Summer Sagas

I am a blogging madwoman!  My apologies for the cluster of posts. I am bound and determined to conquer this beast.

Random photo dump.  Papa Kay, Zion loves you.  And from the looks of your smile, you might like him the slightest bit as well.

So yeah, that first picture has Easter decorations in it.  And this one was taken July 17th.  Just roll with it.  This is the watercolor Talia painted for her violin teacher David Langr to give to him at her Senior recital.  This gal has so many talents!

Mr. Langr has been incredibly supportive of Talia over the years.  We are so very grateful for the impact he has had on her life, both musically and beyond.

Rapt audience.

Well-done, Talia Lily!  You are such a beautiful musician.  I look forward to hearing you play with a BYU orchestra next semester.  (It didn't work with her schedule this semester.)

Speaking of performances, Anders and Eila participated in Theater camp at the U this summer.  Their class performance of "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" was brilliant!  Anders is the cheese head.  

Continuing the music trend, Zion likes to hang out at my feet when I play piano.  He has strong feelings and barks if I play too energetically.

This summer we tried to share some Salt Lake highlights with NomiAnn and Papa Kay as they faced the unenviable task of house-hunting.  I think the Conference Center Rooftop Concert Series was a win.

The concert series at Brigham Park was pretty great too.  Here we are listening to Ryan Shupe Looper.

I even ran into my mission companion Holly!  Sisters Andrus and Anderson--we confused everyone.

Darn tummy aches.

Here's a cozy reading nook that Annika made.

Unfortunately a mama raccoon and her babies decided that our rafters were cozy too.  Nothing like waking up to scritching and scratching in your walls in the middle of the night. Don't even ask how much the quote to fix it.  In the end we used a predatorial scent to coax them out, then patched the soffit ourselves. 

We enjoyed having Pickles visit this summer.  When the two dogs are together, we never have to worry about exercising them because they run circles until they are exhausted.

When things get too wild...

Annika also got new glasses this summer.  She's supposed to wear them all the time, but so far no luck.  She's decided they make the world look weird and outright refuses.  Let me know if you have any suggestions.  Unlike her neurolenses, these glasses have a very small corrective prescription.

This summer we visited the Butterfly Biosphere at Thanksgiving Point, courtesy of my employer.  (I have been working in pediatric home care since May.)

It was sad to see Annika wither after a little bit, but ice cream helped her perk up some.  By the way, I don't know if I've blogged it, but Annika is feeling SO MUCH BETTER these days.  Her nausea and stomach pain have basically disappeared.  I don't know if it's due to changes in medication or if she finally got rid of a bug that lingered forever, but either way we are so delighted to have our happy gal back.

Here she is hanging with her friends Atticus and Olive at the zoo.

Last but not least, here I am "disseminating" my final project for my final class for my Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Utah.  I spent 70 hours researching music therapy in the pediatric cardiology population, whether interviewing music therapists, talking to parents, learning about heartbeat recordings, or looking at published studies.  I had to document sharing my project, so here I am with Krystle, the cardiac social worker at Primary Children's.

Which means, hey!  I graduated again.  I can now sign my name as Kara Wheeler, BSN.   Definitely a lot of work for a few little initials.

I was too cheap to invest in regalia, so no pomp and circumstance for me.  Just a few extra wrinkles and bags around my eyes as proof.  End of celebration, on to work.