Jinxed July

This month's blog is called "Jinxed July" for a reason. I'm sorry to say, I started the whole month's jinx by falling on my new knee at our cookout when Nathan and Daniel were here for a visit before we went to Mesa for our reunion. There I was, totally embarrassed, lying flat on my back on the back porch, and had to have Nathan and Daniel pick me up and set me on my feet. I should have known, then, that it would be a harbinger of dire things to come. Fortunately, I do not have a picture of my humiliation. I have decided to tell all about our jinxes at the beginning of this blog and just get them out of the way. Then I can tell about all the great things that have happened this month and close it on a happy note. August has got to be better than July. No jinxes. August will truly be "Awesome," I am sure. Anyway, we went to the Arizona Grand Resort's water park, a perfect place for accidents to happen, but we did pretty well. Jonathan broke his finger, going down the slide, but he didn't even realize it until his family had been home for a couple of days. He didn't cry or complain, so they didn't know anything was wrong until Connie saw that his finger was bruised and swollen. The x-ray showed that his pinky finger was broken in two, so they casted it up to his elbow!
Daniel got sick after eating some chicken at the park that somehow got wedged in his stomach. He wasn't able to eat anything else the whole time he was there and was so uncomfortable and sick that he had to miss most of the birthday party and the family pics.
Then, the next day, Tony wrenched his back while playing golf. He was flat on his back, after that, for two whole weeks, and is just now getting so that he can walk and sit for a little while at a time. In this picture, the guys are watching a game, but Tony couldn't sit to watch it. He had to stand bent over to the side. Even then, he couldn't do it for long, and had to go home to lie on the floor.

After Daniel and Connie's family got home, Shadrach and Porter were driving their rhino up their mountain to feed the pigs and because of an unusual amount of rainfall, the rhino slipped and turned over on Shadrach's leg. Porter and Parker and Daniel and Albert lifted it off of him, but he was hurt pretty badly. He had a huge gash in his shin and his ligaments attaching his foot to his leg are severed. His growth plate is also broken. He is casted in a removable cast so Connie can care for the gash, but he has to stay down with his foot elevated. No football this year, I think. (I hope).
While Mary and Tyson were staying at Jeremy and Erika's before Stetson's farewell, Lindsay fell down their stairs and broke her arm. She, also, didn't complain or cry much and played around, even using her arm, so they thought she had just bruised it. An x-ray, later, showed that it was broken, so she had to have a cute little purple cast. She wanted pink, but they only had blue and purple, so she settled for pink flowers.




















For a little while, Joel and Stephanie had been suspicious of some symptoms Docker had been having. They thought it might be diabetes. Ever the optimist, I suggested a lot of other things that could cause those symptoms and told them not to be thinking diabetes until they had an inescapable definitive diagnosis. Well, they took Docker to the doctor the day after Stetson's farewell, and got that definitive diagnosis. He has type 1 diabetes and has to have insulin shots 4 times a day. It is a huge adjustment for him, and especially for his parents. This is a lifetime situation. They need our continued faith and prayers. This picture of Docker and his Layton cousins was taken at the luncheon after Stetson's farewell, before he knew what awaited him at the doctor's office.








Esther's little Brody had a couple of falls this month, one from their tall table onto their tile floor. He got a minor concussion from that fall, then he climbed up on their counter and fell, this time biting through his bottom lip! Two-year-old boys!

Our jinx even extended to in-laws! Mary's father-in-law was attacked by kidney stones while he was in Nauvoo on vacation, and Stephanie's little niece was stung by a scorpion during Stetson's farewell luncheon.
To top it all off, even some of our mechanical things were jinxed. Mary and Tyson's air conditioning went on the fritz and they had to spend a couple of days in our basement. I'm just glad they had a place to go. And our Toyota Avalon just plain quit on Dad when he was driving home from Mesa this week. Toyota sent up a loaner via Joel and Jeremy. Dad and Tyson met them in Globe. Then Toyota sent up a truck to tow our car to Mesa to fix. This is the little Camry (sp?) we are using.

Some very special people have birthdays in July. Dad turned 70 on the 16th, Jonathan turned 9 on the 22nd, Jeremy had a birthday on the 23rd, Devynne turned 18 on the 30th, and Maya celebrated her first birthday on the 31st.







The following pictures are of things your families have been doing this month. Thank you for sending us pics and keeping us posted.
Jenn got her hair cut this month. Yes, she cut off her beautiful, long hair. I have to admit, though, that it looks cute on her.



















Esther and Shad's family went to Eagar to attend the 4th of July celebration with the Brown family


Carson took tennis lessons with the famous DeWitt Evans, and loved it. They tried karate lessons but he didn't like the teacher. He loved his tennis teacher, though.


Daniel caught this huge brown trout right out of the river that runs through his town.










Devynne in her uniform as a worker at the Creamery at BYU

Devynne and her roommate saw the actor from "The Best Two Years" at the grocery store!

Devynne's friends made her a birthday cake...or was it her mom?


Joel and Stephanie sent this picture of their boys at the Salt Lake Temple when they went to take Stetson to the MTC.




Rebecca and Scott's little girls played a tennis tournament while they were in Mesa for the reunion. They had to play against boys, even, but still came in 4th! Good job.

DeWitt wasn't able to go the the birthday festivities because he was in charge of Zion's Camp, the Safford Stake's big annual event for the boys of the whole stake. DeWitt was called to be the director for the whole camp.

Lillian has become quite the chef this summer. She cooks and bakes like a pro. This is French bread that she made from scratch and brought to us. It was delicious.




We started July in a really good way. On the 4th of July, Mary and Tyson invited us to go to Kartchner Caverns with them. We had never been there, and were really eager to see it. They wouldn't let us take pictures inside, so we had to be content with pictures outside the visitors' center. On the way down to Benson, we were just cruising along the highway, minding our own business and saw this huge truck coming right for us. It was startling, at first, until we realized it was being towed backward by another truck.































Nathan and his girls came to Arizona to attend the birthday reunion a few days early, so we were able to have some time with them. They only stayed a couple of days because they had to go to Mesa to pick up Shauna, who flew down Thursday night, just in time to go see "Harry Potter" with Erika and Jeremy's family.




We had a lot of fun while they were here, swimming, visiting, etc., and had a cookout for them and for Daniel and Connie's family who got here just in time to sample some of Brianna's lemonade. She made a lemonade stand and sold the drinks for 5 cents each. (Tyson provided the nickles.) We ate, swam, visited and ended the party with some of the kids throwing each other in the pool, fully dressed!









































































To celebrate Tom's 70th birthday, all the family, except Thomas and Jenn's family, who are in school in Mexico, met at the Arizona Grand Resort in Phoenix. We played at the water park all afternoon, went back to our rooms, and then met at "Aunt Chilada's" Mexican restaurant for a buffet dinner and birthday party. Joel made all the arrangements and it was wonderful. Everyone had such a good time. We even got a family picture. Of course, we had to take it in twos in order to get everyone in, but Jeremy is going to splice and edit it.



















































































After an afternoon of swimming at the water park, the kids found a pool by some of their rooms, that wasn't being used by anyone else, so we all gathered there and had a very nice, private swim.


































We had an amazing spread, just for us, at the restaurant: several kinds of Mexican dishes, fruits, salads. Yummy!




Someone, I don't remember if it was Rebecca or Mary, went around and tried to get a picture of everyone who was at the restaurant. I think they were amazingly successful, except I couldn't find one of Mary and Tyson. They were definitely there.












































































































Joel brought "Go Biggs or Go Home" shirts. They are so cool. Here is Tom with Luke and Bridger, wearing the shirts.


Ellie and Brianna had twin toothless smiles. Some of the other kids have also lost teeth: Brynlie, Camille and Carson, but Ellie and Brianna were sooo toothless that I wondered how they would even be able to eat!

The restaurant, on Joel's order, provided a yummy chocolate birthday cake. It was beautiful with fresh orchids on the top and gold on the sides.




















We got everyone in one picture or the other, except Daniel, who had to leave because he was sick, and DeWitt, who was at Zion's Camp, and Devynne, who was at school in Utah, and Thomas' family, who were in Mexico. We are going to try to edit them in. Of course, our missionaries, Joshua and Dallin were not there, but we won't edit them in because we don't even want to pretend that they came home from their missions to be in the picture:)














The next morning, Tom and all the boys went golfing. I think everyone, but Tony, of course, had a good time. It was very hot, though, so some of them sported damp towels under their hats in an effort to keep cool.


























Some of the girls went to eat breakfast in the resort's restaurant, and some of the boys ate there after golfing.












The next day, Sunday, July 17th, was Stetson's missionary farewell and luncheon. He gave a great talk, well prepared and well delivered. He is going to be a very good missionary...not just because he is a good speaker, but because of his strong testimony, which he bore to us.
His parents invited all of us to attend a luncheon at their house, in his honor. It's a good thing their house is huge. It was full of Biggses and Laytons, neither of which is a small family! And they had plenty of delicious food for such a huge group, too. Thank you Joel and Stephanie.


















































On July 21, Esther and Shad and their family came to stay for a week, and attend the Pioneer Day festivities. We had an ice cream social so they could all visit with their cousins and siblings., then on the 23rd, they went to the parade, and the barbecue and fireworks display. The next day was my lesson in Relief Society, and it was fun to have Esther go with me.





























On July 24th, his parents' anniversary, Stetson was set apart as a missionary by his stake president. It was especially nice because he and the Bishop came to Joel and Steph's house. Stetson's Layton grandparents and we were there, along with his brothers. The stake president asked Stephanie and Joel to bear their testimonies and he shared some favorite scriptures, also asking the bishop to do the same. Then he, assisted by Dad, Denny Layton, and the Bishop, gave Stetson a beautiful blessing, setting him apart as a missionary. It meant a lot to us to be able to share that experience with him, as we had with Dallin.














This picture of Dallin is just before he left the MTC for Argentina...two days before Stetson got there!




Joel and Stephanie and their boys took Stetson to the MTC...two days after Dallin left... It was hard to leave him, I know, but hopefully, they knew it would be and were prepared. They have already received their first letter, and that always makes it easier to bear.


Reygan came to Safford to visit during the last week, and had the opportunity to go to the Temple with Rylie, Lillian and Polly. Dad and I were just coming to the Temple for our regular shift and saw them walking out. It was a thrill to see our beautiful girls coming out of the temple. What a blessing the Temple is in our lives, and especially nice to have one so close and accessible to us. I have even had the chance to do a few Spanish sessions and it is really great. The first session ever to be held in a language other than English was held at the Mesa Temple during the week I was born, 65 years ago. Now we have Spanish sessions every week. What a blessing.
On this happy note, July came to a close. We are glad the month is over and that everyone, in whatever condition, is still alive and looking forward to August.