Beach and Swim

With four busy kids at home this summer, I knew that the more time we spent in the water, the more everyone would get along.  Between swim lessons, beach days, and multiple trips to the library, the summer days flew by.  These are some of my favorite pictures...  Of course, there is a story that goes along with each picture.  It turned out that James was the only kid in his swim class which meant private lessons for three weeks straight.  The girls did swimming with our favorite swim teacher, Miss Barbara.  Emmy screamed for about four days straight until she finally gave in and decided that it was okay to have fun.  James found a dead fish at the beach one day, which he insisted would still be a good pet (the picture of the fish was our compromise to leave it at the beach).

Bryce Canyon

Final photos from Utah... another side trip, this time to Bryce Canyon.  These pictures actually make me laugh.  We picked the Navajo Trail because it was only about one mile long.  Little did we know that the trail takes you straight down for half a mile and then straight up for the other half.   On the way back, Emmy was begging me to hold her, but I couldn't do it for much more than a few yards.  I passed her onto Joseph and she walked with him for the entire hike without any complaints.  I guess we know who the pushover in the family is: me!






These are the switchbacks that bring you back to the top.  We were down to our last drop of water by the time we made it back up.


Have you ever seen a more tired pair than these two?


David seems ready for boyscouts!

scenic stops

The neat part about road trips is the scenery that you experience along the way.  On our way to Brian Head, we stopped at Hurricane, UT to visit "Momo" (Joseph's grandmother Camille).  Grandma actually played a huge role in our engagement.  She was the member of the family that snuck a bouquet of flowers over to the St. George temple at the spot where Joseph would propose to me.  On a different occasion during our engagement, I slept on her living room floor in a sleeping bag.  I had forgotten to bring a slip for my church skirt, so the next day, she altered one of hers for me.  I have always felt love for this sweet woman.  Unfortunately, a series of strokes has made daily life very difficult for her, so Pam and Dave are now caring for her full time.  What a sweet example they are honoring parents.

As the genealogy enthusiast of the family, Joseph suggested that we stop at the gravesite of my great, great grandfather, Joseph Wright.  I was so exhausted from the day's drive, but got a second wind as I felt the awe of standing at the gravesite of my pioneer ancestor.  It was awesome.  The next day at church, we met Sheila Wright Dutton, one of my third cousins.  She shared an neat book with me about Joseph's life.  We also discovered that Joseph's aunt is one of my third cousins as well!  Hah!
 



















Lastly, we visited Pioneer Park in St. George.  The kids loved the huge rock formations and caves.  If you look closely, you can see the St. George temple in the background.

One of the best parts of the reunion was the craft room with special activities for each age group.  Joseph and I were in charge of a hike with all tots 4 and under.  We decided to help the kids gather plants of ever color.  When we returned to the craft room, the kids glued their findings onto paper.  It was pretty fun!  On a separate day, Adam Barnhurst (Joseph's brother in law) took all the tots fishing.  They stayed at the pond until every child had a chance to catch a fish.  Ruth was sure thrilled!  The hike pictured here was to Cascade Falls, near Navajo Lake.

Brian Head is a resort town in the highest elevation of Dixie National Forest.  It is a very popular destination for winter skiing.  In fact, Joseph and his family skied here almost every winter during his childhood.  Though there is no snow in July, we still found plenty to do, including riding the ski lift, rock climbing (David), fishing, and lots of hiking.  I found these Columbine flowers at the highest peak of the mountain.  It is so amazing that something so beautiful can grow in such a harsh environment.

Brian Head

Summer began with a trip to Brianhead, UT to attend an extended family reunion with the Larsen clan.  The weather was crisp and cool, the wildflowers were everywhere, and the amount of kids running around was plentiful.  All total, our group was 150 people.

The first day was probably the most memorable.  Almost all of us, in a caravan of about 20 cars, drove to the foot of the Twisted Forest Trail.  While there, we hiked to the edge of a massive cliff, which overlooked Cedar Breaks  (red rock formations).   The pine trees along the trail are called bristlecone pines, which are the oldest living organisms on earth.  We also collected some nice samples of agate rock.

 

Much to say...

It is strange to be picking my journaling back up after such a long absence.  I suppose the best thing is to start at the most recent happenings and work my way back.  Three significant changes happened over the summer.  Joseph's sister Anna and her family moved into the area.  We are so happy to have them to share our CA experience with!  Anna has two teenage girls, one boy (David's age), two younger girls (Ruth's age), and a baby.  Despite all the changes in her life with her recent move, Anna has been so considerate of our family.  She has already hosted us for dinner twice and arranged a temple night for our family.  Needless to say, when our families are together, everyone is in cousin heaven.  Emmy has especially taken a liking to baby Greta and Maggie.

Last fall, I began to feel a sharp pain in my knee whenever I danced or ran around with the kids.   It turns out that my physical activity had yielded a tear in my Meniscus.  After the prescribed 4 months of physical therapy, the pain seemed to be only getting worse, so I made the drastic decision to have an arthroscopic meniscectomy (surgery).  Since I knew that I needed to recover quickly from surgery, I opted out of general anesthesia and did a less heavy sedative.  I think the surgeon was surprised that I was still awake as I was wheeled to the surgery room.  The surgical bed has a strong resemblance to Frankenstein's bed, especially with the weird arm rests that my arms were strapped to.  Glad I finally fell asleep at that point!  Anyway, I am now about 3 1/2 weeks out from recovery.  The recovery is slower than I expected, but I am off crutches and no longer need it wrapped.  Physical therapy starts this week.  Can't fail to mention how wonderful the women in our ward were who contributed meals, babysitting, and rides to and from the hospital.  They were my guardian angels that week!




Over the past year, we have slowly been making plans to sell our home with hopes to get into something with a bit more elbow room.  After my surgery, I decided to postpone a potential move until January.  That decision relieved quite a bit of stress for a few weeks, but we ultimately decided to move forward anyway.  Last week was an painful week, both physically (from my leg) and emotionally (from the move).  I never expected the huge amount of work involved in prepping a home to sell, nor did I expect the continual waves of emotional stress.  Fortunately, I have found much peace today and am feeling more hopeful about the whole ordeal.