The week started out well, everything was going great, Carter got a much needed haircut, we got to spend some time cuddling baby Harley and Charlie enjoyed spending some time with her good buddy JT at his first communion ceremony. We even had the promise of graduation for Isaac and the final few days of school to enjoy. Sadly the whole week wasn't great, but lets start with a few positive photos before we get to the bad part of the week.
Carter, no question, is handsome and with short hair, beyond handsome!
Baby Harley is so sweet!
Harley even made her way to her first Sunday ice cream making session.
She was even awake for part of the night.
Auntie Charlie getting some Harley snuggles.
Charlie with buddies JT and Julius at JT's 'first communion' ceremony.
Who wore it best? Beau was a month old before this outfit fit her and Harley's only a week and a half. Both adorable!
Despite our crazy week we were still able to get to Lone Peaks graduation ceremony May 27th and celebrate Isaac graduating high school!
Isaac and his good buddy, Tyler.
Congrats to our handsome 18 year old!
Graduation was held at the Rio Tinto stadium, which was pretty cool.
All the 'in-person' supporters.
And DONE!
Here's a quick video of Isaac's name being read at graduation.
So on to the worst part of our week, Mark crashing his newly acquired BMW motorcycle! Let me just preface this tragedy with just a few of the miracles and tender mercies that occurred despite the trauma of the actual event. First and foremost, Mark, at least, had the wherewithal to wear his helmet even if the rest of his attire wasn't so smart, muscle shirt specifically! Also, there's no question that angels were in attendance because from his injuries it's crazy that he doesn't have even one broken bone or worse! I won't share the photos of his physical injuries he sustained, those might be a little too personal to share here on this public blog, but I will share a photo and video of his motorcycle and helmet. Lets just say he has a fair amount of road rash and needs a vat of Silver cream to slather over his injuries. That helmet will stay around as a reminder of how vital that piece of safety equipment actually is! Another miracle was how we found out about his accident. Because he's 21 the first responders are not required to notify parents/family so we would have never known about this accident if Greg hadn't had the thought/prompting to check Mark's location on the life 360 app. When he saw Mark was at a hospital he reached out immediately to Mark and thankfully got him on the phone right away and was able to talk with the ER nurse and get the low down on his condition and was relieved to hear he was actually pretty well off and able to be released that same night. Of course we made our way down to the ER right away. Seeing him lying in the bed all bloody and scraped up was a bit overwhelming but we were just both so happy he was alive!
Apparently he and his buddy thought it was a great idea to go on a ride around Utah lake and unfortunately they came up on a pretty share curve that Mark wasn't prepared for and going anywhere between 60 to 75 miles per hour he left the asphalt and tumbled/slid across the dirt and gravel. He definitely suffered a concussion and has some pretty sore muscles but I'm sure it won't be long before he can walk and move a little more easily. Sadly the bike wasn't registered or insured so there's no one but Mark to pay for this accident and what those costs might be are still a mystery for now. Lets just hope he can get back to full function soon so he can get back to working and earning money.
The front of the bike and his helmet definitely took the brunt of the impact.
The other little miracle was finding out our friend's towing company was the one that picked up the bike so we didn't have to search far and wide to find out where it was towed. It wasn't a cheap tow but it could have been way worse and now we know it's totaled and can walk away not wondering what shape it really was in. I'm also glad we could get our hands on the helmet. That's probably the best gift we've ever bought Mark! Here's a short video of Mark's bike from back to front, side to side. So glad he survived this accident and lets hope he's learned some valuable lessons from this experience. Between the scrubbing of his wounds and the frequent bandage changes, life for him is going to be rough for awhile!
There's more tender mercies I could go into but I've already gone on too long. Mostly this post is more for future reference then anything else. If you've gotten to this point, just know that we are very aware of who's watching over all of us on a regular basis and we could not be more grateful! Now on to a great summer break!
Cute baby Harley Rose Wendel made her grand entrance into the world this Monday, May 17 at about 6:45 p.m. Kayli is a rockstar at delivering babies and it all went very quickly. Harley weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz. and 20 inches long. She was nearly 2 weeks early and I can only imagine how much bigger she would have gotten if she hadn't come when she did. I was so grateful to be in the delivery room and witness my second grandbaby's arrival.
First moments in this crazy world.
Newborn selfies!
Joey's first moments with cute baby Harley. (I'm Joey)
Daddy-daughter time.
Then, in the middle of the week, we got to have a minute to celebrate Isaac and several of his fellow high school graduates at a senior dinner in our neighbors backyard. I still can't quite believe we've got another high school graduate in the house.
The majority of the high school seniors in our ward.
And then we made a quick late night trip to Kayli's so a few more people could meet Harley.
Love at first sight for sure!
And it appears that Beau is adapting quickly and easily to having baby sister home.
She loves the baby but still wants to be a baby.
We survived our last full week of school for 2020/2021, only 2/3 more days to go before we can start enjoying a little break from our regular schedule and adapt to summer schedules. We're going to have several working boys and a few kids at home who will probably find things to do. I sure love summer!
Another week where I just photographed the girls. Mother's Day was a bit of a bust but Charlie sure looked pretty and Greg did grill me a tasty steak for dinner and let me stay home alone for a few hours so I'll take that for a 'win' overall.
She's always happy to have her photo taken.
And cute Beau stopped by and had to have chips and dip, which means laying on the counter. She's a climber!
And last week we spent the better part of the week trekking Georgia to the northern part of Utah to have a few 'encounters' with Rip the stud so she can hopefully become a momma soon. Her encounters with Rip were successful so if all goes well she should be having puppies sometime in early July.
Rip is what they call a merle mini-bernadoodle because of his coloring. He's so handsome!
She's a trooper! I can't wait to see what her puppies look like.
Believe it or not we only have 8 more days of school to contend with and Isaac will be graduating May 27th at the Real Stadium and he's pretty excited about it. Carter got a job at Dowdle Folk Art in Lindon, packing and shipping puzzles, so now he can maybe afford to pay his bills. He'll also be starting work with the city soon mowing lawns, along with Isaac, so he should be able to afford to pay his bills and pay off his small car loan. Can't wait to have one less child attending school, 3 down and only 4 more to go! (UGH!)
I had a little visit from Beau Wednesday morning and she was so sweet to let me do her hair and put earrings in her ears. She doesn't like to wear earrings so that was impressive all by itself. She also got a kick out of kicking the ball off the tramp repeatedly so I could fetch it for her. She's fun!
Beau in all her glory!
And Charlie likes to take multiple videos and photos when she has the iPad and then they end up on my phone and I usually just delete them because they're blurry nonsense but today I decided to share just a sample of what I find on a regular basis. She's crazy!
What is she even doing?!
So it's been a bit of a slow week. It's crazy to think it's already May and we're just a few weeks away from the end of the school year and our third high school graduate. Isaac bought his cap and gown yesterday so I guess he's going to walk with his graduating class on May 27th, that should be fun!
