reunited and it feels so good...plus admission to westridge

the first few moments of the reunion were awkward

but then really really fun

jennifer was so funny and cute. she looks really really great and is just oozing happiness. she asked us to listen to her play the piano (so awesome). she is often found snuck away reading books (chapter books) and scriptures. she has lost weight, her acne is all gone. she is like a new beautiful little young woman. she loves being a big sister. she is always on hand to take care of the little kids. she and alaina stay up late giggling. they don't fight. she is getting straight A's in school. she is amazing and we are very proud of her.

a final fRamily photo. my guess is this is the last time we will all be together while lindsay and i are legal their guardians.

paulette spent the night with jenn and her family. i was trying to give her a hug good-bye, she loved that. they had an awesome time. road quads, played games, giggled. i think they were relieved to get to hang out again.

paulette spent friday with jen. saturday morning paulette's new brother picked he up to go see meet the rest of her new family. they seemed to really have fun. paulette loves the idea of being an aunt (she will have 3 nieces). she is also really loving her new brother mike. he is in his mid-twenties and recently started dating one of paulette's favorite counselor from anasazi. she is super interested in this relationship, as evidenced by her calling them a few times on their first date.

we met dave, debbie, and paulette at the airport and flew to SLC. we went immediately to temple square. paulette was having a hard time being open. but then we watched the new joseph smith movie and she really opened up.

we met dave and debbie and their daughter-in-law and granddaughters at the roof restaurant.

waiting for dave and debbie. do we look hammered or what?

part of paulette's new clan
she is missing a bunch of brothers and a sister and another niece

grandpa dave. we love this picture

hoodlum redefined

we got up early sunday morning and heard the mormon tabernacle choir. this is us with mac wilberg, the choirs director.

paulette spent all of sunday with dave and debbie, while lindsay and i took SERIOUS naps. they feel even more in love with paulette, which made the next day even harder

this is lindsay getting pancakes made for us the morning paulette entered westridge. paulette really really really didn't want to go.

we had a very beautiful and sacred conversation with paulette. dave, debbie, lindsay and i all shared our hopes for paulette. we talked about the parable of the ten virgins and how for all of us, at some point, the course of our lives is ours to determine. for paulette that time is now. she can choose to use her time at westridge to get the help she so desperately needs or she can try and beat time again and end up right in the same place she started (which is what we feel happened at anasazi)

here we are getting ready to go to westridge

my camera ran out of battery, this is my only shot from westridge. we are not convinced that westridge will give her the help she needs but at least we are all a step closer. she really really wants to be back at dave and debbie's house, so at least there is a heck of a carrot.

this is shawn bradley who is the new vice principal of westridge's school taking us all on a tour of the campus. he recently retired from playing basketball in the NBA.

leaving her at westridge was pretty tough. we know she needs the help, and that this step is necessary. and dave and debbie feel the same way.

snowy, stinky reunions

sorry. we accidentally posted these pictures early. now, you can see what they all mean....

Here we are packing for the trip. You can tell we have no idea what's coming. We're smiling.

As you can see from the sign, this is the beginning of our "Making of a Walking."
(Anasazi lingo for moving forward, in a positive way, in life.)
We actually got quite a bit of mileage out of this one.

Stopping for a lunch break on our way to the trail,
Kimberly picked up some bananas and yogurt, Lindsay bought carrots and a ham sandwich. This mom picked up a hot dog, a slice of pizza and a cup o joe. You guessed it, she is from NYC.
We must have been nervous; this had us in stitches at the time.

Final D*: Bloody Basin, Tonto National Forest.
*Anasazi for the "final destination"

On the way to "final d", Kimberly asked our driver to pull over if we saw a bush or something so she could use le toilet. We looked up right then, and saw this glorious little number.
Keep in mind, we're on a dirt road, with no sign of civilization in sight.
We took this for a sign of good things to come.

Kimberly with Gina, of Anasazi Alumni Services. From the Army poncho you can see it's already raining, as it would do for three straight days.

the crew of parents and guardians
the baton started to pass
the hat ensembles are a bonus.

our hike to paulette.

it is safe to say that she smelled worse than she looks.

this is where paulette slept. she never figured out how to make shelters work, so she just did this

the making of a fire
anasazi doesn't believe in matches or lighters
all fire is made from "busting a coal" or "busting"

busting

tandem busting.

everything was wet so we would bust a coal but then
we couldn't blow it into flames because the tinder was too wet.

here, i'll do it

finally, a coal and some tinder. these are the hands of paulette and new dad dave.

almost there.
just so you know: this is an hour into being at paulette's camp

our tinder was too wet.
ezekial, co founder of anasazi,
came by and gave me some really good avice about body positioning
and all sorts of good stuff
we had busted out the bottom piece
so when he came we had 2 pieces of wood tied together
he gave us props for resourcefulness

Ezekiel left. we eventually used toilet paper to get the fire started.
then paulette made us dinner.
pizza
we had to "loveup" our sundried tomatoes and garlic
to "loveup" means to chew and then spit back into your food.
raw garlic BURNS

you can't see it, but there are ash cakes (aka pizza crust) in the ash.

the stuff in the cups is toppings.
onion, garlic, sundried tomatoes, water, powdered cheese

dale, the therapist. the making of a hero

i got too cold and went to my sleeping bag. this is lindsay and paulette by the fire late the first night. i think it was probably 9, but in the wild, 9 is late.

for some dumb reason we forgot to take a picture of where we slept. tate built us a shelter of a tarp. it was about 1-1.5feet off the ground. we had sleeping bags and army ponchos. we made a HUGE leaf bed that looked as though it would be nicer than my simmons beautyrest. unfortunately, leaves smash down to nothing. we were in a sandy creek bed, so it was really cold. the heated rock i placed in my sleeping bag got cold in the night.

my worst fear was that the fire would go out. it rained and snowed all night long. i kept waking up wigging out that the fire had gone out. it almost did but we resuscitated it.

the making of dirty clothes

the making of awesome hair and coolness

this is what our shadow calls "the making of a pissing me off"

things got a little rocky with the fRamily. reuniting was difficult and the transition from being with peers to being with guardians was hard on paulette. so lindsay and i went on a hike to get bit of a break.

the making of a pooping

the making of a feral paulette

vogue

kimberly and debbie
please, enjoy coka-cola in moderation
i learned the hard way

tate: our trail walker

sayonara tonto

cleaned but not shorn
goodbye firesmoke dreads