July was a busy month!!! It started with getting all the particulars from the accident settled. On July 3rd I got a call from the other guy asking for all our information because he was allegedly injured and wanted our insurance company to pay for all his medical bills. He also wanted to get his van out of impound. Apparently, it had to be towed because it was leaking fluid. I told him to call his insurance company and they would handle everything for him. He got really agitated, but I stayed calm and insisted he follow the proper procedure for this. After I hung up with him I immediately called our insurance company to report the weird phone call. Steve, the one assigned to our case, told me I had done the right thing and he would look further into the situation. We talked numbers and got the towing set up. Jeremy and I cleaned out the car, went to the bank and got him a travel credit card to use in Brazil, got his passport photo taken and then came home to clean the house so it would be ready when Sunny and Bradden arrived later that night. WHEW!!!!
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| Jeremy's passport photo. He looks so grown up. |
July 4th we spent the morning at the pool with Sunny, Bradden and the kids. That afternoon the car was towed away. Jeremy was really upset watching his source of freedom for the last year and change ride off into the sunset (so to speak). We put up the hammocks in the backyard and took turns chilling until dinner. The Tufts came and joined us for a cookout, s'mores and fireworks. We set up the slack line and it was fun to watch the kids give it a try.
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| We filled some water balloons and the kids had a water balloon fight. |
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| Callie, Ellie and Olivia loving the slack line. |
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| Ellie is helping Callie stay up. Callie, a natural gymnast, really enjoyed this new adventure. She was good at it as well. No surprises there. |
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| Sunny even got in on the action as well. |
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| Roasting S'mores. |
That night we set off a bunch of fireworks before falling into bed absolutely exhausted.
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| Watching fireworks in front of our house. |
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| The neighbors in the cul-de-sac were also setting off fireworks of their own. |
July 5th we were up bright and early. I drove Nick and Mary to trek down in South Carolina (it sounds far, but it was only a 25 minute drive). The area the stake had chosen for the trek this year was really pretty. Nick was excited to find out he that Zach and AnnaMae Connell were his Pa and Ma for the next three days. They are both youth leaders in our ward and the kids LOVE them.
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| Nick all dressed and ready to go to trek. |
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| Mary, Bishop Beckworth and Nick at the trek site. |
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| More friends from our youth group - from left to right - Ben, Carson, Brian, Ravyn, Mary and Nick. |
I left Nick in good hands and returned home to celebrate Sunny's birthday. She wanted to have a spa treatment and took Naomi with her. This was Sunny's way of saying thank you in advance for Naomi watching the kids while she and Bradden when to a family wedding in Virginia. That night we went to an adult-only dinner and then to do some shopping for Sunny for her birthday. We picked out some really pretty dresses for her.
July 6th I took Jeremy to the doctor to have his knee checked out. It was still swollen and sore from his fall in the river on our Utah trip. The doctor said it was just tendonitis and gave Jeremy some anti-inflammatory meds to help it heal. Dr. Kevin was sure it would be feeling better in no time if Jeremy took the meds regularly for one week.
After the doctor's appointment, we went to UNCC and turned in all the paper work for his passport. By the time we got home everyone was up and ready to go to the pool for a little bit. Once we were pooled out we headed back home to watch Brazil play Belgium in the World Cup. Belgium won which was a huge shock. Brazil has always done so well in the past. The girls wanted to play a game so we pulled out Jenga and played for a bit. Olivia and Maddie decided we needed to up the stakes. If you pulled out the piece that sent the tower toppling you had to complete a dare - which was usually a spanking machine. It made the game more fun. That night the boys went to a movie and the girls had a fun night at the house playing games.
July 7th, Sunny and Bradden left early so they could get to their wedding on time. Hyrum and Steve went to South Carolina to pick up Nick. Naomi, the girls and I went to the park and played for a bit before I had to take Jeremy to work. We watched the Croatia vs. Russia game and my team, Croatia, won!!! We had pizza for dinner, picked up Jeremy from work, watched a movie and headed to bed. They slept a lot better than I thought they would.
The next day at church Nick was asked to give a talk about his experience with Youth Conference. With everything that was going on at our house I hadn't had time to really find out what they did. Hearing Nick talk about his time at trek was fun and enlightening. He had a great time and learned a lot about working as a family and as a group. Below are some of the pictures I found on the stake website from trek.
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| Nick and his family during some down time. |
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| My handsome boy walking with his family. |
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| Ma and Pa Connell and their family hiking up a rather large hill. |
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| The whole youth crew. |
Hyrum, Olivia and Maddie all enjoyed their "new" primary, but were ready to go home by the end of the three hours. Sunny and Bradden got back about two. Because they had to get back to Knoxville that night we were only able to visit for a short time before they had to leave. We had a really fun visit with them.
July 9th I took Nick to Dr. Higgins for his sports physical so he can try out for cross country in August. We ran a bunch of errands on our way home from the doctor. I spent the rest of the day getting things done around the house (baking bread, etc) and then took Nick to his basketball camp that night.
July 10th I went to the mall with Naomi and her friend, Ari. They wanted to go alone, but that was not going to happen. Concord Mills Mall is one of the top spots on the East coast for sex trafficking and that is NOT going to happen on my watch. They were not happy that Mom was tagging along but I didn't care. I stayed back 40-50 feet but kept them in sight the whole time. It paid off. At one point I noticed a gentleman that was in every store they visited. What tipped me off was when they went into Hot Topic, which is a store for teens, he sat down outside the store and watched them. At this point I stopped following at a distance. I went right up to the girls and started talking to them. I then looked pointedly at the guy and stood at the entrance of the store. He got up and walked off. I reported the behavior to the next mall cop I was. After that, Naomi and Ari did not complain one bit that I was with them. SCARY!!!
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| Naomi and Ari visiting the fish at Bass Pro Shop |
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| This is the coolest window. It is a bubble that extends into the tank about two feet. You feel like you are in the tank. |
Back at home Jeremy and I worked on more stuff for his VISA. He had to use Google translate to help him fill in the information because the application was in Portuguese. I also made several phone calls to Utah to find out how to get a copy of his birth certificate and then how to get it apostilled. This is quite a process.
That night the YW and the YM each had their own pool parties which meant me driving the kids to two different locations for two different parties.
July 11th, after cross country Nick cleaned his room. It was becoming a health hazard and needed to be addressed ASAP. You couldn't see the floor and he was having a hard time finding anything. We had to stop to clean out the hair from around the brush. In my haste to get it done I stabbed myself with the seam ripper I was using to cut the hair that was wound around the brush. It went all the way in and I was worried I had hit a tendon or something else. I was relieved to be able to move my thumb without any problem, but then it started to really bleed. I cleaned it out and performed some pretty good first aid (if I do say so myself) before the awful realization that my tetanus shot wasn't current. This was a one-inch deep puncture wound! I called the doctor and got an appointment later that same day to have it looked at. Yup! I needed a booster shot. While we were at it I got my flu shot out of the way. On a happier note, Croatia won again!!! We also found the coat Jeremy would need for his mission and it was on sale!! The day wasn't a total loss.
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| The bruise covered the whole pad of my hand. DO NOT use a seam ripper to clean the barrel on your vacuum. It is not worth the pain. |
July 12th, we followed the advice of a police friend of ours and hired a lawyer to go to court for Jeremy in regards to the ticket he received for the accident. Jeremy felt like a grown up after that experience. I had him talk to the lawyer and get everything set up.
July 13th Nick volunteered at the middle school to get his service hours for the year. While Nick was at the school, Naomi, Jeremy and I went downtown to get his fingerprints done for the FBI background check which was part of the Visa process.
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| Getting printed. |
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| Outside the fingerprinting office there was a plaza with large versions of games to play. Jeremy and Naomi had a great time playing Connect 4. |
July 14th, Zach Atwell was in town visiting and came to spend the day with us. He and Nick hadn't seen each other for a couple of years. They had a great time catching up.
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| Nick and Zach back in first grade. |
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| They were inseparable. |
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| All grown up. |
While Nick and Zach hung out at the house, I took Naomi to Bella's house for the day. Jeremy was busy at work. Steve and I took advantage of the time to get the trim put up in the bathroom. My beach bathroom is finally coming together. It may take several months to get it all done, but it will be worth it.
That night I took Nick to Devon French's 16th birthday party. Her family had reserved their church. They had a catered dinner and a DJ. Nick and his friends had a good time dancing and being silly. I loved seeing all the kids dressed up for the affair.
July 15th Croatia played France in the semi-finals for the World Cup. They eventually lost (4-2) after a noble fight.
July 16th Naomi asked if she could dye her hair green and blue. I told her we would have to check with her dad. We were both rather surprised when he said yes. She wanted to go to the mall immediately and pick out the colors. I watched several YouTube videos on how to do it and then we started this grand new adventure. It turned out rather well and the colors she chose were really pretty.
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| The dye is in. Now we have to let it set for a bit. |
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| Hoagie Head! |
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| Several hours later this is what it looked like. |
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| She LOVES it. |
That night, Steve and Nick met with Marty to have him sign all the final stuff for Nick's Eagle paperwork process. Nick is so excited to be this close to done.
July 17th, Jeremy and I went to Bank of America and had their notary sign all the paperwork that needed to be sent to the state of North Carolina for the apostille process. We then took it to the post office to mail to Raleigh so they could work their legal magic. This visa stuff if not for the faint of heart.
July 18th - NICK'S EAGLE PAPER WORK IS IN!!!!
July 19th, I took Jeremy to the eye doctor to get a second pair of eye glasses. His mission papers suggested having two pair, just in case. I also had Dr. Best give us a copy of Jeremy's prescription just in case Jeremy needs to have another pair made while in Brazil.
Our friends, The Lovelands, moved away from us and were leaving their lawn mower. Nick asked if he could have it to dissect and put back together.
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| Nick is in his happy place - working on an engine. |
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| He learned a lot about how an engine really works through this experiment. |
Meanwhile, Jeremy had been doing some on-line shopping for items he would need on his mission. He was so excited when his bag arrived. He and Steve spent hours trying to find the "just-right" bag. It finally arrived and Jeremy loves it.
July 21st we drove to Asheville for Kev and Jo's wedding. We helped get things together at the house they had rented and then took the chartered bus to the wedding site. They were getting married at the same spot where they went on their first real date. It was gorgeous. The wedding was everything both of them wanted and it was perfect.
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| Naomi thinking by the river. Steve couldn't resist the picture moment. |
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| My handsome boy |
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| Waiting for the bride to arrive. |
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| Naomi found her perfect waiting spot. |
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| Nick enjoying a quiet moment. |
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| Jo handing her daughter the bouquet. |
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| FINALLY becoming Mr. and Mrs. Brawley |
Back at the reception, we helped get everything ready and going. The caterers were there putting out the food and we helped put the finishing touches on the drinks. Nick did not know that the drinks we were making had alcohol in them. He thought they were just iced tea. We caught him before he drank the full cup. We stayed until about 9 p.m. and then headed home to get ready to leave for the beach the next morning.
