Home-based sacrament

One nice thing amid the worries of the Covid-19 has been home based church and sacrament.  We were already a little used to doing the home based study for Come Follow Me, but this added the sacrament.  We do it with Grandma Kurtz after she comes over for  dinner on Sunday nights.  It it different, and sometimes I don't like it as well because not so many people are singing and it goes so fast, but there is less distraction and I'm getting used to it and actually liking the simple sweetness of it.

First camp out of 2020 - with Supe, Beacher and Auri!

Supe and Beacher shared their camp out with us and we had such a fun time.  They took us to new territory - the Mineral Mountains - up by Milford.  It was very different and very cool.  It's on the way to Great Basin National Park kind of and we were close to Granite Peak, Granite Reservoir, Rock Corral Rec. Area and Big Rock Picnic Area.  We just camped at a cool spot in dispersed camping area near some cool rocks!  We did dinner (stew and fixins) and they did yummy breakfast burritos.  We had a nice little campfire to keep us warm while we enjoyed the evening. When we got up in the night for a bathroom trip, the stars were SO awesome!  It's in a dark sky area and it really was beautiful.  Almost wanted to stay up for a while just to enjoy it.  The next day we hiked around and saw such cool scenery.  We hiked to a big bat cave, and then over to see some climbing spots.  It got a little iffy coming down, but Supe followed the stream under some rocks and found a way - kind of a tight, breach birth type way, and we all got out that way instead of having to back track.  Auri the dog was not too keen on the route and had to be convinced to go.  We also went under rocks to follow the stream in another part of the hike - much less strenuous there, but really cool.  And we found our way back to the parking spot.  After that we went over to Granite Reservoir - which you hiked up to.  It was a very unique type reservoir - just kind of a very small end of a high canyon, blocked off by some kind of man-made thing at the end as far as we could tell.  Strange, but interesting.  After that we drove a dirt road we had never been on before over to Beaver and ate lunch at a park.  Supe and Beacher left there to see if they could camp another night at the Beaver/Tushar Mts.  We headed home.  It was a really nice first camp of the year!  It was good to get out and spend time together discovering new places!  

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!

Aspiration Trail - a ray of sunshine hike

A friend of ours told us they had started making a new trail.  It was quite a while ago and we had just not had time to get out and find it.  Now a few years later, we did...and what a sweet little hike it is. It is lined with rocks painted with uplifting and funny messages.  Lots of inspiration/smiles along the trail as you walk.  I loved it and took pictures of way too many of them! (I made a book of them.) And then you get to the top and the views are beautiful to enjoy too.  Now I want to add a few rocks of my own!  

The definitions of aspiration:

1.  A hope or ambition of achieving something.  The object of one's hope or ambition; a goal.

(Lots of these painted on the rocks.)

2. Medical - The action or process of drawing breath. (Which you do a lot of hiking up the steep hill.)

3. The action of pronouncing a sound with exhalation of breath.  (You do this when you get to the top and see the view!)

Easter - Covid-19 style and April Birthdays

No family Easter egg hunting this year.  But we did mail some Easter and drop some by.  We dropped off the Cedar/Enoch Easter a few weeks ago at Joel's b-day party (when you could still gather in groups of 10).  I mailed the Lehi Lillywhite's their Easter and we dropped off drive-by style the others here in town.  

Borrowmans (Kennis was at work and Ryan came out later).

The Moss and Christie Lillywhites  

The Weavers - we dropped theirs in Cedar a few weeks early.

Derek and Kids (the Smiths)

Grandma Kurtz and Bean were at our house for dinner.  We did Skype with Jay and Brynn and talked with Supe on the phone.  They feel like since Beacher works at the hospital where there are people sick with Covid-19 they shouldn't be around Grandma.  We did drive-by for them, but missed them at home too.  

We had a good Easter celebration here at home - our church service was the reading from the 4 Gospels of the Easter story starting with the raising of Lazurus.  Then we watched the church movies for all of that time period.  It was a very nice day to remember that, "Easter is the day that changed EVERYTHING!"  We also took some solar Easter Lilies to decorate Weed's grave.

Someone added fun by "heart attacking" us on Easter like this.  The scriptures were:

Christie - we did the drive by deal for her!  And Essie (#6) got the Amazon Prime treatment from an even greater distance.

Washington County Utah Temple renderings released

The Washington County Utah Temple, which was announced in October 2018 by Church President Russell M. Nelson, will be build on a 14-acre site located northeast of 3000 East 1580 South in St. George, Utah.  Plans call for the three-story temple of approximately 90,00 square feet.  This will be the city's second temple.  The St. George Utah Temple, which was dedicated in 1877, closed November 4, 2019 for an extensive renovation and is expected to reopen sometime in 2022.

We are excited to see what this new temple will look like.  And it has been so interesting to watch them renovation happening on our other temple.  We have seen the back taken off to expose some of the original area of the temple that had been built over back in the 70's.  In the process you have been able to see some of the red rock underlying the white that has covered up the red sandstone that the temple is built from.  We have a little bit of a connection because Paul did work on the Sons of Utah Pioneers monuments for the red stone quarry where they got the rock for the temple all those years ago.  We just went and hiked that little trail a few days ago.  We have also hike the black basalt base rock quarry many times and Paul has done presentations to show how they cut the rock with shims and wedges.

We will be excited to have both of these temples open soon.  We have enjoyed going to the Cedar City Temple while we are waiting.  Here's what St. George Temple is going to look like when it's done!  

And here it is the first time they were working on it and then when they got it done!

General Conference - amid the pandemic

CELEBRATING THE LIVING CHRIST 

AND THE RESTORATION
200 Years of Light

In Pres. Nelson's closing remarks at the end of General Conference last October he talked about the how in the springtime of 2020 it would be exactly 200 years since Joseph Smith's First Vision.  This was the event that marked the onset of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fullness as foretold in the Holy Bible.  He said, "Thus the year 2020 will be designated as a bicentennial year.  General conference next April will be different from any previous conference. In the next six months, I hope that every member and every family will prepare for a unique conference that will commemorate the very foundations of the restored gospel."

  

He gave some suggestions of things to do to prepare:  Read afresh Joseph Smith's account of the First Vision.  Ponder about how our lives would be different is we didn't have the knowledge gained from the Book of Mormon, how the events of that followed the First Vision made a difference for me and my loved ones,  do the Come Follow Me study of the Book of Mormon and watch the new videos.  Select our own questions, design our own plan and immerse yourself in the glorious light of the Restoration.  "As you do, general conference next April will be not only memorable; it will be unforgettable."

So, I have tried to do things to prepare.  We loved studying the First Vision not only in the Pearl of Great Price, but with other sources - one of my favorites was the new series of podcasts about it.  They drew upon all of the different accounts written by Joseph Smith and they were very enlightening and thought provoking.  We do the Come Follow Me lessons each week together and then I do further study on my own during the week.  I have loved that time I have been giving myself to do that.  I have also really enjoyed the extra resources of the Don't Miss This podcasts about the Come Follow Me lessons and also the ones they did specifically for the Restoration.  The Book of Mormon Central Podcasts have also been another wonderful resource.  I also did some study about women and the priesthood that was very enjoyable and tried harder to enjoy and learn from the temple.  Our temple has closed for renovation and we have been going to the Cedar City Temple on our own and with our YSA Ward.  (Now all of the temples are closed because of Covid-19.) I'm still working on reading the 2nd volume of Saints.   I wish I could say I'm a great scripture scholar, but it just isn't so.  I try to learn on my own, but I also really enjoy these extra resources that people who are so great at really "seeing and hearing" what's in the scriptures share.  It really enhances my study so much and helps me see and hear things I would normally miss.  

Well, now after conference I have to say that, yes, it was different, unique, memorable and will be unforgettable.  I had no idea that throwing the Covid-19 virus into the mix would add to that.  It added to the mix by making it so that no one except the speakers and the cameramen would even be able to attend the conference.  They had to move it to a small auditorium on Temple Square.  The first presidency were there, sitting the mandated six feet apart.  Speakers came into the room when it was their turn.  The music was beautiful, pre-recorded songs by the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.  And no one hugged or shook hands with each other or got very close to each other.  They were speaking to an empty room, but all over the world people were listening at home with their families.  

Other unique things were the youth speakers: a 17 year-old girl and  a 15 year-old boy spoke in the Saturday evening session which was for all adults and youth 12 and up.  Also in that session President Nelson introduced a new symbol to identify our faith.  

The new symbol emphasizes the name of Jesus Christ and His central role in all the Church does.  The name of the Church is contained in a rectangular shape that represents a cornerstone.  The center of the symbol is a representation of Thorvaldsen's marble statue, the Christus.  Jesus stands under an arch as a reminder of His emergence from the tomb three days after His death. President Nelson said  the symbol portrays the resurrected, living Lord reaching out to embrace all who will come unto Him.

The Sunday Morning session of conference was a solemn assembly and President Nelson presented a proclamation in honor of Joseph Smith's First Vision: The Bicentennial Proclamation to the World:  The Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ - he did it via a video he recorded earlier in the Sacred Grove.   Afterwards he led the worldwide congregation in the Hosanna Shout to commemorate the Restoration.

Another thing that happened was that Pres. Nelson called for a global day of fasting and prayer, that the present pandemic may be controlled, caregivers protected, the economy strengthened, and life normalized.  The fast is to take place on Good Friday, April 10.  

More temples were announced and the amazing thing is that one was announced for the People's Republic of China! They still won't let us proselyte there.




One more thing that was so cool was the closing song.  It was We Thank Thee, Oh God, For a Prophet.  It started with the choir and then on film they were joined by 6 other choirs from around the world, singing along in their own languages (Ghana, Mexico, South Korea, Brazil, Germany and New Zealand).  It was so beautiful!  It was the perfect joining of the world in a world that is so unable to join together right now.  

"This year, we commemorate the 200th anniversary of one of the most significant events in the history of the world--namely, the appearance of God the Father and His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to Joseph Smith.  During that singular vision, God the Father pointed to Jesus Christ and said:  "This is My Beloved Son.  Hear Him!"  That admonition given to Joseph is for each of us.  We are to seek, in every way we can, to hear Jesus Christ, who speaks to us through the power and ministering of the Holy Ghost."

 ---President Russell M. Nelson

  

"The most important lasting effects of this historic conference will be as our hearts change and we commence a lifelong quest to hear Him." 

----President Russell M. Nelson

I loved this conference and I am so thankful for the way that preparing helped me to love it more.  I have felt my testimony of the restoration and of Jesus Christ and of Joseph Smith as a prophet grow.  I am so thankful to live at this time with the blessings of the restoration here and more coming as the restoration continues.  I am so thankful to know that Jesus Christ lived and that he died and rose again making the resurrection a reality for all of us as well as making the possibility of eternal life with our family available.  Every time I think of Weed and Bean I am grateful to know what the Savior did.  And not only for them, but for me and everyone else.  I'm full of gratitude to Joseph Smith (and Emma) for all he went through to help bring about the restoration and the Book of Mormon.  I love its clarity and truths that it brings to me.  I am so thankful to know that we have a prophet today that can help lead us back to Heavenly Father.  And I hope that I will be able to stand strong, be valiant and learn to better hear Him.