I haven't been in a blogging mood for some reason. Well, I guess part of the reason would be that we've been preoccupied with some stress with Mike's work... Helping out some friends with some hard things going on....my mind has been turned to other matters. More weighty matters.
Suffice it to say, there's been a lot of prayer, time in the temple, family history work, long talks with family and neighbors, some tears and laughter too. It is a growing time.
In the midst of all these cares of life, we had a short over-nighter to the yurt in Goblin Valley (our place of respite) planned. It seems like the last few times we've gone, we have been in desperate need of solitude and perspective. Those hours in the desert are like medicine. Or, as Mike repeatedly commented, "balm of Gilead".
We left Friday morning as early as we could...9:30 was the best we could do after Mike worked all day, and late into the night Thursday. We got to Goblin Valley about noon, and headed straight to Crack Canyon on the north side of the reef, eating lunch on the trail. It was a bit chilly, only in the low 50's, but with the sun and a little exertion, that wasn't too uncomfortable. We met a group of family and friends on horse back in the canyon, which surprised us, because we had passed through some tricky stuff. We had a pleasant conversation with them about where they were from, how they had come into the canyon, etc. Cool people.
The wind REALLY started whipping up after a few hours, cutting right through our layers of clothes. The last mile of our 5 mile hike, facing into the wind, Abner started to cry a lot. So we took him out of the packer, wrapped my fleece around him, zipping it up around his face, and Mike carried him in his arms shielded from the wind. All in all, it was an amazing hike. Not as difficult as Little Wild Horse/Bell of last year, but challenging enough for little feet (Sully walked pretty much the whole way).
 |
| Heading back out of the canyon |
 |
| In one of the tight spots. (Abner was starting to melt down, mostly because he'd just had his head dinged on an over-hanging rock. It's tough for little guys.) |
Some of Jessie's instagram shots from Crack...
After the hike, we drove back to the yurt and got settled in. The wind was pretty much howling by this time. So the kids didn't do much exploring around the cliffs, as they always do. I needed some coals to warm up our empanadas for dinner, so I set to work lighting a fire in the fire pit in hurricane-force winds. Mike and I would crouch, eyes tightly shut, next to the fire pit, trying to shield our tiny flame as the wind came roaring across camp, sandblasting us, and nearly knocking us down, electrical sparks shooting between us if we touched. We finally got a good fire going, and soon had a warm dinner.
 |
| Sully and Mike did venture out before dark to do some quick exploring...long enough to take this picture. |
The rest of the night we hunkered down in the yurt, cozy with our fireplace heater. Mike worried about the kids having to stay cooped up all evening, and wondered if we should have brought some games or something. But it turns out, we had more than enough to entertain ourselves with...
Abner was entertained opening and closing the door about 500 times...
The rest of us were happy sipping hot chocolate and joking around, & laughing at the pictures we'd taken... as long as you like each other, you don't need much.
The wind had died down (mostly) by morning. So I was able to light our propane stove outside and cook up some Ziploc eggs.
 |
| Abner venturing out first thing |
 |
| Noble lighting a small fire in the morning. |
 |
| Getting in a little journaling/thinking time while breakfast cooked. Just what the doctor ordered. |
 |
| The view from the yurt....the reef way out there, with Crack Canyon beyond. |
So glad we got to go. On the drive home I was thinking how really sad I was to have to leave. But that's alright. I came back with a better handle on life. We all need things like this.
