April 25, 2026

Got myself on a trail today. Put on my big pack loaded with weights (I'm coming Salt Creek) and did 5.5 miles up AF Canyon. The drive up the canyon was lovely. There was the arch of green trees over the road and some sheep on the side. 

Found some glacier lilies still holding on and heard my first Ruby Crowned Kinglet of the season - “chubby chubby chubby cheeks”. 

April 22, 2026

For earth day morning, the clouds were gorgeous. I love when the seem to glow from the middle surrounded by darker clouds. 

Each morning let the daily rising sun remind us that Jesus Christ is the light that leads us through this life, through any valley of sorrow, over beautiful mountains of joy, and across any ocean of uncertainty or temptation, safely back to our loving and merciful Father in Heaven. - President Uchtdorf 4/26

April 21, 2026

Happy Kenzie’s birthday. Cam, Sadie, and Darren were able to go to a birthday lunch with her while I worked at Highland Elementary. One of my favorite things about the kids’ birthdays is the pictures that get sent in the family group text. Such gems. 

April 20, 2026

Missing my dad a little extra today. I love this picture so much (March 2008)

April 19, 2026

Morning clouds. Going back to work. Seeing cute Vie Dicus at Greenwood and texting Hannah. Happy Richfield house memories. Chatting with Mason. Seeing Judy Monson. Seeing all my original kids last night and today at South Jordan birthday dinner. Doing a puzzle while listening to an audiobook. Talking Capitol Reef with a co-worker. Isaiah 14:7 - The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.(Reminds me of the desert.)

April 18, 2026

Such a good day even though we were just cleaning up the house in Richfield. Chatting with Mason is always nice. He’s wise and a good listener. 

The wheat money miracle is one to remember. It’s where Darren noticed an envelope in the dumpster in the wheat where the wheat bucket lid had fallen off and the wheat had spilled out. We looked in all the buckets after that but only found cash in the first one. 

Judy Monson was driving by and stopped to say hi. It was really nice to see her. 

April 13, 2026

I love when the clouds ring the mountains and the snow capped top is above them. 

Also, how is this 20 years ago?!?

April 12, 2026

Some things that made me smile this week:

Thinking of my mom. (Also made me sad - another birthday of hers in heaven.) Saguaro cactus and the amount of saguaros. Cactus blooms. Creosote, palo verde, and ocotillo plants. Everything wants to poke you. :). Coyote yip and sighting. Desert views. Desert sunset. Desert noisy silence. So many new birds - Gila woodpecker, northern cardinal, roadrunner, white winged dove. Knowing Edge of Seventeen lyrics contain that bird. Darren’s skeptical look when I said that and then realizing it’s true. Picnic at javelina picnic area. Finding faces in cacti. Organ Pipe Cactus. And with an arch in the background. The whole Peralta hike. Views with red rocks and green cacti. Weaver’s Needle. A gila monster! Sweet potato tots. ASU vs U of U baseball game. Commentating on the game. Baseball sounds. The view from the stadium. The evening weather at the game. Our awesome seats. Rainbow over a cactus. Burrito Express. Finding cacti that looked like faces.

April 11, 2026

Went on a morning hike and then hit Burrito Express for round 2. Sunrise Trail was a good pre-flight trail. 

We had a good Spring Break here in Arizona. The amount of saguaros we saw - so many! Organ Pipe Cactus Monument was kinda cool. Baseball was fantastic. Fabulous Peralta hike. Burrito Express twice was Phoenix good food. Added a dozen or so birds to my life list. We saw a Gila monster! Weaver’s Needle View was awesome and I've been wanting to see that and hike in the Superstition Mountains for awhile now.  Good last morning hike after a little rain that included a rainbow.

April 10, 2026

Today was such a great day.  We started the day out at a trailhead in the Superstition Mountains about 6:45am. It was a fantastic hike! Just fantastic! We hiked the Peralta trail (up Dutchman). Lots of great views including an awesome one of Weaver’s Needle. And we saw a Gila monster. That’s right - a Gila monster. So cool!

Today for food we had Burrito Express after the hike and then Philly’s for dinner. A good burrito and sweet potato tots two nights in a row - I’m not mad about that. 

We spent the evening at a baseball game - ASU vs U of U. I loved this so much! The weather was amazing and Darren bought us great seats.  I enjoyed warmth and beauty and the sounds of baseball all while giving plenty of commentary.

 

April 9, 2026

I’m beginning to think we’re not just practicing doing old people things but are doing those old people things because we are getting old and enjoy them. Today’s old person activity was a scenic drive in Organ Pipe National Monument. We did the Ajo drive and listened to audio points of interest and enjoyed it. No need to come back here but seeing the organ pipe cacti was interesting. We also saw a red racer snake cross the dirt road.

Most of the day was driving as we went from Tucson to Organ Pipe to Phoenix.  We ate dinner at Hundred Mile Brewing for dinner. Good food. Sweet potato tots with dill ranch for the win. A city after dinner walk was nice after all that driving.

April 8, 2026

Darren and I are doing Spring Break Arizona style.  We flew into Phoenix yesterday and drove down to Tucson to start out.  Last night we failed at finding some good Mexican food which you would think would be hard to fail at but we did.  We drove to my choice and quickly changed our minds.  Then we went to Salsa Verde which ended up being OK but definitely nothing to write home about.

Today we explored Saguaro National Park for NP #25 for us. We had a fantastic first stop at Valley View Overlook on the west side of the park.

Look at us out here looking at cactus flowers and getting new birds. Morning in the desert is really cool.  It's a noisy silence.  Like it's quiet yet you can hear bees and birds and things moving.  I like it.  Saw the cutest little cottontail bunny but make sure you don't step off the trail because out here everything is trying to poke you.

Got some cool birds today - a roadrunner, a gila woodpecker, and cool thanks to Stevie nicks and Edge of seventeen - white winged dove! 

Just like the white winged dove
Sings a song, sounds like she's singin'
"Ooh, baby, ooh, said, ooh"

We also visited the East side where we drove the scenic loop and stopped for lunch at Javelina Picnic Area. I love a good picnic spot and this was one.  We both decided the West side is better than the East (Rincon).  And the amount of saguaros on the west side was staggering.

We decided to spend the afternoon at a mall theater watching Project Hail Mary. Great idea for the 93 degree weather. We loved it and then headed back to the west side of the park. 

Ended the day with a desert sunset, hearing a couple coyote hips and then seeing a small coyote trotting up the side of the road.  That was a good National Park experience day.

April 5, 2026

Highlights of my Easter morning. Listening to President Oaks, Freeman, and Uchtdorf, seeing Cam dab and Rylie gangum style, eating Peeps, and being reminded of this hike.

Highlights of my Easter evening. Eating cookies made by Kenzie, playing Catch Phrase (Mason pulls out good games we don’t play all the time), and chatting with Em, Kelcie, Clayton, and Sandee.

April 4, 2026

Had a good time together today. We had a pretzel and pizza party (including fruit pizza) for pre-Easter celebrating complete with a scripture scavenger hunt for some peeps and snacks. Today included lots of laughs.  Here's an example:

Kenzie farts.  Rylie says, “Do you want to play that game with me?”

April 3, 2026

Had a really good hike this morning with Lorien. We went up Dry Creek (steep as Dry Creek) and made it to the base of the falls. Neither one of us had been here before despite hiking here many, many times over the years. The falls were lovely! We soaked it all in and just watched and listened to the water for some time. There was ice on some logs and the way the water cascaded over the rocks was fascinating. It was lovely to enjoy our destination for a while. 

After my hike I saw Sadie was working so I stopped and grabbed some costa Vida lunch. “Is that my mom?” 

Early this evening I watched as 10 robins were sitting in our aspen trees. Then I went to dinner with Darren and enjoyed chatting with him and eating at Wok the Line. 

Ended the day losing to Rylie and Cole in SkyJo and some Kindle reading. 

April 1, 2026

Rainy day walk up the road to avoid mud with the nieces (and Sadie came with us). They are awesome and appreciated the beauty of the snow frosted trees. 

March 31, 2026

Had so much fun at Nickel City today with Sadie, Kendyl, Laynee, and Blake - especially getting stuffed dinosaurs, playing Sadie in Dance, Dance, Revolution and Guitar Hero. Then it was hang out with my birthday bestie for a while. I love when the Biblers come to town. 

Listening to the two oldest Bibler girls with my two younger girls laugh and giggle makes me smile. 

March 29, 2026

Some thankful things I thought of on this Sunday:

March Madness and watching full basketball games. A little Arch Madness and remembering “the birth of a day” at Jacob Hamblin Arch. Game night with Mason and Rachael playing Azul (amazingly Mason didn’t win). Kenzie morning with her Dr appointment and Cubby’s to eat. A Froyo visit DKCS. A hike with the complete Canyon Crew. Being a lead tester. Birds singing in the morning. Finishing my audiobook as I finished my run. Having a few fun mornings (which is probably why my knees hurt). A walk with Kelly where she helped me work through some thoughts. Grabbing lunch at Costa where I said hi to Sadie and her friends gave me the kids meal for free. Older kid Palm Sunday Easter egg hunt. Swinging with Annelise. Playing Hitster in South Jordan. 

March 27, 2026

Today started out so good. The birds were singing as I went on a pre-hike run. Just as I finished and got to our door my entertaining audiobook finished. Great timing! 

We hiked up around Pine Hollow with a little green, some fresh air, and a Salamader Flat bathroom that was open and clean.  

March 22, 2026

Sunday thankful thoughts from the past week or so:

Reflection Canyon - Reflection Canyon - Relection Canyon! Escalante area. Dance Hall Rock. Sleeping in a tent. Staying warm in a tent. Sleeping in a tent mid March - the earliest ever in a year. Headphones to muffle the wind. Jaw dropping views. Magical sunrise. A campsite oasis. Juniper trees. Navajo Mountain. Top of sandstone view. Vortex. Silence. Solitude. Getting texts while on HITRR. Magical sunrise.  Sunrise colors - in the sky and sandstone cliffs lighting with the sun. Mountain house lasagna. Dinner spot. Being with Darren in a remote and gorgeous place. Lovely weather. A short chat with Kenz. Tester training. New Goodreads friends. Comment from a temple worker. March madness. Sitting outside on a Sunday afternoon with D, KT, MR, C, S. 

March 19, 2026

Still thinking about our adventure.  I can't get over the fact that it was just the two of us in this jaw dropping place.  Amazing!

March 16, 2026

D and I chatted tonight about our amazing getaway to a desert paradise.

March 15, 2026

Yesterday after getting into the tent, the wind picked up and the gusts didn’t stop until about 2AM. Not a lot of sleep happened. Go backpacking they said. It’ll be fun they said.  Actually it was way fun even if we didn’t get much sleep. I ended up getting up about 6:30 to catch the sunrise. I went back up to the spot Darren showed me yesterday. It was breathtaking. The way the incoming light lit up the whole canyon and all the slickrock was super cool. The sunrise started a little pink and then turned to yellow and orange. Sigh. What a cool experience - magical actually. 

After snapping lots of photos and also trying to just be present, I headed down to the actual overlook and enjoyed that spot for a while. It was awesome to get two different views of the beautiful sunrise. I think that this was the best sunrise experience I’ve ever had. Just me and the rocks and the colors of the sky. Sigh!

I came back to camp where I met Darren along the way and boy I love that guy. Turns out he cleaned up all my tent stuff - packed up my sleeping bag and pad and that was just really nice of him. We had a little breakfast and then headed out. Turns out when you follow the trail markers it’s less mileage and a little easier. We made it out pretty quick (well 3 1/2 hours which isn’t really quick but wasn’t bad). I was definitely tired but extremely fulfilled. (Love this pic below that Darren snapped.)

I had packed some lunch stuff so we made ourselves a sandwich which tasted really good. Two hours back to the highway on the dirt road where the washboard stretches were long and plentiful. Then we drove the rest of the way home and make it back about 7:00. That was an incredible, awesome, beautiful adventure! Three out of three for 2026.

March 14, 2026

This morning we got some birds in Merlin from our tent.  Then we took a few photos of the rising sun in this cool spot.

We loaded up and headed out for our 8 mile hike. It was a bit of up, down, up down hiking but then somehow I lost the trail and we ended up hiking farther than we needed to, but saw some cool rock stuff.  All in all it wasn’t bad just extra sandstone walking. We also had dirt walking and rolling sandstone with Navajo Mountain looming in the background dusted with snow. Sigh. It was getting warm and windy so we were happy to make it to the almost viewpoint. 

We decided to camp in the most sheltered place we could find. It wasn’t far from the overlook but was far enough that we could be away from the crowds. Spoiler alert, the crowds never happened! We ended up seeing one day hiker for maybe 10 minutes and that was it as far as people. So cool to be the only ones out in this remote place! We passed probably a dozen people that were coming out as we were going in so we timed it just right. 

We dropped our packs and headed over to the view we came to see that lived up to the hype. We spent some time just soaking in the beauty and snapping some photos. What a  super cool place - the white and the orange rocks plus the blue water and sky - sigh.  

After getting our fill we headed over to our campsite that had just enough shade with a couple Juniper trees. They also gave us just enough of a wind break. We were thankful for those junipers. We ended up enjoying a little siesta under the shade of the tree and on the grass. We totally enjoyed relaxing at our little oasis just being. 

We took our dinner back over to the overlook which was a brilliant idea. I thought we might see people, but we didn’t. We had just us two. (Oh happy day.) Darren had packed me in some lasagna (I love Mountain House lasagna) and we cooked up our meals and chatted and gazed out at the incredible scene. It was just the most fabulous dinner date maybe ever. Being with Darren tonight made me so very, very happy. I will remember it for a long, long time. 

Before heading back to camp, Darren explored some of the slick rock up higher while I went over just a little bit where you could see a different part of Lake Powell. It’s just a neat place that Reflection Canyon area. I said a little prayer feeling extra thankful and thinking a bit of my mom and dad. I looked up to see the clouds turning pink and the sunset starting to show up. 

Darren told me I should come up to the top where he had been so I did. It was another amazingly cool spot. There were some vortex (vortexes? vortici? who knows what the plural is) and then there was an exceptional view of Reflection Canyon. It gave you more of a straight on shot with a cool angle of the curves. So glad Darren found that spot.