Rocky Mouth Falls Trail

For mine and Ruger's weekly hike with Cami and her girls, this week we went to Rocky Mouth Falls Trail near Sandy.  The air quality has been so bad (bad enough that we can't even see the mountains from our home now) because of the fires in the surrounding states.  You know its bad when you get out of the van and you can actually smell the smoke!  But amazingly, when we got on the trail, the elevation was so steep that the smell went away and the air seemed to clear.  It was a short hike, and I was grateful because of how steep it was, but it sure was beautiful!

 

Summer Madness

I blinked and before I knew it, school is almost in session.  This summer has been a different one for me.  It started off super busy but after a few weeks, I had hardly anything to do.  I started to see the signs of summer depression sneak into my life and knew I had to do something about it.  I got a few friends involved and before I knew it, weekly things were scheduled and I could see a real difference in my mood and attitude.  Things really picked up these last few weeks and I only have a week and a half with my boys until they are off to school again!  Reflecting on this made me realize there were a few things I forgot to journal about.

Like being able to go to the temple again weekly.

Going to the Adams family reunion.

Celebrating Grandpa Adams' 76th birthday.

And reuniting with a dear friend.

Being able to go back to the temple after they were shut down for months, because of the pandemic, has been such an amazing blessing.  I focused a lot on getting temple work ready for when the temples opened back up, and that helped, but I still missed doing the work inside the temples.  It feels so good to be back.  Speaking of being back, because last year's Adams family reunion was canceled (because of the pandemic) family members were able to be together once again this summer.  This is why we were able to spend time with Grandpa Adams.  I'm really grateful he stayed an extra day just to spend time with his grandkids.  It meant more to me that he probably realizes.

Kyla was a friend I made while living in Rexburg with David soon after we married.  She is a dear friend that I will make effort for the rest of my life to make sure that I stay in contact with.  We may not get to see each other often (she lives in Idaho) but make no doubt that every time we reunite, there is no awkwardness.  We may have a lot to catch up on, but we are right back to sharing our deepest struggles, joys, and lifting each other through both!

 

Hyrum is 14!

Saturday was a crazy busy day for us.  Most importantly, it was Hyrum's 14th birthday.  It was also the Adams family reunion.  We got up, drove to Saratoga Spring and spent an hour at the reunion before heading off to Cowabunga Bay in Draper to celebrate.  Levi had to work but the rest of us spent 4 hours at the water park.  Ruger even learned how to swim without his floatation device!  We went back home, jumped in the shower while David headed back to the reunion.  Ruger and I headed to the store and then went to a jump house type place (Kangaroo Zoo) for a friend's birthday party.  We all headed back home around 7 p.m. and had cake while singing happy birthday to Hyrum.  It was a long, tiring day but it was well worth it.

Just after midnight, Leia came over to wish Hyrum a happy birthday and give him a present.  I can safely say that was the best part of Hyrum's day!  She had been out all day with her family and they didn't get home till midnight but she still had to come by.  I just love her for that!  

Hyrum said the cutest thing this morning.  Soon after telling him happy birthday, he said to me, "Only two more years until I can date Leia!"  Oh, my gosh, I just love these two!

 At 14, there are obvious things that Hyrum loves....ahem....Leia.....but that was a given, right?!  But then there is also Roblox, Minecraft, online gaming with his friends, Anime, and Seiiki.  To get details like this out of his brothers might take some time getting to know them, but Hyrum is very vocal about things he loves.  He is closest to Brigham, out of all the family members.  Every Wednesday, he and Brigham thoroughly clean the kitchen and in return, I give them money so they can bicycle to the nearest gas station to get a treat.  I like listening to bits and pieces of their conversations while in the kitchen.   

For so long, Hyrum was my "baby."  It's weird for me, in some ways, to see him in this stage of life.  Figuring things out.  Loving deeply.  But I like it.  No, I love it.

Grotto Falls

One of the blessings I have counted this summer is a good friend from Church, Cami Kenworthy, who has made an effort to invite me to weekly hikes.  She knows I need to get out so we (with her kids and Ruger) head to a new hiking trail each week.  We went to Grotto Fall near Payson this week.

So far, I have then taken the rest of the family to that same hike later in the week.

Brigham and David dared me to put my head in the waterfall but little did they know, I was so hot that I was already thinking about doing it!

We'll end this post with a good looking boy in a cave!

 

Negative Ions

I took a series of classes dealing with depression a few years ago and one of the things I learned was how moving water produce negative ions.  These negative ions help with the serotonin levels in our brain that help stabilize our mood or produce what feels like happiness.  Summer has never been an easy time for me.  While most people who deal with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) feel the effects during the winter months, I'm one of the rare ones that feel it in the summer instead. People who deal with SAD usually suffer during the winter months because it is cold and they stay inside, not getting enough Vitamin D.  Add shorter days with sunlight and it leads to depression.  I, however, love the cold and so winter is one of favorite times of the year.  I love getting out and taking walks during that time whereas during summer, I find myself hiding inside with the air-conditioning because I hate the heat so much.  

I am taking an Emotional Resilience class, through the Church, this summer and a few weeks ago (in that class) it just hit me that I was in that summer cycle again.  And I needed to do something about it because it wasn't going to fix itself.  So I made it a point to reach out to a couple of friends that I knew would hold me accountable.  They are going with me (and our kids) swimming and hiking weekly.  I am going to the temple once a week and I'm hoping to start walking again.  I've already noticed quite the difference but last Saturday night, for some reason, the depression really hit me hard.  But the memory of the negative ions in moving water came to mind and I decided to made a decision right then about the following day.  We weren't going to church!  We would, however, have our own church in the mountains and find some water!

We hiked and David gave us a little lesson.

We found the "dripping rocks" in Spanish Fork.

And we found water to play in.

While I wouldn't recommend skipping church all the time, I sure needed to last Sunday.  I am convinced my soul needed nature and especially that water.  It was also a good reminder that God can be found in nature and we should often seek Him there.

Brigham turned 17!

Brigham turned 17 last week.  It was on a Tuesday and with David having to work and him coming home so late, I knew there was only so much we could do on his actual birthday.  David was able to get home much earlier than he normally does, though, and took Brigham to Tucanos Brazilian Grill.  He has done that for the last his last few birthdays as well.  I think this might be a tradition for these two.

Here and there throughout the week, if something would come up I'd say to Brigham something like, "Since it was just your birthday, how about you pick?"  But the real celebration came on Saturday when everyone was home.  The main things that happened was Brigham went paintballing for the first time.  After getting beat up (you should see the welts on Levi and David's backs!) they went to go see the new movie, Black Widow.

My Brigham is just a good kid.  He really is.  At 17 he could be doing all kinds of things that a lot of teenagers do but instead he puts a lot of weight on helping others.  He may not be the first to raise his hand when someone calls out for a volunteer but I think that is because he doesn't want the attention.  Because the second he is asked to do something for someone else who is in need, he is on it.  His biggest project?  Probably his mother!  He helps me so much with Ruger.  He gives me daily breaks.  Even when he isn't watching him, if he hears Ruger talk back to me, Brigham doesn't even give me the chance to get on to Ruger most of the time!  He is on him right away!  

The Bishop was complimenting Brigham, to David and I, not very long ago.  He was talking about how he knew he could always count on Brigham and how interesting it was that Brigham didn't want credit for it.  What came to my mind was the counselors of the church.  You know, each organization has a "President" and that president has counselors.  We often praise or criticize the Presidents.  I hate to write that, but it's true.  But a good counselor will help make that President.  I think Brigham was made to be a counselor in life.  I'm really proud of him for that.

June-July-ish

Some things I have not posted about in our June-July-ish time of 2021:

Celebrating Grandma Helen's birthday.

Swimming with friends.

And celebrating what would have been Grandma Thatcher's 80th birthday on the mountains!

It was suppose to be the surrounding cities celebrations for the 4th of July.  But since it fell on a Sunday, most of the cities moved it to the 3rd.  So, I decided we were really celebrating Grandma's birthday!  We even wished her a loud "Happy Birthday, Grandma!" as we were taking the above group picture, sending the wish while looking over the Utah valley.

An update that I haven't journaled about it David's job situation.  David has been working in St. George for almost 2 years, meaning that he lives in St. George on Mondays through Fridays and comes home on Friday.  Obviously, this has been a hardship for our family.  Especially at first.  I would just cry.  Get depressed.  David would worry enough at times that he would make a surprise, to me, trip home just to be with me during the night...again, while finding me crying in bed.  But we prayed, fasted, and continued on as we followed through with what we felt the Lord wanted us to do.  I soon started school, Ruger started to sneak into my bed every night and become more and more difficult, Grandma died, and the pandemic hit.  While normally all those things should break or seriously wound a person, I found myself as the Nephites in bondage in the Book of Mormon.  I found Mosiah 24:14 to become a real life experience.  "And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage..."  Before I knew it, I was settling into school well with the help of Brigham watching Ruger for me so I could do homework, Ruger accepted Daddy being gone so much (He and I even had this little tradition where David would call to tell me he had arrived and then Ruger and I would race down the stairs and out the garage to see who could reach Daddy first.  Then it turned into who could kiss him first, who could hug him first, and so forth.) I accepted Grandma's death a lot sooner as would be expected considering how close we were as I turned my thoughts towards her every time I worked on our genealogy.  Picturing her on the other side of the veil guiding me towards our ancestors brought joy instead of tears of her being gone on Earth.  And the outcomes of the pandemic turned out to be more of a blessing for our little family as we were forced to stay inside with each other and spend quality one on one time without the pressures of outside sources.  

It's a long story but around a month ago, David was offered a new job.  Because of certain circumstances, David accepted the new job.  He would now be able to sleep in his own bed every night.  Before I knew it, things started to break down (or apart) that only David could fix.  David had to work a lot more hours than we had anticipated.  Ruger was throwing a nightly fit because, "Daddy was supposed to be home now!"  More and more people that we love needed help.  I'm not joking when I say that it is a rare night now that David can just come home from work and just be.  It soon became really clear to me how blessed we really were during those 2 years of him working in St. George.  I saw the fulfillment of the end of that scripture in Mosiah 24:14 when it said, "...and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions."

I want to end this by bearing my testimony that I know the Lord was watching over us the last 2 years.  I know He had a plan in place for us and provided ways for us to follow a certain path that would lead to heart ache BUT if we would just turn to Him and His son, He would provide a way to make it more than bearable.  I believe one of His purposes in the last 2 years was to teach me to turn to Him more.  You know, there is that saying that "God won't give you more than you can handle."  I've always hated that saying.  Because if it were true, at least in my life, then He must have forgotten about me or given up.  And another pressing question I have on the famous saying, if its true, then why do people kill themselves?  I think these last 2 years has given me more proof in what I believe the true saying should be.  "God won't give us more than we can handle IF we turn to Him."  This I bear witness of.