City of Rocks Rangers

I took the kids on a field trip to one of my all-time favorite places, The City of Rocks National Reserve, last Thursday. Kellie and I planned this trip because we are Fun Moms and we can handle two sets of boy twins, an 11 year-old boy, a 9 year-old girl, and a dog all by ourselves. It was a three hour drive for both of us coming from different directions. I don't know about Kellie, but I heard a lot of, "MOM! Look at that truck with two trailers!" during my journey. I tried to keep my headphones in and listen to a book while the kids watched a movie, but Emil thinks I can do anything and so he kept asking me to pass him stuff and turn around to see what he was doing while I was trying to drive 80 mph on the highway. We eventually got to the little brick house serving as the visitors' center just outside the City of Rocks.

The little twin and the big twin - Max, Colin, Nick, and Emil.

Kellie has been to the City of Rocks probably more than 100 times, but she didn't know about this visitors' center or the junior ranger program. How fun to find something new! The ranger here tried really hard not to roll his eyes when I asked if the kids would need to listen to a ranger talk for their badges. This is the City of Rocks, not Yellowstone! My kind of park.

Kellie's boys wanted to stop and watch a climber (that's right - one climber), so of course my boys wanted to as well. Max brought his binoculars. :)

I believe that's Elephant Rock? My favorite thing was there were no parking lots next to the rocks - we just pulled off the road and got out. 

The kids climbed all over Bath Rock, but not to the top.

This is somewhere near the top of Bath Rock in March 1993! That's Kellie, Anne, and me. Twenty-three years ago! Emil says I kinda look different. He thinks I look like one of his cousins - he can't say which. I loved it when those two would take me with them on school breaks. :)

Emil, Nick, and Max. It's not as high as it looks.

Emil asked me to get a picture of him with Nick. They get each other.

Bridget had as much fun as a girl surrounded by crazy boys could have. She was game. :)

After looking at my photos, though, I think Emil was the winner. He loved everything about the City of Rocks. 

Colin liked it too, but he has one more ounce of caution that Emil doesn't have. And he scraped his head on a rock. Probably right here.

I had to knock on the door of the visitors' center to get those guys to open back up and check the kids' workbooks, administer the Junior Ranger oath, and give them badges. It was 4:25 and we were right there on a picnic table in the front yard! What are they doing closing up shop so early?!

Max, Bridget, Emil, Colin, Xander, and Nick.

We came back to Kellie's parents' house in Oakley for some hot tubbing, riding the little four-wheeler, tacos, a quick trip to the Oakley Pool, Sponge Bob and bed. It was a big day. I'm so glad we did it! Introducing my children to my favorite stuff is the best! On the way home we stopped to visit Grandma Shirley, which kept me from falling asleep but also put us in rush hour traffic through Salt Lake to get home. I can't remember the last time I was so tired. Still - I'd do it again. :)

There is too much... Let me sum up.

The last two weeks of May was bonkers, y'all! This far into June and I can finally take a moment and report. 

In late April we got a copy of our local newspaper, The Lehi Free Press, in the mail. I was happy to see this old friend - it reminded me that Brian and I have lived in Lehi our whole married life (we spent a few years at his parents' house in American Fork, but we've always had a home in Lehi), which is 20 years this November. Someone had brought this paper back to life after 16 years of no local paper. In it was an advertisement saying they needed staff writers. I decided to make a resume (that looked completely ridiculous to me since my last job was 10 years ago) and take it in. I had nothing to lose - I didn't need the job and I was totally fine if I wasn't what they were looking for. But! I am exactly what they were looking for. Funny, that. :) So now I write about two stories a week and take my own photos for those stories. I almost always have the boys and sometimes Bridget with me when I'm "on the job," but I've been covering events that are fun for them, too. I do interviews and take notes and pictures during the week, write a rough draft of the story on Saturday morning and write a final draft (after reading it out loud half a dozen times) on Monday morning, then hand it in Monday by noon. I get a new assignment at our meeting every Wednesday night. Now that piano students are done for the summer and the kids are out of school, my writing job is The Best Thing Ever. 

The last real day of school for Bridget was the Dance Festival. Bridget's grade did the traditional may pole dance. Naturally they put her pole where only the 6th graders and a few teachers could see her. I sat on the edge of the green with my telephoto lens and barely caught sight of her. Poor Grandma and Grandpa came and probably didn't see her dance at all. Bridget came over afterward to give them hugs, so it wasn't a total loss.

This is my fifth Dance Festival. I know if I don't get a picture of Bridget before the thing starts, I'll never get one. She loves it when I hunt her down in front of her friends and tell her to look my direction. :)

Posing with Brooklyn after the dances.

That last week of school is when T-ball started for the boys. I got an email from the rec league that they needed a coach for the boys' team and I ducked in my chair in case they could see my "can't say no" face through email. I struggled with the guilt - there's two of them! I should step up! But the moment passed. Then I got a phone call from the rec league and I agreed to coach the team almost before she could get the question out. Even though Brian has a MILLION other things going on, he agreed to be my assistant coach. (Bridget had volleyball camp the same week the T-ball games started. I didn't make any food that whole week - school, piano students, bishopric meetings, T-ball games, newspaper meetings. We couldn't fit in eating veg.)

T-ball games are comedy gold, guys. Brian and I are hoarse after yelling at our players to RUN to the next base. The first baseman never knows the ball is coming. Most of the time if a kid fields the ball, he just hangs onto it until the runner is on base. Only seems fair. We've had players sit in every position. Sometimes they sit on the base after running to it. Their parents are always yelling, "STAND UP!" After one inning, the kids are asking if it's over. I think maybe the stakes are too low. They're never going to be out, so what is the point of making a play? Oh well, we always have great snacks.

We have games twice a week. This was the day I got back from Denver and there was no clean laundry. It's a red shirt. He just sat at Short Stop and complained about his life anyway.

Why was I in Denver?! Because back in February or March my sister Makenzie asked me if I wanted to run Bolder Boulder with her. I did not! I choose not to run anymore. But she was so convincing! I served my mission in Colorado and during my last month in the field, my companion, Sister Taufatofua, and I ran Bolder Boulder together. The two of us got up an hour earlier every day (except Sunday) and ran for two months to get ready. One of our investigators paid for our registration - the race was on Monday, which was Preparation Day. Our zone found out what we were doing about two weeks before the race and next thing we knew they were running it too and wearing their proselyting clothes. Sister T and I weren't about to run in dresses, but we sat with our zone in the stadium and were embarrassed by the stares anyway. One of my favorite mission memories.

So Makenzie said it could be the thing I do every 20 years. :) She got me! Only this time I wouldn't be fast. (Pictured above, me and Sister T. with the members of our zone we could find in the crowded stadium on May 27, 1996. I'm Facebook friends with one of these people. I know the whereabouts of one other, but that's it.)

I've never run a race with anyone my size before! It's the only way to go. I could take my normal short-person steps and still keep up with Makenzie. We were both worried about getting to the right place and finding our wave (there are over 50,000 people running Bolder Boulder every year!), but it was a piece of cake. We got on a shuttle bus near Makenzie's house, road to Boulder in style, got out and there was our wave. Makenzie agreed to walk with me every time I needed to (often) and I enjoyed myself a lot. In every kilometer there was a different band or solo act to keep us distracted from the pain.

Boulder is a very charming city and we could feel the energy for sure. I'm usually so concerned about my time and get so mad at myself if I walk during a race that I end up not being in the moment and having fun. Not caring about that stuff made all the difference for me. We even stopped for a photo with Elvis. :)

This was the only familiar sight. Twenty years is a long time. If I didn't have pictures of this race, I would wonder if I'd dreamed running it as a missionary.

After the race we hung out at Makenzie's house and ate every 30 minutes. I insisted on a picture with Ruby and Claire since we all have the brown eyes. It was hard to keep them open in the sun, though. Makenzie drove around Lafayette (my last area on my mission) with me and I didn't recognize one square foot of that place. I'm still freaked out by that.

This is Sister Taufatofua and me on the porch of our house in Lafayette in 1996. I'm positive that Makenzie and I drove by this place at least twice and I didn't recognize it. Nice that I figured out my bangs situation, though. We can be GLAD of that.

What a fun and insane way to end the school year! There is much more craziness to come in the next few weeks. So far we're winning at summer, though. :)

Family History Tour: Searle and Clark Families

A few months ago when my mother-in-law, Denise, was telling a story about The McCornick House (a place I've often heard of), I mentioned that I'd like to see it and take pictures of it before it falls over. The McCornick House is legendary in Denise's family history. Her grandmother and grandfather, Carrie Nielsen Clark and Lawrence Clark, bought 40 acres in McCornick in 1919. Some shady land developers convinced dozens of recently married LDS couples in the surrounding area that McCornick was the next big thing. Plenty of water! Crops will grow and you'll be rich and happy! Almost 100 years later, the Clark home is pretty much the only thing (barely) left of McCornick. 

Last Thursday, April 9th, we took a drive to Delta and McCornick to see the legendary cabin. On the way there, I read Brian the 16-page history Denise gave us.

"[Carrie's son] L. Nielsen and her brother, Rex Griffith had dug a cellar five feet deep and twelve feet wide by fourteen feet long, making a roof over it with cedar posts and boards then covering it with dirt. They hung their bedsprings from the roof of the cellar, making beds for the boys and a place to store their food, clothing, and some light furniture.

"Then, When Carrie and the girls arrived, they took their huge canvas wagon cover and built a lean-to on the side of their wagon, boarding it up - which served as a kitchen and dining area. Here they set up their kitchen range, table, kitchen cabinet and chairs. Carrie wrote: 'It was fit for a Queen!'"

Okay, let's stop here for a moment and reflect on our lives.

This is Carrie Nielsen Clark and four of her children (from left to right: Denise, Nola, Edra, and Niels). My mother-in-law is named after her Aunt Denise. Edra (the five year-old on the right) is Denise's mother. Don't they look clean here? :)

"The next day after the girls and I arrived (10 April 1919 being my Mother's 53rd birthday and Easter Sunday), we went half a mile from our farm to a sandy knoll up by the canal bank and had our Easter party, taking our lunch with us and hiding eggs." One of the Easter traditions in Brian's family is going to the sand dunes for a picnic and hunting Easter eggs. I've always wondered why they think that's normal, and now I know! :)

Denise and Bridget walking up to the Clark home in McCornick, April 2015.

In May 1919, more families had moved in, crops were growing, dreams were coming true. Carrie Clark: "This beautiful day the last part of May 1919, we had just sat down to our noonday meal when all at once we heard a roaring noise. We all looked at each other, so bewildered - we had not had time to think. One of the men said the banks of the canal must have given way. We all looked up and there, not a half mile away came the surging stream of 200 second feet of water headed right toward us. There was not one thing we could do but get out of its way.

"It came rushing on but thanks to the leveled ground when it first came out of the canal, it cut a deep gulch and washed twenty feet deep and some fifty to sixty feet wide and a forty-acre field long before it commenced to spread out. So by the time it reached our camp, the water was three feet deep in some places. four and five feet deep in other places. We were stunned. For a while no grownup or child made one sound."

In August 1921, the crops looked great. On the 14th of August Lawrence went to Delta to get twine so they could finish cutting the grain crop. Everyone else was at church. Carrie Clark: "It commenced thundering and lightning and just like a cloudburst - a real hard rain in the town site and all the other farms. But when we went back home, a hail storm had hit our three forties [acres] (Mother's, my brother's, and ours) and five other farmers. Just took a strip two forties wide and four forties long. Threshed out every bit of grain on the ground. We had had another lovely garden but the tomatoes and melons were shot full of holes as if they had been shot with a twenty-two. Cabbage and lettuce were stripped of their leaves. Our turkeys and chickens were lying dead all over. 

"So there was no need for the twine."

I can't even write this down without losing it! Brian and I laughed/cried at all the things we think we've suffered after reading his great grandmother's words. Carrie's mother, Margaret Bridget Allred Nielsen Griffith, had come across the plains and now she was dealing with all this bad luck in McCornick along with the Clarks. (I loved finding out that we had inadvertently named Bridget after such an amazing ancestor. Margaret was a nurse and a pioneer.)

Standing: Carrie Nielsen Clark, her mother Margaret Bridget Allred Nielsen Griffith. Sitting: Enid and June Nielsen (or Griffith?)

Denise with grandsons; Nate, Colin, and Emil at the Clark house in McCornick.

Grandma showing the kids the very stairs she went down to sleep in the basement as instructed by Grandma Carrie Clark. (The family spent summers in the McCornick house after they moved to Delta in 1930 so the kids would have somewhere to go to school.)

Grandma Carrie would lead Denise down the stairs, snuffing out the black widow spiders as she descended. 

It was fun to stay at Grandma's house, but kind of scary, too. :)

Bridget and Grandpa collected pretty glass near the... kitchen, I guess?

Emil, Bridget, and Colin sitting on the edge of what I think was the grainary. Beyond them is some of the 40 acres the Clarks owned.

Grandpa found a lizard and tried hard to catch him. The boys (except Nate) cheered him on.

In 1930, Lawrence and Carrie Clark moved to Delta. Most of the other farms had been foreclosed (not enough water for all those farms), so there was nowhere for the Clark children to go to school. We actually saw the Delta house first on our tour, but I'm putting those photos here. (Denise was born in this house, by the way.)

Carrie and Lawrence Clark in front of their home in Delta, 1930.

Eighty-five years later - those trees really grew up! Back row: Brian, Debbie, Hal, Harold, Denise, Dena, Kyra holding Brighton. Front row: Bridget, Nate, Emil, and Colin.

We didn't hear as many stories about the Searle family on our tour, but we did visit the old home of Delbert and Ruth Searle in Delta.

Denise's father is Donald Searle, Delbert and Ruth are his parents. This is their home in Delta.

Harold and Denise with grandchildren (and great grand child) in front of the Searle home.

We've had the wedding portrait of Denise's grandparents, Del and Ruth Searle, in our front room for many years. It was very cool to see where they lived and raised their family.

Back row: Del, Donald (Denise's father), Alta, and Ruth. Front row: Archie, Sidney, and Arda.

If you're like me, you're wondering what happened to Del's hair. Denise said he had blood poisoning and it turned his hair completely white within a very short time period. I love having that wedding picture where I can see it all the time. Such a handsome couple. 

Del Searle, Don Searle and Harold doing their favorite thing - fishing.

Just like our ancestors, we headed to the sand dunes after our tour for a picnic and a Junior Arrowhead Hunt (Harold brought some of his chips and dropped them in the sand where the kids could find them). I was inspired not to complain too much about having to use a sagebrush for a bathroom. Carrie Clark was a queen in a castle in a lean-to! I can do anything.

Emil and Bridget, Brighton, Colin, and Nate.

Oh, man! So dirty. The shoes were almost done, this was a fitting farewell.

 Brighton perfectly accessorized for the sand dunes.

Sweet Bridget burying herself in the sand.

I want to take this kind of tour with all my grandparents! I can't put into words how special this was - I'm glad we have these stories to share with the next generation.

Some Stuff

I'm only doing a post because it's been almost two weeks. We're just doing the usual. I've taken a few photos, so here they are:

I posted this photo on Facebook already, but I have to have it in our book. Colin is peeling the candy shell off a Cadbury Mini Egg. He'd done it before and Brian and I laughed and laughed, but didn't get a photo of it. I gave him some mini eggs a few days later and had my camera on stand by just in case he did it again. As Colin would say, "NICE!"

I made strawberry jam two days in a row (Emil is a huge fan of jam). Having helpers while I make jam is ... not so helpful. Everything is hot, everything is breakable and spill-able, and I'm on a time limit. Emil parked his truck in fun places and handed me bottles to put the "JAM?" in. (I find that truck in the funniest situations. One time it had a load of grated cheese in it. Emil called it a Cheese Truck.)

My literal BFF, Kellie, and her husband, Mike, stopped by on their way home from a weekend getaway. We talked and talked and talked. We've been friends for 35 years! I'm so glad she forgave me for kicking her back in 1983 because she is my favorite person. 

Kellie let Emil make a dance video for her phone. 

Colin likes to put his face between you and your screen. "I watch?!"

You know we are meant to be best friends because she has twin boys who are ten months older than mine. Once again, that has worked out in my favor because no one understands like Kellie. :) 

(I'm regretting now that I didn't crop out my feet. Look at that bunion. Look at it.)