Half of our family was away this weekend to have a grand adventure at Fish Creek with Richard’s family… and my brother Paul.
They camped, rode 4-wheelers, hiked, and explored.
We were all led to believe that it was just for the boys, but the pictures don’t lie. Richard’s sister was there. 😉
They came home dirty, exhausted, and smiling. It looked like a successful trip to me.
We visited the Weber cabin for a few hours this weekend to say hello to the kids’ great-grandparents and other extended family.
We visited with my cousin Laura and enjoyed her vivacious spirit.
Timothy, the super-cousin, walking with little David.
Richard and my uncle David talked for a long time. The Stewarts are good company. The following picture is my favorite. My grandpa got up from resting to wave to Sterling and Janice as they drove away.
When someone leaves the cabin, we line up holding dish towels or whatever we can find to wave to them as they drive away.
The kids chose to walk to the gate with their uncle as we drove out of the ranch. They just look so tall.
The end.
Wedding gifts put me in a quandary and I’m not good at them, but I have decided to fix that. I think it’s a good idea to have a stash of gifts handy for weddings. Certainly family wedding gifts require a little more thought and love.
Over the years I have been slowly typing up my recipes and putting them in a binder so they are all accessible in one place. When the kids move out I can print out the recipes that they want and send them off with their own recipe books. It occurred to me that I could share these recipes with my niece who is getting married next month.
I bought a small binder and small sheet protectors from an office supply store and some pretty scrapbook paper on clearance. I have used a normal sized binder for recipes for years, but it is bulky and wastes counter space, so I think the smaller binder is better. I printed out each recipe on a half sheet of paper and assembled the binder with lots of pretty paper dividers. I took pictures because I will miss it when I give it away. I still need to make one for myself.
What is it about recipes and memories? Every time I use a recipe from a friend from Texas or Arizona, memories of them surround me as I cook. My aunt compiled family recipes a few years ago into small binders and I experience the same thing when I use them. Suddenly I’m back in Grandma’s kitchen.
I know the recipes won’t mean much to my niece for sentimental reasons, but hopefully she can make some great memories of her own as she prepares these. I wasn’t much of a cook when I got married, so cook books were some of my favorite wedding gifts.
My most requested recipes over the years have been our whole wheat bread, decadent brownies, chocolate chip cookies, butternut bisque, Mexicali pie, and black bean salsa.
I feel a bit burned out. It’s the last week of summer and I am so glad that we canceled our trip to Yellowstone this week. We need a chance to breathe before school begins.
I’ve been thinking about all we have done since school got out in June. We sent Paige to EFY, Girls’ Camp, and Youth Conference to paint a house and spend time in the mountains on canoes and a ropes course. I went with her to Youth Conference. We sent Daniel to Scout Camp and Richard went along for part of the week. We traveled to St George and sped around on wave runners. We went to Fish Creek and rode motorcycles. We camped in our backyard, read The Hobbit aloud, and made about 20 trips to the library. We spent several days at Spring Lake, celebrating with family and working on projects with concrete. Richard overhauled two motorcycles and fixed up the tent trailer. I painted doors and baseboards. Daniel painted the walls of his bedroom. Richard and I got new callings at church (ward missionary and YW secretary) and spent many late nights editing my book. We sent Timothy to Cub Scout camp and Richard went with him. We spent about a week in the mountains at the family cabin with 20-40 people, depending on the day. We saw moose and a bear. Mark started piano lessons, so piano music is almost always in the background with four piano students practicing each day. I finished my first quilt. We watched the neighbors’ quadruplets. We read a lot of books. Daniel joined an orchestra and mowed the lawn each week. Timothy tended the garden. Mark and Timothy hunted almost daily for wasps. We have had a steady queue of guests stay in our home and we have learned that Salt Lake City truly is the Crossroads of the West. This is where our energy has gone this summer.
Perhaps I have earned the lethargy that I feel this morning.
I wrote, nurtured, and edited 120 pages about my grandmother. I wrote 14 posts about my experiences as a Mormon and why I love my church. Perhaps these were all of the words I had to give this summer.
It’s been a good time and I get emotional when I think of school taking the kids away each day. We’ve been in Utah a year now (as of this weekend) and one of my favorite things about Utah is that there are distinct seasons and something special to look forward to in each. My task today is to find something to look forward to about school beginning. It might take me all week to do it.
We had a wonderful time at the Weber cabin with the Sanchez family, with lots of cousin play and sibling reconnection.
One morning Paige took a group of little girl cousins down by the spring and they found a bear… 10 feet away from them. Later that day we spotted the bear again. We think it was attracted to all of the wild raspberries in the grove. Scary. Richard got 3 photos as it ran away the second time. 
The kids spent a lot of time in the river.
We raced rubber duckies in the river and three of our kids won medals.
 
We danced the Virginia Reel. The dogs joined us.
(I fiddled.)
I distributed my grandma’s history. Richard and I stayed up so late every night leading up to the week of the cabin trying to finish it. For me, the week was spent recovering (napping and going to bed early) in our tent trailer.
My parents were the rock stars of the week. They planned activities with vision and they served us and loved us in hundreds of ways.
Happy, happy memories.
Today Mark came up to me as I sat typing at one of two desks I have jammed together with three computer screens to navigate my final steps in the book I am writing and asked with a little trepidation, “What’s your NEXT big project?”
He continued, “I mean, you had your quilt, and now the book. What’s next?”
I wished that I could tell him, NO MORE PROJECTS this month, but I can’t. I just got a new calling at church and it’s going to take some time to get situated. At least I still get to work with the Young Women. But I don’t want to talk about that now.
I took the afternoon off and we all played Scrabble on my bed. This evening, we snuggled and read some more of The Hobbit. It’s taken some time to get back to the way I used to feel with the kids before I sent them to public school. We’re comfortable again, and the school stress is being held at bay by a big dose of denial clothed in the idea that summer isn’t coming to a hasty end. Daniel’s camping in the woods all week, produce from gardens keeps showing up at our house, and the kids are sleeping in.
My “book” is the memoir of my grandmother that I was trying to finish in April. It’s 100 pages and I am finally feeling happy about the writing which I have worked so hard to craft into a readable narrative instead of a choppy collection of disjointed ideas from my notes.
I wrote the introduction this weekend and I began to list all of the people who have worked on different aspects of the project, from scanning photos, collecting genealogical information, saving and writing letters, to collecting keepsakes and documents. This family has been saving memories for over 100 years and I’m attempting to bring it all together. So many hands, a good amount of disappointment, and long hours have been the price to make a tribute to my grandmother and her ancestors.
I worry that it won’t be read and cherished. Writing with my heart has made me feel vulnerable. I want it to be appreciated, but I suppose no one will love it in the same way I do. Perhaps that’s okay, though; my relationship with the story is the gift it gives back to me.
We spent a day up in the mountains this week with some of Richard’s siblings and his dad. We sat by the creek and rode motorcycles. When we reached the meadow, I sang the entire Sound of Music song because I felt like it. We found flowers, insects, and colored glass. It rained on us and it smelled heavenly.
We stopped by my sister Susan’s house on the way home from the big family party at Spring Lake. We didn’t get any photos of that big family party, but it was a great July 4th celebration on the mountain. Susan and Richard’s kids were doing fireworks in their front yard and they were gracious enough to let us join them.
Tank wars with Richard J. are always fun.
The cousins had fun with sparklers. They played soccer and “bird, bird, PIG!” (Duck, duck, goose, with Angry Birds labels)
When we got home around 10:00, we discovered that our neighbors REALLY like fireworks. We were entertained by aerial fireworks for a good half hour. We pulled out a blanket and sat on our front lawn to watch. Mark went inside and got into an army costume and was immersed in his play, dodging “missiles” until bedtime.
Timothy participated in his 4th grade program this week. It was a celebration of Utah, full of songs for voice and recorders, a fantastic choral reading, and he presented a flawless speech. It represented a year’s worth of Utah Studies and music. I loved it.
Mrs Johnson was a wonderful teacher for Timothy. This was her 35th year of teaching. She’s retiring this week and the school won’t be the same without her.
I have inherited my Great Aunt Susan’s wardrobe. It’s classy and smart with whimsical touches. I love fashion, but I don’t buy clothes very often for myself. It’s a real treat to wear her clothing. I wore this to Timothy’s program with a brown and white beaded necklace. I wore heels with the wide-legged pants and pulled my hair into a loose bun. Overdressed for a school program? Yes, but who cares.
 We don’t have photographs of Daniel’s orchestra concert this week, but we were so proud of him for playing the solo for Beauty and the Beast on his cello. He did a great job and was a good sport about playing the girls’ choice of music for the finale: Firework by Katy Perry! I wore this outfit. I love the red corduroy peplum jacket with big buttons. The pants are a nice heavy knit, comfortable, but dressy.
And for church today, I wore this outfit. The beads belonged to my Great Grandmother Spencer. The jacket and dress were Susan’s.
This week there are two ballet performances to attend and two fancy outfits to plan. Although it feels a bit silly and indulgent to post photos of outfits, I am sure it won’t be a permanent habit. Oh, but I do love clothes.
Sarah took some photos of Stacy’s baby shower last Friday evening. Susan threw the party in her backyard under the tree. What a gorgeous time, and what a warm and outgoing person our new sister-in-law Stacy is!
I dropped by to give my grandparents, parents, and my aunt and uncle a hug on the way home from the shower. My smile on the way home was deep and lasting. I’m so thankful that I can go to things such as baby showers, baptisms, and birthdays for my family. I’ve enjoyed going out to lunch with the girls or just one or two at a time. We’ve had cozy winter evenings and holiday celebrations. Summer evenings with family will be my next favorite delight.