illumibot evening at the Opera House...cool!

 On Tuesday, July 7, from 9 pm to 10:30 pm, outside the historic St. George Opera House is transforming into a massive, glowing canvas!  We're thrilled to welcome illumibot to town!  They will be lighting up the night with their jaw-dropping projections mapping technology.  As part of their national "illumiBeast" summer tour celebrating America's 250th anniversary, expect to see massive, mesmerizing patriotic tributes alongside breathtaking visual displays!  We went to watch this and it was really cool!  

Thank Goodness for Cedar Mountain/Lava Point

 We are so thankful that we have Cedar Mountain to get away to.  Pine Valley is pretty much on hold for the next year or more while the figure out how to put the campgrounds, picnic areas and lake/dam back together after the fire and then, even worse, the erosion it caused afterwards.  So, when we need to get away, we head for Cedar Mountain.  Today was one of those days.  After we got our morning stuff done, we picked up Bean and with a stop in Cedar for a KFC meal we drove up to 5-Mile Picnic area just out of Parowan and had a great lunch.  Paul and I did a little exploring around the site and found some sort of old stone oven. We also drove up to see Yankee Meadow Reservoir.  It's really low, but still very beautiful.  It made me want to go kayaking.  After that we drove over the mountain and enjoyed the beautiful display of meadows of purple flowers in Cedar Breaks.  We stopped there at the picnic area for our candy bar dessert.  We also stopped in at the Visitor's Center.  We saw lots of other flowers along the road, at the picnic spot and also at the Visitor's Center.  Their annual Wildflower Festival is going on right now!  After that we drove down the mountain and back home.  It was good to get to the mountains!  I kind of nodded in and out on the drive home.  

On Friday we went on another picnic...this time at Lava Point which is up by Kolob Reservoir.  It's actually a part of Zion National Park.  There's a beautiful overlook, a picnic area and a campground.  It was a nice day for it being a little cooler than here and especially in the shade where our table was. Afterwards we drove over to Kolob Lake but only as far as the road was paved since we were in our rental car.  Out truck is STILL in the shop.  Paul's foot has graduated to where he can now wear a regular shoe for part of the day.  It's making good progress, but we between the foot and the truck we are feeling like we are sort of wasting the summer away a bit with not any very exciting adventures.  I think it's time to take a trip...somewhere!   (The sunrise shot was on my morning walk on the Red Hill today!) 

Independence Day

 The 4th is on Saturday this year which would make it so people wouldn't get a week day off from work, so some places closed on Friday.  For me it did not matter...it just made me want to celebrate for two days!  On Friday Paul, Bean and I went to see the new Angel/Wonder studios movie, Young Washington.  It's a terrific movie and made me thankful for men who were called by God to do a work to help America/The United States become a free land where the gospel could be restored and where finally, all people could be free.  Today we are having a little get together with Ferf and her kids who are down visiting with her.  Moss and Christie and family asked to join us for the too.  Lots of good food, good visiting and fireworks (by the city) and a few that Brynnli and Ryan will bring.  I got up this morning and took my walk on the Red Hill and felt blessed to live here and be free.  I also posted an old picture I took and have as a side thing on this blog.  I found more pics of flags that I or others in the family have taken.  And I thought of the song we used to sing long ago in week day Primary: 

I love my land America with blue skies big and wide;

I love my land America with seas on either side. 

The prairie corn grows tall and green, the wheat is amber gold;

The rivers run from mountain peaks where the stars and stripes unfold.

I love my land America, and as long as we are good, 

the Lord will bless America, in love and brotherhood.

Here are the pics from our gathering.  The fireworks pics never turn our very well in the dark.  We also celebrated Kai's birthday as part of the evenings fun!  Good times with good folks!  We enjoyed meeting Kennis' friend, Aliya, and also Jared's daughter's Shelby and Koda.  

Kaibab car camping

 So, our truck is still in limbo...to repair or total?  We wanted to get away for a little camp out and decided we could do it in our Pirus but only on a great dirt road not too far from the paved road.  We knew the right spot and got the tent and all of the other needed stuff packed up.  It was a full load.  We left Wednesday morning and drove to Cameron Arizona to start the trip off with a Navajo Taco (we split one) for lunch at the Cameron Trading Post.  So delicious! After lunch we drove over to see the Little Colorado River Gorge where we visited the different viewpoints. It is so deep! Then we drove back to Jacob Lake (with a stop at Lonely Dell Ranch - no fruit ready to pick there) and after some ice-cream and cookies we went to get our camp set up.  We found a great spot just off the road a little ways near the Murray Lake Trailhead of the Arizona National Scenic Trail.  We actually camped right next to that part of the trail.  It was a great spot with no hazards for our lowrider car to get there.  It has been awhile since we tent camped!  We thought about just camping under the stars but it was a little breezy so we decided to put two cots in our tent and use our air pads on top of them along with our down backpacking quilts.  It worked out well.  It was a full moon night, so it was good to be in the tent to make it a little darker!  It was cool and quiet.  We played some card games in the evening until bedtime.  In the morning it was pretty cool, so we stayed snuggled in our beds for a little while.  When it was time to go, we stopped in a Jacob Lake and then headed home through Kanab and then Zion.  We stopped off in Kanab to see their new reservoir.  It's a nice lake that has a trail all the way around it and lots of different sports activities along the side.  Zion was as breathtaking as ever on our drive through.  Paul still can't walk too far, so we only did a little walking during the whole trip.  Soon he'll be on the mend and we'll be able to do more!  This was a great little get away and we needed it!  Someday we'll get our truck back or get another one.  

Fun times with Bean - mini golf!

 

 We always have fun when we take Bean and go mini golfing. 

June birthdays & Father's Day

 Madi starts June off on the 1st and is turning the BIG #16 this year!  She had a friend party before the big day that looks like lots of fun!  She made her own, very beautiful, cake! Another great thing happened for Madi's birthday!  She got her driver's license!  Yippee!!!  

Lance came next with #48!  He was actually down at Havasupai with the fam on the day of, so he had to wait till they got home to have cake and presents.  We just mailed it and luckily it got there to be waiting for him.  Happy Birthday Lance!  I'm sure you had a fun birthday...at Havasupai and again at home!  

Happy #49 Derek.  His girlfriend, Niki, organized a gathering for him even if he didn't want a party!  It was fun to go and hang out and visit with people there.  Happy Birthday Derek!  Hope the next year it a great one for you!

Father's Day - Had a great meeting at church to start it off.  Next we had Paul's choice of dinner:  Ham/Pinto Bean soup, corn muffins, melon and German Chocolate cake with coconut pecan frosting and Costco vanilla ice cream.  It was just Paul, Bean and I.  In the evening Moss and Christie and family and Ferf and Jared (boyfriend) came over to visit and bring presents and eat cake!  It was a fun time.  Other kids called or texted to wish him a happy Father's Day!  We talked about how grateful we both feel for our own fathers who were great examples to us.  So thankful for being blessed by great fathers who were role models. So thankful to know that we also have a Father in Heaven and Savior who also love us and are the fathers of our salvation and redemption.  

Moss's birthday #42 - I started the day reading my old journal of the day he was born and for a little afterwards.  He came at a pretty challenging time, but we were happy he came and joined the family...finally, a little brother for Jay!  There's quite an age gap, but at this stage of life it's not such a big deal and I'm happy I persevered to have the promised sons and did not stop after Juge. I would have missed some wonderful people joining our family it I had. Happy Birthday Moss!  So glad to have another great son to bring joy into our lives.

On Moss's birthday (June 23rd) Lou, Joel and Afton came down and brought us a wonderful lunch.  We didn't know they were bringing it for us too, but they did, and it was a delicious salad!  After lunch they had a few hours to spend and one errand to run before heading back up for Joel's swim team practice.  What a nice time it was to spend with them.  We went to see the Eccles Fine Art show of Fire & Ice.  I loved seeing it again and sharing it with them.  Next we stopped in at the Red Cliffs Reserve center and they enjoyed seeing all the desert critters and such.  I love that place too. Oh, outside before we went in we saw a stone well with a bucket.  On closer inspection we saw that it had a plexiglass bottom leading into an old early St. George stone well that a family that was called to live here by Brigham Young. The had built the well for their home that had been on the property where the county office building is now.  As it was being built, they discovered the old well and saved it and put a historic site sign next to it.  So cool! Last we went to the St. George Art Museum.  They had changed the exhibit I was hoping they could see, but they had one that was quite interesting about people in prison in the the downstairs gallery and up top they had some religious art that was deep, lots of reading for interpretation, but worth it.  There was too much to see/read for the time we had, and the kids got a little bored of it, so we left some unseen.  Then we went back to the house for root beer floats!  Such a fun time visiting and going fun places.  Yesterday had been a very hard day for me, and this morning started with a scorpion in the garage, but the day just got better and better!  I feel like my birthday started a day early.  Oh, Lou and family gave me another James Herriot DVD that I'm excited to watch!  Happy Birthday #71 to me!  Thank you Lou and kids for making it such a nice day for me.  Time truly is one of the very best gifts you can give.  

On my birthday it looked like we might not find something fun to do because our truck was in the shop and we had already taken all of the pretty paved drives we could think of to get out of the house with Paul's foot restrictions.  The day dawned cloudy, a little bit rainy and so much cooler.  I took a nice morning walk and stopped by that old well we had found and read more about it.  While Paul was fixing the faucet in our camp trailer I went in to read scriptures and found a fun card and present from him.  He and Bean had very sneaky like gone shopping for it the day before.  It was a brand new Lifetime card table and a pink Lowes bucket, both things I had been wanting!  After lunch we went out with Bean for some fun.  On the way to our destination at the Kayenta art galleries we spied some historic  buildings we wanted to see in Santa Clara...and the caretaker, an old friend, just happened to be there to unlock them for us.  She had to leave and just said to close the doors when we were done.  It was an old pioneer home and Santa Clara Relief Society building.  It was so fun to look through them.  Next we did go out and look at a couple of the art galleries at Kayenta Arts Center.  They had some beautiful and unique works of art that we enjoyed very much.  Then we took a beautiful drive out to Gunlock reservoir and then went out to early dinner at Olive Garden using a gift card I had gotten for Mother's Day that paid for all of it!  That evening Ferf came over bringing lots of nice gifts from all of the kids and we enjoyed my free Nothing Bundt Cake and my free cheesecake from Olive Garden and a little visiting time with her.  I got some nice phone calls and texts from the other kids throughout the day too!  Lots of FB friends wished me a happy one too!  That evening Paul and I relaxed watching the fun James Herriot DVD movies that Lou and family gave me.  What a nice day it turned out to be!  Today, I got a really nice phone call from Janet too.  Paul and I had a good visit with her.  Happy #71 to me!  Thank you to everyone who made it a lovely birthday for me.  And that's all of the June birthdays!  

One more cool thing I got for my birthday a few days after was a bday card from my best teenage friend, Malinda Carter.  We had such fun times together and then she moved.  Lots of my teenage friends moved before we graduated.  But, we did keep in touch some through the years, mostly writing letters after we were both married.  She has been the good one at instigating I have to say.  I get busy even with my own sisters and don't keep much in touch.  But for my birthday, she send me some old pics I had sent her, the graduation announcement I had sent her and some letters I had written to her after Lou, Jay and Ferf were born.  It was a fun walk down memory land to read them.  I wish she could do FB or Instagram, but because she once had a job at a prison, she feels unsafe putting herself out there.  Maybe we are just going to have to get in the habit of a yearly Christmas or birthday (darn, I forget hers) letter/card.  Thanks for the memories, Malinda!  

 

Getting out on Cedar Mountain - Paul still has his boot on!

 I'd rather be camping...but the check up only gave Paul another two weeks in his boot.  So, Friday we were ready for a day away.  Cedar Mountain is close and cooler, so we opted to go there for a drive and a picnic.  We first drove over to check on Navajo Lake.  It is lower than I think I've ever seen it, but still beautiful!  We saw lots of flowers blooming and found out there is a little lodge/general store and little rental cabins.  Who knew?  Not us!  We checked them out and enjoyed the find.  

Next we drove around the the mountain and stopped off to see the stream by Aspen Mirror Lake.  I love that spot.  Then we continued on over to a great little picnic spot near some ginormous lava piles.  It was a peaceful, unhurried picnic...so nice.  More beautiful flowers there.

 Next we drove on around and to Cedar Breaks.  I always love to go there.  They have the best store and it is just so beautiful and awesome!  Paul took a little nap in the Chessman Overlook parking lot, and Bean and I took a little hike along the ridge trail there.  Then we went to the Visitor's Center. I got a Jr. Ranger book this time.  We walked a tiny trail and saw lots more flowers!  

Then it was time to head down the hill.  We took the Brian Head way.  We drove some side roads and discovered a historic steam engine from Brian Head's past.  It was used to power lumber mills at several sites around the area from 1903-1939.  Very interesting to see it sitting there among today's giant "cabins".  Then we went down the hill to Parowan and stopped in for shakes/root beer float at the Dairy Freeze.  Then we headed home.  It did us the good we needed to be up there in the cool mountain air and among the forest beauty!  And, it made me want to go camping.  

Family Camp 2026...it's a win!

Family Camp was at Pine Lake/John's Valley Group Site!  It was June 9th-12th (Tues. - Friday).  If there was any downside to it, it was that the water was not on to begin with, so we had to bring lots.  Everyone did, and we were just fine.  Then they did get it turned on, and it was so full of chlorine that you really couldn't use it yet.  The only other thing that could have made it better was to have had it include a Saturday so that people weren't taking quite so many days off work.  We had to be out by 11 am, so it was kind of a waste of people's Friday off work.  We had some people that couldn't make it at all.  Supe and Beacher and kids had to bail at the last minute because Jem got sick.  Ferf's Brynnli, Tavin, Kennis and Koen didn't make it either.  Derek and boys could only come  up for a day because of work and football practice, but Kaebri and Tasia came on their own and stayed the whole time.  Some people had to leave early for this or that, and Brady could only come up for an evening/morning.  Ellie is on a mission.  Ferf brought a boyfriend.  We took a family picture at the time the most were there on Thursday morning after brunch and before we left to go to the lake.  

We changed how we did the meals this time.  We had brunch at 9:30-10ish and then had dinner when it seemed like time in the evening.  During the rest of the day there were lots of yummy snacks available - some healthy, and some not so healthy!  It seemed good to not feel as stuffed all of the time.  Probably count that change as a win.  

Tuesday was a get there and get set up day. We brought our own dinners.  Then things got rolling with games, a national park jigsaw puzzle, badminton, and Zion brought a little solo stove and some s'mores were made and consumed after people were done with their own dinners.

Wednesday, we had a leisurely morning, brunch from Supe and Moss - yogurt with fruit, Danish, homemade sourdough bread with peanut butter and Nutella, cherries, etc.  So good.  Then we headed down to Losee Canyon and did a red rock arches hike and then another one at Red Canyon.  It was beautiful, but just a bit hot that late in the day.  Then it was back to camp for hammock time, games, playing in the stream by camp (Clara found a frog), delicious Asian Pork Bowls for dinner by Juge/Brynn and a walk around the Pine Lake later in the evening.  The lake was much smaller than usual, but it made for good walking on the extended shoreline.  Lots of visiting happened and scenery was enjoyed. Then we had a fireside evening and people shared family stories.  It was really great!  We learned some new things about people and enjoyed old things again.  We just stayed up visiting by the fire.  

Thursday was a slow wake up/play games/puzzling and visiting until brunch by Lou/Bryan/Bean of quesadillas.  Delicious again!  Then we took a great family picture and headed to Pine Lake with a canoe and 3 kayaks, snacks and chairs.  We took turns in the boats and played games, ate snacks, napped, skipped lots of rocks very far out, played in the water and just chilled.  The lake was pretty calm most of the time and very nice and cool.  Late afternoon we packed it up and headed back to camp. Games and fun and the jigsaw puzzle got finished until dinner by Paul/Bonnie/Ferf - Hamburgers, chips and cottage cheese, watermelon and Costco S'mores. We had the big spoons game for a bit.  It's always fun.  Then we had another sit by the fire time and people told jokes and laughed and then Juge suggested rose, bud, thorn - a way to tell about good things happening in your life, things you are looking forward to having happen and things that were a thorn for you in your life right now.  It was a great time sharing around the circle of the fire.  Some more s'mores came out for those who wanted them, some of us hit the sack and kids stayed up a while playing games.  Jay and Brynn and Moss and Christie had to leave this night before the fireside chatting.

Friday - Ferf had to leave very early to be back for a class, so Kaebri and Tasia put out the cold cereal, juice/chocolate milk buffet by 6:30 and people came and ate as they were ready.  We all enjoyed the buffet of many types of cereal!  Then it was time to clean up and get ready to leave by 11 am.

This was a great, very private campsite.  It had 3 bathrooms, it was close to the lake.  It was pretty cold the first night, but warmed up after that.  There was a lot of shade and lots of tables. We put up a couple of awnings to shade some of the tables.  There were enough tables for games/snacks to be left and still have enough to eat on.  It was good to go this early in the year.  It might have been too hot later on. I  paid $410 early in the year to be able to reserve this site.