Indoor Skydiving

 Jonah

 Jonah

 Noah

 Noah

 Jonah

Wendy

While at our Hickman reunion, we all went indoor skydiving.  It was so much fun!  But it wasn't what I had expected.  There was never a feeling of being weightless.  Instead, it was more like swimming.  The air currents were so strong that they seemed to have substance - and it was trickier that you might think to navigate through the air.  Mostly we tried to hold still.  Our instructor, Kiwi, was amazing and able to do tricks in the column of air.

Mount Rushmore Vacation (Day Three)

Are these photos messing with your mind?  Turning into these optical-illusion homes at the Cosmos literally made your head spin.  The homes were built on angles and water and balls seemed to roll up hill.  It was a little pricey for a 30 minute tour, but we'd heard that teenagers like it - which ours definitely did.  We still aren't sure how some of the optical illusions worked.

After seeing the Cosmos, we headed to see Crazy Horse (from the road) and then started south to Denver.

On our way to Denver, we passed through Fort Laramie.  My grandmother Hannah Middleton Hawkey Sinfield lost her 14 year old stepson, James here.  He died somewhere in the vicinity.  I was hoping for some idea of where he might have been buried, but the ranger indicated that there were thousands of bodies buried within a 5 mile radius of the Fort and that only 8 were identified (the ranger's best guess was that he would have been buried out beyond the trees in the second picture).  We did learn that Hannah and her little family wouldn't have been allowed inside the Fort except to see the doctor and purchase items from the general store. 

Mount Rushmore Vacation (Day Two)

Custer, South Dakota

So, we inadvertently scheduled our vacation during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.  Entire cities had created special parking and events for the thousand of cyclist in the area.  Luckily, Isaac never tired of seeing them and even as we wrapped up our stay in South Dakota, he was still cheering every time he saw another motorcycle.

 The Needles - Scenic Drive

 The last tunnel, perfectly framing Mount Rushmore as we drove through.

Mount Rushmore's Fifth Face.

After a stay in Casper, Wyoming, we drove through Custer, South Dakota and onto a scenic drive that took us through the needles and onto Keystone where we had expensive, but good, pizza.  After a perfectly-timed rainstorm, we made our way back to Mount Rushmore.  Afterwards, we continued on to Hill City to stay the night. 

Brigham City Temple Open House

My parents are currently serving in the Presidency of the new Brigham City Temple.  It's really the perfect call for them, given their many years of weekly service in the local temples.  It has been a particularly special experience as they have been able to also participate in all the events preceding the opening of this temple.

We were glad to be able to have a personal tour, given by my parents, at the Brigham City Temple.  I loved the peach blossoms found throughout the temple in the carpets, chairs, ceilings, lamps and door knobs.  I loved the fruit orchards planted on the temple block.  I loved the local feel of the temple, including the artists and their artwork.  The landscapes were so reminiscent of my own home-town, growing-up mountain views.  I especially loved the pictures of the two women gathering peaches (and apples).  I think my most favorite part of the temple were the ceilings.  The blue tiles created an multifaceted impressionistic feeling of sky.  As you progressed through the rooms, eventually there were branches full of blossoms painted over those blue tiles and ultimately beautiful, full open blossoms on the ceilings of the sealing rooms.  It reminded me of the Japanese cherry blossom paintings - but I'm pretty sure they were peaches.

The temple had a wonderful spirit.  I'm so excited that my parents will be able to spend the next three years in this beautiful building.  If you know my parents and would be interested in seeing them, they will be speaking in the third session (3:00 p.m.) of the temple dedication on September 23.  What an amazing experience!

Mount Rushmore Vacation (Day One)

 Lots of driving ahead of us.  Day one:  American Fork to Casper, Wyoming.

These two pictures above were taken at Martin's Cove, near Devil's Gate in Wyoming.  I had two grandmothers, Caroline Brenchley, who was in the Hunt Company, and Hannah Middleton Hawkey Sinfield, who was in the Martin Company with her two young daughters, who would have been here during the terrible storm that killed so many of their company on the plains of Wyoming.

There was a powerful spirit here.  Noah described it as feeling like you were in the temple.  The bottom picture is the south side of the cove, which seemed to me the most likely location to get shelter from a storm.

 

Independence Rock.  The pioneers called it this because if you make it this far by Independence Day, you knew you would make it to the valley before the winter storms hit.  We walked to the left (north) of the rock to see many names carved into the rock.  Many were much more modern than the pioneers.  I would have like to walk all the way around, but we were being eaten by the mosquitoes and horseflys.

1st Grade

Isaac on the right (in red).

Isaac started first grade this week.  It's strange not having him home.  I especially start to feel it around noon when he would have arrived home after kindergarten last year.  I haven't been particularly sad - I was 8 years ago when Jonah started first grade.  This all feels like a bonus round to me.  I am just having to get used to a new normal.  But I absolutely LOVE picking up this cute boy who breaks into the biggest smile and starts running and waving when he sees me wave to him from the car.  What a way to be greeted!

Jonah - XC Grass Relays

Jonah ran his best two mile time ever:  13:13 (and that was while jumping over big bales of hay).  Wish I would have taken the camera.