Thursday, June 30, 2016

Lagoon 2016

On June 11, Suzy ran the Utah Valley Marathon.  She finished just a bit later/slower than she was hoping...but still with a Boston Qualifying Time.  She is amazing!  I went down there to cheer her on/meet her at the finish line.


Alfredo's company has  a Lagoon Day each June.  This year it was on June 11...same day as Suzy's race.  Alfredo's cousin, Sandra, and her family came to Salt Lake to go to Lagoon with us.  Unfortunately, it was a drizzly, cool, wet day.  I spent the day with the younger two girls and Sandra, Noel, and Katie while Alfredo, Michelle and Becky and Junior went to ride the rollercoasters and big rides.  It was not the best day.  It was fun for awhile, but after several hours, we were wet and cold and uncomfortable.  We usually stay at Lagoon until 9 or 10 PM but we left by about 5 this year.  Still it was nice to visit with Sandra and her family.

I took very few photos but here are the few that were taken that day.





Girls Camp 2016: Go For the Gold

I had the opportunity to go to Girls Camp the week after school got out.  Our theme this year was an Olympics theme:  Go for the Gold:  Swifter, Higher, Stronger.  Our ward was given the value of Good Works and the color yellow.  Each ward chose a country to represent them in the Olympics and we chose Tahiti and a ward theme of "Scatter Sunshine."  It was neat to watch the girls reach out to each other and to others in the stake and really try to do just that:  scatter sunshine, bring joy and comfort to others.

 Like last year, my very favorite part of camp was the very last night when they did the Remembrance Walk.  That experience and the experience last year rank in probably my top 5 or at least top 10 most spiritual experiences ever. 

Here are just a few photos of the cute girls at Girls Camp, including a couple of Michelle and me.  I'm so glad I was able to go to camp this year and last with her.  I hope I am able to go next year when it is Ella's first year!






 

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Father's Day 2016

For Father's Day, I made Alfredo beef lettuce wraps.  They were pretty good.  I also made flan because that is one of the few desserts he likes.  We went out to lunch the day before at Red Robin.  The girls and I got him two t-shirts...one about him being a superhero and one that says, "Walking Dad" which I thought was funny because he loves The Walking Dead.  I also gave him a tie and a sweet book with 100 reasons a girl needs a dad.

Gabby started working on a card for him the day after Mother's Day.  When she was finished, it was 5 pages long.  It included an art project she had done at school and several notes.



We LOVE you, Alfredo!  We are so grateful to have you as our dad and husband!

Monday, June 27, 2016

Camping in the Uintas

On Monday, June 13, we headed to the Uintas with Annette and her kids.  The craziest thing:  as we were driving there, somewhere near Park City, there was a person with a zebra and a bison and some other animals in their backyard.  I am pretty sure that Annette thought we were making that up,   but it is no joke (or lie).  Weird!
 
 
When we arrived, we found the campground we were staying at and began to set up camp.  But it began to rain.  We got Annette's tent up and climbed inside and played a few games while the rain came down.  Then when it got fairly dry, we put up our tent.  And we went to try to find the "Fairy Forest."  Apparently, the spring runoff was too high to be able to make it to the Fairy Forest this time of year so we will probably go back later in the summer.  But as we were looking for the entrance to the Fairy Forest, we saw a deer.    Then we drove a little way and stopped by the Provo River Falls and walked around a bit.  So beautiful!  We also did a short hike to Lost Lake.  Also very beautiful.  Then we returned to our campsite and had dinner and made yummy dessert (ice cream cones filled with fruit, chocolate chips, and marshmallows...you wrap them in foil and then place in the fire until they get melty and delicious!)  We talked and laughed and retired to bed fairly early (where my girls and I read, talked and visited some more).
Day 1:

The girls and I at Provo River Falls





Lost Lake


Annette's family had rocks to add to Fairy Forest.  Since we didn't get there, we added them to the forest near where the entrance to Fairy Forest is. 


 
 Day Two: 
The next morning we had cinnamon bread and bagels and fruit for breakfast.  Then we set off to find our hikes for the day.   
 We hiked to Clear Water Lake, Wall Lake and Washington Lake.  None of the hikes were strenuous or very hard...but there was still quite a bit of snow on the ground in patches, so we did have to climb on ice and watch our footing.  My photos are not in any order for this day and I am not feeling up to organizing them.  But all of the pictures below are of one of the three aforementioned lakes, the hikes to/from those lakes or back at our campsite (and we did do some exploring around our campsite as well.)




When we were back at camp, this little ground squirrel spent some time with us.  As long as we were quiet, he would come right out next to us and eat crumbs we had spilt and explore our campsite.  If the kids were noisy, he would run back into the tall grasses.  Cute little guy!  We also saw several deer, a river otter and quite a few chipmunks on this trip but weren't able to get photos of any of them...they would disappear too fast.










This section of the hike was a bit steep so we just slid right on down.  Fun but cold.



Our campsite was right next to the river. 

















During the middle of the night, Gabby suddenly woke up crying hard.  I thought she had a bad dream.  But she felt really sick.  She was sweating profusely but also shivering.  She felt hot and said her head and stomach hurt.  We said a prayer.  She felt terrible and said she wanted to go home.  It was probably 2 or 3 in the morning and I wasn't anxious to pack everything up in the middle of the night and drive home.  So I held her for a few moments and tried to comfort her.  It wasn't working.  Ella was also getting cross because we woke her up and she was tired. 

Gabby and I went outside the tent and she threw up.  Then we went back inside the tent and I said another humble, sincere prayer.  I asked Heavenly Father to please, please bless my sick child.  If it was His will, I knew He could heal her.  I prayed to know what to do and to remain calm and prayed that she could feel better.  Soon, she calmed down.  Her tummy and head still hurt but she was able to lay back down and fall asleep.  She slept the rest of the night.  She didn't feel 100% better the next morning but almost.  Such a huge blessing!  What a tender mercy!!

Day 3:
We cooked breakfast (bacon and pancakes and hot chocolate) and packed everything up.  Annette's family was going to do another hike but Gabby still wasn't feeling really great so we decided we would head home.  Just before we were about to leave, two sisters (one was 17 and one was 19) who had been camped next to us came over and asked if we could jump their car. Their battery was dead.  We tried to jump it but it wouldn't even turn over.  There was no cell phone service up there at all and they were feeling pretty worried and frustrated.  It turned out that they lived in Park City which was on our way home.  So we gave them a ride to a gas station just off the freeway where their mom picked them up.  She had called Allstate and they would come up and either jump the car or tow it.  I was grateful we were able to help them.  The week before, I had locked my keys in my car at girls camp and kind strangers were able to get my car open so we could go home.  (Thank goodness, because we tried every locksmith in the area, the police department and the sheriff's department and we couldn't find anyone to help!)  I've had several instances lately where the Lord has helped me through the kindness of others and I was happy to repay the favor.  Hopefully, they got their car situation worked out okay.

On a side note, less than a week later, my car battery died while at Michelle's violin lesson.  Her violin teacher jumped my car and we were able to make it back to our neighborhood where I went to Auto Zone and had to buy a new battery.  (I had them test it and it was, indeed, no good.)  I've both wondered if we weren't able to jump their car because my battery was already almost dead...and given thanks that my battery didn't die while on my trip to New Mexico or up in the Uintas.  Heavenly Father has indeed been good to me.

The two photos below are of the kids taking selfies in my van while Annette and I finished packing up to leave.

Oh, and we found moose tracks right by the river next to our campsite!   We didn't see the moose (frowny face :( )  but one had been next to our campsite during the night!


Such a fun trip! And so beautiful!!