Hiking with Hallie

Photo 1: Bridal Veil Falls. Hallie (in green) and Marcus hiked to the base of the falls.
Photo 2: Holden went off-roading into the river.
Photo 3: Hallie and Wether taking a stroll at Sundance.
Photo 4: At the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. Behind us is the temple.
Photos 5 & 6: Aboard TRAX in SLC. Holden's expression did not change.
Photo 7: Hallie learned what a challenge it is to take a decent picture of 3 boys. Here they are in their Guy Harvey shirts - gifts from Hallie.
Photos 8,9, & 10: Atop Squaw Peak. We were sure glad to take a rest and enjoy the view.

My cousin Hallie (age 22 and recent college grad) came and visited me this week from Florida. Having never been to Utah, or seen mountains for that matter, I happily played tour guide for the 3 days of her visit.

Day 1: I missed seeing Hallie's face when she awoke to the beauties of the Wasatch mountains right outside her window. Still, it wasn't long before we visited Bridal Veil Falls and Sundance. That evening we went out to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen.

Day 2: After packing the kids in the car we headed to Salt Lake City. We took TRAX to the planetarium, Gateway Mall, and to Temple Square. We almost skipped the last stop due to the ominous weather (and cranky kids) but I told her we couldn't go to SLC without seeing Temple Square. Hallie was especially impressed with the meticulous gardens around the temple.

Day 3: We did our parents proud (well, my mom and Hallie's dad - siblings) by rousing early to hit the garage sales. I found clothes for Marcus and Hallie scored a pricey dress for a fraction of the price. Next we planned a short hike up Rock Canyon with the whole family....that lasted 5 hours. After about 30 minutes of hiking, Kjell took Holden and Wether back to the car. Hallie, Marcus and I hiked an additional 6 miles (round-trip) and climbed 3,000 vertical feet to an elevation of 7,877. Hallie, having left sea level just 2 days previous, had no problem reaching the summit of Squaw Peak. The last stretch had quite a bit of snow and mud, the former seen by Hallie only once before in her life. I was especially proud of Marcus for making it to the top - no small feat for a 5-year old. He counted to 100 several times on the ascent to keep his mind off the steep trail. That evening Pam and Tracie stopped by for a visit and we enjoyed a delicious BBQ dinner by Kjell.

Hallie was the perfect guest (thanks for cleaning my kitchen...3 times) and was a great sport for whatever I had planned. Come back soon and bring your mom and dad!

Women's Conference

Through a lot of planning and sacrifice, I was very blessed to go to Women's Conference with my mother-in-law Ruby and sisters-in-law Julie and Emma-kate. What a welcome hiatus from my daily routine to go learn about being a better woman (therefore becoming a better wife and mother). I enjoyed all of the classes, albeit some more then others, but mostly being together with family. We had so much to talk about we could scarcely go to sleep at night! Besides attending Women's Conference we played games, ate meals, shared advice, Julie gave the boys haircuts, and we talked, talked and talked some more. Hopefully, this will become an annual or biennial tradition! Here are Ruby's comments on our time together:

"My main purpose of the visit was to spend time with my daughter and daughters-in-law and also enjoy attending Women’s Conference with 16,000 other women. Daughters-in-law is such a long word, so from here on out I’m just going to call them all my daughters.........and what wonderful daughters they are. I didn’t want to say good-bye.
I was impressed with Emma-kate’s devotion to her new baby. 6-week old Desmond had some rough times, but not too many, considering. One long night I offered to take him thinking that Emma-kate would take advantage of the break and get some much needed sleep, but she could only stay away from him for a few minutes at a time. Although we all stayed up fairly -foolishly-late enjoying each other’s company, we know that Emma-kate put in a few more hours in the middle of the night taking care of her baby. It’s rewarding for me to watch her love that baby. But Kate........you can’t hold him a good portion of the night forever!
I was amazed at Julie’s stamina especially considering she’s 6-months pregnant (with my first grand-daughter.....I know you all know that already....I just like saying it). She did almost all the driving since we took her mini-van from Prosser. (Thank you for offering it, Per. It was very comfortable, and I didn’t realize how big of a difference it made until we finished our trip in my little car.) I thoroughly enjoyed getting to talk to Julie much of the time as we drove. What a devoted mother my red-headed grandsons have.
To be hosted by Olivia is kind of like dying and going to heaven. She thinks of every detail and is willing to do whatever for her guests. An experience forever etched in my mind (well, maybe not....cause my mind is a little leaky these days) is when we were all sitting in the Mariott Center for the last session of the conference on Thursday. Emma-kate and Olivia had both just made the trek from a mother’s lounge in the Wilkinson Center, and as Emma-kate sat down in the Marriott Center, she remembered that she left a filled bottle in the mother’s lounge. Being fairly unfamiliar with the campus, she wasn’t sure how to get back to where she’d been, so without hesitation, Olivia bounded out of her seat, ran to the Wilkinson Center and back, retrieving Desmond’s bottle........all in 3-inch heels. What a nice lady. And it’s refreshing to talk to Olivia. You don’t meet women with her intelligence on a daily basis.
We got to see Grandma briefly on Friday evening. Joshua picked her up from Mt. Pleasant and drove her to Kjell and Olivia’s, and then took her home a few hours later. Grandma brought me some sprouting seed which I had been trying to get a hold of for some time. Plus, she made cookies and sent some with us for our trip home. We didn’t see Shawn or Vanessa, although I talked to them a couple of times. Both of their work schedules were such that it was hard to coordinate. Dad and I are planning on making a trip to Utah sometime in October, and hopefully, we will know our plans far enough in advance that we can make arrangements to see Shawn and Vanessa then.
The whole experience was so enjoyable........whether we were attending classes, gabbing, playing games, enjoying the luxury of Kjell and Olivia’s home or the modesty of Per and Julie’s. At Kjell and Olivia’s I stayed in the guest suite. At Per and Julie’s, I shared a room with Kurt and Ansel, and Ansel gave up his bed for me and slept on the floor. It was so sweet when about 1:00am I got a hug from Ansel and felt his cool little body crawl in next to me. The word must have gotten out that Grandma is warm. Ansel was nice and toasty for the rest of the night.
I appreciate all of the sacrifices that everyone made (Dad, Tryg, Per, Kurt, Ansel, Lars, Kjell, Marcus, Holden, Wether, Keith, and Desmond) that made my time with my daughters possible. It was wonderful, and we’ve decided that we’re going to do it again.....don’t know when or where yet, but we’ll make it happen. Thank you, Olivia, for the invitation to come to Women’s Conference this year."

Make New Friends, but Keep the Old

My dear friend Kari from my old neighborhood invited me to a girl's night at a 10,000 sq. ft. mansion on the slopes of the Canyons resort in Park City. Hmmm, should I go or stay home? My bags were packed in about 5 minutes. After eating a yummy Mexican meal at the Loco Lizard, we headed up to the house for the night. It took us about 45 minutes just to run from room to room and oooh and aaah at the luxurious accommodations (luxurious as in "this house rents for $11,000 a night during the ski season" luxurious.) After Carilynne painted my toes in a zebra-like fashion, chatting and catching up, eating dessert and picking out our rooms, we fit quite a few mommies in the hot tub. I volunteered to climb on a wall to get some good pics, but ended up being photographed myself (this is a subtle explanation for the pic of me standing on a rock ledge). It was tempting to watch a movie in the state-of-the-art theatre, but instead I hit the hay (but of course Carilynne and I had way too much to talk about and probably didn't fall asleep until hours after the movie ended). I headed home Saturday morning while the other women spent the day shopping at the Park City Outlets. Thanks for remembering your old friend and including me in the festivities! Note to self, moms in a mansion sure is refreshing to the soul.

Relief Society Sleepover

3 Friday nights + 3 sleepovers with the ladies = 1 tired (physically) but well-rested (emotionally) mommy.

Midway was the 1st of my month of girl's nights. Women in my Relief Society traveled to Stefanie Graham's cabin in Midway. Here's what our ward newsletter reported: "Some of the fun included a nature walk, dinner [a baked potato bar], quilting, sewing footballs [humanitatian projects], games, a sleep over and much needed time to relax together." Although many women attended, only 5 of us slept over - Stefanie Graham, Marybeth Wright, Helen Prescott, Shauna Schauers, and myself. Of course we stayed up until the wee hours of the morning talking and laughing. Pictures to come.