Change

My family had our annual reunion this week. We spent most of a day at Murray Summit where I have many happy memories growing up of ward camp-outs and picnics. We had about 43 people there, not everyone, but a lot of us. It was the last time for us to gather at my parents' home because the next day we loaded up their belongings and moved them to American Fork, Utah. It was hard to say goodbye to the home I grew up in. My family moved there just a few months after I was born. It's my home. My parents did a ton of work on the house. I remember getting out house plans on Sundays and dreaming about how to remodel the house. Years later, after all of us kids moved out, they finally had the chance to make those dreams a reality. It's sad to see them leave it after all the work and all the living that happened there. Yet at the same time, I know that having them in Utah is best for them so they can be closer to doctors and so that those of us close by can look after them. It's important to look forward and not back, but I am so thankful for the happy childhood and happy memories I have of my Nevada home.

My nephew and his wife and son stayed with us
before the reunion. S had a great time playing with their son.

Ward Mountain--I love this mountain!
Murray Summit is near the foot of this mountain.

S, not too keen on having her picture taken
(at Murray Summit campground).

S and her cousin decorating a picture frame together

My brother, Eric, and his family

4 generations!
My brother, Scott; his son, Joseph; Joseph's son; and my dad.

S playing with another cousin.
She had so much fun playing with cousins!

The house is looking bare...

No furniture left to sit on for lunch so the floor will have to do.

As Nathan drove off in the moving truck, 2 of my sisters and I ran
around to the front of the house to wave goodbye again. This is a
 tradition we've had whenever someone leaves. It was emotional
 for all of us. It felt final.

My parents' home

My niece rode with S and I back to Utah.
They both had a good nap :)

I inherited my parents' baby grand piano, the one I
learned to play the piano on. We were blessed to have some
 good friends help us move it into our house.

Going down the stairs...

Its final resting spot. Now we just need to finish the basement!

FHE and Owlz

We went to a nearby pond to feed the ducks for Family Home Evening. These ducks had a feast, there were just a handful of them. We didn't realize until after our bread was gone that there was a big group of them on the other side of the pond. Oh well! We had a nice walk around the pond and then went out for ice cream.

Nathan posted about us going to the Owlz game so I had to include this picture of S with the Owl. She loved him! It was so cute seeing her face light up when he came over. The cub scout pack in our ward did the flag ceremony for the game, which is why we went. I work in the primary with the cub scouts. We had a fun time watching the game and chatting with friends in the ward.

Take me out to the ball game

Proudly displaying her foul ball

Friday night, we went to see the Owls play against the Helena Brewers. The Owlz are dominating the south division of the Pioneer league, so we thought we should show up and root them on. (We also knew a few of the boys who were putting on the flag ceremony, but let's just pretend that we went because we're huge Owlz fans.)


On our way to the park, we picked up a Slurpee at 7-11. There was the usual promotion that comes every year on 7/11, so most of the flavors were out, but I was able to get a pina colada to share on the drive down to Orem. (I paid for one of the regular size, and the cashier had a worried look on his face as I approached until I told him I was planning to pay for it, promotion notwithstanding.)

We sat behind the Brewers' dugout on the third base line, but we saw nary a foul ball through 3 1/2 exciting innings. Bed time was approaching, so we decided to be content and call it a night (the score was 6-4 with the home team leading). Just after we started walking toward the exit, but before we got out the gate, someone hit home run. Just my luck to miss it by less than a minute, but speaking of luck, the next batter hit a foul ball on the first base side which landed just outside the exit as we were walking out, so we got a souvenir after all. Well worth the trip, and we were only out $5 for parking and $3 for some nachos.

Bed time went well that night.

I wasn't a baseball fan until we moved back to California, and spent a significant amount of time with our neighbors, the Watsons. They were huge Giants fans, and we spent the next few years playing with tennis balls in the Watsons' front yard. Many tennis balls were lost over the roof of the two neighbors across the street and into the Juniper bushes that dominated the front yard of the third neighbor across and further down. Most of the time it was just a pitcher and a batter or two with someone out to collect the balls that were hit, with a lot of "ghost runners" and "ghost fielders" on the bases. Don't ask me how we decided objectively which plays were hits, runs, and outs, but we seemed to do okay without too many arguments.

Eventually we grew out of playing with tennis balls in the front yard and we would take excursions to all of the local schools and play on their fields, usually a pitcher, a catcher, an outfielder and a batter. Some times we had enough for an infielder or two, so we'd actually try to go for a play at first after a hit, but usually it was just rotating through the group and letting everyone have an at bat. Score keeping had long since been abandoned as unnecessary to the fun.

Our favorite venue was Northwood Park elementary school, because on the way home we would would pass a 7-11 and we could stop for Slurpees with whatever pocket change we managed to scrounge together before we left. Once we got caught in the rain and tried to take cover in the covered slide on the playground in the adjacent park. That must have been a funny sight to someone looking in from the outside.

Of course we also went to a few Giants games here and there as well (back when they played at Candlestick Park). There's nothing like seeing a baseball game in person. Watching on TV will never convey the experience of being there in the park.

My brother's family is moving to the Phoenix area, so maybe I'll see another Major league game again soon, if I crash with him during spring training. Friday night was a great night. It was a different group of friends, and a very different setting, but it evoked a lot of great memories of my growing years.

Pool time

S and I had our second trip to the pool this summer. I wanted to have someone come with us, but everyone I asked was busy, so we just went on our own. We had a new swimsuit and beach towel for S, so, of course we HAD to go!!

I like being in the water, but I don't swim. I'd like to, but I kind of have a fear of water and have just never had the time or enough opportunity to learn. (Plus it would take someone with a great deal of patience!) I don't want S to be afraid of the water and I'd really like her to learn to swim so I like giving her exposure to being in the water. And she loves it, too :) 

We've had fun both times at the pool. There is a kiddie pool where she can just play on her own and hoard all the toys the other kids bring. There is a slide we can go down together which is fun for both of us, and there is the main pool area where I carry her around or where she walks on her own by the steps. This week, I packed us a lunch and we ate at a park right by the pool. We had a great time. The only downside is we both got sunburned. I feel terrible about it. My burn is worse than hers. It was cloudy most of the time we were there so I didn't put sunscreen on either of us (last time we went it was cloudy and we were fine), but at the end the sun came out and it was enough to burn us. I will definitely learn from this!!

Here's my cutie!

Just us girls havin' fun at the pool

4th of July

I love the 4th of July. I love celebrating this great country. We certainly have our flaws, but it is still a blessed land and I'm very grateful to live here. Growing up, the celebrating began with a ward breakfast at the park across the street from our house. I loved starting the day with a gathering of friends. My mom started that tradition when she was the ward activities committee chair and the ward still does it to this day. So after the breakfast we'd head to Ely for the parade. In the afternoon we would have a barbecue and in the evening we'd go back to Ely for the fireworks. There were typically had lots of pauses between fireworks, but we still loved them. The fireworks caused the one and only annual traffic jam in Ely :)

So that's what celebrating the 4th was like for me growing up. Since then, especially since being married, well...it just hasn't been quite as fun. I liked being outside and being with the crowds. It just felt like we were all celebrating together. These days, it's a challenge to get family to barbecue outside because it's so hot, and we just don't usually go to public events. It's still fun, but just not the same. I'm gonna keep working on it, though!!

We started the day by going on a hike to Donut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon. It took us a while to find it so we started later than we'd hoped. It was a nice hike. The end is a bit treacherous and we didn't hike up to the point where you can actually see the hole in the rock, but it was still a good time. S was a trooper and enjoyed it, too.

We'd hoped to find a pavilion in a park in Provo Canyon and have some of Nathan's family join us for a bbq, but everything was full. I'd tried to reserve a spot, but didn't call early enough. Nathan searched and finally found a place in a park in Pleasant Grove. Everyone arrived, but then it took for-e-ver to get the briquettes hot enough to cook on. Oh well! When it was finally tiime to eat I'd snacked so much I wasn't terribly hungry. My sister, Lori, came up and hung out with us for a while, too. The kids all loved her dog, Stella. Anyway, we had a good meal and afterwards decided to hike up Battlecreek Canyon to the waterfall (or at least some of us did). We got nice and dusty, but had fun. We hung out at Nathan's parents for a while and then headed home where our neighbors put on their own fireworks show. (Last year they started a small fire. They put it out quickly, but we still had the fire department show up!). Some of our neighbor friends weren't home and it wasn't as fun without them. S didn't last long, anyway, and actually asked to go to bed (tell me, when does that ever happen???).

Our little fam at Donut Falls

At the end of our Donut Falls hike. It was so beautiful and it felt great to be in the mountains!

The hike to the waterfall in Battlecreek Canyon. We stopped at Tarzan's bathtub to skip rocks. No sign of Tarzan.

At the end of the hike to the waterfall.

A beautiful sky