily living... job, therapy, etc. It was nice to have a few bright spots this summer to "recharge our batteries" and help us keep on keepin' on!