More Please

 

I may have mentioned that we are having one of the hottest, driest summers on record. Our governor even asked the citizens of our state to pray for rain. Pray to whomever you believe in or mentally visualize or do rain dances - whatever you do, please ask for rain. We have joined the prayer brigade and have added our pleas for water to come our way.

Many places in the state have finally had some storms come, some so heavily that floods and damage have happened, but SLC has not had much of the hoped-for deluge yet. We did finally get one really great rainstorm in mid-July. I'll always remember the way the thunder began to roll and actually never really stopped. It just rumbled and rumbled without much of a break for a good 45 minutes. We started out by getting some of those big fat drops and before long it was pouring rain. 

Oh what heaven that rain was! We needed every drop and we just stood on the back porch watching it come down. 

Sadly, that was the only rainstorm we have had so far. There are some clouds in the forecast and I am crossing my fingers and saying my prayers that we get absolutely soaked this weekend. 

Other Summer Outings and Innings

I was looking through my photos from the summer and was reminded of a few other happenings from this summer that I want to document, in no particular order. That's mostly because this summer has been such a blur that I don't exactly remember in what order any of this happened. 

* Right as summer kicked off, our old college favorite (and Troy's pal) Peter Breinholt and friends put on a live show out at Sandy amphitheater. There's something so special about live music, especially in a setting as beautiful as that. Luckily the horrible heat hadn't set in just yet, and we enjoyed a fantastic night of music. We got to go with our dear friends the Tuckfields, and also had the pleasure of bumping into several other friends as well, like my friend Annie who is Peter's little sister, Troy's classmate and my Brighton Sister Edie, and our old neighborhood pals the Merrills. Edie and I of course met up in the aisles to dance along to She Wore Flowers which is now our tradition, no matter how silly I feel. Best moment of the night was Peter picking out Troy in the audience and calling out to him. "Troy! Hi Troy!" That made me happy. Super fun smiley night.

* Emma got to have her first babysitting experience. We have a sweet young neighbor who is expecting her second baby and is having a miserable pregnancy. She has the cutest little 3 year old daughter and Emma got excited about the chance to play with her for a few hours. The first few moments were challenging for both sitter and sittee, as they were both rather nervous with this new arrangement. But we pulled out the bucket of Littlest Pet Shop toys and some books and before we knew it, everyone was having a grand old time. Now every time we see this little gal she is very excited to say hello and show us her fancy shoes or skirt or headband or fairy wings....she likes to be well accessorized at all times. 

* Our church planned several summer events in the hopes of building more bonds of neighborly friendship in the area, with both church members and non members alike. Someone decided that our experience in building a chicken coop would make a good community event and we got put on the calendar. I was guessing that we would have either 2 or 50 people there. Neither of those prospects was very exciting to me, so luckily it was right in between. On a Saturday morning we had about 24 people show up to hear our chicken tales. Here are cute pictures of the missionaries who were serving in our area at the time holding our chickens, who got rather more man-handled that day than they prefer. I thought the event went quite well, especially considering that really Troy and I are total amateurs and are just learning through trial and error. I know there are many more knowledgeable chickeners out there, but you can't say we don't enjoy chicken ownership.

* After the summer and fall of 2020 when we got to spend basically three weeks (not in a row) with our dear Seattle friends, it was slightly disappointing to be able to see them for just one afternoon and evening this year. I say disappointing only because we adore them so much and were so spoiled last year to have the week on the river plus the week in SLC plus the week in September in Washington that one day just didn't feel like enough. Kathleen and I took the kids swimming in the afternoon, and she and I had a good chance to sit and talk for a while before we headed back to our house. The kids hung around eating pizza and watching a show (while Chase caught up on sleep between weeks at Aspen Grove) and the adults got takeout and enjoyed a long evening of talking with friends Allison, Kenton and Molly. I wish we lived closer and had more chances to spend time together. I was glad that as soon as all the kids got in the pool they immediately circled up just like they always do. What a blessing these friends are.

* Troy has had a project hanging over his head for quite some time. Our sweet little front door has this cool transom window over it that has needed repair and it's been in the garage for years. In its place over the door has been a square of drywall and that's been just fine. It was going to be a tedious job to get it all fixed and I didn't feel impatient for it to happen. There's always stuff needing attention around here and that's just how it is. I love our house and Troy does great work on whatever he touches. He really does. I'm not just writing that because I know he's going to read this. He is so skilled and takes the time to do things right. This summer that window hanging out in the garage finally got its turn for his attention and he, along with a very little help from me and the girls, got it all fixed and in place. I just love it so much. I doubt many people have even noticed the change, but it means a lot to me. I love every little thing we do for this old granny of a house. 

* I got a mosquito bite on my eyelid. I hate mosquitoes. 

* Our chickens keep finding new weird places to lay eggs. We have been letting them roam free during the day which is great except for the part where we think we are collecting all the eggs and then discovering hidden nests where they have clearly been laying on the sly for days on end. The hardest one to find so far has been the one in the bush in the apartment parking lot behind our house. Turns out there was a gap in the bars of the fence. Our biggest chicken was disappearing for a while each day and hiding there to lay almost 2 dozen eggs. There was one day I thought for sure she was dead because I was hunting high and low for her and she was nowhere to be found in our yard. Turns out, she wasn't in our yard! For the record it was Judy who was pulling the Houdini move. The stinker. 

* My girls and I got to go see a couple of shows! In true us-fashion we saw them on back-to-back evenings. On a Monday night we drove far far away to the land of Herriman to an outdoor pavillion-type thing to watch a community theater production of Newsies. It wasn't the most professional of venues but the show was amazing. We went because the son of some good friends of ours was playing the lead role of Jack Kelly. He was absolutely amazing and can sing as well as any professional I've ever heard. The whole cast was so talented. We really enjoyed that a lot. And funny enough I bumped into him at a shop in SLC like two days later so I could congratulate him so hardily that we both felt awkward. I'm cool like that. 

It was the very next night that we had tickets for Guys and Dolls at Hale Center. This was a play that was part of my mom's repertoire of faves. There is a lot of music in it that I'm familiar with and have always enjoyed, but it wasn't one of my own very favorites. It actually helps when going to watch a play to have lower expectations. I mean, I was really excited to take my girls to it. We had tickets because we weren't able to go see Tarzan over Christmas due to Covid-hell and this is how we spent our ticket credits. But I don't normally listen to the music and I couldn't even remember the plot very well. But I ended up enjoying it so much. They did a fantastic job - all the character roles were my favorites, especially Adelaide. What a great (and colorful) show!

* A not-cool thing: someone swiped the back of our car, breaking a tail-light and just leaving without a note or anything. To quote my sister-in-law, sometimes people's choices suck. It's not actually a huge deal - it doesn't affect the car's functioning at all, and we certainly aren't going to get it fixed. But we were still annoyed. And we felt that we deserved Indian food after being so wounded. So that's what we did. A trip to Bombay House for Troy and Rachel. I shouldn't be a jerk in return and feel glad that the front of their car is likely all scraped up too, but I can't help it. 

* Best date night ever! I have been a fan of the comedian Tom Papa for a very long time. He's so funny. He's a little irreverent and occasionally walks the line between inappropriate and tame, but really he's pretty clean for a comic of these times. And I adore him. He's a guest on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me somewhat regularly. He has a couple of albums on Spotify and I turn to them all the time when I need a pick-me-up or a good chuckle. When we found out he was coming to SLC we were so excited to get tickets and spend the evening with our friends the Marshes. As has happened in the past, the show opened with a warm-up comic and he was just not that funny. He was actually kind of cringy for me. But as soon as Tom graced the stage I began a full hour of solid belly laughing. Oh it was so funny. I wish I had a recording of it. And when you follow that up with gelato...well, that's just the icing on top.

Time of His Life

I spent rather a lot of time in the spring fretting over Chase, knowing that he was feeling reluctant and anxious about going to work at Aspen Grove. I knew deep down that what he needed was to just get there, get started and get past his first week or two. I couldn't deny that those first few days or maybe weeks were probably going to be rough, and I wasn't wrong.  I think Chase did okay on his first few days because it was all training and he was just getting to know people. However, he only had a few days of training before the staff had their first weekend with guests and as I predicted, it kind of sucked. 

Troy and I got some some texts from him that first Saturday that made us feel so sad for him and worried too. It just stunk, and even though we had expected that, we really felt for him. We had already told him that he was free to come home as often as he had free time. Indeed that first Sunday, even though he couldn't leave until mid-morning and had to be back that night, he was desperate to come home. We went and got him, and were glad to have the driving time to hear all about how things were going. The best parts were that his second meal service on Saturday was much better than the first, and he actually spent almost all his time telling us funny stories about getting to know other staff members. However, he sure did not want to go back that night, and the only thing we could think to do to cheer him up was to put on Jurassic Park with the speakers plugged in and the volume turned up. It actually helped a lot.

As Chase came home over the next few weeks, he got less and less reluctant to go back. Plus we got more and more stories about the friends he was making and the fun stuff they were up to. He seemed to find a group to hang out with pretty quickly, and before long we were getting stories about overnight Harry Potter movie marathons and late-night star gazing parties and a lot of hammock time. The only thing that seemed to be lacking was sleep, which he seemed to catch up on only on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings when he was here. 

He began talking about staying at camp over a weekend, which was funny because it's what I was hoping he would start to feel but at the same time I was a little sad that I wouldn't get to see him. Of course, I shouldn't have worried about that because he always seemed to be in need of something or other so I continued to make weekly trips to Provo. Then one weekend we had friends come to town and Chase was really torn about whether to stay with his friends for a weekend sleepover party or come home to SLC and he chose the latter. He felt like he really missed out and told us that he pretty much didn't think he'd be coming home again for the rest of the summer. 

The weekend after his last SLC visit his Aspen Grove friends were planning a rather big adventure. They decided to hike to the top of Mount Timpanogos on Friday night, sleep by a lake, then summit in time to watch the sunrise. I ended up making another trip there to deliver a carload of camping supplies and was happy to give him a hug and wish him well. I was a little nervous about this adventure but that's because I'm the mom and that's what I do.

I know he basically got no sleep, I know they started later than they meant to, but I also know that from all I heard about it, it was just about the most fun Chase has ever had. He just absolutely adores his friends. I know he still doesn't especially love his job, but he seems to love the camp and he loves being a part of the team. 

Now I'm just fretting about how sad it will be when he has to leave!

He looks so happy.

4th of July

This summer has felt kind of frantic from the get-go. I know that is partly because I had all of those family gatherings all at once when my cousin Mark passed away. But really it's been more than that. I think that as more and more people have gotten vaccinated and many guidelines for covid safety have relaxed, everyone I know, including myself, has been absolutely cramming their calendars with everything that we missed doing and all the get-togethers with all of the people we have missed seeing for months. I remember last year when covid took hold and our calendars emptied as everything got cancelled it felt like my life became a creepy ghost town. And this year is the opposite. I kind of keep hearing the Benny Hill theme song playing as I zip around like crazy from event to event and trying to get things done during the day. It's really rather exhausting, but I am part of the problem too - I want to do all that stuff I missed! I want to see all those people!

Another issue making this summer one for the memory books has been the heat. We have hit some serious records and it has been pretty miserably hot, to tell you the truth. We have had terrible drought, days on end in the 100's and not a real end in sight for much of the summer. We had the hottest June in history, and though it's still only July, we are only three days away from tying or beating the record for the most triple-digit days in a single year. We average about 3 a year and have had around 15 this year. 

By the time July and its famous holiday rolled around, we were all ready for a break. We started talking about a little getaway and a possible camping trip, but not only were we sick of the heat, we were sick of people! We talked about wanting to escape but not knowing where to go where we wouldn't be plagued with noisy neighbors. (We get enough of that at home thanks to living in a party-hood close to the university!) 

Eventually we realized we had friends we could mooch off of. We are getting to be close friends with a wonderful family who we seem to interact with more and more. And it just so happens that they have access to a property near Mormon Flats that is private. I know they go camping there pretty regularly and they were nice enough to let us take as much time there as we wanted over the holiday weekend. We started to make plans.

At first we thought a two-day camping trip would be really fun. But....then what would we do for two solid days in a tiny canyon with nothing but trees, rocks and potguts? (And no toilet?) Maybe one night would be just fine. Because the 4th was on a Sunday, we decided that a Sunday to Monday camping trip would be great. But there were a lot of celebrations around happening on Saturday instead, so we thought maybe we could do something else fun on Saturday. But you know what happened instead? The power went out.

Troy and I were lying in bed, just starting to wake up,  chatting about the day, when we realized that the cooler had stopped. A feeling of dread fell over us both. That day was just the dumbest. We were too hot to do anything. It was just miserable! I think we tried to be a little productive but instead we complained and got sweaty. We did plug in the generator so we could run the fridge and that was good. But other than that, what a sucky day. We finally had the inspiration to call on friends, the blessed and beloved Mayfields, who promptly invited us up to their house for dinner and a backyard movie. What heaven. And that was just the airconditioning in the car on the way there. I love those Mayfields. And by the time we made it home, the power was finally back on. 

So on Sunday when we started to gather stuff to go to Schuster Creek, we were a bit sluggish. And suddenly we had this inspiration that we could have a perfectly delightful time just going to the canyon, bringing stuff for a cookout dinner and some hangout time and then come home and sleep in our own beds. Luckily the girls were also up for this plan. And good thing too because the canyon was not really much cooler at all than the city. 

We did have a nice time though - set up the hammock, brought a propane campfire for roasting sausages, and knitting and reading and just chilling. We hiked around a little, sat around a lot, and tried to stay in the shade. Because we have had a very dry year, there was very little water flowing through the creek. What a sight it was to see the pond which was filled with fish that were jumping right out of the low water as they had their evening dinner. It's an absolutely lovely place and I hope we can revisit in the fall. And I hope we get more water around here soon!

Because we ended up leaving in the early evening, we found ourselves with just enough time to make it to a fireworks showing. Troy was done for the night, but the girls were really wanting to go. That was one thing that made them feel ok about not camping. It was actually really great in my view to have a little of everything - a little time away from civilization, a little gathering with the crowds on a warm summer night, lying on a blanket and waiting for fireworks to burst above our heads. The girls and I had rather a ball as the two of them tried diligently to teach me to speak in a Scottish accent. They are both amazingly proficient at it, and I just can't get it. So we lay on our blanket, tried to not get trampled by kids running around, and giggled like crazy while we spoke of haggas, bagpipes, Sean Connery and kilts. 

A memorable holiday, with many elements of both misery and happiness. Mostly happiness though. 

Girls Camp

I have only been to girl's camp once before in my life, and it wasn't when I was in young women's myself. The only time I ever went was when I was 5 months pregnant with Chase, when I was the stake young women's president. That was a little rough - full-on tent camping, sleeping on the ground, feeling pukey. There were good parts too but you know. I'd rather not do camp again like that when I'm preggers. What can I say, I'm a wimp.

This was going to be the first year that both of my daughters would be going to girls camp. I was excited for them, and also slightly nervous, especially for Emma, who is sometimes sad and emotional and sometimes hyper and optimistic. You never know how things will go! Then I found out that my dear friend Emily was asked to be in charge of all the food for the entire camp. I had kind of been looking forward to a few days of lots of alone time but then I suddenly felt a huge wave of compassion for my friend and also a desire to be not too far away from Emma while she was at her first camp. So, I offered my help to Emily, just to be her gopher. I tried to be helpful - just being someone she could bounce ideas off of and to be an extra pair of hands for her. She planned for amazing food and snacks, and did all of the shopping by herself which was a task so monumental it's hard to even imagine. 

I had a great time at camp. Since my days in the young women presidency things have changed a lot. Our stake now uses the same property every year, up in the hills above Heber, Utah. It is absolutely beautiful, cooler than the valley, next to a nice little lake, and best of all, has a big pavilion with a kitchen and bathrooms and a place for the leaders to sleep.

I won't give you a day-by-day rundown but I'll share some favorite moments. Like the moment a young woman learned to not get excited while helping out in the kitchen while holding a very sharp knife. Turns out getting poked in the shoulder with a sharp knife rather stings. You can see from this photo I sent my friend that I got an absolutely minuscule little poke, and I'm grateful, because I could have actually gotten really injured. Luckily it was just kind of funny and resulted in a bandaid and a sheepish young lady. 

One reason I was so looking forward to camp was because I'd get to be there with some of my dearest friends, and could just work hard behind the scenes and then take naps. Which I did. 

Here's the woman who really deserves the credit - Emily worked her tail off and was so organized and prepared. People were very grateful to both of us but man she was the one who really stressed and pulled it all together.

I did love getting to peek at my girls from time to time. I didn't spend much time with them, but got to touch base. They both seemed to have a great week - I felt like our ward group was quite unified and all friendly with each other. 

Ben and Lynnette are the stake camp directors and have been for about five years or so. They do an amazing job and really give so much to make the camp fun and run smoothly. And they're fun!

Girls camp is a happy happy beautiful place. I loved being there. I totally had it easy - I had time to sneak away to the valley and get myself a drink and even visit Chase as Aspen Grove for a few minutes to drop off some DVDs he was wanting to watch with friends. We got a little rain, we got warm sunny afternoons, we got amazing sunsets, and we got to enjoy this beautiful place with dear friends.