Abundant Recompense Copy

Father's Day pretty much rocked around here, because Nate is the greatest. I think we all had a great time. To sum it up, there was lots of yummy food and a ridiculously long nap for Nate and a few presents. One of my faves was from Addison that his teachers helped him make in church on Sunday. He dictated and they took it down. My favorite part is the "My dad doesn't like to" section. You must be doing something right, Nate. Happy Father's Day!

This past Saturday we headed up to Beus (rhymes with juice) Canyon for a hike. We hiked for about a mile up the canyon alongside the stream, which was fast, cold, and very full, due to all the snow melting and the ridiculously wet spring we've been having (yes, it's still spring here). The low point: It took Bryn awhile to decide she was cool with riding in the pack. But eventually she figured out that it wasn't too bad. The high point: the scenery! The pictures don't do it justice, but we were surrounded by green. And the water was beautiful. Addison hiked the whole way except for the final 1/8 or so of a mile. That's almost 2 miles! And it was a climb - I, for one, broke a sweat. We were sure proud of him. Bryn did great on the way down too. The waterfall, where we turned around. It was fast and loud. Bryn wanted to be held while we were there because she was scared of it.  Thrilled to have made it.  In the course of the hike, Nate had pointed out a huge rock at t...

Nate and I have a goal to take our kiddos hiking as many Saturdays as possible this summer. We started two weeks ago with a trip down to Antelope Island. I've gotta say it was a huge success. We hiked about a mile and a half total on the Dooley Knoll (ugliest name ever) Trail. Addison did most of it all by himself and Bryn had some good moments and some not-so-good moments in the backpack. Low point: the biting flies. DAH! I'm still scratching all the bites I got. You couldn't stop for more than 20 seconds before they covered your hair and clothes. Ick. High point: There were actually two: 1) Discovery of the ranch. The kids were in HEAVEN! We walked across a fallen tree, peeked in nooks and crannies of the old houses, saw horses, rang the bell, and found a nest full of baby birds in the trunk of a tree. 2) Buffalo crossing to the MAX right in front of our car! We're talking hundreds of the guys!  Bryn using the map as a hat.  The view on the hike was amazing! The trail...

Nate presented a paper on Zion Canyon at the Mormon History Association meeting in St. George, so we took a five-day vacation there. It was a great, relaxing trip. On the way down we met up with Shauna and Doug and Juliann and met our new nephew Jackson. They were in Salt Lake for a wedding, and we wished we could have spent more time with them. Nate presented Saturday morning and the session went well. While he went to meetings all day Friday and Saturday, Michelle and the kids played outside, including at the splash pad. They were kind of wary of the whole thing, but they dipped their toes in a bit and spent most of their time on the playground nearby. One of the funnest parts of the trip was taking a tour of the St. George Tabernacle with an LDS Historic Sites tour guide. We climbed up a steep flight of stairs into the attic, seeing the trusses hewn by pioneer hands, and then we climbed up lots of ladders into the bell tower. We rang the bell, saw the original clockwork, and wal...

Two weekends ago we had the fathers and sons campout. Because of all the rain we've been getting, the stake actually canceled the campout, but I'd already told Addison we were going so we just went for it - although I chickened out of putting up the tent and we ended up sleeping in the back of the minivan. Camping purists would scoff, but we had a blast. We picked up Chick-fil-a on the way out of town, ate dinner at Pine View reservoir, and went for a hike on the nature trail in Eden. The water in the creek was really high, and we saw lots of beautiful birds. Then we went to the church campground at North Fork and set out the sleeping bags. We watched a movie on the portable DVD player (I know, I know, not very rugged, but the point is bonding not roughing it, right?) and then slept soundly... or one of us did; the other tossed and turned a bit because his bones are getting old. The next morning we walked around a bit more and then went home, picking up donuts for the ladies in...