8/1 to 8/6:
The kids performed at a Samoan Youth festival Friday night. It wasn't big with heaps of people. It was in the indoor Equestrian center in South Jordan. They did good. Saturday was Dray's baptism. After we ate and visited with family. Talked with Sreeve, Ryan and her sister Kelly for a bit. I planned a short trip to Capitol Reef so I've been looking forward to that. We leave tomorrow.
8/7 to 8/13:
We went to sacrament meeting in another ward at 9am then left to get ready to go to Capitol Reef resort right outside the park. We are staying in a covered wagon that has 4 bunks and a king bed. The drive down was about 3 and a half hours. We stopped in Scipio to get gas and potty break. We were too early to check in at about 3pm so we went to the Hickman Bridge trail and hiked that. It was pretty hot. Our water bottles were running out fast. I took my tripod and we took family photos at different locations for this year's Christmas cards. The scenery is really beautiful. Had never been there before to Capitol Reef. Hickman bridge is a large arch. We were the only ones there for a few minutes so we took more photos. We hiked back quickly because we had no water. We stopped and looked at heiroglyphics that the Fremont people drew on the cliff sides. Very interesting. Then we checked-in. The kids were excited to stay in the wagon. Right out side is a gas firepit that they turn on from 7pm to 11pm. They went for a swim in the pool. It's not too big. I didn't get in. We had hotdogs and chicken left overs from Dray's baptism feed that Candi scabbed and brought along. Also roasted marshmallows and made smores. Each wagon gets its own key to a private bathroom in a building just a few steps away. It looks new and was very nice. The stars at night were very bright. Our sleep in the wagon was nice.
Monday morning we woke up and had breakfast we brought. We had cereal and milk and stuff. We got ready and we drove to the park first stopping at an overlook just before you go in and took some photos. Then we stopped at the visitor center and looked around, watched a short film and bought a few souvenirs. We then took the 8 mile scenic drive and at the end of the paved road drove down the dirt road to the end so we can hike the canyon walk to the Tanks. It was a hot day and we tried to stick to the shade. The walk was nice though through the canyon walls. There was a part of the wall where people wrote their names and the date. Some dates were back to the 1880's. The Tanks are pools of water in round craters where the rain run-off is gathered. Erana and Mina didn't climb up to them. It was an extra climb up the canyon side to get to them and they were tired. But Erana was doing very well walking the far distance. On the way back I saw more hieroglyphics on the wall. We drove back up the scenic drive to the Fruita picnic area and had lunch. We laid on blankets on the grass and relaxed and ate sandwiches and chips. My camera focus quit working because I think some dust got in and it focuses on that dust. That was a bummer so we used Candi's phone for the rest of the trip. We walked to the old home where a mormon family had lived their since the late 1800's and last lived there in the 1940's. It's now a store. We bought drinks and ice cream and sat on a table outside to eat them. The settlers there had planted a lot of fruit orchards. The public are allowed to pick the fruit. We stopped and got apples and also looked at an old school house. Our last stop was to go to the Goosenecks. It's an overlook of a canyon the was really deep. It was a gorgeous view. There was another short hike that Tyrell, Jaxon and I did called Sunset or something. Took lots of photos. We went back to the wagon and I took the 3 younger ones to the pool. We went back and had dinner again around the firepit. Hotdogs and stuff. The night was beautiful again with clear skies.
Tuesday morning we had a 9am appointment to go on a 2 hour horse ride. Just Candi and Erana didn't go. They went to the pool and into Torrey town and stuff while we were gone. It was fun. Our guide was Crystal. She is a cow girl from Minnesota. The views along the trail were beautiful. It was a 6 mile trip. It was basically going north of the Resort we stayed at heading towards the reef cliffs then turning west, then back again. Tyrell's horse kept letting off and stopping to eat grass. Leila did well. They all had fun. It was an experience to remember. My butt was getting sore near the end. When I finally got off my legs were stiff and my knees could hardly bend back straight. Crystal let Erana on the horse for a little bit and she was happy about that. We got in the van and headed off home. Stopped in Torrey at the little grocery store and a souvenir store. We were impressed with a German family. That's one of things we noticed was a lot of different languages being spoken around us. Mostly visitors from Europe. Two young German boys 11 or 12 were busily taking things out of their RV storage and rearranging things to make space for stuff the Dad bought from the store. He just dropped it off and went in the RV. A few minutes later just after the boys are done he comes back out and locks the storage doors and they're off. Candi and I were teasing Jaxon. "If that was you you'd have asked a dozen questions by now." "It doesn't fit, there's no room, how can I make it fit?" Jaxon just laughs. Another lady sitting watching said, "Wow, my kids would be sitting watching the parents do all that." We got home around 4:30pm. That was our vacation for the year. All our money is saved for new carpet.
8/14 to 8/20:
Mina went and spoke in the Cedar Breaks ward as part of a Stake youth council on Sunday. Candi started her JetBlue job training Tuesday. She had orientation last Thurs and Fri. Training is from 3:30pm to 11:30pm so we've had to get used to a new schedule in our lives. We went to Taylor Barlow's wedding without Candi Fri evening. She married a Tongan-American who went on his mission to Aussie and knows Ollie Wolferstan and helped get him activated. Ollie was at the reception and we had a chat. I took the kids but not Tyrell. We stayed and ate and mingled and danced a bit before taking off home. I talked to Uncle Jono and Auntie Louise and Sharon was there and other cousins. Almost forgot to mention that Erana, Leila and Jaxon started home schooling this week. Candi is using the easypeasy home school online curriculum. It should be good but we'll see how it's going to work out. I'm a tiny bit worried as to how challenging it will be or how much they will get out of it. But I already notice some reading exercises use the Bible which it something you will never see in public school. The public school system is just rubbish that's why we are trying home school. Jaxon will probably go back to high school though unless there is a good online accredited school we come across. I went and watched Mina play tennis. She is playing with her friend Julie on a doubles team for Taylorsville High varsity. It was rough watching them. They played Copper Hills away and won 1 out of 12 games or 2 sets of 6. It's both their first time playing. They can only get better from here but they are having fun.8/21 to 8/27:
It was Wes and Jen's baby blessing for Ella Ray. We went to their church and ate at the church pavilion after. It was kinda weird eating at their church pavilion while their church was still going on. Tyrell was speaking at our church so Candi and Mum went to it then came back. Candi had training all wek again. On the last few weekends and some nights we've been painting the walls in the rooms we're getting carpet in and also moving all the furniture into the basement to get ready for the carpet install. It's been a major pain. Looking forward to when it is all done. We had our Fantasy Football draft Saturday night. We had pizza and desserts and stuff that they all brang. I'm not sure how my team wil do this year, wasn't that great of a draft. We'll see.
