Smelling Roses: bare feet

I love summer! The longer days open up so many options of things to do, places to go and people to see. After we recovered enough from the ache in our hearts of having Line go back to Norway, the demands of activities, travel and family set in.

The week Line left for Norway, Rebecca was at Young Women’s Camp or more commonly called by most Mormon “Girls’ Camp” (there’s a humorous story in there for the making). It was her last year, unless she decides to go again after graduating from high school.

Katie came in town to see Line off, so afterward diverted herself by cliff jumping with friends at Lake Mohave before heading back to Rexburg.

Laurie and I got in an evening trip to St. George to see my mom, who was visiting my sister. We were able to go to dinner with mom, Becki, Paul, Tami and her children, Caleb and Cambri.

One evening we took our friends, Gill and Julie to Spring Mountain Ranch in Red Rock Canyon National Recreation Area to see the musical “Crazy For You” – lots of fun Gershwin songs. It was a cute play and always so nice in Red Rock Canyon during the summer evenings when the sun sets behind the beautiful red cliffs and the temps drop to the point of needing a jacket!

Gill, Julie, Laurie and Kevin in Red Rock Canyon

During part of this time, Atkin came home after spring term to prepare for his summer of camping trips! He bought his first vehicle (a 2002? Subaru Forester) and put lots of miles on it driving home then to back to Utah and on to Rexburg, where he celebrated Katie’s birthday with her and then back to northern Utah to hike and camp at Mt. Nebo with friends.

For Rebecca’s birthday, on July 1st – a Sunday, she told us during church that she would like to invite some friends and their families over for dinner that evening. So we had an impromptu BBQ with the Tadds, Sanders and Shelby and Jennifer Taber – sixteen of us in all! It was fun times and was cool enough to sit on the patio to eat and visit.

Rebecca's birthday BBQ

We had Troy Larsgaard stay the night with us. He lives in the area Sam was serving (Lakeville, MN) and was in town for a work conference, so it was fun to visit with him about Sam.

Before we knew it, Independence Day approached. Rebecca had to sell fireworks as part of being in the Senior class student government. That also meant that I had to be there with the students some of the time to meet the “over 18 years old age” requirement for the permit to sell. Luckily, on the afternoon of the 4^th, the temperature dropped to about 80 degrees because it had rained earlier that day and was still overcast, so we had a pleasant afternoon one of the days we sold.

On July 4^th, Samuel transferred back to St. Paul to resume working with the Karen speaking people. He was relieved to go back as a senior companion after having been a zone leader for about 6 months.

Each year our stake performs a Patriotic Concert on (or near) July 3^rd. It is a great celebration of our country and the freedoms we have. Laurie sang in the choir. Choir and orchestra were very good and lots of people from the community attend. I always get emotional in these concerts.

The following week, Rebecca and Laurie drove to Rigby, Idaho to drop Rebecca off at the Browning, visit Katie and attend Brooks Browning’s home coming talk (he was Sam first companion in the mission field and they share the Browning cousins). On the way to Rigby, they camped overnight with Atkin along the Alpine Loop in Utah and spent some time with Grandma Smedley and a few other friends.

Laurie got in an overnight solo camping trip near Rigby before leaving Rebecca there and coming home. Katie wrapped up her first school year, packed up the van and drove home, bringing Rebecca and her roommate, Emily, with her. They arrived the evening that Pioneer Days started.

Each year our stake hosts a Pioneer Days celebration at the 10 acre ball field park that is next to one of the meeting houses. Friday evening there is a big BBQ, with lots and lots of beef that has been cooked overnight in a pit – Laurie and I were on the last shift to help serve dinner, so had a pretty easy go of it (most people are lined up right at the start. Saturday late afternoon and evening there are all kinds of games, jumpy toys and food booths. It is a fun time and the evening culminates with a very cool fireworks show. We had a fun time.

During this same time, Atkin was on his first solo backpacking trip. He decided to take do someplace really quiet and easy – NOT. He went to Glacier National Park, on the border of Canada and did a 4 day, 3 night trip – and at least part of it bare foot. Did I mention that this is Grizzly bear country and he had to sit through a 20 minute film about how to behave and where to put food overnight, etc. in order to get a permit? Did I mention that most people go with at least one other person? The second night of his trip he was at a camp area that had two camp sites and a common food prep/eating area. As he arrived in camp, the people at the other site asked him if he had seen the Grizzly about ¼ mile back? NO. So he was careful to get his food hung up right after eating. Then he decided to go to his tent to change his clothes and put the smelly ones with the food. Being Atkin, he got lost in thought and when he finally stepped out of his tent to go put the clothes with the food, he was zipping his tent and heard a very loud, CRACK of something heavy breaking a limb that was on the ground. He shoved his clothes into his backpack, which was outside his tent, grabbed his pepper spray and climbed right back in the tent. Needless to say, he was very unnerved and was praying and praying. He could hear the bear moving around, but is sounded like it was at some distance. At one point, he could hear sniffing, but again it sounded somewhat distant. After an hour of praying and worry, he finally felt okay about falling asleep. In the morning as he emerged from his tent, there was a matted path through the chest high grass leading to his tent, bear paw prints by his backpack and tent and a matted path leading away from his tent. Yikes!

The week after surviving that close encounter, Atkin backpacked with a group of friends into the western portion of Yellowstone National Park and had a great time.

Towards the end of July, Laurie, Katie and I drove Rebecca and Haylee Turner to Murrieta, California to spend a week with Aubrey and Rachel Waite! After we dropped them off, we headed to the beach. We spent that afternoon and evening on the sand near Laguna Beach and the next day we spent 3 or 4 hours at Huntington Beach. On the way to Huntington, we stopped by the Newport Beach Temple and walked the grounds – gorgeous temple and a nice serendipity.

At the beach!

Newport Beach Temple

On August 6th, my brother and his wife, Dennis and Cindy, came by on their way to Utah and a few days later we followed them there. Atkin joined us, so we had all our little family (except for Sam in St. Paul) to celebrate my mom’s 92^nd birthday. All her children and their spouses were in town and we had dinner the Sunday before her birthday and many of the grandchildren came by for dessert. It was a lot of fun.

That Monday we flew from Salt Lake to Portland to attend the Snow family reunion in Lincoln City, Oregon. On the way there, we missed a turn but ended up seeing and stopping by the Portland Temple!!! It is gorgeous – more serendipity! We had a great week at a beach house with about 23 of the Snow family. We made a big sand castle complex one day and went out after sunset to watch the tide come in and destroy it (there was singing and hanging out, while we waited). A bunch of us also rented wetsuits and boogie boards and had a great afternoon playing in the waves. Our last day there, we walked about a mile up the beach to a rock outcropping at low tide and found lots of sea stars, a few tiny crabs and even a jelly fish trapped in a pool of water until the tide came in. It was fun to be in very cool temperatures along the coast and enjoy each other.

Portland Temple

Just arrived - Lincoln City, Oregon

Sunset

Sand castles!

Arriving at sunset to watch the tide destroy the sand castles

Katie, Rebecca, Lauren, Megan, Katherine, Noelle, Aubrey

Rebecca and jelly fish!

On our way home with Grandma

Laurie flew straight home to attend some training. The rest of us flew back to Salt Lake, and then drove home the next day.

After three days at home we drove back to northern Utah. We met up with Karen and Andrew in Park City. They came in town a few days early for Jeren and Lauren’s wedding. We rode the Alpine Slide, Alpine Coaster and took the chair lift to its highest point to look around and hike back down. It was a fun day, in the beautiful Wasatch Mountains.

Top of the lift - Park City Ski Resort

We drove to Rigby and the day after we arrived, August 25th, Jeren Browning and Lauren Hobbs were sealed for time and eternity in the Idaho Falls Temple! It was a wonderful day. The next day we attended church with Grandma Smedley as we passed through on our way home. We dropped Atkin off in Provo – it was hard to leave him, we had lots of fun together when he was home and traveling with us. We got home in time to get a good night sleep before Rebecca and Laurie started a new school year.

Lauren and Jeren - just married!

Megan, Blake, Elder Browning, Rebecca - Nelson serving in the CA Riverside Mission

Fun times!

Dropping off Atkin in Provo!

Double rainbow on our way home - south of Nephi, Utah

Rainbow!

In between it all we had work, school, a hail storm with 3/4 inch hail, time at home and more. It is never fun to have summer end, but we had a wonderful summer.

Atkin and Katie came in town for Memorial Day weekend! It is always fun to have them here. We were going to go a few places, but the temperatures dropped significantly and the high winds eliminated some places we were considering. We ended up in Red Rock National Conservation Area to hike La Madre Springs! As usual, when we go on a hike, there are some there with less enthusiasm than some of the others. When we arrived at the trail head, the temperature was probably around 60 degrees - pretty cool for us desert dwellers - so sweatshirts and jacket were worn and carried.

I need to explain a few of these pictures - my camera has a setting when the timer is used so you can set it to take multiple exposures. From trial and error, I've discovered that for our family, 5 seems to be the magic number - at least one of the pictures will turn out so that everyone has a good expression. You can see in the first picture the varied levels of enthusiasm - so we said we were going to do it again with everyone standing - just keep an eye on the girls! You will notice that Atkin has bare feet and though he took his shoes along, they were not put on his feet.

It was a beautiful day for the hike - cloudy, cool temps and not too many other people on the trail. The scenery is dramatic and beautiful.

Agave (agave utahensis) about 8 feet tall - get up to 15 feet

La Madre Springs forms a series of small pools and waterfalls that go on for half a mile or more in a fairly rugged narrow canyon. Because of the water, there is abundant life that you don't find in the surrounding desert - grape vines everywhere, wildflowers, bamboo, reeds, etc.

Crimson Columbine (Aquilegia formosa) - in the Buttercup family

Palmer's Penstemon (Penstemon palmeri)

Utah Penstemon (penstemon utahensis) or Firecracker Penstemon (penstemon eatonii) - didn't get a good enough look to tell

We stopped by one of the pools and waterfall to get some pics.

So we crouched around and tried to keep the waterfall in the picture. We took one set of pictures and then decided to take another set - Rebecca decided to entertain herself.

There was a wild rose that had a few blosssoms left and they had the most incredible fragrance - very strong and spicy - much like cloves.

Wild Rose (rosa woodsii) and Laurie

As we were leaving the springs, Laurie and I paused for a picture by a grape vine that has grown over the tops of some trees, making a little grotto. Notice the Yucca in the foreground - we both got poked in the legs by its spiny, stiff, very pointed leaves.