August also

August 16th-25th
Paul's cousin Marcus Callister married Natalie on August 16th. This was the first wedding on Paul's side for someone other than one of the Dickson kids! We attended the lunch, sealing and reception and it was a long and fun day. Marcus and Natalie are a great couple and so made for each other. It was fun and hilarious to see them interact. 

The low point of the wedding day was that we left all the kids with at sitter at Steve and Merrilee's house and poor Nolan ended up getting a second degree burn on both hands. We deduced that the threshold to the patio door got really hot in the sun and Nolan went and crawled over and put his hands on it. He had huge blisters on both hands like nothing I had ever seen. The worst being a large one over all the knuckles inside his right hand (pictured below) but he also had blisters on other parts of his hand and almost every finger. Although we didn't discover all of this until about 5 hours later because he had taken a nap and then was keeping his fingers curled over it and he didn't even act fussy or anything. He has the highest pain tolerance. Eventually all the blisters popped and split and we had to keep his right hand bandaged for a few days but its now been over a week and his hands are not completely healed but looking much better and don't seem to bother him at all. He's such a tough little boy.

After the wedding we went up to the Gottfredson family cabin in Wyoming. We spent the longest night of our lives thanks to kids waking up every 30 minutes (no exaggeration) but Paul got to go antelope hunting and we spent the next day enjoying the scenery and surroundings with much of the extended family... Boat rides, razor rides, fishing, catching critters, Paul shooting his bow, throwing rocks into the river, and chatting and eating.

We got to enjoy having Stewart in town for a few more days and Lorraine for another week. We also got to have Melissa and her girls stay with us for the weekend. Over the week we went to the splash pad, met my family for dessert at Provo Beach Resort, visited Grandpa Dickson, caught a few classes at education week, watched Paul's softball game, Paul and I had a date night, visited the dinosaur museum, ate from food trucks, moved Rebekah and Jordan into their new apartment, Caitlin and I went to "Dancing under the Stars", they came to Caitlin's first soccer practice, and had lots of good talks and fun hanging out.

 
Paul took a one week trip to Ghana with Taylor Turnbull and Al Westenskow to work on his non-profits and small business ventures over there. We missed him dearly but I'm so thankful for a husband who cares about other people and wants to improve the daily lives of a culture he loves and grew so close to on his mission. It's been a long time goal of his and one that he is not forgetting.

Currently they are selling a solar light in every village and city they can get it to. This light charges in about 4 hours and lasts for 30. It is also able to charge a cell phone. This is an awesome product for people who have no electricity or for those who live where the electricity is often cutting out. they held a meeting in one village where 125 people came out and sat under a large tree. They told them about their product and gave them there pitch and 10 people had enough money to buy the light right then. Many others promised to have the money ready if they came back the next week. Prior to this day this village had no electricity and no lights at all. Paygo literally brought light to this village.