Summer Dance

Bekah has wanted to do dance for a while. We finally had time for it this summer. She loved being around other girls and expressing herself through twirls and whirls.

A Forgotten Bag of Ice

I had three errands I had to complete today before the chaos of the afternoon and multiple overlapping events ensued. The first one went off without a hitch. The second one was frustrating. The third one involved a sleeping child, things I could not find at the store, waiting in line so long at check out that I forgot to buy a bag of ice (one of the important things I came into the store for), and no one at the service desk to help me with my forgotten item. I walked out to the car, loaded my still sleeping child into the car, and drove home frustrated and exhausted. I really needed the forgotten item, today. I decided to pick it up later in between what was going to be the afternoon fox trot (okay, so it was more of a shuffle, but it felt like it was going to be a fox trot.)

Later, after I had taken a nap and sorted out my frustrations, I shuffled a few kids from one thing or another and headed to the store. I needed two things, but I took a little longer than was absolutely necessary to finish my shopping and head to the cash register. At the register next to where I was waiting in line, was one of the teachers from my children's school picking up something for the school activity Bekah was at. He was a little short of what he needed and had the wrong credit card for the store we were in. Having overheard and knowing what hew was trying to do, I offered to help. He refused at first, but he ended up accepting my help.

I am not sharing to brag about being able to help someone. I am sharing because today I needed to be able to help someone to help me work through my own stress and improve my day. I didn't seek out someone to serve. I was just in the right place at the right time. Today I am very grateful for a forgotten bag of ice because it helped my day turn out better than my morning led me to believe it could be.

One Step at a Time

Today was a day of a "to do" list longer then there are working hours in the day. I really didn't want to get out of bed and face the day. I did it anyway. By completing one thing at a time and a prayer for strength to get the things done that needed to be done today, I completed more than I thought possible.

Baby Wyatt's Blessing

David and Denise had a little boy in July and we were invited to his baby blessing in August. While we were there we were able to spend some time with them, Auntie Kris, Grandma, and Grandpa.

St. George LDS Temple

We visited the St. George, Utah temple while we were down in Southern Utah last July. This is the temple is where my parents were married. While we were in St. George we visited Brigham Young's summer home and Jacob Hamblin's house in Santa Clara. I was able to take some cute pictures of the kiddos while we were on the temple grounds.

Swimming with the Frogs

Denise used to work in Zions and she told us about a "secret" swimming hole on one of the roads out of the park. We found the swimming hole and had fun playing with the frogs and cooling off after a long day of hiking. We did discover that a few people had shared the secret because we encountered other people when we arrived and when we left.

Emerald Pool Trail

We learned there were three Emerald Pools, not just two when we hiked the Lower and Upper Emerald Pool Trails. The hike started out easy, was a little challenging after the second pool, but ended in a sheltered pool and surrounding area that were very cool to see and in temperature. A much welcomed relief after hiking in the bright, hot sunshine.

Riverside Walk

Bekah's favorite kind of hike involves exactly 0% change in elevation. The Riverrside Walk trail in Zion National Park was the perfect "hike" for her.

Climbing the Sandstone

In July, we visited Zion National Park. It turned out to be the height of tourist season and way hotter than I anticipated, but we had a lot of fun hiking and seeing the beauty of nature found in this amazing place. We stopped by side of the road on one of our trips into the park and climbed the sandstone.

The kiddos asked me to take a picture of us, 

so here is our "Zions" selfie. 

Airplane Museum

One of my goals last year was to go on a family outing that was not a place we go all of the time. We went on more hikes and outings last year than we typically do and one of the place we went was the Airplane Museum by the local Air Force Base. We saw some awesome airplanes from the last 100 or so years, and learned lots of cool things about the changes to airplanes and how they work.