It's like a heat wave

Burnin' in my heart...and the rest of me.

It's been a hunk of burning heat here in the desert the last week or so.  I'm not complaining.  I'd still rather take a few weeks of scorching ozone over the grey 6 months of winter offered elsewhere.

And with a few brief flashes of lightening, the hills are aglow with the embers of brush fire.

You still gotta get out.  And so that's what we do in the remaining minutes of the day before the sun sets.  We head to the river to skim board. It's a treat to wade through ankle deep water on sand.

And then we dig the Rzr out of the sand that the teen has managed to sink.

But lickety-split we have to rush home.  Momma has two lessons to prepare for Sunday and a couple of other assignments weighing on her mind.  Talk about feeling the heat.

Good times, living in the heat wave.

The Tough Job

...that someone's gotta do....

Paid hiking.

Spent the last two days attempting to beat the heat in higher elevations at Cedar Breaks National Monument and Pine Valley Mountain on Gardner Peak.

Just under 12 miles in the last couple of days in the mountains.

Rough life huh.

I'm glad I have this life.

Day Break

Twice a week we head out for the hikes at 6:00 am.  And as the days grow shorter this means we are now witnessing sunrise on the trail.

Day break today found us on one of my favorite hikes...Camelback, near Gunlock.

If you didn't know better, you'd think we were walking on Mars.

And as the sun crests the sandstone walls from the east....we arrive at the legendary formation called the "Vortex"...or the "cowboys toilet" known to locals, just in time to make shadow shapes on the slick rock.

Camelback is the perfect place to be at day break when you want to "flush" away all your cares.  

The tide is high, but I'm holding on

The tide is high.

Yesterday as I was transporting $750 worth of food to feed a crowd of 400 on Thursday, I backed into a retaining wall at the school.

Never even saw it.  But I heard it.

To the tune of $2100.

I have heard so many quotes and scriptures over the last week relating to having faith and overcoming adversity.  Even yesterday I was thinking that something big and bad must be coming.  And I don't mean a dent in the Cadi-wagon either.  It's just a car.

I think it can get worse.  Way worse.  And I think maybe I just want a break instead.

Helaman said, "And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall." (Helaman 5:12)

I think I've seen a few mighty winds in my day and I'm positive I've yet to see more.  But I'm promised that I cannot fail if I build myself upon the rock....His rock.

So, I'll keep clinging to the rock.  I'm afraid if I let go, the tide will pull me away.

Dorm invaders

Just because we can, the whole fam made a trip to Cedar yesterday to visit Hunter in "Juniper".

After putting down a memory foam pad, Bridger tested the bed...

And Hunter took us over to the bookstore for school gear...and we stopped by the forum rock, which gets painted with "news" regularly.

We ate fabulous BBQ at Sonny Boys.  They claim to have the best BBQ west of the Mississippi.  Lofty ideas of grandeur going on there.  But none the less, good.

We played I.T. computer super hero for a couple of hours and then gave up.

Hunter exterminated the "Hairy Potter" pest last night.  Video on my Facebook.

So far so good for the Freshman.  

I think I've had enough dorm invading for awhile.

A House Divided

We are down to one chick in the nest.

I may live in Dixie but my money goes to Provo and Cedar City now.

We are officially a house divided.

I deposited my 2nd born and all her worldly possessions into a box for a room, with glittery popcorn asbestos ceilings and hair clogged bathroom drains across the hall. 

Way more information than necessary.

The R.A. had decorated the hall in a Willy Wonka theme.  Chocolate.  Always a hit with freshman college co-eds.

I was amazed at all the teddy bears and cartoon bedding being loaded into the dorms by Moms and Dads with giddy/sorrowful eyes.  Excited to be sending their children off to college and sad to see them go.

Of the checking in process:  amazing.  It took all of 5 minutes to get a key and be escorted directly to Hunter's room.  And when we parked the car in front, a crowd of volunteer students descended on us and scooped up every-little-and-big thing and in one fell swoop and one mass trip up 3 flights of stairs, we were unloaded in 5 more minutes.  The unpacking was done within a 1/2 an hour.

Hunter's roommate is a friend from high school, which is a great blessing.  She was grateful that Hunter's only fetish was the color "green" and not teddy bears or elephants or dolls.  No kidding.  Everything Hunter owns is various shades of green.  But one glance into neighboring rooms and you can see that even when a girl is an adult, you can't take the 10 year old out of her.

It all felt so completely right.  I can't explain it other than to say, she's right where she's supposed to be.

After Bridger got home from school yesterday, I asked her if she was going to miss Hunter.  Not so much.  She's been looking forward to being the single chick since she was about 3 years old.  But, I have to admit, I had a moment of panic last night before going to bed when I realized my middle chick wouldn't be coming home to our nest.  It's a surreal feeling.  I'm already looking forward to the holidays when I can have them under one roof again.

This morning is "flight school" (orientation) for the incoming Freshman Thunderbirds.

My chicks are flying.

And now we'll be watching football....double time.  Joy.

Off to fly our new colors on the house door.....Cougars and Thunderbirds together.

Namesake

The Wildcat Canyon Trail got it's name from these:

Bobcats...who leave their prints on the trail itself....along with bobcat scat, of which I will spare the vision of what is hairy doo-doo.

Cindy, Nick and I started early yesterday morning, high on the west side of Zion National Park with temps in the 40's.  We hiked the Wildcat Canyon Trail and Northgate Peaks Trail for a total of 8.2 miles.  And then we crashed through a-mile-round-trip field of brilliant golden oats to explore a cave.  Easy terrain on Wildcat, but some very foreign plants that Nick thought looked suspiciously like cannabis, leaving a stinging and throbbing sensation in Cindy's hand after she touched it to investigate what it was.

While hiking through a meadow, I thought, "If I were a deer or an elk...this is where I would sleep at night."
And about two minutes later, we found a bed...while investigating a porcupine that turned out to be a skunk!

(flattened, grassy area on the left)

After finishing up our adventures in Wildcat Canyon, we made our way through the field of sunshine to explore a cave.

The best part about this part of the excursion is that I've been dying to get into that field of gold since we moved to Dixie!  I vowed a year ago that someday we would take our family picture here. But the bonus is....there's a cave too!!

Which turned out to be totally awesome....to the point that it couldn't even be photographed properly.

I like these namesake trails.

Divine Signatures

I started reading a beautiful, uplifting book today, called....Divine Signatures by Gerald Lund.

A divine signature is also known as a "tender mercy".  These are things that happen to us and around us that are of divine origin and not coincidence. Instances and opportunities that make you aware of the fact that there is a God and that He knows us and has a hand in our existence.  Things don't just 'happen'. Once in awhile He gives a a glimpse into this knowledge...of His role in our lives and His love for us, by gifting us moments whether miraculous or subdued in nature, of reprieve, protection, revelation, guidance as well as physical and tangible blessings.

I believe this.

I can't discount the numerous times I have felt the divine signature of my Father in Heaven this year.

Most of these 'tender mercies' have involved my children.  

I sent Bridger off to school on Monday.  It felt like any other day.  Nothing special...almost like we never had a summer and she was just starting another week of school.  This year I'm back to driving to school every day.  I found a gal that I can carpool with but it still means that every morning I drive a car load of girls to school.  Sometimes we leave our house at 6:10 am.  Feeling a little resentful about this on Monday morning, in the pre-dawn hours, as we crested the first hill on our 25 minute one-way drive....there silhouetted in the golden sunrise were the tops of the West Temple and other peaks in Zion National Park. How many times have I seen those spectacular shapes?  Hundreds of times.  And yet, I am still in awe on a dark Monday morning and literally overcome with gratitude for the gift of beauty that surrounds and inspires me...every day.  I know that the Lord granted me the privilege of living in and witnessing stellar scenery to buoy me up and sustain me while I scramble in the dark trenches of what is, living life.  It was like I could almost hear Him saying, "I know driving an hour each morning isn't your favorite activity and that the inevitability of having to do it for 9 months may seem daunting, but for your sacrifice and for your efforts....I give you this....solitude and time for contemplation and inspiring landscapes to view along the way."

Tomorrow I will take my 2nd born to college and deposit her and her worldly belongings in a tiny dorm high in the mountains.  

I am in awe of how this year of difficulty and an uncertain move has lead her to the perfect college for her, including in-state tuition, a scholarship and a built in group of talented, smart and kind girlfriends.  Professors and college staff who know her abilities, talents and desires and want to help her succeed are a bonus as well.  None of which, would be possible without a fresh start. 

The Lord knows my girls.  He has put our family in this place at this time to provide for them.  And though our vision is sometimes clouded with doubt and concern, we know a window that was once a brick wall, is now open.  

I thank Kiera for recommending the book. I had already felt the hand of God in my life manifest but now more then ever I am convinced that those things I've felt are true.  

Counting Divine Signatures in Dixie.

Knock Off

I've consumed my fair share of Clif bars in the last few months and decided to take a break from being the number one supporter and fan for awhile.  I thought it might be healthier and easier on the wallet if I learned to make my own.  So I googled homemade Clif bars and decided after looking at the list of options, that the first website listed was the most authentic recipe I found.

From here....
Enlightened Cooking...sounds like just the enlightenment I need.

I only slightly adapted the recipe for my purposes and ingredients and I'm totally impressed.  And regular. If you know what I mean, as in....regularity.  Enough said.

Knock-off-Clifs

1 1/4 cups crisp rice cereal...Rice Krispies will do.
1 cup uncooked quick-cooking oats
2 Tbsp ground flax seed.  I buy mine as seed and grind them myself.
1/4 cup finely chopped fruit (cranberries, raisins, dried cherries...ect.)
1/4 cup finely chopped nuts or seeds (I used pepitas)
1/3 cup agave (not quite full 1/3 cup)
1 Tbsp black strap molasses (to fill the remaining space in the 1/3 cup of agave)
1/2 cup nut butter (I used organic sea salted peanut butter but any kind of peanut butter would work.) Almond butter would be yummy as well.
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Combine the rice cereal, oats, flax seed meal, dried fruit and nuts in a large bowl.

Combine agave, molasses and peanut butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Stir until melted and well-blended. Stir in vanilla and cinnamon and blend well.

Pour syrup mixture over cereal mixture, stirring until coated.  You can start by using a wooden spoon but will need to use your hands to get it completely mixed. It's sticky...but yummy.  Press mixture into an 8 inch square pan that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.  Use a large piece of wax paper to really tamp down the mixture.  Cool in pan and chill at least 30 minutes to help it set. Cut into 9 bars.  Wrap bars tightly in plastic (I put mine in ziplock bags) and store in the refrigerator.

Variations:
Replace the dried fruit with an equal amount of mini chocolate chips.

You can use brown rice syrup in place of the agave and molasses.

These worked out to being 7 points a piece on the new WW point value system, even with mini chocolate chips instead of fruit!

Problem is....I could eat the entire 9 bars in one sitting.

Yay for Knock Offs....

I don't even know where this came from....
but I love it....

Lost and found in the waste of time that is Pinterest....

Today turned out better then it started.

I thought it would be a good idea to wake the kids at the crack of dawn and make them clean the house as punishment breaking curfew.  Turns out it was a great idea.  Breaking the rules = a clean house.  It helped that the computers and cell phones were turned off for the entire day as well.

I'm still not convinced that any of this will make a difference long term, but at least I feel better cause I have a clean house...and I didn't have to do it all!

I need to take a hike.  Time to get out again.

Never post on no sleep

I should know by now.

Emotions are higher when you are tired.  Reality is distorted and irritability is heightened.

I spent a tiring/rewarding night working at the Back-to-school night at Bridger's school.  I came home feeling generally positive toward the teen generation but at 1:30 this morning I'm wondering how and if I'll ever survive any more.

Honestly.

I am a parenting failure.
I'm just so tired.

I think at 1:43 am this morning, I became the Evil Cyborg parent.

But seriously.  If you think you can raise decent young adults without following the counsel of the Prophets to the letter, you are dead wrong.  Even if you do, I still believe it's a crap shoot.  Not really, but really...I do.

Anyway, I'm tired.

Monday Marathon

Do other 40+ year old women still wake up with a pimple on their cheek in the mornings, like me?

This is the week we get ready for school.  Sending one off to her freshman year in a dorm at college and another to her sophomore year of high school.  Oldest will be moving apartments next week as well.

I thought it was hard having kids in 3 different schools, in the same school district. That was a piece of cake next to this. At least now we're all in the same state.

Don't get me wrong, I am excited for this phase of our life....I'm just not sure it will really be a break!  This is the season for me when I'll have to work to afford school.

And then there was the moment of insanity last May, when I volunteered to be the Vice President of the Booster Club for this year. Talk about getting me out of my comfort zone.  And this Thursday is back-to-school night, where we will hit every parent up for money that they don't have and look excited about a new school board position that I know nothing about!  Good times.

I feel like I'm running a marathon, without the health benefits.

Happy Monday Marathoning....

Series of unfortunate/fortunate events

This is a story about a hike.

So, if you aren't interested in hiking, or stories about hiking, or my adventures in general...skip this post.

If you do, however, lurk about my hiking posts....you may find this sojourn experience to be quite different then any other I've documented.

It all began yesterday, Friday after a lunch at Nap's Grill, two hours after ingesting the largest, greasiest meal known to man.  Unfortunate.

Within two hours Boyd and I were headed up the mountain with our day packs ready to the Canyon Creek Trailhead, which is listed by the forest service as 5 miles up and back. Fortunate.

As we parked our car under sunny blue skies, the forest around us was full of thousands of butterflies.  All kinds of butterflies.  Just as we were getting ready to take off, I checked my watch for the time and a butterfly landed on my wrist. Fortunate.

Note the time....2:00 pm.  Still full from lunch and headed up on a long hike so late in the afternoon.  Unfortunate.

We reach the first trailhead sign right away.  5 miles to the summit....verified. Should be fortunate.

A mile or so into the hike, we reach the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness.  Fortunate.

Grilled onions on my 6 oz burger are creating chaos in my stomach. Nausea abounds.  Unfortunate.

The hike is inclined the entire way.  At the 5th mile we reach a steep area....there's no lake.  We can see the summit in the distance and keep on the trail.  For another 1.8 miles, climbing 1,000 ft vertically in that span of time.  Forest servicer's are liars.  5 miles to the lake....AS THE CROW FLYS...not hiking.  Hike ends up being 6.8 miles.  Budgeting for time has been ruined. Unfortunate.

Meanwhile black clouds are building.  Unfortunate.

We reach the summit at 2,500 feet higher than when we left the trailhead, and arrive at the most pristine beautiful lake I've ever seen.  With crystal clear, down to the very bottom, water.  Glaciers surround in the mountains above.  Fortunate.

Luckily, before we left we had managed to stop at a local grocer and found Off bug repellant with 90% Deet.  No lie.  I'm almost positive the stuff is illegal in most states....like Agent Orange.  Bought us a can of it and brought it with us. Fortunate.

Once at the top next to the lake we are swarmed with hungry, flesh eating mosquitos.  We were fresh meat.  Unfortunate.

We whipped out our Deet poison and gave ourselves a quick spray.  The bugs literally swarmed around us but didn't dare touch us.  We looked like the character Pig Pen from Peanuts, walking around with a cloud of bugs surrounding us.  Thank goodness for Deet poison. Fortunate.

Thunder starts clapping...lightening starts flashing and hail begins to fall. Unfortunate.

We figure we can practically run down this mountain and be home in a couple of hours, so we take off in the now-pouring-rain and lightening and head back. Within 1/2 mile....we lose the trail.  Gone.  Unfortunate.

Temperature drops 20 or more degrees into the high 40's.  Unfortunate.

We know we're not lost but now it's very dark from the storm and instead of backtracking and finding the trail, we decide to push on and hope to intersect with the trail at some point.  Unfortunate.

We hit sheer granite cliffs and rock slides.  We still find no trail.  We want off of those rock faces immediately to avoid being struck by lightening.  No lie.  The rock has become slippery as snake snot (as my Mom would say) and so we begin stumbling and slipping over boulders the size of Volkswagon Beetles and sheer granite faces (think...Last of the Mohicans) as fast as we can to get into a tree line.  Unfortunate.

In our haste to avoid lightening, I forget to put on my rain poncho until I'm already soaked.  Unfortunate.

After falling a couple of times, not finding the trail and shaking from the adrenaline caused by crashing lightening around us....I'm mad...and I think Boyd is actually worried.  He says a prayer.  Fortunate.

We decide to head straight down the mountain to the creek far below and hike out along the creek until we meet up with the trail again.  We plow through neck high foliage and over rocks for another hour, falling, scraping our hands and knees, through the still-pouring-rain....finally reaching the creek.  Fortunate.

Once we reached the creek, we were able to rejoin the trail.  Fortunate.

We were soaked to the bone, walking in squishy shoes and still a bit shaken from our literal hair-raising experience.  But we were still very adrenalized and decide to make up for lost time by getting down as fast as possible.  Which was a great plan until the pain starting setting in.  Unfortunate.

The trail is mud and slick rock.  When you mix those elements with urgency to get down...you are guaranteed falling....which I did several more times.  Unfortunate.

I had on new hiking shoes which felt perfect going up.  Fortunate.

On the way down my fingers were too numb to tighten my shoes and so my toes were rammed up against the front of the shoe the entire way down.  Unfortunate.

Between the falls and the toes....I was spent.  Boyd was exhausted and sore.  We had warned our kids that if it got dark and we hadn't returned home, they were to call someone to come and find us.  We were driven to get out of that canyon and make a phone call home before they called search and rescue...so we pushed on, through pouring rain and dark skies.  Unfortunate.

Before we thought we would....we reached the parking lot and to our car, where we immediately called home and told them not to call search and rescue.  That was at 8:51 pm.  Fortunate.

We discovered that we shaved off almost 1 1/2 miles of trail by stumbling down the mountain....not something I'd recommend, but became the silver lining in our dark cloud of the hike.  Fortunate.

Hiking time total was:  6 hours 5 minutes...not including the 20 minutes we spent at the lake.  Fortunate.

And when we walked out of the canyon to the car, the clouds lifted and disappeared to completely clear blue skies.  Unfortunate.

Supposed forest service hike:  10 miles total.
Actual hike total:  13.6 total
Our hike with mountain mishap:  11.9 miles.

A fortunate experience with lasting unfortunate consequences today.  I will be lucky to keep my two big toe nails.  Couldn't sleep at all last night due to flash backs of falling and sore toes. I have holes in my pants, scraps all over my body, and sore muscles but I've also lived to tell about it. And that's fortunate.

After this series of unfortunate/fortunate events, I can honestly say...I'd do it again. But not until after I've had a series of ONLY fortunate events on a hike for awhile.

Unfortunate:  Eating Naps, staring a long hike late in the day, incorrect mileage posted, mosquitoes, summer mountain thunderstorms, losing the trail, slippery granite, skinned knees and arms, soaked clothing, numb fingers, losing toe nails.

Fortunate:  butterflies, Deet poison, preparedness, exquisite scenery, prayer on a mountain, gps tracker, cell phone technology, physical capability, warm and dry clothes, Advil.

Unfortunate + Fortunate = worth it.

One day

One day Bridger and Hunter hugged a bear....

And then we saw the Bingham Copper mine.

And we couldn't fathom the bigness of it...

And then Lydia and I visited Carl and Ellie Fredrickson's "Up" home.

One day....that was a good day.