Summer break is a wrap. We went to Highland Glen and caught bluegill, played at a few parks, took a nature walk up American Fork Canyon, and went on a longer trip to Mirror Lake (like actually Mirror Lake, not a stop along the Mirror Lake Highway). We also visited the Museum of Utah (I recommend visiting, and you can combine it with the state capitol and Pioneer Memorial Museum), and had a couple more visits to Thanksgiving Point and Lagoon. Football season has started again for Curtis, and Henry has joined a scout troop. Zack had a birthday and took his friends to the pool.

The kids have started school again (except for Evie, who will start preschool in a few weeks). We are happy to be back in a routine; all my kids like school pretty well.

Now there’s been some other dramatic news. Curtis was fishing off the deck, checking his setup. Henry walked by, grabbed the line, Curtis yanked on it, and in a freak accident, the giant weight on it hit Henry in the eyeball. It caused quite a bit of damage and has resulted in trips to the ER and the ophthalmologist.

Joe has also been dealing with a herniated disc in his neck since last November. It’s caused some pretty bad pain and numbness. It’s sometimes gotten better, but never all the way, and symptoms come back worse. So he’s going to have surgery to have a disc replacement in a couple of weeks.

Also, something I’ve never mentioned is I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer back in May. I had surgery to remove my thyroid in June (a week before our vacation), and have been recovering from that and adjusting to thyroid medication. I’ve been tired, but I’ve been doing okay. I’m starting to feel pretty normal again. The surgery went well, and potentially got all the cancer. I’ll have radioactive iodine treatment later next month to prevent recurrence.

To sum it all up: we have a good chance of reaching our out-of-pocket maximum for our health insurance this year. Hopefully we are all healthy and happy soon, and we are surviving and doing okay despite it all.