Richfield/Monroe Trip

As I mentioned before, we had a family wedding to attend on June 8th down in Monroe. It was a beautiful event and we are so happy for the new couple. They are committed to each other and it was wonderful to celebrate them on that special night.

Instead of driving all the way home that night we decided to get a hotel and stay around for another day. We discovered the Fremont Indian State Park wasn't that far away. It ended up being a really amazing adventure. I really loved that the hikes to see everything weren't very long. It gave me a deep appreciation for the Native Americans that lived in this area so long ago.

Can you see the blanket?

Hiking Ensign Peak

At then beginning of June I convinced my friend, Alli & kids, to come with us to hike Ensign Peak. I've always wanted to do it, but have never made it happen. We ended up going on a super windy day. It was a good/bad thing. Good because we didn't get as hot as we could have, but it made it really hard to enjoy the view from the top. The wind was so strong that Peter could literally fall into the direction of the wind and it would hold him up.

It was so windy that the grass was even rolling like the ocean. It reminded me of  "amber waves of grain".

Luke was pretty nervous for most of the hike. He isn't a big fan of hikes, plus he doesn't enjoy being up high either. The only really treacherous part was the end. Although the hike did follow a pretty steep incline. I think it would be amazing to go again in the fall.

Patriot Camp

A good friend clued me into a day camp that happens every year. It's called Patriot Camp. Your kids go every morning for a week and they learn about life, people, and events during the American Colonial times. To get a bit of a discount I volunteered to spend my time there helping with the snack group.

My friend and I, along with our kids, had an absolute blast. This is something we will do every year from now on. My kids were literally begging to go to camp every single morning. I almost didn't know whose children they were.

Each day was so organized and the kids would rotate every 20 minutes. There was a good mixture of learning via a lecture and then movements time. It was absolutly fabulous. I wish next years patriot camp was already here.

Both my boys thought that Benjamin Franklin was so amazing. I appreciated the huge boat they brought in for a reenactment of the Boston Tea Party. I don't think my boys will ever forget throwing the tea overboard. One day they even had a printing press on site and the kids helped to print the constitution. I paid just over $50 for the entire week for all three of us. Money well spent for all the fun and knowledge they gained.

Our daily schedule

Luke T, with Seth & Aurora C (fabulous friends).

It was held at the Payson Memorial Park. These trees were heavenly.
They provided so much shade and crated a fabulous ambiance.

Our daily snack station all setup.

Making butter for our snack. It took forever to make, but
it will be a fun memory.

Most days the kids would eat their snack faster then 20 minutes so my friend Jenny and I would come up with other things to do. On the day that their snack was apple pie we had them play Simon Said but they had to saw Johnny Appleseed instead.  It was hilarious. On the day we made butter I found a little song colonial kids used to sing while they were churning. It went like this:

Come butter come

Come butter come

Peters standing at the gate

Waiting for his buttered cake

Come butter come

I found it in a book that was published in the 1700's. It was kinda fun that it actually used the name Peter. My Peter thought that was amazing. There were over 90 kids that attended. I think the majority of them are being home schooled. It was fun to meet new friends and see a few familiar faces. I'm already planning on volunteering next year too because I had just as much fun as the kids did. 

Thoughts on Father's Day 2019

Occasionally you have a really amazing experience that happens to you that you could never orchestrate. This happened to me recently. Bran, the boys, and I were invited to a wedding down in Monroe Utah on June 8th. We had known about this wedding for a few months. Then, a week before the wedding, my Uncle on my paternal side ended up passing away at his home in Farmington New Mexico. When I heard of his passing I knew there was no way I would be able to attend. However, within the next week many situations happened that made it possible for me to attend and to spend over an hour of time with my father. Just the two of us at the viewing (no official funeral program).

It ended up happening because my Uncle had a deep and abiding love for the town of Salina Utah and Fishlake (30 minutes away from Moroe). Uncle Michael also has many family members buried in the Salina cemetary. So, he also ended up being buried there on the same day as the wedding we were already planning to attend. This all relates to Father's Day because I was able to spend some quiet and reflective time with my own Dad. Uncle Michael and my Dad are three year apart and they grew up having many, many adventures together. In fact, I don't remember many childhood stories of his that didn't include Michael.

It was so nice because Dad was able to introduce me to many of his cousins that traveled down to Salina for the viewing. We also were able to spend time just sitting next to each other. Such a simple gesture meant so much to me. It gave me a deep and renewing assurance that I am doing okay and that my Dad loves me. Such a amazing experience right before Father's Day. I will be forever grateful for my Aunt Joan and Aunt Wendy who were willing to coordinate getting my Dad to Utah from Missouri.

I have always been amazed with Uncle Michael. He served in the Vietnam War and  I always thought that was super amazing, especially since that was such a difficult and controversial war. Here is his obituary and a few of the pictures they had on display at the viewing.

Obituary for Michael D. Davis

Farmington, NM/ Salina, UT. - Michael Dennis Davis, our beloved husband, father, brother, and grandfather passed away unexpectedly and peacefully at home of natural causes on Saturday, June 1, 2019. 

Michael was born on June 2, 1949 to Emanuel LaVon Davis and Willa Newell Davis and grew up in Orem, Utah. He always had a special place in his heart for the area and claimed he had the best childhood in the world", hunting and fishing in Utah Valley. He joined the Army in 1967 where he served honorably in Vietnam and was awarded two purple hearts during his service. 

Michael began his career as a jeweler when he was discharged from the Army and excelled in the business for over 45 years. He was an amazing artist in designing, creating, and repairing jewelry as well as being a watchmaker. He loved selling beautiful jewelry and made a number of lasting friendships during his career. At the time of his death Michael and his wife Jill, had been the owners of Alexander's Fine Jewelry in Farmington, New Mexico since 1994. 

Michael and Jill loved traveling in their motor home anytime they could get away. His favorite destination was Fish Lake, Utah where he spent countless hours in the boat fishing with his father-in-law, Roger. He was also an avid John Wayne fan and thoroughly enjoyed a good western. 

Michael is survived by his wife Jill, the love of his life; the luckiest daughters in the world: Tiffany, Mandy, Brenna (Rob), and DeLise, who were his absolute pride and joy; sisters Joan (Tom) and Wendy (Freidan); brothers Gayle (Lorraine) and Gordon (Deslie); four grandchildren: Micah, Ainsley, Ryan, and Alister; and many dear friends and extended family. 

Michael is preceded in death by his parents; his son Jason Davis; his daughter and son-in-law Lexi and Trent Pabst; his older brother Glen Davis; his brother-in-law Jay Bench; and father-in-law Roger Rasmussen. 

Graveside service will be held Saturday, June 8, 2019 at 2:00 P.M. in the Salina Pioneer Cemetery. Friends may call for viewing at the Springer Turner Funeral Home in Salina, Saturday from 12:00 -1:30pm prior to the services. 

Burial with military honors accorded by the Salina American Legion Post #36 and the Utah Honor Guard will be in the Pioneer Cemetery under the care of the Springer Turner Funeral Home of Richfield and Salina, Utah.

Adventures to the middle of nowhere in Utah

A few weeks back I took Luke to the Hutchings Museum in Lehi. They have a zillion amazing rocks there and I was fascinated by them all. Luke really enjoyed all the ones that looked like Gold. He kept saying that he would be rich if he had those rocks. While there they had a flyer about a place here in Utah called Topaz Mountain. I had heard of that place before, but didn't really know what it was. Once we got home I looked it up and became excited about the possibility of taking the boys out there.

It took me a few weeks to convince Brandon and then some more time for us to figure out a weekend that would work. But, this past Saturday the stars aligned and we drove out there. My amazing cousin, Jonathan, who is a geologist also recommended that we visit Dugway Geode Beds since we were in the area. But, first stop to Topaz Mountain.

It wasn't too difficult to navigate there. We took a paved road to a junction near Delta, eventually found the Topaz Mountain turnoff, and then started off roading it. For being on a dirt road it was a pretty nice dirt road. Then we got really close and the road turned into a crazy ATV trail. Brandon loved every second of it. I was glad for a vehicle that had high clearance. We eventually found our way to the mountain and parked in the foothills. Then we walked up the mountain to begin digging.  Actually, we did very little digging and mostly just poked around the rocks looking for the shimmery topaz. You see, when the amber colored topaz (the valuable stuff) is exposed to the sun it turns clear and then sparkles in the sun. I was totally into it and once Luke found his first topaz he was too. Brandon and Peter didn't have nearly as much luck as Luke and I did. I felt like I struck gold every time I found a piece. Honestly, I could have spent hours looking and gathering.

While were were searching Luke and I spotted a little lizard. Later I was able to go slowly back to the stop where we had seen it and got a few pictures. I've never seen a wild lizard before. He was adorable and super, super fast. Later on in the day we saw an very long lizard dash across the dirt road right in front of us. I never imagined there were lizards in Utah but there they were.

We left the house packed to the gills with food and digging equipment. We left at 8:30am and it took us 2 hours to drive out there. The boys were ready to eat after 30 minutes of digging. We managed to postpone lunch for another 30 minutes.

It ended up being a good thing that we ate lunch earlier then expected because a mini storm came through and it started pouring rain. We were exploring some larger rock formations just a little ways from the car. Luke took a bit of a tumble and started crying VERY loudly. But, then the rain came and we started dashing to the car. We got wet, but not too wet.

The area out there is very remote. Like you could imagine nobody ever finding you if you ended up there in the winter time on a dirt road that led to nowhere. In it's own way through, it was very beautiful.

Once leaving there we headed out to the Geode beds. Brandon had managed to view a map on his phone and by a lucky happenstance that crytic map eventually got us there. It really did take us another hour on a dirt road. This one also ended up taking us up the side of a small foothill. That part of the trip was not my favorite. A drop off on one side had me clinging to my side of the car for dear life. 

The boys were getting a bit restless after about 40 minutes of traveling on this dirt road. When we saw this old silo (I have no idea why it is there. Nothing beneficial could grow our there) we decided to stop for a snack break. I am SO glad I thought to over-prepare the food. It helped the boys out a ton to stop for a potty break and a chip break (our boys LOVE chips).

I was seriously beginning to wonder if we would ever find out way to the right place when this sign came into view. I was seriously so thankful. Since we didn't have a map of where the actual geo beds were we drove around for a while. I had read that they could be found with just a little bit of digging in these sandy mound areas. Thankfully, the mounds were pretty easy to spot because it was pretty desolate out there. 

We got out and easily started to find the geode rocks. It was so fun to dig and find them. Then Brandon and Peter would work on cracking them open. Once again, the kids got bored of collecting faster than I would have liked. But, I didn't want to make them too miserable so we only stayed for about 40 minutes. I regret not having Brandon take a picture of me. Ugh. The trip home was SO long. Another dirt road but this time for 3 hours. Not too fun. The last hour the boys were the worst. We didn't bring any electronic devices and by that time I was really wishing we had. They were poking each other and crying like crazy. We could home on the route that takes you through the Little Sahara and we saw a lot of ATV families camping and riding around. That part of the trip was reassuring because I felt like we had made it back to civilization. We got home right around 5:30pm. It was a full day that ended up being tons of fun.