Family Camp amended for Covid-19/Corona Virus

Family Camp - well, it wasn't a camp this year in the regular sense.  We didn't sleep over together in the woods or anywhere else this time.  But, we did get together with those who could, and we did have fun.  At first when we had to cancel our planned Beach Trip to CA we just thought we wouldn't do anything.  But we decided to at least attempt some time together.  We kept throwing around ideas - some could work and some couldn't because of the virus restrictions.  And we just kept amending and adapting as we went to meet the circumstances.  It's the people - not the place!  That would be our theme for this year I think!  

Our final product was this:

Thursday we met at Yankee Meadows for a day in the mountains/at the lake.  Everyone who had kayaks/canoes brought them.  And the weather was cool, but not too cool for the lake and the wind didn't come up enough to create a problem.  We had picnic lunch and just relaxed and enjoyed the lake and a little bit of hiking.  That evening we went down to Cedar City and had such a yummy dinner that Lou and Juge put together in Weaver's beautiful backyard.  Some jumped on the tramp, some played volleyball, some played basketball and some just visited.  It was great!

Friday morning we met at Ryan's brother's cabin in Kolob and just hung out there for the day.  We had lunch and dinner and hiked a little.  The kids had a blast playing games and playing outside in the trees.  We celebrated Derek's birthday with cake and ice cream. It was a wonderful day too. I didn't take enough pictures though.

We ended up with 30 being able to attend this year.  We missed Jay, Brynn, Essie and Clara, Supe and Beacher, Moss, Christie, Brenden, Eliza, Kai , Brayden and Tavin.  We had 2 dogs (Indy and Roxy) in attendance - both very well behaved!  

I, for one, missed the extra time we have when we camp - the long evenings when we have time to play games, just talk and watch the kids play with cousins, cook really amazing food on Camp Chef stoves and in Dutch ovens, visiting all of the forts the kids build and are so proud of, going on some kind of camp outing without being rushed, just relaxing around camp, taking a nap in the tent, having a kids talent show.  Yes, I did miss that, but I'm thankful for what we had, and thankful that no one has gotten sick so far and that for the most part, everyone is still employed.  I'd say we are very blessed in these stressful times full of sickness and social unrest.

Special thanks go to Jay and Brynn.  Even though at the last minute they had serious things come up that made it impossible for them to attend, they worked hard to the last minute to put a plan in place for this camp...even though their turn (for the Beach Trip) kind of made this double duty for them with this year's Covid-19-craziness.

Between Lou's Camera and Derek's set up skills, we got these pretty decent family pics of everyone who at one time or another was there.  The last shot turned into Tasia being the goat...she was a good sport and smiled anyway!

Father's Day 2020

Paul had a nice Father's Day.  He got great presents from the kids, yummy food and calls from his kids...what could be better?  The day before we took a nice drive up in the mountains around Cedar on old roads that we wanted to revisit.  It was very relaxing and the parts that weren't totally burned up were as beautiful as always.  It was a nice weekend celebration...and right after our Family Camp fun to boot! 

Baby and Kid quilts - summer 2020

Paul had his wall building project this summer.  For me the projects have been painting our bathroom, cleaning up the front and back yards really well and finishing up the bark and rocks in the back planters.  I wanted to get those done because I thought we would be having an appraisal when we refinanced the house...and then we didn't need to have one after all!  But I'm glad all of those things got done anyway.  I also made yummy cherry jam and a cherry pie from this year's cheery tree pickings.  

The other projects were to make baby blankets and quilts for Supe and Beacher for their baby.  I also framed a cute Little Boy Blue quilt block that my mom had given me for their baby to have something from her.  I got all of those things just in time for the baby shower, thank goodness!  

I also made a map of the US/I spy quilt for Kai for his birthday.  I actually made it first to practice for making Supe and Beacher's quilt since it has been a while since the last baby quilt was made.  

I've done other random cleanings up and cleaning's out that have made me feel very productive.  I still have a project or two to go before school starts back up...whatever that's going to look like and when during this crazy Covid-19 year.

Here's the baby shower for Beacher!  It's just about time for Jem to arrive!  

Checking out good spots for Family Camp Fun!

Since we can't go to our planned Family Camp location at the beach in California this year, we are staying local and  just sleeping at home/eating breakfast every day and then getting together for fun activities during the day on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Yesterday we went to find some nearby hikes that we could possibly take on our day at a cabin in Kolob.  And we also just stopped by at some cool spots we just wanted to check out for ourselves.  

We started at Virgin Falls Park and it was so beautiful that I almost wanted to just stay there and play in the water and forget the rest! 

Next we went up Kolob Terrace Road and stopped of by an old bridge we had played in the water under in the past.  We explored the area a bit more just for the fun of it and enjoyed seeing some beautiful things there.

Then we went to Cave Valley and hiked to the pictograph cave.  In route we did see a little rattlesnake who was just to busy going somewhere to rattle or hardly even be bothered by us.  It did freak me out so much that I was too slow to take his picture - he had already hidden in a bush by then.  It left me wanting to watch my step pretty close afterwards.

After that we took the Northgate Peaks hike which is one of my favorite little hikes.  It's only 4.2 miles and goes through a lovely forest and ends in some magnificent Zion views at the end.  It was a perfect weather day for all of the places we went.  And it was just enough mileage wise for hiking.  We live in such a beautiful area!

Gaige gets a redo date

When we took Gaige cross country skiing for his date earlier this year it started out well, but then he seemed to just feel worse and worse.  Don't know if it was altitude related or what.  (The next day he was sick at home and a few days later I got sick too.)  He toughed it out pretty well, but I felt bad that his date was not a great day for him at all.  Spur of the moment the other evening we decided to go miniature golfing and that sounded like something that he might enjoy so we got him to come along and it was a better date than the other one was for him.  He's a fun kids to hang out with! 

Madi, Tahlia and Essie - into the wild Grand Edventure date!

They were in town for their Tolman reunion and after the rest of the gang went home, their part of the family stayed in town with us for an extra few days.  And that meant we could take them on a date to the Rosenbruch Wildlife Museum.  And it was so FUN!  They loved all of the animals and they liked the insect room too.  And they even watched the hunting movie at the end pretty well.  But they had so much fun in the children's room with all of the props to play like they were camping, to pet actual bears and deer skins and to just use their imagination to play.  It was fun to watch them enjoy themselves that way and to enjoy being with each other.  

After the fun at the museum we got lunch at Wendy's and took it to a park and ate it despite the wind trying to blow it away and then played on the toys some.  Next we went to another park to see the baby swans!  Then it was time to get them back to Mom and Dad!  Another 'grand edventure' date was accomplished!

We also enjoyed our Sunday time together by watching Music and Spoken Word, having a wonderful SS Lesson led by Jay and Brynn and watching a B of M movie that went with it, singing and sharing the sacrament blessed and passed by Jay and Paul. We took a drive up to very cool Pine Valley and spent some picnic time at the little Nature Center picnic area up there. The girls also loved having Bean play with them (should have gotten pics).  After naps and movie break we had delicious German Pancakes and bacon cooked by Jay and Brynn!  During the weekend we also had Derek and kids and Moss, Christie and kids over for dinner on Friday night and then Supe, Beacher and the Borrowmans over on Saturday night.  Bean and I (and Moss and Christie and kids) also got to enjoy swimming with them on Friday afternoon at the Arcadia Resort where they had been staying with their Tolman family reunion.  We missed seeing the Randalls and the Weavers from Enoch and Cedar, but look forward to spending time with them at our Family Uncamp coming right up.  

And he's off...Mission: Part 2

Wednesday, June 3rd, Tavin left for part 2 of his mission which will take place in the Tacoma, Washington Mission.  He's keeping still studying the Philippine language - Tagalog - in case they open back up out of country missionaries there and send him back.  They told him it is a possibility.  He was happy to be out of limbo and back out to serve!  And we are glad for him!

Cedar Mountain Rainstorm!

After a long, hard week for Paul and a tough hike on Friday for me, we decided to take it easy on Saturday.  It still wasn't a good day for the kayaks.  When we checked the weather we saw that it was supposed to rain on Cedar Mountain, so we decided to chill by taking a drive up to enjoy the rain in the mountains - and we were not disappointed.  It rained on us here and there as the clouds moved around, and it even hailed a little on us at a Cedar Breaks viewpoint we stopped off at.  It was was SO very refreshing and lovely, so green and smelling of the rain.  It was just what we hoped for.  We had a little excitement on the highway going up when someone pulled of in an old motor home a little in front of us and deserted it when it caught fire and burned completely down.  The police still don't know who it belonged to or why they just left it behind and took off.  It held us up a little while, but luckily not too long.  We enjoyed some viewpoints at Cedar Breaks.  Then along our  way we stopped off for a nap and found a new little stream access place.  We got out and walked along the stream for quite a ways enjoying the beautiful spot we had driven by so many times without stopping or realizing that you could get down to it.  After that we drove on to Panguitch Lake and walked down to see the spillway and drove around the lake and saw a "pirate ship" launching.   It was a perfect afternoon respite from the heat.  Oh, we stopped off at Ace for some cinnamon licorice too and found some really fun presents for family in the process!  

Grapevine - With Supe, Beacher and Jasmine

They wanted to borrow our walking sticks to navigate the steep trail...and they got me too!  I was a little worried about the trail because I remember how crazy steep it is in places, but it was actually better this time for me than last time.  And the waterholes and stream were so beautiful that it was worth it.  Supe and Beacher are always fun to be with and this was my first time hiking with Jasmine.  She and Beacher are so funny as sisters together.  (We saw a raccoon and I learned that they are even more bad than cats - to them!)  We got to the big pool/waterfall destination after a stop to cool off lower down.  And we enjoyed watching Supe climb up and jump in from off the cliff and rock above.  Beacher probably would have if she wasn't so very pregnant with little Jemmy.  She's still an adventurer even so pregnant!  We ate some food down there before we left.  I mooched some sausages that Supe cooked on his little stove.  They were so good!  We went down late afternoon and came out about 7 pm.  It was nice to come out in the shade and cooler time of day.  So, I'm glad I did that hike again!  I wasn't sure I would.  Today my thighs are not so happy.  I sort of took it easy yesterday too!  Getting to be a bit of a granny.