Jantzen's transition from Wilderness

BEFORE HAIRCUT

AFTER HAIRCUT

Well, my promise to show pictures of clean people has already been broken. We are still unshowered, without makeup and in the wilderness. Must be summer's theme. I've spent the last few days in the Wilderness with Jantzen and Boyd, getting Jantz transitioned to a therapeutic boarding school in Idaho.

Jantz has been living in the wilderness for 2 full months. He's cooked beans and rice over a fire, slept under the stars with a sleeping bag and a tarp, eaten with a wooden spoon, built fires by rubbing sticks together and bathed with nothing but a canteen and a bandana. He learned so much while he was there and it was wonderful to see him in a leadership capacity with the other 8 boys. They had Boyd and I come and spent a full day and night with him so we would understand his world. One day was enough! I have gained a lot of respect for those boys.

We took him straight from Wilderness to a shower (still didn't get the stink off!), and then to a short family gathering in the park before we headed to the airport. It was great to see and feel the old Jantzen again, but hard to say goodbye again so soon knowing we won't see him until Christmas.

He missed his plane connection despite the airlines assurance they would hold the plane, and he ended up in a 5 Star hotel with fresh flowers, marble jacuzzi tub and King size bedroom with gold walls instead of a bunk bed in his new boarding school. How's that for a first night out of the wilderness? Jantzen was thrilled.

Today he lands in Idaho where he'll rotate stays between that location and Costa Rica over the next year. Thanks to all of you for your prayers and help with this transition. We love you for it! It has been an extraordinarily tough year.

Fun in the Outdoors

I know, I know. I'm a dork. Nothing but fishing pictures. I'm so one-dimensional. But later this week I'll be posting our family trek photos and branching out a bit. I had to show these great photos of my hiking trip with my friend Marilyn Clark, and my fishing trip with Jazzy. I'm trying to teach her to flyfish. She's got an AWESOME cast. The big fish she's holding tried to "cop a feel" and jumped down my shirt when I was getting the hook out. I'm pretty sure he went back and told his buddies about it. We laughed pretty hard. Jazzy was trying to put her game face on everytime she touched the fish. What fun.

Marilyn and I are trying to climb to Horsetail falls twice a week in our quest to be in shape. There isn't a prettier place to be and a better person to be with.

And speaking of friends, my dear friend Fritzie and her husband Marco are coming to see me and go fishing. I can hardly wait to spend time with them. Fritzie knows everything about everything and has been a wonderful mentor to me. They both make me laugh and heaven knows we need a good laugh!!

Jantzen is transitioning to a new school next week where he will be for one year. We are nervous, but happy a decision has been made. I really think he will like it and he'll blossom there. It's a working home environment where the kids get jobs, have chores at home, school, field trips, and a 4 month stay in Costa Rica, along with therapy. This feels right.

The girls are doing great. Busy with girls camps, tennis tourney's and EFY's. How does the summer go by so quickly? Hopefully August will go slower than July.

My pledge to you bloggers: I'll stop using photos where I have no makeup on and I've just hiked a mountain. Let's shoot for something more refined where a shower has actually been taken prior to the photo shoot.

Tight Lines from Colorado

Kevin and I just returned from one full week of ectasy! In a week's time, we hiked 25miles, caught over one hundred fish, golfed 36 holes (18 with 2 balls each) and logged 1200 miles on the car. We spanned Colorado's best fishing and hiking with all day treks to Rocky Mountain Park where we fished glacier lakes and waterfalls, and we hiked into high mountain rivers braving downpours (OK, I didn't brave it very well but Kevin didn't care how wet he got) to fish in out of the way hidden treasures. We'd get down the mountain each night in time for dinner and then crashed til morning so we could do it all again.

I dragged Kevin to Meeker, one of my favorite towns, where we fished the White River and ended up staying LONG past our allotted time. You know the fishing rule...you stay until they stop biting. We found the "magic fly" and caught one every single cast at dusk. It was fishing NIRVANA. But the best fish were close to home in our own secret spot on the way home from Ephraim. We've never caught so many big ones in a day.

We laughed until our stomachs hurt and remembered this week how much fun it can be to put the cell phones away for a week and focus on exploring the great outdoors.

We came home to a 92 degree house and a $2,000 air conditioning repair bill. Isn't that just how life goes sometime?

The Highlights and Lowlights

Here is the family and an update of the favorite times and moments...and a few not so great moments we've shared. Just a reminder that despite the challenges, there is so much to be grateful for!

Zac's New Job and the Zoo Kids

Here are pics of the zoo just as we got there...and coincidentally, just as my batteries on my camera died.

Zac got a new job at the Flying A Ranch in Wyoming. I think this is the perfect job for him. Let me rephrase. I think this is the perfect job for me. He works on a flyfishing and horseback riding ranch that only allows 14 guests at a time. He is the assistant chef. Fantastic job for him! He says he can finally reach his goal in life---learn to ride a horse bareback while shooting a bow and arrow. Who knew? He lives with two 60 year old ladies, and a bunch of cowboys, and a bear. The bear sneaks into the garage on hot summer days so they have a furry companion. There is no internet, cell phone or surrounding night life. Just the peaceful breeze through the trees and the sound of fish sipping on the ponds at dusk. Lucky-duck.

The newest summer news

Boyd and I were able to see Jantzen this Tuesday. We drove about 3 1/2 hours up to this remote spot in the mountains and then walked into camp, much to Jantzen's surprise. I was scanning the camp to find him and had looked past this guy with a beard and mustache that I thought was one of the group leaders. Then I saw a glint of recognition in his eyes and looked back and it was Jantzen! Long, curly hair and a beard and mustache, and filthy dirty! He immediately started weeping to see us and gave us the longest hug I can ever remember. We spent all afternoon in therapy sessions and had a very productive time. It was hard to say goodbye. He's in with a very diverse bunch of kids. One is a pretty hard kid with a long criminal record, one is an overweight, red headed freckled kid from back East, and there is a new kid that couldn't talk to anyone yet that looked like he was somewhere in between. They've hiked to about every peak on the mountain. They eat oatmeal and fresh vegetables every day. Jantzen says peppers and onions never tasted so good. He is still working on his own issues, but it seems to be going well.

Kev is FINALLY over his pneumonia and can play again. It's a good thing! I told him I was ready for a mail-order husband if he didn't get better soon. He's been golfing at the Thanksgiving Point tournaments--a perk of the job which he loves.

The girls are having a great summer. The best investment I ever made was the $19.99 Slip and Slide. They play on it all day long. Each week, we go on a "field trip"--last week it was Hogle Zoo.

Zac is back and looking for a job. He wanted to work here, but is finding he can make more if his lodging is paid for and he works in a fishing or camping lodge in Montana or Colorado. We'll see what happens.

Ah yes....and the best news for last. Yesterday I had a 41 fish day! Went to my secret spot and knocked em dead. I slept like a baby with dreams of tight lines.

Update on Jantzen

We just got our first letters and pictures from Jantzen. It sounds like he is getting stretched a lot. He has a tarp, a rope, some sticks for a tent. They carved their own utensils out of wood, and he is learning to create a fire by rubbing sticks together. The counselors said it has snowed and rained a lot this past week. A change in warmer weather this week will be welcome. He'll get two new boys joining him this week. After a whole week alone with his thoughts, this will be welcome. He is still not real comfortable being there and is begging to come home, but they tell us this is normal. He'll probably need a few more weeks before he'll realize he needs to settle in and start working the process.

We are looking into next steps for him. Have any of you ever heard of the Hyde School? Would love input if any of you have heard of this school.

Kevin is still healing from his long bout with pneumonia. We are hoping he's healed enough to still go on Trek in two weeks so we can be a "Ma and Pa". If not, I'll get assigned a new "Pa". I guess it's like reverse polygamy. I may have two husbands. The one who is too sick to go, and the new guy that adopts me. If there is one upside to sickness, it's that Kev has lost 15 pounds. He assures me it's a terrible weight loss plan.

Counting the days until Kevin and I get to go spend a week alone together over the
4th of July. The Plan? Hike until our legs fall off and fish until the lakes are empty.