Work Hard, Play Hard

My parents took Gibson and Lilla to their place this week, so I could rest my cracked head and Nate could get some work done from home. Bless them! They are really good at helping the kids learn the concept of "work and play, work and play."

Summits & Staples

I got up bright and early yesterday morning--around 5:45. So that I could meet Kandice and Cassie at the trailhead to Malan's Peak in Ogden at 7:00 a.m. It was a beautiful hike, but pretty steep a lot of the way up. I had to stop some and catch my breath--I'm out of shape. :( Also, I had a few bites of an apple and a protein bar for breakfast. Probably not the best idea. But the hike was great! It took us about 3.5 hours up and down, a little less than 5 miles round trip. It felt good to spend time with old friends. And when we were through and looked up at the peak we'd summited, I was proud of us. It was an accomplishment!

After the hike I went to pick up some groceries at Smith's and then headed home. Mom and Dad were nice enough to hang out with the younger 3 while the older 2 went to work, so I could go hiking. They are always very supportive. 

I got home and was unloading the groceries when I felt woozy, so I head to the counter stool. I don't think I ever made it though. The next thing I knew I was coming to on the tile floor of the kitchen. My feet felt tingly, and there were a couple of little puddles of blood. I had blacked out. I kept thinking my nose was bleeding, but it wasn't. The blood had come from the back of my head. I called my dad on my cell phone, he was outside with the kids. He came in and looked at it, I was feeling very woozy now-lighted head and nauseous. I threw up. Dad recommended I head to a doctor, I probably needed some stitches. 

Grace drove me to the Station Park Urgent Care, Anderson came along to help hold me up incase I blacked out again. While getting checked in, they looked at the wound and recommended I go to a Hospital Emergency Room in case I needed a CT scan. They couldn't do a scan there. So we left. Nate was in the parking lot. Grace and Anderson went home and Nate took me to the nearest hospital where we waited for several hours and I got 3 staples in the back of my head. They did a CT scan and some blood work that all came back normal. They wanted to do a EKG, but we declined. I'm pretty sure my blacking out was just overexertion and lack of nutrients. 

On the way down the trail, in the car on the way home and in the grocery store, I remember feeling a little weird. It's sounds strange but it was like I was having really bad DeJaVu or like my life was running parallel to a dream I'd had or something and I was trying to figure it out. I wonder if my oxygen was a little low or something with the hike, then wearing a mask (Covid) into the grocery store. Who knows, it was strange though.

I'm so glad my parents where there when everything went down. I'm so glad I didn't hit my face/chin on the countertop when I blacked out. I'm so glad I didn't black out while driving or in the grocery store. I'm so glad Nate could rush away from work to come sit with me in the Hospital. And I'm SO SO glad there are people who choose to work in hospitals. They really are heroes.

Back Packing

Last Friday Nate got off early and we loaded up our backpacks. We ate dinner and then headed up the mountains behind our house. We followed the trail, a very steep trail, to a campsite called "Hell Hole." It's a beautiful little site, surrounded with trees, and near a gorgeous, rocky, mossy waterfall.

 Lilla, Gibson and Anderson slept in the hammocks. Kit slept on an air mattress that was intended for Nate (Sorry Nate!) Once she settled down she stared and stared at the sky above through the open tent screen. She was trying to keep her eyes open, just staring, but eventually went to sleep. She slept all night. The next morning when she woke up she looked around and seemed to realize where we were (outside!) and gave me a big cheesy grin. She loves dirt and being outside.

The Right Source

I feel like I'm coming to some harsh realizations. I'm wondering if things will really ever be the way they were. In some ways that might be a good thing. But those aren't the things I'm talking about. I'm wondering things like, if in the next couple of years my children will be allowed to participate in a band program at school--I mean, I guess it's a Covid threat to have all that spit blowing around. But it really makes me sad. And what about dance recitals? Will we have those again? Those are things I find a lot of joy in, and it's made me think maybe I'm looking to the wrong sources for my joy.

Speaking of wrong sources, I find myself spending way too much time checking and reading the news. I'm realizing that I'm going to the news for answers. Things are so uncertain and I have a lot of questions. And there are a few answers to be find there, but not the answers I need, not really.

I should be going to God for answers. I should be finding my joy in Jesus Christ. I have known for a long time that it is only through the Gospel of Jesus Christ that real happiness can be found, only through Him that real answers can be found. I need to get my answers and my happiness from a source that is unchanging and will ALWAYS be there, no matter what happens in this mad world. I guess now is my chance to really put my knowledge into action. 

Raise Good Humans

Well, the world seems to be going to Hell in a hand basket, and I feel like the thing I can do about it is focus on raising good, hardworking, loving people here in my home. Seriously, with Covid (which has gotten a lot worse here all of a sudden), race riots, wild fires etc...it can all just be incredibly overwhelming. We're so lucky to have good family and neighbors and friends to help raise our children. 

My dad came over and helped the boys clean out the rain gutters. I think Gibson actually enjoyed getting up on the roof and using the hose. 

Pa also had a Mud Party this week. Basically he digs up a spot in his garden and makes a giant mud pit for the kids to roll around in.

We decided to take down the shelves and benches in the mudroom (along with the wall paper) and now we've just got to figure out what we want there instead. :)

The Great Salt Lake

Since we've moved back to Utah, we've made it a tradition to head out to Antelope Island at least once a summer. It's a really good place to go stargazing if the moon is dark. But also, it has some really great sunsets, and the water is usually very smooth, reflecting incredibly the beauty of the sky.  The kids like to chase the brine flies (Sounds gross, I know. But they're harmless and it is fun to watch the swarms scatter.) And if you go to the right place it doesn't smell like an outhouse. Win!

RicAnn and Dave have been out here for a couple of weeks, and Covid has made visiting with them complicated. Anyway, we invited them to the lake with us. The moon was almost full so we didn't stargaze, but the sunset was beautiful. Uncle Dave taught Lilla how to skip rocks. Kit loved playing in the sand in her feety jamies. The three oldest boys striped down to their skivvies (it was almost dark and no one else was on the beach) and went way out in the lake, thus earning their "Utah Man Card" according to Uncle Dave. The super salty water I'm sure felt great, :| eek, but they had a good time. The girls spent a lot of time taking pictures-making fun poses with our silhouettes. As we were walking to the car to leave, there were several buffalo! That was surprising and a little scary, but they weren't interested in bothering us, lucky for us.

Who's who?

Can you see the 3 itsy bitsy specks of boys way out in the lake?