Kodachrome Basin State Park - Spring Break fun

I love this place!  It's so uniquely beautiful.  And this time is wasn't crowded and the weather was perfect for hiking!  Paul, Bean and I enjoyed a nice day there and the drive there and back too.  It was so good to get out!  It may be the only thing we really do for my Spring Break since the rest of the week is filled with medical things - Paul's biopsy and his and Grandma's Covid shots.  We might be able to sneak something else in (I hope so).  

More mini-golf fun - Brynnli & Braden, etc.

 

Yea!  Brynnli and Braden finally got some time off from school/work and were not cooped up from Covid, so we got to spend a little fun time with them and Ferf and some of the kids.  Afterwards we enjoyed pizza, salad and brownies together!  

Kaebri high school graduation - Covid19 style - via video!

Here I sit at my computer waiting to watch Kaebri's high school graduation.  In normal times I'd be at DSU Burns Arena with the whole family ready to scream and yell at the appropriate times...but not this time.  This will be a graduation that will be remembered long after because it will be so unique.  Kaebri dropped by her graduation announcement today, along with instructions of how we can "tune in" to watch the prerecorded, spliced together film they worked out to be the graduation ceremony.  It was so good to visit with her and hear her tell about how she and some friends did their own little senior prom day date, dinner and dance since they couldn't possibly do it as a school.  And tonight, after the on-line graduation they will car parade to a spot at Staheli Farms where they will park and watch a drive-in movie of school memories together.  They have spent their last quarter as seniors at home doing on-line school.

 I had a "Weed moment" during all of this - a time when I miss her and am sad that she isn't here to be a part of this important milestone in one of her children's lives.  I comfort myself hoping that somehow she is watching, and is not sad watching, because she is in a different time zone, a heavenly time zone, that makes it so she knows and it feels like to her that they will all be together again "soon".  I hope and pray that's the case - that she's watching, sending love, and doing it happily. 

One of the graduation speakers - class president I think - spoke about a new word she discovered that seemed useful in this whole corona virus disruption scenario that we are in and in speaking of their lives and the disruption of the normality of this end of high school year and graduation.  The word is anti-fragile. It's meaning is way over my head, but in a sort of simple way is described like this:  In his 2012 book, Antifragile:  Things That Gain from Disorder, Taleb offered the following definition: “Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure, risk and uncertainty.  Yet, in spite of the ubiquity of the phenomenon, there is no word for the exact opposite of fragile.  Let us call it anti-fragile.  Anti-fragility is beyond resilience or robustness.  The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the anti-fragile gets better.”  The book's central theme purports that we must learn how to make our public and private lives anti-fragile, rather than simply less vulnerable to randomness and chaos.

 I like the word and think it's good in that life is fragile here on earth and we are always in the midst of something - that's actually why we came - you know - opposition in all things.  And we also know that the way to get through it is the Gospel/Christ's atonement... 'cause we sure can't avoid all the shocks and chaos - like in losing your daughter/mother - in our lives.  So, anyway, I liked what she had to say - wisdom from one so young.  

I'm going off, because this was really a very unique graduation "in the history of ever" as one young speaker put it,  and I don't know that there will be another one like it.  

Andrew Wells, student body president, said this class was born during the year of the 9/11 bombings (2001-2002) and now graduates during the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic.  Their focus was unity, which got pretty difficult during the last quarter because they had no school at school and could not gather in groups.  Adversity came!  Their theme for the year was - The Spirit of the Storm.  Life is good and can always be good, even in the storms - if we look for good and focus on it.  He did a nice job too.

Hopefully Kaebri gets a copy of the whole thing and can save it for future inspiration!  Her college plans have become disrupted along with the internship she was doing.  Her other job got lost in the social distancing mess too.  But she is happy and hopeful, moving forward in the storm, humble and sweet, giving service to her family and friends in her quiet ways...so much like her mom in that way. I'm so thankful that she is on track, that she has weathered her storms so far and is following the path that will help her to be anti-fragile, and focusing on the good so her Life Can Be Amazing - that was the song they sang at the graduation - in a socially distant,  combined school district choir really cool video.  The combined school district orchestra video was equally awesome.  

Life Can Be Amazing

I'm living right here and now and I don't wanna miss out.

Is this what life's all about? The world is calling and I'm list'ning.

I feel the freedom inside. Come on let's go for a ride.

I finally opened my eyes and I can see it so clearly.

And isn't it amazing.

Oh life can be amazing. Oh I feel my heartbeat racing. I fly!

Soaring ever higher I can light my inner fire.

And then we'll see what happens now! Watch what happens now!

Sometimes we have what it takes.  Sometimes we make our mistakes.

And now the journey awaits so don't you wanna come with me?

We'll make our way to the top. We'll never break never stop.

And when we get to the spot we'll know we made it there together.

We'll remember forever...life is but a dream...

So, I was really impressed with the whole program.  The walking part was about the same...long, very long waiting for the S's to come up!  But, all in all, it WAS amazing.  Maybe it will start a new tradition!

Class of 2020 - Kaebri graduates - Covid-19 Style

So we can't really complain about anything in our family because so far we are all well, still employed and pretty much happy living in a beautiful setting and with those we love nearby mostly (though not seen too closely at present).  We have the Gospel and the peace that it brings.

But there are some things, maybe little in the big scheme of things, but important and interrupted because of this crazy disease.  And today was one of them...Kaebri's high school graduation.  It's a big deal but had to be done carefully because of the need to social distance to stay safe.  So, they did the best they could.  And she did the BEST she could!  We are do proud of her, but feel a little cheated to have missed the big celebration and the feeling of being there and being part of it. 

Just feeling a little sad for these grand kids who are getting cheated out of some of the big moments and plans of their lives.  Here's a little whine even amidst the gratitude for blessings that I feel.  So many of these kids had plans for the future.  Tavin is one of many who planned their whole life to go and serve a full-time mission...and now it's kind of on hold, or just over.  Kaebri was going to go away to school...and now she'll stay here for a while because of all of the uncertainty.  But, we are blessed...and life will go on, just differently than we planned.  I guess that's just kind of how life is sometimes.  "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry."  But remember: And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.  Romans 8:28  End of whine!

Here's what Derek posted:

She did it!!  Kaebri graduated today! (Sort of)
Thanks to Desert Hills HS for going all-out to make this graduation year special!  2020!!

They filmed the graduates one at a time today (for social distancing) and will broadcast the official graduation on May 21st @ 4:00 pm.

I'm so proud of her!!
BTW, check out all the bling she earned around her neck! (Sterling Scholar, CTE pathway, Student of the year, Aobe certifications, high honor roll, orchestra, etc. etc. etc.)
That's my girl!!!

And I'll just add - she's Lenae's girl!  We are all so proud of her!

Bike, walk and ride, etc...enjoy!

Lots of things to see and ways to do it.  We walked the bike trails to see the pond and river area.  The next morning we rode bikes for 22 miles and saw the pond that way too.  Then in the afternoon we took a ride up by Virgin hoping to get to Lava Point.  The road closed before we could get all of the way there (National Park closure for Covid-19), but we did get down the road far enough to see some beautiful, cloudy Zion Views en route.  It's such a beautiful time of year and we live in such a beautiful place!  Hard to believe we are in a bad way with all of this unrest because of the pandemic times.  Nature helps restore your soul.  

We went up to Pine Valley one evening to check out a possible hike for the Randall family.  Then we took and beautiful evening walk in the peace and quiet and sprinkling rain.  Ahhh!

Happy Earth Day - We went to the old quarry and had our first cook out of the year!!! Then we took and evening walk a little ways down Cottonwood Canyon and I picked up a few rocks and a piece of wood to decorate a planter in the back yard that we have been needing to finish!

 Here's my earth day joke...ha ha!!!

This day we took a drive up on Cedar Mountain to see if the snow was holding out...it was!

Outdoor social distancing adventures of late

We've been taking hikes to places where not many people are - none at all here this day - and have greatly enjoyed getting out during this time of  "social distancing" because of the Coronivirus.  Feel just a little guilty about enjoying my time off work and it being hard times for many.  This day we took the hike on part of the Red Hill where Supe and Ari go for walks.  We love that all of the recent rains have filled up the pond at the top of the hike.  And this time we even saw a baby desert tortoise!  

Red Mountain Trail - this hike was perfect!  The weather was just right, it had been raining long enough to make lots of beautiful pools, but was sunny this day and the sand was all packed with water instead of being terrible to hike in.  We think we did 12-15 miles and it felt good!  We love this place.  I think this was the best time I've ever done this trail.  We saw a few people, but were able to keep our "social distance" as prescribed at this time.  Pictures can't even begin to do this beautiful place justice!

Last Saturday morning we took a beautiful bike ride up the West Canyon Trail in Snow Canyon!  It felt good!  Then in the afternoon we took Zade and Trigg to escape from being so much in the house and went to Supe's Pond again.  They had never been and loved seeing it and also the little side hike over to Courgar Rock.  Afterwards we stopped in at the drive through at BK for some ice cream cones and then took a ride around the St. George Temple to see how the renovation work is coming along.  It was such a fun time!  We had originally planned to go on a different shorter hike close to their house, but it was covered with people, so this turned out much better - we didn't run into anyone else.

Coronavirus, social distancing, Tavin transfers home from his mission...

Right now life is crazy!  This terrible disease - the Coronivirus - has really changed life.  We just got out of school for Spring Break week...and then we aren't going back until who knows when.  Kids will do on-line school.  The VP told me to come in when we are supposed to start back as they are going to try to find some kind of work for people to do who aren't on contracts like me.  We'll see how that goes.  Thank goodness we just signed up for me to get my SS benefits and for Paul to get spousal benefits.  If I lose my school income I will almost make it up through what we get from this.  We had hoped it would be extra income to use toward early pay off of the car, but if not, then I'm just glad we will have this instead.  Update:  Went to a meeting at the school this morning and it looks like I'm pretty much out of work til at least May 1st (the new date the schools have been shut down to for now).  They tried to think of something we could do, but when a co-worker and I actually talked to the kindergarten team, they looked pretty blank about the whole thing and are just trying to deal with the whole craziness of trying to provide some kind of on-line Kindergarten instruction.  We are so hands on that it's a pretty daunting task, I'm sure.  Speaking of hands on, Bean's technical college course basically got put on hold too.  The powers that be realized that with that kind of class (and other technical college classes) you just can't translate them into something on-line.  Now he and I both need to find something worthwhile to do with our time.  Thankfully, Paul still has some work and got a little more today.  Too bad I'm useless when he's the one who hurts with arthritis.  So now I need to get motivated about projects around the house that I can do.  Maybe I will learn to index finally.

Church is on an at home basis with our own sacrament meeting last Sunday and Paul blessing and passing the sacrament until further notice.  General Conference is going to be way different:  "Each session will be broadcast from a small auditorium on Temple Square.  The First Presidency will preside and conduct those sessions, and only those who have been invited to speak or pray will attend.  The music for the conference has been pre-recorded."  Today (March 22 - our 2nd week) we added watching Music and the Spoken Word to our Sunday routine.  Paul and I study our Come Follow Me Lesson for the week and then watch or listen to a podcast to go with it.  We take an outdoor walk in a secluded place on the Red Hill after lunch, take a nap and have Grandma, Bean and sometimes Supe and Beacher over for dinner.  We will keep trying to find the best way that works for us.

The stores are being bought out of all TP and canned goods and you have to line up to get into Costco now so as not to have too many people together in one place.(We are feeling glad that we have a bidet because we sure can't buy any toilet paper anywhere!) Businesses are just temporarily closing down.  and social distancing is the order of the day.

Tavin is coming home from his mission to the Philippines because the government wants all foreigners out of the country.  This was to be done within 72 hours.  He will have to come home and be quarantined for 14 days and then hopefully will be reassigned to do some kind of missionary work.  So...life is good, but it is crazy! (Sunday, March 22 - he arrives at the St. George Airport tonight at 11:42.  Only his parents can come to pick him up and then he's into his quarantine time. Update:  He arrived home and continues to serve/study from there and then be transferred back out to a stateside mission until and if the Philippines gets back to "normal" in time for him to go back and finish there.  The Church is calling these mission times, "the adventure of a lifetime".  And Tavin is keeping positive and enjoying it. (Getting him out of the Philippines was quite the adventure in itself - from getting the ferryman to let them on the ferry to get back to the MTC and then waiting there until the Church finally had to charter 5 planes to get all of the foreign missionaries out of the country.  He said there were miracles and tender mercies that made it all possible.

I have been working out on the treadmill as usual and Paul and I take walks.  Since I'm out of school I can go for bike rides when it's not raining.  We have gone outside on hikes where we know we won't be seeing a lot of other people to have the chance just to get out and enjoy some clean air and exercise.

The first Saturday after school ended for Spring Break Paul and I took a hike out behind Bloomington.  It's one that Supe showed us and we love the amazing views out there.  It had just rained recently and the trail and the air were clean washed, cool and beautiful!

On Monday Paul, Bean, me and Ferf and boys drove down to Falling Man Petroglyphs, over to the Sheep Wall and then to Hobgoblin's Playground (now knows and Little Finlandia) to hike around and see the amazing scenery.  It's a long, rough drive - especially to the Hobgoblin's), but we took our big truck and parked Ferf's car when it got to rough.  Gaige, Koen and Indy (the dog) were happy to ride in the back and get shakin' to pieces and the rest of us piled into the cab.  Such beautiful, amazing scenery.  We took our picnic lunches and then since it was getting pretty late by the time we got out, we stopped at Wendy's in Mesquite for dinner.  It was a long, but really fun day!  And we actually didn't hardly see anyone else except when we stopped for dinner.  It had been a really long time since we had been there.  I wouldn't do that drive again soon, but it was worth it and fun to share with people who hadn't been there before.

Koen is standing in under the namesake petroglyph - the Falling Man.