Miles and Miles, the Trip to Amethyst Lake

One of the big stressors of the summer for Troy (as if there wasn't enough stress already just from the room alone), was planning and executing a backpacking trip for the 12-18 year old young men of our stake. Backpacking can be so wonderful. And it can be so awful, especially with the wrong equipment and/or food. He worked really hard all spring to get information out to the families about what kinds of things they'd need, and tracking down things for people who didn't have them. It took a lot of time and energy. And not everyone got the messages about what would work and what wouldn't. But it all worked out. 

One of the last things he did to prepare was to go hike the trail there and back the week before the actual camp so he would really for sure know the way and what pitfalls might be found. And who was the perfect buddy for the day trip? Romney of course.

They left at about 5 in the morning, all saddled up with packs of food and water and trekking poles. And I think they had a total ball together, even though they hiked about 13 miles that day. Here are a ton of photos ....not in the correct order.

The trip with Romney was a great success, and almost prepared Troy for the days with the young men. I think Troy would report that the hardest thing about the trip was being in charge of several young men who were only 12 or 13, had never been backpacking before, and needed to hike six and a half miles up a mountain with a pack and weren't prepared to do it. It took a lot of patience to get them up there. Let's just say that the lead group took about 3 1/2 hours to get to camp, and it took the last group, which Troy was with, almost 8. EIGHT HOURS.

I believe he would report that the best part of camp was seeing boys be out in nature with no screens or video games and just playing. There was very little scheduled time. There wasn't really any place they could go. They just fished and hiked and climbed rocks and pushed down dead tree stumps and hollered a lot. Exactly and precisely what boys need and thrive on. 

It took a lot out of Troy, but I know it did a lot for that group of kids. 

Why Our Girls are Awesome

As I'm looking back over the summer's photos, figuring out what else needs posting about, I'm just thinking about how awesome my daughters are.

Here's where I wanted to post a photo of them together but...I can't find one of just the two of them recently that I haven't posted already. Oh well! 

They are awesome because they are so nice to each other. They share clothes. Who does that? Isn't one of the rules of sisterhood that you fight about clothes all the time, and steal them from each other, and get super super mad? They just don't do that. I don't know how we got so lucky. What wonderful girls.

Here are some other fun things they have been up to:

Emma begged to go back to FSY camp this year. (For the Strength of Youth). She once again wanted to go to a camp on her own, with no friends or people she knew with her. I was just as nervous as I was last year to send her alone, but that's how she wanted it! This year she picked the UofU (by our house, thank heavens), instead of BYU. She once again absolutely adored it, and grew very fond of a nice group of kids. From Vernal. Yeah that's three hours away so there hasn't been much socializing since then!

Romney's Nicholas went away for the last couple of weeks of summer. He and his family traveled to Europe and though it was so wonderful that he was able to do this with his family, it was a long couple of weeks for Romney! The day he got home was a happy one for her - and since I got to be the one to drive her to his house, I got to be the one to see her bouncing up and down in her chair with happiness as we drew closer, and him standing outside jumping up and down waiting for her. So. Cute. How can I not post about that?

Emma had a few really boring weeks of the summer, especially with me working all the time. But there were a few weeks in a row in which we kept her very busy. One of them was sending her to an archery camp for a few afternoons. She had so much fun - she really loved it! 

I don't have many photos of this, but Emma also got to go on a trip with our ward youth group. They broke with their long-standing Bear Lake tradition and went to a cabin in central Utah near Capital Reef. They got to go to the temple as well as just spend fun time together - games, hiking, being silly, all the best stuff. 

Also, right before school started, Emma got to spend a very delightful day at the zoo with her buddy Bella, who had been volunteering there. I love this photo. Hmm. I guess most of these shot are of Emma. Romney was just doing so much pioneering!

One last happy random summer photo: here's me at work. I got asked to make a video for a young patient who likes to see what the inside of his treatment rooms look like. I accidentally took a photo first instead of making the video, which was very dorky of me, but here I am, loving my new job!

July the 24th

Troy and I had been wanting to go visit Romney at work. We hadn't really seen her in action yet, and we definitely wanted to before the end of summer. What day would be better for pioneers than Pioneer Day itself!? Besides, with it being a holiday, there was going to be a major event at the park. It's called "The Ringing of the Anvil." This event involves one anvil stacked on top of another anvil with a space carved out in between and filled with gunpowder or something. Folks gather around (but not too close!) and there is a countdown before the fuse is lit and the top anvil is blasted into the air. Really high in the air. This was not something we wanted to miss. 

Emma wasn't feeling up to it, so she stayed home while Troy and I ventured out into the hot day. We roamed the park, said hi to Romney in her cute little house where she was making bobbin lace. We hung out with her while she ate her lunch and made sure to bring her some donuts. We peeked around a few other houses, and made sure to wave to her friend Fran who was a train conductor that day. We love Fran. 

 

Then it was time for the ringing of the anvil. We found a shady spot behind one of the houses that had a great view. We couldn't hear the countdown very well, and weren't quite expecting the absolutely heart-stopping sound of the explosion. If you watch the video that Troy took of the event, you might hear me utter a little exclamation that expresses just how surprised I was. And uh...please pardon my French. I couldn't believe how high in the air that anvil went. Worth the trip to the park.

Another Child-Surgeon

It is very weird that Troy has had two surgeries in recent months that were both performed by people my age or younger. Aren't they too young to be accomplished doctors? Especially Josh, whom I babysat many years ago? I guess that's just how old we are.

Troy's finger just wasn't getting better the way it should have been. He couldn't really bend it and it was just not right. He needed to have it looked at by a surgeon and he picked my friend Patrick, who is an orthopedic hand specialist. Patrick (aka Patty-Cakes, as dubbed by my friend Kenton), is a terrific guy I went to high school with. Wonderful family. He looked at Troy's injury and noted that the tendons were healing to the broken chip of bone instead of the bones that were already where they belonged. Surgery it was! And they had to do it in a hurry because they didn't want it to heal like that any more, plus Troy only had a couple of weeks before he was headed off on a backpacking trip with the young men, and the more time he had between that and the surgery, the better. 

I know it was a bummer that he had to get surgery, but his pinkie has improved so very much since then. He's been back for checks twice and has impressed everyone in the office with the way he can bend and curl his finger. That is an episode we are both glad to be putting behind us. And we are grateful for good folks like Pat and Josh who take care of us when bad things happen.

Speaking of bad things - it really stinks when you have surgery and then have to work on the room and smash your thumb a couple of times. Poor Troy! His fingies are so owie!

 

July the 4th

We just didn't do much recreating this summer. Obviously. But when it came to the 4th of July, we needed to get away for a bit. A breakfast in Millcreek Canyon has to happen at least once a year, and this was the day for it. One thing I adore about my daughters is how game they are for getting up early and spending this time together. They are always up for it.

We started off with just three of us - Emma and Troy and I went up first, and Romney waited for Nicholas to pick her up and bring her. She had to work at This is The Place that day, and had to go there straight from breakfast. It was so nice of Nick to be her chauffeur that morning. 

Oh how heavenly it always is to escape the heat of the city and get in the cool air. It is one of the best parts of the summer. The girls requested biscuits and gravy which I was only too happy to supply. Plus some eggs. We are getting better at this breakfast in the canyon thing - we actually brought all the things we needed! No one had to mold a juice glass out of tin foil, and we brought our lid-lifter or tongs or whatever it was we forgot last year. Breakfast was fantastic, if I do say so myself, 

After we cleaned up and went home and got even more cleaned up, Then we made a mess by working on the room all day.

The evening consisted of the usual trip to the country club golf course where we met up with an usually large number of people we know and love. Usually it's just ourselves up there with a bunch of people we don't know. But the Moores found us, and the Behunins and Comptons and some of Romney's friends from East. As usual, that feeling of lying in the cool grass after a too-hot day, the dome of the night sky looming overhead, fireworks shooting into the night and sprinkling stars all around.....is just magic. Almost makes up for the rest of July which I don't love that much.