Today we hosted Courtney, Rebekah and Tyler, Heidi, and their kids. Lily made the most wonderful dinner for everyone (bratworst, fruit salad, corn, Caprese salad). The group REALLY gelled, especially when Lily invited Rebeka to share her faith journey and then everyone else shared their in-turn. I felt so much love, acceptance, warmth and strength. Others might use different words to describe what I think we all felt, but to me it felt like God was surely present. Heidi also taught a values lesson to the kids about asking for help when you need it. We also all roasted s’mores. What a truly heart-warming evening it was. I really love that group of people.
Today I had a very intense and stressful day back at the office. Meanwhile Lily was cooking like crazy at home. It was Georgia’s birthday today and she requested a family favorite: BBQ chicken Cobb Salad. Georgia came over mid-day and Lily told me everyone had the most wonderful time with her.
What a feast! It was so nice to have my mom and Jere join as well.
Jere stayed until around 10 chatting with us and playing with the kids. I caught a quick video of him outside with the kids because it was so touching to see him play with them. He also helped Ammon for 15 or so minutes on his spelling master swords game. What a great uncle!
It was so fun to all celebrate Georgia’s birthday today. I feel so grateful to have Georgia as a mother-in-law. One thing I have always deeply felt is her care for me and all my ups and downs. It’s a care that I draw strength from. She’s thoughtful, kind, loving and a fighter. Health has been challenging for her, but it’s so inspiring to see her smile through it all and still find ways every day to show love, be cheerful and uplift others. You are an angel Georgia and we love you! You are such a sweet presence and such a wonderful nana to our kids. We are all better for having you in our lives. Happy Birthday to the best Nana ever!
Ammon has been over-the-top social on this trick. At one point he stopped a lady on the trail and insisted that she needed to see my magic trick where I can remove my thumb. It was awkward, but she stood there, and I showed it to her, lol. Ammon is talking to everybody all the time. At the hot springs, He had someone singing “Never Gonna Give you Up” by Rick Roll in the bathroom with him. He stops to say hi to everyone and tries to be every dog. It’s honestly too much because he’s always throwing himself into conversation with others whether they want it or not, and we’ve had to coach Ammon about thinking about what other people want and not just always demanding people’s attention all the time. But even though Ammon is learning how to reign it in, the reality is, it is such a beautiful trait to make friends everyone. Within minutes of arriving at the Long House, he found a five year old boy named Luke and they became friends and held hands. They had so much fun together, and as a result, Lily and I became friends with Luke’s parents and we all chatted on the way back to the car.
After Long House, we drove home. We surprised the kids by stopping at Pasta Jays in Moab, one of our all-time favorite spots!
On the way home we had almost an hour of lightning. It was hard to catch much on video, but some of the lighting bolts were breathtaking. It was like having another night of fireworks.
On the way home I finished listening to a Mormon Stories podcast about the great Salt Lake. Lily is so good at pushing great content my way. Before that Podcast, we all finished Book 1 of How to Train Your Dragon which as family favorite, and maybe even THE family favorite audio book. My favorite line in the whole book is when Gobber the Belch tells the young soon-to-be Hooligan Vikings to read a book to learn how to train their dragon, and one of the youngsters says, “but what if you can’t read?” Gobber quips back, “no boasting! Get some idiot to read it to you.” Lol, it still makes me laugh! It was such a wonderful trip.
Today we woke up and made the incredibly scenic drive from Durango to Silverton.
We stopped at the top (Molas Pass Summit 10,910 ft) to check out the view.
In Silverton, we were delighted to learn that we arrived just in time for the parade. The parade was incredibly entertaining. They passed out candy (a recent trend I’ve noticed at parades), but the funny party is, they also had hoses and squirt guns and sprayed the audience, whether the audience wanted to be sprayed at all. They also fired muskets and had fighter jets. The whole thing was super eventful, and it really made our 4th of July fun.
We then went to Durango to walk around downtown and eat lunch
After lunch, we went to the Durango hot springs. Lily and I took turns going to the adult section while the other watched the kids. I passed out into a short and lovely nap with my feet dangling in one of the pools. Lily and I haven’t gotten the greatest sleep, so it felt delicious.
We then went back to downtown Durango to have dinner at a taco place. Clarissa fell asleep on the way. She was so heavy, but I just thought about how this may be one of the last times I carry my [no longer so] little girl in my arms fast asleep. That thought was enough for me to cherish the opportunity.
After dinner we got the most delicious ice cream at Cream Bean Berry. Lily and I agreed that their Colorado Cherry ice cream was the best one there (and one of the best we’d ever tasted. ever.)
We had the most wonderful day in Durango. We knew in advance the only drawback to our 4th of July plans was that we wouldn’t see any fireworks. The kids were disappointed in that aspect. But on the way home, we saw some fireworks going off. I turned into Mancos, where the fireworks were going off. The show lasted almost an hour, and I figure it costed half the city budget since the poplulation of Mancos is only about 1,350 people. We just happened to pull up to the exact field where we were launching the fireworks. They were right over our heads, and Lydia, Clarissa, Ammon and I were mesmorized. Mary and Lily were more concerned and watched from the car (though Mary did spend some time outside I think). It did start to get a bit crazy though when some of the fireworks touched down to the ground. At one point someone even ran to the field to put out a fire the fireworks had started (we were watching from the car at that point). You’ll see in a video below that after one firework that dropped sparks to the ground, Lily urgently requested we get in the car. I definitely think that was a good idea! We later found a spot that felt just as close, but was more safe. We all had the most wonderful night and multiple kids later reported the fireworks being one of their favorite parts of the whole trip. What an amazing day!!!!
Lily and I didn’t sleep a ton because of the wind and the rain at night, but our amazing $100 Walmart tent kept us bone dry inside. In the morning, we had the most amazing avocado toast. Lily really pulled all the stops food-wise on this trip. She was inspired by a recent camping cooking book she bought at the bookstore we explored on her birthday.
We then got our stamps at the visitor’s center and we got junior ranger books for the kids. They worked on their books while waiting for the dancing.
I love this statue so much. To me it captures the feeling, intensity, and energy involved of scaling a cliff. What a life it was for them!
We then saw a rain dance by some incredible Hopi dancers.
We then drove on the Mesa Top loop and listened to an audio tour that Lily downloaded in advance: https://www.nps.gov/podcasts/podcasts-mtl-audiotour.htm. Partway through the tour we had a wonderful picnic with food Lily had prepared:
This is a pit-house. It would have had a roof made of wood and adobe I think.
After the amazing Mesa Top Loop, we ate at a Mexican restaurant in Cortez.
After dinner, we hiked about 30 minutes on the Knife Edge trail near our campground. It was soooo windy, but still such an incredible and scenic hike. The kids had spent a lot of time in the car, so it was great for them to exercise as well.
Parts of the hike were super windy
At night, Lily and I both woke up at 3:45 AM didn’t sleep great after that (Lily maybe didn’t sleep at all), and our air-mat lost a bunch of air. But the tent and camping experience charmed us all. Before bed, all the kids either red books (older girls) or colored (younger kids) for a solid half hour, before getting tired and falling asleep. It was a very sweet tent scene and I love our children sooo much.
This morning I woke up and got some work done. Then Lily and I finished packing and we hit the road about 11.
The drive to Mesa Verde was very pretty and we especially enjoyed some clouds along the way.
In the car we listened to a Mormon Stories podcast about the Great Salt Lake dying as well we the second book in “How to Train your Dragon”. It was all about Hiccup finding Grimbeard the Ghastly’s treasure. We LOVE that series.
We arrived at our campsite around 6 and had plenty of time to set up camp, cook the amazing tinfoil dinners that Lily prepared, and eat. We also enjoyed cinnamon rolls and banana boats for desert!
Cinnamon rolls
It rained at night, but our tent (which we are so fond of) kept us dry!
Today Lily rested a lot to get over her sickness, and all the rest paid off. We think she’s turning a corner! Lily also took Lydia to her chemistry camp (With Emerson) and then went to Everbowl with Lydia afterwards.
I was very absorbed in my end-of-quarter deals and other workload and Mary, Ammon and Clarissa played adorably for a long time today. When Lydia got home, she joined the fun. The kids played so well together today (although Clarissa did have some moments). It was so heart-warming to see them all play together for hours.
Tonight we watched Baking Impossible as a family. Everyone loves this show. In fact one of my recent memories was Clarissa running to me while I was in the bathroom the other day and she was shouting something to the effect of, “Dad, dad, you got to see this, you go to see this!” She was watching Baking Impossible and was insistent that I watch a particularly exciting part. Lol.
I didn’t sleep much last night due to going to bed late and an early meeting, I’m behind on work and it’s the end of the quarter when things get really intense. Thus, I was SOOOO happy to take the kids to the pool and get off a little early today. It’s so sad that Lily has still been feeling sick so she stayed home. It was cloudy and a bit cold, but we still had a really good time. It was really fun to all watch and cheer for Ammon as he did crazy things off the diving board. See below!
Today the kids spent a lot of time playing. It was so adorable. The girls all dressed in matching outfits and wore pig tails and played together upstairs. Lily got some cute pictures and a video.
After playing, Mary worked on piano, and Ammon did a little to. Then Lydia had a harp lesson and Mary and Ammon went to a kids camp that Eli and some friends hosted to make money for the summer. After the kids camp, Eli came over to play. He entertained the kids with sock puppets and everyone had a lot of fun playing. Eli even made his own sock puppet in the craft room. We love Eli!
Eli also stayed for dinner. Lily made the most DELICIOUS mushroom soup. Also, Lily and I talked a lot about our future today, including things we are concerned about (such as the Great Salt Lake drying up and political instability) and where we may want to live long term.
At night, Lydia and Mary had the most amazing time playing dolls. I was filled with so much joy just watching their deep play time.
I was up very late because of a late nap I took. But it gave me a chance to blog our camping trip and watch some Spartacus, Blood and Sand.
