Richard decided that he wanted to take Tim and Mark on one more ride on 4-wheelers this summer before Tim starts college and Mark goes on his mission.
Richard’s trips are one of his ways of saying, “I love you” to our kids.
One way that I express love is to keep a record of their adventures.
It took all day to drive through Montana each way. Highlights were the big lakes, but a lot of the time Montana reminded me of Nevada. We were able to finish our audiobook in northern Utah, and when we got home, I felt some withdrawal symptoms from not hearing our British narrator all of the time.
Well done, Richard, on the planning and work you did for this trip!
We drove into Yellowstone on Tuesday and visited much of the park that day. Yellowstone is familiar, but still my favorite. We stayed in a lodge at Old Faithful, which meant that we could explore until bedtime.
I’ve decided to post photos from our trip in portions over the next few days because this seems to be the best way to honor the great planning that Richard did for this trip. Our days were full and we slept soundly every night.
The first leg of our trip was through Jackson, Wyoming and Grand Teton National Park. We began our audiobook of the trip, The Fellowship of the Ring, read by Rob Inglis. It was a great backdrop for our adventures in the hills and mountains. We tried different narrators, but he was our favorite.
We left on Sunday after church and enjoyed a picnic dinner in a mountain campground before continuing our drive to Jackson. We loved driving through the beautiful Star Valley as the sun set over the very green fields in this open valley. The Star Valley Temple was right on the main road through town.
On Monday morning, we drove into Grand Teton National Park. We couldn’t stop for everything, but we tried to locate the most interesting places.
During the afternoon, the men went on a white water rafting trip. I rested in the hotel room because I am exciting like that.
In the evening, we went on a wagon ride to a chuckwagon dinner just outside of Jackson. The wagons were pulled by draft horses and we chatted with people in our wagon from Huntsville, Alabama and San Francisco, California. There was a live band with a fiddler and guitars for entertainment at dinner. I think the favorite parts of dinner were the beans and the cookies.
This was a great first day of vacation.
We have been on a road trip for a week, and I have grown so used to the motion of the truck that I am a little off balance on stable ground. As usual, there is no way to capture all that Richard planned for us. I haven’t had a chance to see all the photos that were taken, but these were the general destinations.♥️
I saw this image from the upcoming release of the film about Helaman’s army and it really affected me. This story from the Book of Mormon has found new pockets of meaning throughout the years of my motherhood. Even in these final months with a child at home, this story has fed my courage and resolve to be a valiant mother.
In family life, I have needed to be creative and determined in order to teach the gospel. Even now, as the last child moves outside my orbit, I am trying new methods, hoping to reach him in more effective ways.
Over the years I have learned to be more vulnerable and brief in my teaching, distilling my words to bring the most impact. No lecturing, no ranting, just direct, clear ideas are the goal.
I want my faith to be clear to them because their battles are real.
Last week, I misinterpreted my dad who I thought was inviting the young men of the family to help pour concrete for a new shed on Saturday morning at 10:00 am.
Mark and I drove down to my parents’ house on Saturday morning to discover that the extended family wasn’t gathered and someone had poured some concrete the night before. My parents were surprised to see us, but my dad, being the eternal Boy Scout, had just gotten home from picking up another dozen bags of concrete from the hardware store. At that moment, we had shade, helpers, and materials. So, even though it wasn’t in his morning plan, my dad built the forms and Mark began mixing concrete. Mark also got a few more cousins to come over and help, and just like that, another piece of the foundation was complete.
While I don’t like to surprise people into doing big projects, I am glad that my parents didn’t end up pouring concrete on their own on Saturday night, as my dad later confessed he was planning to do.