Our Little Church

For those of you that haven't had the chance to visit, here's a picture of our little church. You can see our beloved mountains in the background and the Mormon temple in the distance on the left. Our parking lot is behind the church on the right side (the parking lot on the left belongs to the neighboring apartments), and you can see cars parked on the street out front.
We love our little church, but it's also exciting to think about building a new church at a different location with more land and more opportunities to grow! We have the plans. Now we just need the money. We're waiting to see what God has in store for our little church.

Getaway: Raceday!

Our last few blogposts have been telling you about our recent little getaway, up in the mountains of Idaho. This post brings us to the main reason that we took this little trip in the first place.

Several months ago, I was looking for an early summer half marathon to run. Checking one of the local running magazines, I came across this one called the Sun Valley Half Marathon. Sun Valley is a little resort town up in the mountains of Idaho. Before the busy summer tourist season begins, they must attempt to bring in a few tourists. So I signed up and we planned our little getaway around it.

Carrie posted a few pictures about the resort in her last post. Just about 30 yards away from the resort was the start line. Since the race didn't begin until 9:00 AM, we got to sleep in that morning until about 7:00. Then it was time to get ready, go over, stretch out, and get mentally prepared. Don't I look like I'm ready to conquer anything?

At a few minutes til 9, they lined us up in the chute. There were about 235 runners in the race, mostly locals from Idaho. Here we are, all lined up and ready to go. Can you spot me?

Just in case you couldn't find Waldo or Scott, look at the runner in the red on the far right. I'm right behind him.

9:00 came, and we were off!

Hey, number 180, don't you know we're trying to take a picture here? Move your elbow. Oh, we're running a race? Well I guess we'll just take any shot that we can get.

I should tell you a little about the course. Part of this race is sponsored by a shoe company, who gives out a pair of shoes to the first male and female racer to arrive at the top of the first hill (I think it's a mountain, but that's another story). The top of this hill is found at about mile marker 1.3, which means that about the first mile and a third are up a hill with an elevation gain of about 1,000 feet. No, I did not win the king of the mountain pair of shoes. But it sure did sap my strength. I thought I was ready, but nothing like adding 1,500 feet in base elevation, then throwing in a 1,000 foot hill right at the beginning of the race. Needless to say, I would not be setting any records on this run.

But something interesting happened around mile 6. Somehow, my wife, who wasn't running the race, managed to get ahead of me. How did she do that and get in such good position to take this nice little snapshot?

Well, she was able to do this because the course essentially made a big circle. She was able to drive around the little town and get ahead of me to capture a few photographic moments of this great running endeavor (oh, and to take a few pictures of bridges and stuff like that).

Here she managed to get ahead of me again. Look at the space under my shoes. My feet aren't even touching the ground!

How does she manage to keep getting ahead of me? And how does she get such great shots, with me running and the snow covered mountains in the background?

For most of the race, we followed a biking/running trail that ran through the town. But at times, it looked like I was just plain lost.

Hey, get back on the course! Oh, that is the course. Okay, keep going.

At mile 11, there was another "little" hill of just about 200 feet. In my mind, that was just cruel. Yes, this is me actually having to walk up that hill just a bit.

But from then on, it was all downhill, and here he comes to the starting/finish line. I think he's going to do it! Yes, yes, he finished the race!

In dazed confusion, this mighty warrior/crazy idiot received his prize, a nice medal to hang around his neck for finishing.

Then, the kind lady had to point him out to where his lovely wife was waiting to greet him, though definitely not with a hug after 13.1 miles.

I managed to cross the finish line in 1:53. Considering the terrain and elevation, I am very happy with that. I finished in 55th place overall.

So what does a mighty half marathoner do once he finishes? He runs up, packs up all his stuff, takes a quick cold shower to cool off, and packs up his car before check out time. Then, it was back over to the race site for the ceremony afterward. Incidentally, the last few runners crossed the finish line in just over 3 hours total. Everyone cheered, especially for those who tried to sprint to beat their running friends.

And to the finishers go the spoils. Yes, that is free beer for all the runners! No beer has ever tasted better than one after 13.1 miles.
Just in case you are wondering, I have already signed up for my next race, which comes up in late August. But for now, I'm going to wear my T-shirt proudly, which declares that I have finished the Sun Valley Half Marathon.

Getaway, Day 3

The third day of our little getaway we woke to pouring rain. It was ok, though, because it was such a beautiful, sunny day the day before. A rainy day meant it was perfect for relaxing all day. We each did quite a bit of reading which was nice. I even had time to catch up on my journaling.

We did break from our relaxing to have lunch at a European bakery. We don't have any pictures of the food, but it was fantastic. Scott and a smoked salmon, wild mushroom, and goat cheese omelete that was delicious. I had a turkey panini with fresh pesto that was great as well.

With full bellies, we went back to our hotel for some more relaxing, and I even took a nap. The rain had stopped by late afternoon, so we decided to walk the mile downhill from Sun Valley to the town of Ketchum. We had to stop by Tully's for some warm drinks and then we were able to get Scott checked in for his race.

Despite the uphill climb back to our hotel, we made it back quickly because it had started to rain again. Being a bit soggy, we spent some time sitting by the fireplace in the great piano room of our hotel. It was perfect and I didn't mind the fact that it was June 4th and I was warming myself by a fire. It was early to bed, since Scott's race was the next morning. I'll let him tell you all about that adventure.

Since it was raining most of the day, we didn't take any pictures, but I thought I would share some of our unique hotel with you. We choose our hotel based on the fact that Scott's race began and ended on the grounds of the resort and the prices were comparable to others nearby.

Not really knowing what to expect, we were pleasantly surprised. Basically, Sun Valley Resort makes up most or all of the entire town of Sun Valley. It's a popular ski destination in the winter, and since it was built in 1936, the walls were covered with photos of famous people that had stayed there through the years.

All of the pools at the hotel were heated, so we could have gone swimming despite the cold temperatures. There was a bowling alley in the hotel along with numerous restaurants.

There was a swan pond out front.
Even the swans stayed in style in their "swan suite."

One of our favorite parts was the year round ice rink. We sat by the fireplace and watched possible future Olympians practice. They have outdoor skating shows all summer featuring Olympians. You can see the black covering over the ice helps it from melting in the sun.

The chocolates they delivered to our room every evening was also a nice surprise bonus. Even though we didn't choose the hotel based on the amenities, it was nice to be treated so well.

Getaway, Day Two

Ah, the mountain air, the cool, crisp mornings. Ah, the majestic beauty of the snow-capped peaks, and the grandeur of the green grass, the green leaves, and the blue sky above.

Yes, that is a little bit of what we were thinking as we awoke on day two of our recent little getaway. Having witnessed the old lava flows, we were ready for a day of majestic scenery. So we hopped in the car and left Sun Valley behind to head up to a little town called Stanley.

On the way, we had to cross over a fairly high mountain pass summit, called Galena Summit. As we drove toward the top, here is just a small glimpse of the beauty that we got to see the whole way. Notice the tree-lined road, the snow (yes, it is still early June) on the mountain ahead, and the crisp, blue sky above. That is just one of the things that makes living around mountains so grand.

After we made it over the pass, pausing only once or twice to check out the two-foot deep snow and to take in a few other views, we came down into the valley on the other side. This valley is where the Salmon River has its origin. So, naturally, the creative people in Idaho decided to name this particular stretch of road "Salmon River Scenic Byway." Need proof? Carrie's photography skills prove it!
We finally arrived at Stanley around mid-day. The town is slightly over 100 people total. We stopped at the Visitor Information to find out which restaurants were open, since it was still the off season, and were told about a nice little place right on the river. We went up the road and were treated to one of the more scenic places to eat in Stanley. What do you think? Can we pick our eating places?

In a way, the mountains in the background remind me of the Teton Mountains, in western Wyoming. It would make sense, since we were only about 200 miles or so west of the Tetons.

As we made our way back through town, we noticed that the highway heading out toward the west had a different name on it. I'm guessing it heads toward some Ponderosa Pines. How do I know that? It's my outstanding reading skills!

Since we were heading out of town, back toward Sun Valley, the highway had a different name. Could it be because we were in the Sawtooth Mountains?

Now, out here in the west, there are a lot of places where the ground isn't suitable for growing much, but the grass grows there enough to keep cattle, sheep, and the like. There was one fence along the side of the road that just cried out for us to stop and take a picture. So Carrie hopped up on the fence (after helping me frame the shot, which basically means she lined everything up, told me where to stand, and then told me when to take the picture), and we had this beautiful shot.

As the fight song at the local university in town sings out, we live "where the sagebrush grows." Can you see it all in the field behind her?

As the snow melts, you can get some really pretty river scenes way out here. Here is a small little river that feeds into the Salmon river that we passed along the way. Doesn't Carrie take great pictures?

One of the other interesting stops this day was at a fish hatchery. We happened to hit this fishery at just the right time. They had a tour that started at 1:30, and we walked in at 1:40. The two tour guides were there waiting, and asked if we were there for the tour. They were only a couple of minutes from heading out if no one showed up. So they took us around and told us about the hatchery. At this particular one, they breed Chinook Salmon, Sockeye Salmon, and Steelhead Trout. For the salmon, they swim upriver to spawn. To get to this particular hatchery, they have to swim up 8 dams along the way over 900 miles from the ocean!!! No wonder they arrive there, lay their eggs, fertilize them, and then die.

As we toured, though, I happened to look at one of the little holding tanks for the fish. These were little fish that had recently hatched. They were jumping up at the head of the holding tank, going with their natural instinct to swim upstream, trying to leap over the obstacles in front of them. Check out this sweet shot that Carrie caught of them.

They can catch some pretty big air, can't they?

Finally, we made our way back up to the top of Galena Summit. Here's one more look at the place where the Salmon River begins.

We made our way back to Sun Valley, thrilled at the sights we had seen. Feeling a need to recharge, we found a Tully's coffee shop and went in to do some relaxing and light reading. Then it was back to our room to rest up and see what all the next day would hold in store. But that's for another post.

Getaway, Day One

As you can likely tell from the dynamic title of this post, Carrie and I recently took a little excursion to Idaho. We needed a few days to get away, let ourselves relax a bit, and get ready for a race that I decided to run a few months ago. So last week, we packed up our bags, hopped into the car, and took off on the scenic route to our destination.

There were a number of places that we wanted to see, and so we planned our route according to these stops. On our way to the first one, we had noticed this strange designation on the map, EBR-1. Try as we could to figure out what it was, we truly had no clue.

That is, until we started driving along the road where this EBR-1 was located. That's when we saw this sign.

Anything with a light bulb and the nuclear sign inside of it just has to be a place to see, especially if you want to glow in the dark or lose all your hair. Nevertheless, we decided that we would pay a little visit to this historic landmark.

We got to the turnoff where EBR-1 was located. This was when we discovered what the EBR stood for. See if you can make this same discovery from this sign.

Yes, we had found the first Experimental Breeder Reactor in the world! This place, established in the 1950s, was the first nuclear power plant. It has since been closed down and parts of it sealed up tight (at least we hope so!!!), and now is open to the public for free tours. Having lost our fear of glowing in the dark or hair falling out, we proceeded up to this historic building.

Inside, they took you on a tour of the various steps necessary to obtain nuclear energy. We both found it rather interesting. The tour was self-guided, and there were only a few other people in the building that day. We followed the arrows and read from the brochure, fascinated by the process of turning mere elements into power to bring light bulbs and radios and refrigerators to life. Of course, many of the signs contained warnings, likely to keep anyone from doing something that might place the rest of the world in danger.

After getting our fill of nuclear energy (yes, I know I have the worst jokes ever), we got back into our car, and took off for our original destination (No, EBR-1 was not in our original plan).

We hadn't made it very far down the road, though, when something else caught our eye. A hill, with lots of numbers all over it. Want proof? Here it is!

There was even a little food place in the town at the base of this hill called Number Hill Grill. We never did see anything which explained why the numbers were there. Maybe it was someone who went crazy from the nuclear power plant!

After seeing that un-natural wonder, we finally arrived at the first stop that we had planned, Craters of the Moon National Park. It's a park where they let you tour through some 2,000 year old lava flows. There are some very interesting patterns to the lava, as you can see here.

For the most part, the park asks people not to walk on the lava. It truly is amazing what all scientists can learn from observing even an old lava field. For instance, they monitor the lichen that builds up on the lava, and can tell how the atmosphere is changing with pollutants, ozone, and other problems.

But then came some of the really cool stuff. There was a mountain of old lava rock that you could climb up. It seems that we picked one of the windiest days to make this stop, with the wind pushing us up the black mountain ahead of us. Here is the pathway that we took to the top.

Imagine climbing a mountain of gravel. That's not too different from what we had to do. However, from the top, you could see miles and miles of lava rock in all directions. So we stood at the top, took in the view, and then made our way down.

As we descended, we wanted to show everyone just how steep this hill was. But I think this picture, which Carrie took, is really cool. Doesn't it look like I'm merely floating with a black background behind me?

Okay, maybe it's just me. Needless to say, the trip down the hill was much easier, even though the wind was much stronger coming down than going up.

We then made our way through some more of the park. They have one section where you can see the "volcanoes". These are the cones which build up around where the lava flowed out 2,000 years ago. Here is what they looked like in the distance.

We actually climbed up on a couple of these and peered down inside. In one of them, the snow was still about 10 feet deep, since the sun never reaches the inside of the cone, and the temperature stays pretty chilly. In the larger one, it was sad to see that some people had decided to throw their water bottles down into the bottom. If you ever go see geological or natural parks, please don't litter like those people did.

Now, years ago, as the lava flowed, something interesting would happen. The lava on the surface would cool, while the lava underneath would continue to flow. When the lava was all expended, this created vast tunnels under the surface of the lava field. In some places, the surface had collapsed to reveal large caves or tunnels. So, me being me, I climbed down into one just to check it out.

Looks pretty cool, eh? We saw several of these tunnels before we once again loaded up in the car.

Later that afternoon, we arrived up in Sun Valley, Idaho, the location of my race. That evening, we checked into our room, and then decided we needed to rest after such adventures. After all, this was just the beginning of the trip. Just wait until you hear how the next day went.

What Might Have Been

June 2nd. A day filled with so much anticipated joy and expected happiness. A day that signaled a huge change for us. A day that seemed so far off when we first heard the date, and yet it is now here. And instead of joy...it's filled with sorrow. Instead of happiness....it's filled with unmet dreams. Instead of anticipation...it's filled with remembrance. Why?

Today was my due date.

Some of you have traveled with us on our difficult journey these past few months, and others have not known. I apologize for not sharing this with those of you we don't see very often, but it's only been recently that it's become easier to tell our story.

And so today, instead of waiting for or holding a small baby, I tell our story in memory of the small life that ended too quickly.

Late September 2009- we had recently returned from my brother's wedding and found out we were pregnant. We were quite surprised, yet excited as well. We began talking and dreaming about how our life was to change with a new addition in the family. We started praying for our baby nightly and I began my pregnancy journal. There was so much joy. We didn't tell many people though because we wanted to wait until after our first ultrasound to make sure everything was ok. We didn't have much reason to fear, yet we had seen a few people around us joyfully announce pregnancies, only to have them not work out.

October- our first ultrasound appointment on a Friday. I was 9 weeks at this point and was so anxious to know everything was ok. Nothing could have prepared us for the devastation we would experience when the ultrasound revealed the baby only measured 6+ weeks with no heartbeat or bloodflow. We went home and cried the entire weekend. It was horrible. I cannot begin to explain the emotional pain and heartache that occurred when we heard the term missed miscarriage. All of our hopes, dreams, and plans were snatched from us in a matter of minutes. I was so angry at God for not stopping this. I knew God hadn't caused it, yet I knew in His infinite power He could have prevented it.

We went back on Monday for a follow-up and to discuss our options. The ultrasound showed the same, but my hormone levels were still increasing appropriately for how far along I was. Therefore, we decided to wait and watch what was happening and pray for wisdom regarding decisions that had to be made.

November- We ended up waiting two weeks until my body finally was able to let go of our baby and naturally miscarry. What a dreadful two weeks those were...not really being able to move on because I knew our deceased child was still in me, yet grieving because the pregnancy had ended. I felt like a walking zombie during that time.

It was after most of this that we began sharing our devastating news with people. I knew I could not make it through the grief process without the prayers of so many, and yet it was hard to be so open and vulnerable with people- some of whom had been through this before and others that had no clue what it meant to lose a baby. Still, we opened ourselves up and shared where we were at.

Where does that leave us today? We are still healing, me more so than Scott. Grief is such an ugly monster- rearing its head at unexpected times. And yet I know it's normal and I know I'm healing. I don't grieve as much as I did before and I am finding more hope in life. I just didn't think it would be such a long process- emotionally, physically, and spiritually. And through it all, I know God is molding us to be more compassionate and loving because of our miscarriage. We are changed people because of it. God can use the hurt and pain in our life to bring about good.

And I guess that's part of my hope today. That by sharing my story, God would be glorified through it. I don't know what the future holds for us or our family, but I'm trying to leave it in the hands of God who is able to give immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).

We will always remember in our hearts, however, our first child who changed us in so many ways.