Labor Day hike in Kanarraville

Scotty heard about a great hike in a place called Kanarraville, which is about 40 minutes north of St. George. Here are the boys, looking nonchalant in the car on the way there. (They LOVE getting their pictures taken ; )


WILDERNESS STUDY AREA. Scotty is being studious.

There were quite a few people there when we started out. The water was COLD so we took the high road, and let the boys take the low road in the creek bed.








We were all so excited to be in a slot canyon where you can touch each side.


This ladder is the first of three as you go along. It was steep and scary, and Ian wouldn't come with us. But this is the point where most people give up, and so you get to be in Nature a little more by yourself for the rest of the hike. So, we told him to go back and wait for us in the sun , and we would be back in a little while.... then we got distracted by the butterfly and the beauty and he got tired of waiting for us and ended up climbing this all by himself. We were pretty surprised when he caught up to us!




Here's a rock slide, like you see in the movies. But the water was too cold! This group was braver than we were.




And here we have the second ladder. You can't tell, but it is going to take some tricky maneuvering to get from the top rung to the level above. Jared is shivering from the spray, and we decided we are going to try this hike again - in AUGUST.

I would call this an advanced hike, for those seeking high adventure. It was way fun, and I'm hoping we can share it with some friends another day.

The Bug Whisperer

We went on a hike to a slot canyon near Kanarraville on Labor Day this year. It was a beautiful day, although a little on the chilly side. When we left St. George the car thermostat said 104. By the time we got to the trail head 40 minutes north, the temperature read 68. This is one of those hikes where the creek bed is the trail. That water was icy cold, so we took every opportunity to walk on the side and get out of the water. At this point along the trail Jared discovered a butterfly in distress.



It was pretty big. And beautiful. He examined it for a long time. He said it's eyes were like hologram things, with shifting colors of gold.

He has always enjoyed bugs. I remember when he was about 4 years old, I would take an old bathroom rug outside. We would spray the flowerbed with water and then place the rug down. In the morning we'd peel back the rug to reveal the bug circus going on underneath. Lots and lots of different kinds of bugs would migrate under the rug where it was wet and warm. He would sit on a stool with his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands and watch those bugs like a TV show for an hour, until I said time was up and we needed to move on to another activity.

The butterfly stayed on his hand for a long time, fanning itself and drying out it's wings.


Then it did what bugs with wings do. It flew away.

A NICE THOUGHT

Your Testimony Will Never Leave Your Children

“If a child is not listening, don’t despair. Time and truth are on your side. At the right moment, your words will return as if from heaven itself. Your testimony will never leave your children. “As you reverently speak about the Savior—in the car, on the bus, at the dinner table, as you kneel in prayer, during scripture study, or in late-night conversations—the Spirit of the Lord will accompany your words.” Neil L. Andersen, Ensign, May 2010

I'm Gonna Love Havin' My Boy at Dixie High

I am so excited this year to have Jared come to school with me. He'll be a junior this year, and it is our 100th anniversary for Dixie High School, and Dixie College, which is great since he'll be attending both, and I am so proud of him.

He and Kudi will be taking Chemistry at the College together. He can help her with the science, and she can help him keep track of when the assignments are due. He's playing football and has lost 10 or 15 pounds this summer. He looks great! This will be a big year for him-- he'll turn 16 in November and will be able to date and to DRIVE.

I think it's going to be fun, fun, fun to bring him to school every day, and to have him slip in to my office and beg me for lunch money, and when he can drive I can send him to pick up Jimmy John's for lunch for me!

Missing My Kids

I was missing Ian really bad last night. He is at Scout camp for the whole week.
The WHOLE week.

I sent a text message to Laura Swenson (the Scoutmaster's wife):
Heard anything from Bud? I am Really missing Ian. Hope he is not as homesick for me as I am for him.

She wrote back:
talked to Bud a couple of hours ago - all is well - boys having fun but not sleeping much - I'm sure they'll make up for that at home :) - when he calls again I will ask about Ian.

and the next day:
just talked to Bud - Ian is doing great and is happy -

Glad to hear it. Hope that's what I hear when he gets back. I plan on cleaning his room for him, and leaving a surprise under his pillow (big box of Milk Duds) that says Welcome Home. Jared leaves for camp Friday morning, so I will do the same for him.

I remember when Tara was gone for the summer before her senior year, I missed her so much and I would go in her room and sit on her bed and stare at her bulletin board full of pictures and just wish she was home. I kept telling myself it was good practice for me, since the next year she would be leaving for college. It didn't help. When we dropped her off for college in St. George and headed back to Idaho Falls, I cried all the way to Salt Lake. It was awful.

I am soooooo glad we are all together again here in St. George. And I'll be sooooo glad when summer is over and Kudi is done with the paramedic program and the boys are back from all their running around and Tara's back from vacations and school will be in and we'll be back on a schedule. And we'll all get together for Sunday dinner.
Yeah!

My Guy Is Not Like Other Guys

I sent this picture from my phone to Scotty's yesterday.

I have been preparing a Sunday School lesson this week on Elijah. I wanted a clay pot to use as a visual aide to represent the widow of Zarapeth's barrel of flour that never wasted, and the barrels of water that Elijah had poured over the sacrifice in his competition with the priests of Baal. (I teach the 14 to 18 year old class, and I just try to do different things to keep it interesting.) I tried to borrow one from someone in the ward, but had no luck and on a whim, I decided to look at Lowe's, since I was driving by.

So here this pot is. Nine dollars and fifty nine cents on clearance. Part of me thinks this is a dumb idea. I don't HAVE to have a pot. So I take a picture of it, and ask Scott what he thinks. Part of me wants him to say, no, you don't need to spend money on a dumb pot. And if he says that I'll say, you're right, I know.

"I like it," was his reply.

What a sweetheart. I mean, REALLY. Any other guy would have said, are you kidding? In fact, when I brought it home and set it on the counter Jared said, "Seriously. You bought that?"

Not my Scotty. He's a one in a million.

Kudi's Paramedic Graduation

Just a couple more weeks and Kudi graduates from the Paramedic program at Dixie State College. It has been an intense couple of years and she has done extremely well. This girl is a hard worker, a dedicated student, an intelligent organizer, and she is still our soft-hearted, lovable Kudi-bear. She's been at the top of her class the whole way, and we are very proud of her.

My Latest Project

I have been looking for a new bedspread for about two years. It's not that I am so picky, it is that I have a deep mattress, and it seemed impossible to find a comforter to fit the dimensions that I needed. But I finally found one, or so it said.

When I got it home, the sheets fit fine, but the comforter was still not large enough to cover the mattress. But I liked it, and I didn't want to return it, so I ended up using the sheets to make a ruffle. I think it turned out cute. And I bought new towels and rugs for the bathroom.

And, wah-lah, my summer project is complete! (Well, almost. I'm going to quilt a cover for a throw pillow with the rest of the sheet. Then I'll be done. ;-)

The Best Five Dollars I Ever Spent

I bought this little radio for $5 from Walmart a long time ago. Like maybe 10 years. Maybe longer. And I've only changed the batteries in it one time. Seriously. It is a marvel.

So I went to the pool yesterday, and since I was going by myself I decided I needed to take some music. I didn't want to take my Ipod, because trying to balance it on my chest while I'm floating around the pool seemed a recipe for disaster, or at least for a ruined Nano, so I opted for the little blue radio.

After 2 hours, yes, 2 hours (I was really taking in some rays) I decided to try another station. When I couldn't find a good one, I turned the radio off and left it standing, apparently, a little too close to the edge. A few moments later, I hear a "plop" and my head pops up and I see the radio going down! I swam as fast as I could to rescue it, but as I held it up to let it drain, water was dripping from every seam and crack, and I thought, "Oh no, I've killed our faithful little radio." I pulled the batteries out and left it in pieces laying in the sun to dry out. Since it was 108° out, I figured it wouldn't take too long. I tried it when I got home, but no go. Maybe if I let it dry overnight?

And sure enough! It's back! I'm so impressed with this durable little miracle. It really is a marvel.

Monkey Business

When the girls were little we took them to Tsubaki Wild Monkey park. It's only about an hour and a half south of Tanabe, but the road is, as always in Japan, narrow and windy. We got there, parked the car, and started walking down the mountainside, down some switchbacks that led to a cove. We're walking and looking all around and see - NO monkeys. Not any. Anywhere. And I think, oh no, this is going to be like a trip to Yellowstone when you don't see any bears, and we've come so far not to see any monkeys! I had taken our essential supplies in a little red napsack, along with some bananas, because we are going to see monkeys, so of course, I should take bananas. Well, I reached in to my backpack and pulled out the bananas and at the flash of yellow, the very rocks began to move. The monkeys had been camoflaged and had blended in so well, we didn't see them. But now they are on the move and we can see a thousand monkeys from all over coming toward us.

I shove the bananas back in the bag, thinking: out of sight, out of mind. Right? Well, the monkeys keep coming and one gets up on the 3 foot wall behind me, and we're doing the Virginia Reel with the kids trying to keep us all together and keep away from the monkeys, when suddenly the female from the wall jumps down and grabs my back pack. All of our important immigration papers we are required to carry with us, are in there . Along with my wallet. My arms straighten out as she pulls, I pull back and her arms straighten, and she bares her teeth and growls at me. We do that a couple of times. I look at Scott and yell, "What do I do?" "Give her the bag!" he yells back. "NO!" I say.

Then the monkey reaches up and flips opens the flap on the backpack, sticks her hand in and grabs the bananas. She starts running, awkwardly upright, cradling her loot. But now all the monkeys are after her. So she tucks the bananas under one arm like a football, and races off on three legs just as fast as she can go.

I look at Scott, blinking and stunned, and I hear myself say, "I just got mugged by a monkey!"