Aw! Summertime! And the living is busy! Yes, busy. We’ve had a month full of lots of activity.
Independence Day was low key, since Katie had to work – we went to lunch together and then just had a quiet afternoon and evening until the thousands of illegal fireworks started going off in our neighborhood and all across the valley!
A few days later, Katie and Rebecca left for the Moab area on the Stake Young Women’s High Adventure. It has been fun to listen to them talk about their trip, especially climbing up to and rappelling off of Corona Arch. They had to climb up the massive cliff that the arch comes out from and it was a very steep and narrow path, of sorts. They said lots of girls were crying and hyperventilating. Katie was the first of our girls to go up and she looked down at one point, while climbing up and was like, “Whoa, can’t do that!!!” She said she was singing Primary songs and just staring at the cliff. When Rebecca went a little while later, Katie was yelling to her, “Don’t look down, Becca!!” Rebecca said she isn’t usually scared of heights but got really scared as soon as they saw the cliff and wasn’t going to go, and was with a girl who was so afraid of height that she said she wasn’t going to do it because she thought she would pass out. So when Rebecca decided to go, the other girl went too – Rebecca thinks that Heavenly Father let her feel scared so that the other girl would see that there was someone just as scared as she was and go when Rebecca went. Rebecca said she was singing a hymn she wasn’t even that familiar with about courage and faith while she was climbing.
At the top, they walk out on the arch and there are several steps down to the part where you walk backwards over the side as you begin to rappel. That was quite scary and they both really concentrated and did it. Once they were clear of the arch, it was not scary they said, just an incredible view. (The picture below is a generic one, I will replace it with pictures of Katie and Rebecca when they become available the end of September).
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| Corona Arch |
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| Near Moab |
I thought it was neat that they both were singing church music as they were climbing to give them faith and courage. They also went river rafting on the Colorado River, played in a waterfall, swam, attended church at a little branch (6 members in attendance and they brought 110+) and camped at Bishop Nordfelt’s cabin up in the LaSalle Mountains above Moab. They had a great time and want us all to go and do what they did.
The weekend after they returned, Laurie and I drove Rebecca to Murrieta, California to spend a week with her friends, Aubrey and Rachel Waite! Laurie and I stayed two nights with them and visited the San Diego Temple, Mormon Battalion Visitor’s Center and went hiking and played on the beach at Torrey Pines Nature Preserve – we had a blast.
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| Mormon Battalion Visitor's Center |
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| Beach at Oceanside |
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| Beach at Oceanside |
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| Beach at Oceanside |
Our stake put on Pioneer Days July 22 and 23 – so we had a deep pit BBQ on Friday evening (they cooked 1,100 pounds of beef) and fed a lot of people. Late Saturday afternoon and evening was a carnival with food and game booths and entertainment, culminating in a great fireworks show.
Atkin has been working quite a bit at Circus Circus and still teaching private swim lessons. Katie is working a little at the Aria pools and at Flip-N-Out trampolines.
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