Busy Summer Highlights, Part 3: Grace's Baptism

With Paul and Bethany coming out west for a Flake family reunion, followed by a Poulsen/Campbell reunion, they decided to have Grace baptized in Riverton.  We were ecstatic to host. We started with a few family photos, Lynne behind the shutter.

Although there would be another family photo shoot at the Moab reunion, we tried to grab a few informal shots here.  Danny was interested in the tree. It is a nice tree.

Grace and Alice were game, as always.

Charlie's protest smile.

We tried a few all-five-grandkids shots, but Danny was leaning.

We were fortunate to get Great Grandma Grace to visit.  She gave a delightful talk on baptism at the service.

Joel Flake and Jim Campbell visited. Neither of their press secretaries would disclose if any agreements were reached.

Chicken Parmesan sliders were the order of the day. 

For everyone except Danny, who had his own chef and wait staff.

The kids stayed in line at the kids table.

The older kids did, too.

 

 Here is the baptism girl in her dress, all ready to go to the church.  I didn't get any church shots, because things were a little hectic for a while, but the service was simple and small, and quite touching and special.  We are proud of Grace and her decision to be baptized.

Afterwards, a good time was had by all of the kids on the swingset.

Charlie does everything with his tongue hanging out. The photoshoot in Moab documented it, too.

Danny seemed surprised to see his hands out there, but he liked the swings pretty well.

Alice catching some air.

Grace, in facepaint, also catching some air.

The kids called this, "climbing the coconut tree." 

Since the Flake reunion was completed, and P&B were in Riverton until the Moab reunion, we got to host them for a couple of days.  Here the girls try out the new slipper tub.

Charlie's photobomb smile.

Danny kicked and flailed when happy, which was most of the time.

We got some quality grandparent time.  With these kids, any time is quality time.

After a few days, it was time to pack up and head for redrock country.  See Busy Summer Highlights, Part 4 for more fun and excitement.

Busy Summer Highlights, Part 2: Priests' Camp

Barely two weeks after youth conference, we saddled up one Wednesday afternoon and got out of Dodge for our second annual Big Questions camp.  Six priests, two adults, two more guest adults, and two 10-11 year olds.

We went up the Mirror Lake highway to Sulphur Campground. Same place as last year. Probably even the same bull moose as last year.  Went right through our camp.

Campfires were a big part of the camp.  Here, Hunter shows us his award-winning perfectly golden-brown marshmallow.

The first day we headed for the high ground.  Bald Mountain stands 11,952 feet above mean sea level. Going to the top was like walking up stairs for an hour and a half. Very uneven and rocky stairs.  Miah, who nearly destroyed his foot 20 weeks ago went up on crutches.  This made it very hard for anyone else to properly complain about the hike. 

At the top, the boys were drawn to the edge. 

They stayed there long enough to get thoroughly burned in the thin air.

Many attempts were made to fashion cairns tall enough to get to an even 12,000 feet.

Then there were the boulder caves to be explored.  You can't tell, but all five boys are behind Clark in the hole to his left.

After the hike to the peak, we decided to cool off in the Upper Provo Falls.  This turned out to be mostly hiking around in the water barefooted.

This is not as close to the falls as it looks, but I'm totally going to blackmail him with this picture.  His parents would be mortified.

They also found more high spots, and got more sunburned.

One of the key objectives of the trip was to have the boys plan the menu, plan the shopping list, complete with quantities, plan the gear and utensils, prepare and cook the meals and clean up.  It worked great.  It took us a couple of hour-long sessions to plan the menus, and another session and three orders of cheese fries to plan the shopping list, but they did it and they got it.

The second day we spent fishing.  We did not really spend it catching, but we spent it fishing.  When anyone asked me if I had any luck I always said I did.  With that vista, I was not lying, even though catches were few.

Jaxson felt the same way.

Cooking was coached ably by Miah, and the meals were excellent, proving Terisa's theory that when the food is good, the activity cannot fail. Did you know that 4 pounds of bacon is barely enough to feed 12 people? Even with hash browns, eggs, sausage and pancakes? Fact.

Mouths were stuffed. Stomachs were full.  Campers were sated.

One of our key activities was to have campfire activities and talk about important stuff.  Favorite scriptures, favorite scriptural characters, Big Questions.  Some of them philosophical,  some practical.

On the way home Saturday we stopped at the Kamas fish hatchery and got a tour of the facilities that produce a million planter fish every year.  Pretty impressive.  We asked for samples.  They declined.

We ended on Saturday with bacon burgers from the Uinta Grille in Kamas.  But you already know what that looks like.  Another fun time, another return with all limbs and digits intact.  Success!

Which was fortunate, because when I got home, out-of-towners were already gathering for Part 3, Grace's baptism.

Busy Summer Highlights-Part 1: Youth Conference

It has been a busy summer.  Like every summer.  I don't remember the last summer that I didn't go to youth conference and scout camp.  Plus a couple of family reunions in the mix. 

This summer was too busy to properly get all of the details into the weekly family letter. So I figured I'd better do what I can, and just blog the high points.  First stop: Riverton 15th Ward Youth Conference.

We departed from church early Wednesday evening.  Was it blood sugar?  The heat?  Anyway, enthusiasm was at a low ebb.

That quickly changed as we got involved in a road rally/scavenger hunt to find instructions on how to get to the ranch just outside of Pinedale, Wyoming.  Our path took us through Kemmerer, where we posed in front of the James Cash Penney mother store.

No thanks to some aggressive driving, we made it to the ranch. It was raining, but because we were not camping on the ground, enthusiasm soared.  Our theme for the conference was, "Oh ye that embark, the places you'll go."  

I know, Doctor Seuss and the D&C are not the most intuitive of combinations, but think of it as a unique taste combination like artichoke hearts and jalapeno, or avocado and raspberry/mango salsa, or fruit loops and champagne (an ice cream flavor we found in Philly). 

Sometimes enthusiasm fluttered more than soared.

Sleeping arrangements were great.  The 12 boys had a bunkhouse built for about 8, but they squished in and made it work.  The 12 girls had a bunkhouse built for about 12 boys, but they squished in and made it work.  The 5 YM leaders each had a bedroom in the main house. They made it work, too.  But the 4 YW leaders had a palace built for about 40, complete with hot and cold running servants and at least two hot tubs and a spa apiece.  They worked it!

Terisa has a theory that when the food is good, the youth conference is a success. We had the best, with the Schoutens on full time KP detail.

 

 Don't these look like happy campers? 

Still a little drizzly the first day, but we had our 2nd counselors' activity.  In most presidencies, the 2nd counselor never gets to do much, so we assigned all of them together the first activity, which turned out to be kickball in a pasture.

A good time was had by all.

Yes, this is an ATV.  No we didn't ride them.  That was left for the 8-year-old twins of our host family.

Have I said what great food we had?

It was truly great.

After lunch everyone wrote a letter to their future selves. We collected them and will mail them out next year at this time.  What would you tell yourself a year from now?

In the middle of the trip we got a nice microburst that left a half an inch of hail, and took one of our EZ-ups in return.  It flew over to the pasture where a couple of startled horses protested.

One afternoon we went to the local creek. It was cold.  But even the most finicky got in and had fun.  Backflips off the edge, a little swimming, and a lot of skipping rocks.

Everyone was quite adventurous.

And happy about it.

Who knew?

By this time, friendships were starting to cement.

 One of the downtime activities was cards.  About a half dozen new games kept everyone entertained.

 

Another downtime activity.  No, this is not during a prayer...

One night we hung a white sheet in a barn and projected Ice Age for a movie night.  We had popcorn and lots of fun.

The next day, we had an Amazing Race, based on standards in For the Strength of Youth.  We had to adapt it to the weather, which was still inclement.  Here we see a young bride-to-be in a gown fashioned by Charmin. Yes, the TP people.

Here is additional fashion, albeit modified by a walk in the drizzle.

Kazoos used to make hymns were popular at first.  Then they got out of hand. Eventually we had to confiscate them. And bury them, like the swords in the Book of Mormon.

Another afternoon we went to the rec center in Pinedale, where we swam in warmer and cleaner waters.  I'm pretty sure we didn't find a single leech here.

They had a swinging rope over the pool, so everyone tried to do backflips. Tried.

And tried.

The food remained excellent.

Here is Porter Meier, from the host family, holding--nay, cleaving--to the iron rod.

There was a little sleeping.  Very little, actually.

But on the day of our return, Porter had made fast friends with Driscoll, and even Miss Riverton, Lindsey, couldn't coax him away.

 And that turned out to be the theme of A lot friendships, a lot of togetherness, a lot of fun.