Painful Good-byes

We said good-bye to a dear friend of 3 years yesterday. Little Lady Luck was a very energetic lab that has lived with us since she was a puppy. A sweet girl who loved these kids with her whole heart. Her whole mission in life was to please. And her favorite thing in the whole world was to play fetch. Lady was a natural fetcher. She was so focused, determined, and would go-go-go. She was so sweet in seeking attention and loves. The problem was... I am horrible at outdoor-petting. Dogs are companions. They need attention. I felt like a horrible human every time I shut the door in her eager little face. But I just could not do the shedding anymore and as a family, we felt we needed to simplify things a bit. Essentially, Lady needed more than we could give her. 

So a retired cop who was k-9 handler had me make some videos of her and send them to him to see if she was a good fit for his training program. She passed! Of course she did. She really is an incredible dog. Several tears were shed by many of us, but there is a sense of relief accompanying the heart ache. She will be loved and missed. 

Good-bye Lady Luck! We love you 💗

We will also be getting rid of our chickens this week. With far fewer tears (and even some cheers- from Jaedyn whose sole responsibility they were)!

 

Escape to Escalante

I'm so grateful for good friends in my life. Our interactions with others have such a big impact on our lives. Those people we choose to associate with have such an influence on us! I have been so blessed in the friend department. Growing up, I was able to find a good group of girls and I attribute a lot of who I am, to them. They had similar values, did not get caught up in the drama that is so popular for young girls, and were really good examples of good choices and strength during those really delicate years known as adolescence. Their examples really encouraged me to love others, to be thoughtful, and to be kind. I'm still working on all of those characteristics but they truly had them in spades. 

Now as an adult, I continue to be blessed with good friends who are such an inspiration in my life. Good friends who encourage me to love others, dig deep in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and push myself in all things physical and adventurous. They provide good examples of serving others and recognizing God's hand in our lives. They truly inspire me to be a better person. I got the opportunity to go away for the weekend with one such friend.

And what a weekend it was! 

Destination: Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Southern Utah

Transportation: little red truck- turned camper

Goal: to explore with great company and eat great food

Mission: successful

I drove down Thursday after working half a day and cheering Jaedyn on at her cross country championships. We spent the night at Helen's house and went to the gym in the morning before the looooong drive down. We spent the night with Heather at her trailer in Escalante AFTER pulling in to the wrong campsite to the entertainment of a rather large group of campers. LOL.

Heather was so gracious to feed us that night. If you want gourmet cooking while camping, Heather is the ultimate hostess. She is an amazing cook and really takes a pride and joy in what she serves. Even something as seemingly simple as a black bean soup, was amazingly delicious! Heather, Helen, and I used to be somewhat of a trio and I miss those days! It was fun to be out in the great outdoors with those 2 again, I just wish Heather could have joined us for the hiking too!

We set off Saturday for Jacob Hamblin Arch. This was a jaunt very reminiscent of what we have done in southern Utah. We hiked for a couple of miles to an area where we descended down a rather steep rock face down into a wide canyon. We had brought a rope as recommended, it probably wasn't necessary but it certainly sped up the process!

I had to snap a few pics to try out my new camera

Coyote Natural Bridge about 3.5 miles in

About 4.5 miles in there was a little side canyon. We hiked up about a mile to this little oasis. We had quite the laughs up here as we played with the camera and tried to get some decent portraits. Turns out I'm not a very photogenic hiker. LOL Helen got one particular close up that actually had me looking more pig than human- which led to a lot of laughter and tears.

I love this shot I got as some of the laughter subsided. I had to confiscate the camera back after the pig shot. You can see just how much fun this girl can be!

On Sunday we drove further up the Hole in the Rock Road to The Hole in the Rock monument. This drive was several hours up a very rough dirt road. For future reference, 4 wheel drive and high clearance are necessary to go up the road this far. We listened to conference talks and had a lot of good discussions during the long drive. At mile 36 we stopped briefly at Dance Hall Rock. This was about 21 miles from the the final destination. This was a large Rock Amphitheater with great acoustics and a relatively flat floor where the pioneers stopped to dance and play music. We thought at this point it would be a quick shot to the hole but alas... the road had more in store for us. I can't imaging taking wagons on it! After almost 2 hours we reached the hole and were so excited to get out of the truck and move! I was disappointed to see the information plaque completely blank once we reached hole in the rock but lucky Helen was full of historical stories concerning the area. This area was incredible and awe-inspiring. The steep drop down to the river just can't be given justice in pictures. We bouldered down almost to the bottom and kept commenting on all the boulders and rough trail. Simply unbelievable that they managed that trip down with wagons. It was cool to see dates from the 1800s scratched into the wall as well.

This is the opening to the hole with the river viewed in the background.

Here you can see some of the steep drop offs behind me that make up part of this trail.

The roughness of the trail. Though, they did build it more into a road down with dirt. You still get an idea of what the terrain was that they traveled over.

View from half way down the trail through the hole.

After Hole in the Rock, we did my favorite... the king of all slot canyons: Peek-a-Boo and Spooky Canyons. These canyons were about 25 miles down Hole in the Rock Road. Oh my word these were so fun! And they were made more fun by a group that tried to enter the canyon right behind us. The mother was from Poland and she was visiting with her daughter and son and one of her daughter's friends. They had flown all the way from New York and couldn't even ascend the entrance. So Helen and I helped them with the ascent with pointers and sometimes physical assistance so they could enjoy the beauty and marvel that were these canyons! After the entrance, the mother fell on to us with hugs gushing her gratitude that we were her "angels". It felt good to help other people and I think we were both happy to assist. It was also fun to hear the wonder and exclamations that were quite prolific coming from people who hadn't spent time in slot canyons.

Standing by the ascent into Peek-a-Boo.

These canyons were narrow and were a couple miles long. It actually got more narrow than this in some places and we had to scoot sideways to fit through. Thankfully we had strung our packs in a tree so we didn't have to juggle them through.

The walls of this canyon were so swirly!

Possibly the namesake? Peek-a-boo

Our friends from New York at the exit! (minus the mother who is taking the picture)

Monday we stopped briefly at Devil's Garden which was reminiscent of Garden of the Gods in Colorado or even Goblin Valley. It's a short walk through an outcropping of rock formations, hoodoos, arches and the like. It would be fun to bring the kids back here and let them boulder around on the rocks. This was about 12 miles down the road.

We then went and hiked-ran Lower Calf Creek, a 6 mile round trip, out and back hike to a beautiful waterfall. On this hike, I was inspired to seek out some trail runners... it was so fun! Helen and I hatched a plan to do rim-2-rim in the Grand Canyon next October in a similar style. 

Beautiful trail

Beautiful Falls

Beautiful trip with a beautiful friend.

So, the takeaway? Choose good friends! Friends who will accept you as you are but who inspire you to be your best self. Friends who support and encourage. Friends you can laugh simply and without malice with. Friends who you can seek good, clean adventure with. Friends who will guide you safely to a regret-free way of living.

 

The End of a Season

Jaedyn finished out her cross country season with championships in Rexburg this year. She ran the 2500 meter. I'm so glad I got to go to most of her races and cheer her on! It was fun to watch her run, fun to see her be a part of something bigger, fun to witness the friendships that blossomed and the camaraderie that developed. She stated that she was sad and glad the season was ending, and that she is considering track in the spring. For now, I'm going to soak in the free Thursday afternoons and miss the one on one shuttling time home from practice. Race after your dreams Jaedyn! A little hard work accomplishes a lot and sometimes the payoff is in ways you would never expect! Who would have thought going in to the cross country season, that you would benefit in more was than just physical?

Love this girl💜

 

Smile Purdy!

Ebony had an evaluation with the orthodontist today. A few weeks ago at one of Jaedyn's appts I had him take a look at her cross-bite. Sure enough, he felt it warranted x-rays. The result of today's evaluation? 90% sure there is a soft-palate expander in this kid's future. 

2 seconds before I snapped this pic, she had big terrified eyes. Not really terrified, but wide and questioning. Oh, and note the snow pants? Our little snow storm the other night is still making its presence known.

Lilia has 3 really good friends that have been stuck like glue to each other for over a year. Legacy, Ava, and Carlie have been a delight in our lives. These girls do everything together and it is so fun! This year, they have decided they want to be M&Ms together. So we got online and ordered matching outfits in Green, Yellow, Red, and Blue. As dictated to us by these girls. Well everything arrived last night and Lilia was so excited to model for a shot, an "all the orders are in and this is how they turned out" shot. Afterward, she stood on the stairs and sang and danced in the mirror across from the stairs. I was so excited to have caught it on video without her noticing until the end! LOL. It made me nostalgic for my little 3 and 4 year old Lilia who used to go to the bathroom and disappear for an hour. I'd find her playing in mirror, distracted from washing her hands. I got a few of these memories on camera. But it was a daily occurrence and I have missed it! She was embarrassed until I reminded her how much fun she has going back and watching those videos of her singing in the mirror. Hopefully she is ok with it now 💕

And last but not least, a little capture of something ALL of the kids like to do with our horse. I mean dog. He's huge. They love to have him stand on his back legs with his paws on their shoulders and then they dance. You can see how he dwarfs the 4 year old! 😆

And just so there's proof, amidst the chaos and yelling and tears and craziness that is our lives... There is also love!

 

First Winter Storm!

Last night I went to my heated yoga class. It is an intense class and I worked up quite the sweat (helped along by the sauna known as "hot yoga"). Imagine my surprise as I left this warm environment to find 3 inches of soft, beautiful snow on my car! Driving home was reminiscent of the star trek movies when they put the ship into light speed. Dark driving with flashes of white. So pretty! Though a tad early in the year for my taste! LOL. I had to make the best of it though. I gathered a few handfuls of snow from the car hood as I headed in the house, planning to attack my children who should be in bed. Only to find they were! Of all the crazy coincidences, the one night they actually go to bed on time! So I did what any mother driven to it would do, I attacked them with my snowballs anyway. Chad, who had worked to get them into bed on time, did NOT find the humor in my late night declaration of war. In my defense, they were far from asleep. And I only attacked the two older ones!

The next day we awoke to 8 inches! McKinley decided to let Atlas sneak out in it and it took me quite a while to miss him. By the time I had, he had built up quite the snow boots in his curly fur. Watching him try to prance his poodle prance with 10 pound feet was hilarious! 

Our poor trees, still heavily leaf-laden took a beating! With all the heavy snow, we got the opportunity to haul several broken branches. For reference, this is our big maple with branches that normally are 6 feet off the ground, scraping the pavement of our driveway in their current state.

We eventually got out to play. McKinley and I built a lady, complete with "hair" at McKinley's recommendation. She insisted we use coal for the eyes and mouth and eventually settled for the easier to come by, gravel from the road. She's even sporting one of our garden carrots!

Maple and carrot hair. McKinley is quite the little sylist!

Of course the fun included snow angels interrupted by a gluten-free, sugar-free, fat-free, calorie-free snack!

And thanks to Chad's high tunnel skills, we got to pick some produce on the same wintry day! 

Check that baby out! LOL We have learned that carrots, like apples, taste better after the first frost. We keep salivating over how beautiful they look and pick them too early. They taste like dirt. But if we wait until it gets cold, they're much sweeter! And much, much bigger!

 

Pocatello Gets a Temple!

We had the opportunity to go to the open house for the Pocatello Temple. It was... an experience. LOL We were running late, cuz that's just what we do, and had to get gas. So there was that. Then when we arrived we had a longer bus ride than expected and the only reason I mention that is because I really had to go potty! To the point it was getting downright painful! As we disembarked from the buses, we were met with a freezing cold drizzle, and of course no jackets (we were running late, remember?). We stood in line outside, shivering for about 30 minutes, and me begging the kids to quit jostling me, when I decided I couldn't take it anymore. There was a church clear down there that I was going to desperately see if doors were open. Only, I made it halfway across the parking lot when I saw they had geniously brought in some mobile bathrooms. Hallelujah! Now I can finally relax and enjoy the experience! Famous last words.

The temple really was beautiful. And we had a few interesting discussions... like on spurred on by the baptismal font and McKinley's question "so after someone dies they bring their person here to baptize?". As my childhood ward is in the temple district for the new temple, I saw many dear faces from years past, and that too was enjoyable. Did my heart some good.

But somehow, 2 of my kids managed to fight almost the entire way through such a beautiful place. No amount of distraction could deter them! I just wanted a fun picture showing what a great experience this could be and... uh, real life is captured quite well here. 

But you know, I'm grateful for my very real, very dirty, very rough and tumble life. These kids amaze me. They are faced with so much today but still smile. They may call names and yell (way too much), but their hugs are amazing and come when it truly matters. They are FULL of a zest for life and a love for people and I hope that carries with them down through the years as those qualities can take them far in life!

 

Palisades in the Fall

I love hiking with my girls. But sometimes circumstances call for a solo flight. In this instance, I was blessed to have Helen join me. The leaves are turning, the air is crisp and winter weather is just around the corner. An a last minute lament to my dear friend, we decided to take advantage of the last few minutes of fall in Idaho. Yesterday we packed Lady up at 6 in the morning and drove up to the Palisades Creek Trail for a 15 mile hike. And we did it in October without gloves! oops. Needless to say, it was a little cold as we started on the trail but we were loaded with good food, great company, beautiful scenery and light hearts (thanks to coming off General Conference weekend). 

We did our best to bundle up with our meager gloveless supplies.

The hike was beautiful! It was so colorful, even in the early, pre-sunrise, morning! If you look closely you can see our little canine companion for the trip. Lady was so weird this trip. She's done the hike before, even adding an additional mile with having had to park in the lower parking lot and adding a partial hike around the lake previously. For some reason she was just antsy the whole time. It's funny, she always runs ahead about 15 feet and then comes back to check on me but this time, every time and I mean EVERY time we stopped, she was whining in anticipation of going again. Maybe she missed Atlas. I just wasn't trusting of his 9 month old capabilities even though he's a giant, to believe I wouldn't have to eventually carry him down the mountain.

We had some great discussions catching up on each other's lives, reviewing conference highlights, making future adventuring plans, and repeatedly commenting on the beauty that surrounded us. At one point Helen was talking about the life of George Washington (she's always a wealth of knowledge) and how he had such high expectations for his military leaders and how his strict views on alcohol led to better behaved troops. We both concluded he was a man way ahead of the times. Some of the experiences she read about discussed how he was a divinely protected leader, even the Native Americans indicated he was protected by the Great Spirit. At times he would return from the front lines with bullet holes through his clothing. I was intrigued by the information and would love to learn more about General Washington. I know my dad has always deeply admired his faith. One of his favorite paintings that has adorned the walls of my childhood home since I was a kid, is that of General Washington kneeling in prayer beside his stallion. I believe it is known as The Prayer at Valley Forge.

The fall colors were beautiful! The lake... not so much. A few months ago when I went up there the lake was so clear and blue! This time the waters were much lower and looked a little murky which was a bit of a disappointment. But the trip was well worth it just for views such as this one. What beautiful country we live in! I'm so grateful for it! For the freedoms we enjoy within it! I'm grateful for a body that allows me to appreciate it! And especially for parents who will hang out with my kids for a few hours so I can go a little bit further, a little bit faster, every once in a while. LOL. 

And I'm grateful for my new phone that has a better camera to capture it all with! This is Helen showing me a feature on my phone that I didn't know existed... and my apparent shock. Who knew you could signal your phone with a high five to capture a pic?!

That afternoon after the hike, Helen and I took the kids to New Sweden Farms. It's this fantastic Fall attraction with corn mazes, and bouncy floors, playgrounds, a small petting zoo, horse and wagon rides etc. They even haunt the corn maze after dark. You'll notice our pics are in the daylight LOL. 

Each of the kids took a turn on the horses and then we split up. Jaedyn and her friend Veka went off to be the cool kids without parents and the rest of us headed to the corn maze.

Check out these mazes! Very patriotically themed. We went in the kiddie maze and I handed over my phone with the pic to Lilia and told her to lead us out. After a few turn arounds the 3 girls, working together, did it!

This maze... we will attempt on another day when my 4 year olds is not distracted by every corn cob and a random cat. And maybe when I haven't already hiked 15 miles. LOL But this maze was dedicated to the fallen heroes in memory of 9/11. What a beautiful maze!

And last but not least, this kid gave me the scare of my life as we were leaving! She and Lilia wanted to say good-bye to the sweet little calf at the petting zoo. I quickly texted Chad, who was getting off of work at that moment, to let him know we were headed back home. I looked back and McKinley was about 5 steps behind Lilia. I told them both to hurry and looked down at Chad's response. He asked a question and in the time it took me to type "I think so", McKinley disappeared. Lilia asked, "Where's McKinley?" and I looked up to point out that she was 5 steps behind her... only she wasn't. She was nowhere. She had completely disappeared. The place was open, there weren't crowds, but McKinley was nowhere to be found. Immediate in my mind was the thought, "She could not have disappeared that quickly, that efficiently, without help". Freak out. I recognized I was being irrational and prayed for calm as I began the search. 10 minutes. 10 minutes I looked everywhere and then looked again. She was nowhere to be found. In desperation I hollered to Helen and to the other girls who were playing at the playground. No one had seen her. It was such a scary experience. I finally started giving her description out to people and they started looking too, when I heard Helen holler that she found her. I looked across the playground to see the ticket lady walking back from the parking lot with McKinley in her arms. Unbeknownst to ticket lady, who was too far away to be involved in the drama, she had happened to glance up to see this lone small child, standing sadly beside a car out in THE. PARKING. LOT. Sensing something was off, she approached and saved the day. How in the world did she get past all of us without any of us seeing her?? I have no answers. But I don't need them. I'm just so grateful that that was the case rather than the 101 terrors that played in my mind on repeat during those terrible 10 minutes. Needless to say we had a lesson on the drive home about finding a grown up in charge at any future events should separation occur. Which it won't. Because no parent ever needs to experience that twice!