Pioneer Day

On Friday, July 24 our ward celebrated Pioneer Day with a ward ice cream social.  I love that we celebrate this holiday to honor those that sacrificed so much for us to have the gospel in our lives.  There were several kinds of ice cream to try-all homemade!  I didn't eat much for most of the day so that I could eat ice cream.  Someone brought mint chocolate chip and that was my favorite as well as a amazing strawberry ice cream from another sister.  The Relief Society helped set up and made sure there were bowls and spoons and of course tablecloths.  Kyle helped us fill the big water cooler as pictured below.  After all the ice cream tasting the kids played some games like potato sack races and hula hoops and the traditional stick pull.  Dad thought it would be fun to swing Kyle around in the potato sack.  Kyle loved it until he bonked his head into dad's elbow!  After the games the Primary kids sang some pioneer songs.  Kyle was all for it and holding his friend Jandro's hand but then he saw me coming to take pictures and he didn't want to do it anymore.  I picked him up and held him in the back of the group and finished singing the songs with them.  On Sunday, Brother Whipple spoke about the pioneers and told some great stories.  If you ever want to know anything about church history, he is the man to listen to.  While he spoke I felt a renewed gratitude for those saints that suffered and persevered and sacrificed for our benefit.  He compared the pioneer trek as symbolic of the atonement.  These pioneers did for us what we and others could not do for ourselves.  They forged trails and crossed rivers.  They built homes they would never live in and grew crops they would never harvest for those that came behind.  They did not do if for themselves or for their glory just like our Savior did not do what he did for himself or his glory.  That was very profound to me.  I don't know if I had ever seen it that way.  Of course I saw what the pioneers did as service and sacrifice and for the common good but to have it symbolize the atonement made a lot of sense.  While I am not descended from those hale and hearty pioneers that crossed the plains in handcarts, I am descended from another group of hard working, obedient and sacrificing pioneers on both sides of my family.  I am grateful for them.  I am grateful for what they did for me so that I can have claim on the eternal nature of families through sealing power.  

Tuesdays at the Temple

For some reason I have had a hard time getting to the temple in the last few months.  I was doing really well the first few months of the year and had been able to go several times a month but then I just couldn't do it for a while and the months got away from me.  I have been twice now in the last week. Tuesdays seem to be the day that works out the best for me to go.  I went by myself on July 14 in Provo.  I love going there when I am at my mom's house because it is less than 5 minutes away and the sessions are every 20 minutes!  Then our Relief Society held a day time temple trip for mothers and daughters who wanted to go.  The young women were able to do baptisms for the dead and the sisters were able to do a session.  We barely made the session we wanted to and we were all feeling quite rushed to get into it but we all made it! There were so many sisters there that we took up half of the men's side too.  The man officiating even made comments about how many sisters there were there.  He said "as usual, the sisters have outshined us brethren."  I thought that was interesting even though there usually are more women then men but to have someone actually acknowledge it and give a little credit was nice.  After that session we all had lunch in the cafeteria.  This has been a tradition for the last 3 years since we were first called into Relief Society.  My bestie Amy Marshall was able to come down from Panguitch and her cousin Kelly came as well.  Once I get started going to the temple I have a hard time stopping and I want to go as often as I can!  

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Concert

On Friday July 17, Cayden and I got to do something we have never done before.  We went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert at the Conference Center at Temple Square.  Grandma and Granddaddy were able to get tickets and since we were in town we were invited to go.  After dropping Kyle off at Aunt Suzanna's we went up a little earlier than normal so Granddaddy could get a good parking spot and then we had dinner at City Creek at Brio.  We were going to go to Cheesecake Factory but they were packed and we could just walk right into Brio.  Grandma and Granddaddy had never been there before and they really liked it.  Cayden and I had been several times with Don and so we were able to show them the ropes.  The concert didn't start until 8pm but we had to be in our seats by 7:30.  We walked through Temple Square to get to the Conference Center from City Creek.  We had really good seats too.  The seats are given in a lottery since there is such high demand for them and you get the seats in the section you are assigned but then you can choose where you want to sit in that section.   We were on the main floor that you walk into when you get there and a little bit to the right.  There is the lower level which was closer but these were still great seats. About 5 minutes before the performance started the crowd got really quiet and every body started standing up.  I looked down and coming across the front to sit in the very middle of the front row was President Monson and his daughter.  That is the closest I have been to this prophet even though it was still probably a football field away.  That was awesome though!  This would be one of the few events that there was applause for the prophet and the performers so that was cool too.  The guest that sang with the Mo-tabs was Emily Osnes, who plays Cinderella on Broadway.  That gal can sing!  It was a very fun night and Cayden and I were so glad we got to go!  

Chop Chop Timber

One afternoon while we were in Provo Granddaddy decided he was going to finish the job of chopping down all the trees in the yard.  He was doing it by himself with a chainsaw and some ropes and so I told the kids that they had to stay in the safety zone on the porch.  You will notice my children covering their ears and I just love Owen's face!  Once granddaddy got the tree ready to come down he tied the ropes to his car and pulled it over.  I let my mother do that part of the job while I stood as intermediary  to holler his instructions to her while he was in the tree and she was in the car.  

Food Truck Fun

We eat so much junk while we are in Provo!  On Thursdays there is a food truck round up held in a parking lot in Provo.  We went 2 Thursday in a row and there were some new ones the second time that weren't there the first time we went.  The first Thursday there was a storm coming in and so I think the weather kept some people away.  We tried the Mouse Trap which was a grilled cheese truck and the crepe truck which was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.  It was very windy and a little rainy so we didn't stay too long that night.  We had just come from taking Aunt Suey's kids back to her house and just make a spur of the moment decision to go try it.  The next week the parking lot was full and had spilled over into another parking lot across the street. The weather was nice but HOT!  This time we got corndogs at Corndog Commander, a truck that we were trying to track down all week!  We also tried Waffle Love, Art City Donuts and a shaved ice truck.  The crepe truck was there so we got that again.  Those crepes are so great and were better than the waffles I thought.  The only thing that makes this less fun is that there is no seating and it really is in a dirty parking lot!  There is nothing around there that is very sit down friendly.  I did take a folding chair for my mom and they have some of those big wooden spool things that they have turned over for tables so we just picked one of those for home base and went back and forth with our yummy food.  It really is a fun way to spend an evening.  Don missed both weeks because he was at scout camp the first week and had already gone home the second week.  He would have enjoyed it as well so we will have to go back so we can try it again.  

Squaw Peak Search and Rescue

On Wednesday July 15, we took an unexpected trip up to Squaw Peak above the valley.  Granddaddy and Chris Carter had decided around 5:30 to go on a hike to what they thought was Squaw Peak where there is a parking lot and the most amazing views of the Utah Valley.  In actuality the intrepid hikers were heading toward Squaw Mountain and that gets you no where near Squaw Peak.  Grandma and Cayden headed up to Squaw Peak around 6:30pm because they were going to pick the hikers up from there and bring them home.  About 7:30 grandma Penny called me and said that she needed me to come up to Squaw Peak with water and snacks and juice because Larry and Chris hadn't arrived and might be in a little bit of trouble.  I loaded up Kyle and a small cooler with waters and orange juice, bananas and granola cars and headed up Provo Canyon.  I hadn't ever driven up Squaw Peak by myself and it is quite a windy road and the sun was right in my face every time I came around a corner and I couldn't see as well as I would have liked.  Right before I headed up the turn off road I saw 3 mountain bikers at the bottom of the road.  I had a very fast very simple thought to stop and talk to them and see if they knew anything about the trails around there.  There was one guy who was very knowledgeable and after I asked him some questions he told me that there were 2 trails-one that did lead from Rock Canyon where they started, over to the parking lot where we were supposed to meet them but that there was another trail that took you farther back into the mountains and up to a peak where you had to turn around and head back the way you came.  The first trail was to Squaw Peak but the other trail was to Squaw Mountain.  After he told me that I knew that Larry and Chris were headed to Squaw Mountain.  I got to the top of parking lot where grandma and Cayden were.  Grandma was quite freaked out and was in the process of calling Search and Rescue.  I told her what I knew and right about then Larry was able to get some service and he called her so she handed me the phone and I told him to just turn around and go back the way they came because they were not going to end up any where near us.  It was starting to get dark and so they were wanting to get going so they wouldn't be stuck in the dark for too long.  We headed back down to the house because it had taken them 3 hours to get to the top and so they were going to need at least 1-2 hours to get back down.  Grandma wasn't entirelt convinced that they knew where they were going and we googled some trails around there to see if we could tell anything.  About 9:00 grandma called the guy that had given them the directions for the hike and told him that they were out of water and she was worried about them.  A little after that we headed over to Rock Canyon to wait for them to get down.  I didn't want my mom going by herself because she was quite freaked out so I loaded up Kyle again and put on my jacket and some running shoes in case I needed to do any hiking!  The guys finally made it out by 11:30.  The guy who went after them met them about 30 minutes from the bottom and walked them the rest of the way down.  They had been on Squaw Mountain and they guy did give them good directions but Larry didn't understand that those directions were not what he thought they were.  They were both fine and just needed some food and some Advil.  

Squaw Peak was lovely to be at and under different circumstances I would have been much calmer and stayed a little longer.  The sun was setting and so that was nice to see-another thing I have never done!

Swinging with the Kiddos

One of the fun things about summer is playing with cousins!  Kyle and Ella were almost inseparable for the 2 weeks we were in Provo.  Grandma Penny's back porch swing is loved by everyone.  Kyle and Ella and I had fun taking funny pictures and swinging one afternoon.