Saw a bald eagle just out of town on our way home. Pretty sure that means a good 2025. It definitely meant we'll be back to Kanab because this was an amazing family vacation with everyone happy.
Don'r forget the good times and when playing Hearts - Do you have the 3? No. Pause. But I have the queen for you. :)
And no on can play Block Blaster now without saying, "Cleared the board."
Kenzie said it best tonight, "How did we do nothing and yet run out of time?" It really felt like we did nothing but we had so much fun in the nothing. Also the nothing looked like:
Hide and seek, dinners made by kids, Dr. Mario, Mario Kart, Smash Brothers (a lot of SB, Freddy's, puzzle, ping pong, hot tub, sauna, Hearts (a lot of Hearts), Bang, 5 Crowns, multiple different board games, Among Us, and more. Plus outside stuff - dino tracks, neighborhood hikes (Bunting and Cottonwood), sand caves, golf, Orderville slot canyon, Coral Pink Sand Dunes.
A little sand dunes and snacking today. Mason and I made our way over to the sand hole. Snapped a blacklit photo of all of us. More ping pong and hut tub and all the things we've been doing and are loving. This has been full time family togetherness fun.
Beautiful morning walk with a rabbit. And the morning sky was beautiful. KTown brings the skies. A little exploring but mostly house hanging.
Listening to the kids play Mario Kart is always a favorite of mine. And then they pulled out Super Smash Bros. Good times.
Chef Cam and Chef Sadie prepared dinner. I can already tell this was a great move to assign kids to dinners.
I'm so excited for our family vacation. The house is going to fantastic for our togetherness.
Merry Christmas! What a wonderful morning with Darren and the kids. They gave each other the best gifts that were awesome and funny with smiles all around.
Quite the relaxed Christmas Eve. We had all of us for a bit. Lots of games were played, a puzzle was done, and mines were crafted. My favorite part was playing pickleball. 2 hours of so much fun. Don’t forget Rylie’s whiff and Cole saying “Eat my ace.” :)
We had a sibling party tonight. It’s been nice having everyone around tonight for bethleham, sibling gifts, and games (Camel Up was the game of the night). It has also been nice some kids around this week. Made granola, watched a movie, played so many games, girls make cookies and gingerbread houses and more.
Along with Richfield, I wanted to go to Capitol Reef and hike. Started the day with seeing a bald eagle by Glenwood. Then a sunny hike of The Knobs. I love this hike. Post hike lunch at the Sunglow Cafe in Bicknell with delicious fries. It was winter solstice at its finest. I needed a day like today.
I’ve been on the verge of tears all week as I am really missing my parents. Decided to come to Richfield. Had a good cry here. By cry I mean sob. I just really really miss them. I should have done more things with them like take them for a drive to see the Christmas lights. I’ll always wish for more time.
For a regular ol’ Tuesday, there sure were a lot of little highlights:
All day I’ve been thinking about the Christmas Darren gave my dad some slippers and he was so excited. It makes me smile and yet miss him so much. (2019)
I’m getting old. Mason beat me in Dr Mario. Granted I took it to 5 games but I was not as quick as usual.
I’ve been reading talks given by Elder Maxwell. The one from April 1976 is so good! (Jesus of Nazareth, Savior and King)
-In our first estate Jesus was the incomparable individual among all our Father’s spirit children. He helped to prepare this planet for us and led—not pushed—us from our premortal post. I thank him for the untold things he did, across the ages of that first estate, to prepare perfectly for his unique role—while I was doing so very much less. I thank him, further, for not deserting those of us who are slow or stragglers.
Today was a good day. This morning was a fabulous hike to Lake Blanche with Lorien. The conditions were favorable and we had a good time. This afternoon somehow Cam, Sadie, Jessie, and I ended up getting shakes at In 'N Out. I got a strawberry shake and strawberry shakes always make me think of my dad. Often if I wasn't feeling well when I was growing up, he would stop at the Ideal Dairy and bring me home a shake. It always did the trick.
"Our minds have a marvelous capacity to notice the unusual. However, the opposite is true as well: The more often we see the things around us—even the beautiful and wonderful things—the more they become invisible to us.
That is why we often take for granted the beauty of this world: the flowers, the trees, the birds, the clouds—even those we love.
Because we see things so often, we see them less and less.
Those who live in thanksgiving daily, however, have a way of opening their eyes and seeing the wonders and beauties of this world as though seeing them for the first time." Elder Wirthlin BYU Speech October 2000
This made me think of some of my favorite hikes this year. It has been an amazing hiking year.
Future self will always thank present self for going on a run in the cold even though present self really doesn't want to.
Tonight D and I went to Ephraim for Rachael's Messiah performance. We love that new tradition. We met M and R before the performance for dinner at Route 89 Grill (mmm) and a walk around a park with a few Christmas lights.
Fabulous winter hike this morning to Dog Lake. It was so refreshing! Blue skies and fresh air for the win. (Our valley is thick with icky smog right now.). We stopped a few times in the sun to just breathe in the air. On one of our stops we saw a weasel run across the opposite hill with its white winter coat on. Awesome!
It’s crazy to look back at last year at this time. It was so hard. Like SO hard. I have no idea how I made it but I guess you just do - one minute at a time with the help of Jesus because it’s certainly not your strength that gets you through. Maybe I had a little help from these two as well - my grandparents Christensen. Picture taken on my blessing day in August 1973.
Breakfast burritos from Paco’s Tacos are so delicious. Just sayin’.
Merry Christmas time. I love the church video to bring in the Christmas season (it brings happy tears to my eyes every time) and I love signing Christmas songs at church.
We wrapped up our vacation today and it didn’t take long to get out of vacation mode.
Such an enjoyable day. Valley of Fire couple of hours playing and having a picnic. I love picnics in cool places. Sandee brought the best lunch and it made me so happy. Seeing things through 4 year old eyes was fun. Watching the 4 girls (Cam, Sadie, Laynee, Kendyl) have so much fun together was also fun. We had pie round two.
Happy Thanksgiving. Family and Jesus Christ tops my thankful for list. But throughout this year I’ve tried to leave off the “for” and just be thankful. “I’m thankful.” I like that switch and it changes my mindset.
Drove away from California. Thankful for good memories and hanging out with these two in Cali.
Aquarium day. Cool stuff, especially the jellies and the kelp forest. In the actual ocean we saw seal, sea birds, sea otter.
That peace may abide in our hearts and our homes, that we may radiate sunshine and cheer wherever we may go, that we may prove to the world that we do know that God lives, by the lives we lead. - George Albert Smith
Today was a good day and a frustrating day. So excited to get a Wave permit and then it ended up being such a quick trip out and back. Some people were really struggling to hike and it limited our time to what we could see. But being at the Wave again was cool, especially as it snowed a little on us. Magical! And cold.
Picked up our Wave permit and then hiked around the east side of Zion. We did the Stave Spring to East Mesa trailhead with a side trip to Observation Point. It was cold and windy and 9 miles. I have never taken a great photo from OP. The girl who we asked to take our photo sure tried as she snapped like 50 pictures of us. Who does that? Good thing I know how to delete. (Wendy made us matching shirts and hats for our trip. We froze for this picture.)
Played tourists today at Lower Antelope Canyon. The colors and textures and formations in the that canyon was beyond what I had imagined. So much beauty everywhere you looked. Was it worth $65? Probably not but the group wanted to go so I went. Archie, our Navajo guide, gave us a compliment as he told us he was a member of the church and said, "I could tell you are too."
Back at the cabin we found rocks and put on our crafty pants to make some nativitys. Fun night with that, eating quesadillas, and playing 10s. Oh, and we may have scored an elusive Wave permit. And by may have I mean we did. What?!?!
Starting our ladies hiking trip getaway to Zion. We left early (6:45) and took the long way to Deb's cabin through Torrey with Highway 12. We stopped at Lower Calf Creek Falls for a hike. As always it was so pretty. And cold. Beautiful with just enough fall color left.
Next stop was Bryce Canyon. I loved playing tour guide there. Wendy had never been and it was fun to show her around. The lighting and lack of crowds on the Navajo Loop made things extra awesome. That short 1/5 mile hike really shows off how beautiful and unique Bryce is.
Back on the road and headed for the cabin we stopped for dinner in Orderville at a food truck. Archie's Food to Die For. It was good food. It was also freezing so we ate in the car.
We had a beautiful eastern sunset while I was at work. What a wonderful, brief, nature goodness from God.
Blast from the short years of coaching softball past when I met Kenz at the little bookstore in Lehi and Emma (Peterson) from AF High softball was working there. (April 2015)
It was a cold, disappointing week. Hanging with Cam and Sadie at Barnes and Noble, doing a new puzzle, visiting the Randalls, going to church, taking Baylie to the park, playing Marbles and Jokers (girls comeback win), and Cam decorating for Christmas this weekend (with a little assistance from Sade and Ry) helped.
What a good Sunday. Singing the pirate hymn (who’s on the Lord’s side), Sunday school, Odi, big cookies, and seeing these snow pictures from December 2012 and December 2013.
November started with a beautiful, colorful sunrise. It faded as Baylie and I walked the cemetery. Then I got to go on a hike. It was just a regular hike. But after having such a good hike on Wednesday with moose, this regular hike felt even more regular. That happens.
Enjoyable weekday evenings this week. Tuesday Cam and I got brown toppers for everyone on the way home from work, yesterday we watched the Dodgers win the World Series and I finished a fabulous book by my favorite author (We Solve Murders), and tonight we had delicious Chinese food from Red 8.
Beautiful and freezing after a storm hike this morning. The trees shining with snow dusting was so pretty. We went to Timp shelf and found 2 moose! They were so fun to watch. They both had antlers and were sparing a little and you could hear the antlers knocking. We saw them on the way down as well. One was directly on the trail so we gave him space and time to wander down below. It was a great short hike.
I love getting away for something non hiking and love getting away for something hiking. When you can combine the two it’s my favorite. What a great weekend - comedy, hiking, and church. (Darren snapped this photo of me.)
