May was a little hectic for Ryan and me. I had graduation festivities galore while Ryan had a huge project with Microsoft.
At the end of May (or maybe it was early June), I received a phone call from Quincy when I was at work telling me that Eban fell at the playground and hurt his wrist and he couldn't use it. She said she called after 15 minutes of crying as he's typically a little bruiser. So off we went to the Children's Hospital location near our house and he wouldn't talk to the doctor. So she had to call Quincy's husband in as he's the bone tech guy who realigns the bones for the doctors prior to putting the children in casts. All of the sudden, Eban could use his arm and give high fives, give low fives, etc. He lit up when Sascha came around and he loved seeing Sascha at his work.
Needless to say, I think Eban was "milking" it and I was impressed by his theatrics! 
June was crazy too as I had the HOBY Colorado seminar at the Colorado School of Mines (beautiful campus, by the way) for the first full weekend which I planned around my gall bladder removal surgery. Yes, I know, I planned surgery around volunteering with high school kids?? Anyway, HOBY was great - more than great! I haven't volunteered with HOBY since 2005 (maybe) as I was pregnant and didn't think I could do it. Well, it was great to get re-energized by all these great students from across Colorado (around 200 of them) and get re-involved with a wonderful volunteer-led group. We had fabulous panelists who shared their honest feedback and opinions with the students/staff ranging in topics from higher education trends, state of the economy, volunteering, and new uses of technology in communications (I served on that panel).
It was even more impressive to see one of my kids that I had when I was a counselor in 1997 be in the leadership circle and help organize the whole thing...he was actually the MC of the event. Marc Quinlan is now studying to be a doctor at Tulane in New Orleans so I couldn't be more proud of him and what he's accomplishing with his life. Look how old he is!! The guy below that pic is Taaj and he's the corporate board president of HOBY Colorado and I've known him for years and now we all have kids and are old...fun times! The students had plenty of small group time to discuss what they learned, share best practices, or simply learn more about one another. They were great at the dance and I didn't have to tell any of them to keep their hands to themselves...I think that's a first for a high school dance?! Ahhh...it was just great!! Anyway, please enjoy the other random pictures from that weekend so you can visualize a little of what we did or go to www.hoby.org to learn more about the program. 
Finally, at the end of HOBY, my friend Dani Stern did the end keynote and talked about growing up in South Africa, apartheid and the fact that he was shot at least three times in the Israeli Special Forces - interesting stuff. During his speech, I was receiving tons of text messages and phone calls from my husband. He was driving to the airport to get my mother who was flying in town to help me with my surgery and he said he couldn't get there due to the tornado warnings, the hail, etc. When I finally touched base with him I could barely hear him through the telephone as the hail was crashing on his windshield and it was so loud!! I scrambled to the car to get home when I hear there was a tornado at 136th and I-25 heading east...our house is directly in that path. Thank goodness the kids were at the Rehm's, but then I thought of the animals.
So I rushed home to find the house still there and to hear the stories of the tornado that was spotted near our house. Our friends, Jodi and Vince, watched it destroy their garden and didn't take photos. Our babysitter freaked out as she was on the highway and she saw it and didn't know what to do.
The ensuing week was crazy as practically every night there was a story of a tornado near our house or the television was blaring to take cover due to the emergency threats of bad weather. Eban said he didn't like thunderstorms after that week - and I didn't either for that fact.
Here are some pics from our house and the last one is one that I downloaded of the 136th tornado for your viewing pleasure...crazy weather in the beginning of June...insane!
