Fatherhood – Letters from Home

Winter activity of choice

While Richard and Tim skied on Saturday, I stayed home and watched a BBC miniseries. All were happy.

Moving day

Daniel and McKenna are now Provo residents. We are thankful for all the pieces that came together so they could make this move. Daniel will no longer have that long commute to school at BYU.

We also had a video call with Elder Ross, so it was a bit of a reunion this afternoon.

Fun fact: I think that Tim is Daniel and McKenna’s landlord. Tim’s new adventure is that he is a property manager at my dad’s company.

Our kids didn’t have social media accounts until late in high school or after high school. This post showed up this week on Facebook from Mark, written in Danish. Missionaries in Denmark are having a lot of success on Facebook, which isn’t their generation’s social media platform of choice. So, despite being new to this part of the social media world, they post their hearts.

Delivered to the MTC

MMSK and Conference

Before Mark was set apart as a missionary, he wanted one last gathering with his Sanchez cousins who are his age, so we invited them to spend part of conference weekend here. MMSK is pronounced “misk,” and it’s an acronym of their names. Mostly, there was a lot of nonsense going on as they “watched conference”, but I think that the time together was important.

Mark and Richard attended a session of General Conference on Sunday. They brought the binoculars, which was a great idea.

Mark’s last traditional general conference tower for a while.

When Mark sent in his mission papers last spring, I assumed he would be on a mission long before now. We’ve had a long preparation period, which was good in many ways and challenging in others.

We had time for more spiritual preparation and temple worship. Mark received mentoring in Preach My Gospel and got some work experience from his Sanchez grandparents. We had time to travel this summer.

The long wait means that the bandaid is being removed very slowly. I am pretty fragile lately.

Now that Mark has had a few days of home MTC, he is excited to go to the Provo MTC next week. Everything is as it should be: the wait, the anticipation, the emotions accompanying a goodbye, the excitement, his assignment. Everything.

Goblin Valley and a hike through Ding and Dang Canyon

Richard and Mark were the advance party for a trip to Goblin Valley for the Young Men, traveling there a day early to claim a good campsite. Because they did this, there was an established camp ready when the young men arrived, making it possible to do a long hike before dark.

Mark and Richard spent a night beneath the bright stars together before the others arrived. It sounds pretty ideal.

Richard introduced the group to the hike through Ding and Dang Canyon. It was a challenging hike, and the boys had a wonderful time. It sounds like a successful campout. Well done, Richard and Mark!

One more ride

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.

28 Years of this evidence of God’s grace

We love you, Paige!

Montana and Glacier National Park

We stayed in Whitefish, Montana in an Airbnb called 3 Bears Cottage. It was adorable.

In the evenings we sat outside and read, then watched movies before bed. One night we watched an action movie. The next night we watched Mall Cop. Mall Cop was better than the action movie.

We had one day to see Glacier National Park. We took the day to drive the Going To the Sun Road, 51 miles of narrow winding road each way. The views were beautiful. There were red touring cars all along the route. To drive this road west to east, you need a reservation. Richard secured our reservation many months in advance.

Mark is always in search of rocks in the water.

We are getting splashed by the waterfall in this shot.

Waterfalls were everywhere, some right next to the road.

We couldn’t find parking at the top for the high line trail, so Richard and I drove down the road while Tim and Mark hiked.

I believe this is the most beautiful picnic site I have ever seen.

This water was full of colorful rocks. Someone called them “fruity pebbles.”

We saw two bears on this day, one near our cabin, and one in Glacier. Both bears crossed the road right in front of our truck.

We broke up the drive home by staying one night in Island Park, Idaho, where we borrowed a friend’s side by side and drove to this beautiful place with crystal clear water.

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!

Yellowstone 2024

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.