Abundant Recompense Copy

We spent St. Patrick's Day weekend in St. George. Nate's extended family had a big birthday bash for his grandparents, which was the reason for our visit. His grandpa turned 90 this year! We got together for lunch at the church and everybody gave life updates and great grandpa reflected on his life. That morning, Nate, his dad, and a few of the extended family ran a 10K. Not to brag or anything, but my hubby took first in his age group, and he works his blinding green socks that he got for a prize. His dad also placed in his age group! Grandma helped Leah follow her dream of setting up a leprechaun trap the night before St. Patty's Day. She didn't catch one, but there was definitely some evidence left behind that one had been there. We snuck in a face paint. We spent an afternoon playing at the park. We did some exploring in the skinnies. And we did a quick hike at Red Cliffs on the way out of town. The kids found a secret passageway to the top of the waterfall. Emmie d...

My old friend Keaton invited me to hike to the top of Pilot Peak with his brother at the end of March. It's just over the Nevada line out by Wendover, and it's an "ultraprominent" peak, meaning that there is a difference of more than 4,900 feet (1500 meters) between the top and the surrounding plain. In this case, you start on the desert floor at about 5,000 feet and then climb over 5,700 feet to the peak, which is at 10,720 feet. A little more about the peak: It was used by travelers in the 19th century as a guide for "piloting" their wagons across the west desert. As the story goes, in 1845, explorer John Fremont sent Kit Carson across the desert to see if it could be done. He made it and lit a huge bonfire from somewhere on Pilot Peak. This was the first time Euro-Americans traversed the west desert. Our own traverse began early Saturday morning when we met up out by Saltair on I-80, and then we piloted our way across (in a Subaru, not a covered wagon). I...

My Grandma on my Dad's side passed away in March. I've been trying to figure out how to blog about it and not miss anything. We lived about 30 minutes away from her growing up, and she taught almost all ten of us kids to play the piano. That meant roughly 45 minutes of quality, uninterrupted one-on-one time with her each week for about ten years of my life. Plus all the other Sunday afternoon visits, sing-alongs at Christmas time, hugs, kisses, laughs (so many laughs) . . . You can't blog that! You can't forget it either, so I've decided it's okay that I can't blog it. So just a few things to sum her up. First, I have searched my memories, and have discovered that I don't have a single one of her that is negative. Sure there were plenty during my awkward growing up years that where my behavior is cringe-worthy, but she was just sunshine and nurture and safety for me.  She had a great sense of humor and could tell a story like nobody else I've ever me...