New Calling, Hiking, and Rafting, Oh My!

Mother nature and I are on the same page during the months of September and October.

Biking in the river bottoms near my parent's house is fabulous. I want it to become a Sunday ritual. Andrew proposed to me on this bridge almost 14 years ago!

Peaches peaches peaches for days. My parent's peach tree is thriving! My mom has made many scrumptious peach pies. Grandma Woods would be proud. 

Baby "Dorothy's"

New Calling

I have been serving as the ward music coordinator for just over 3 years. When I got a text to meet with a member of the bishopric, I was sad. Music has been my baby and I still have more ideas and musical numbers I would like to make happen in church.

As I've had time to process this change I think it was inspired. How would I have gone to weekly young women activities in addition to teaching piano several evenings a week? This would have taken me away from my family a lot! It shows me that stopping piano lessons was the right move and that I was lead to do it. Brother Robbins said they have been trying to call me into young women's for awhile. I truly enjoyed my music calling even though sometimes dealing with people and cancellations could be tricky.

I am now a young women's specialist over 14 and 15 year old girls (formerly known as "Mia Maids"). I taught a couple of these young women piano and love them! I haven't ever had a calling in young women's and am excited! A lot has changed in the 14 years since I was in young women's.

The same week I got called, I went with some friends in the ward on a "Christ Walk" in Heber. The church news has an article about it. The young women in our ward went on this walk during girls camp and several shared powerful experiences they had there. 

The Christ walk was touching. Writing about a trial I'm facing in invisible ink and then later walking through and reading others anonymous answers/challenges was humbling. Collecting pieces of thread at a few stations to later turn in for a bracelet was also impactful. How can I become the beautiful "bracelet"/person I want to become without going through the tough stuff? At the end, everyone wrote down what Christ would say to you as you're going through your trial. What a way to end. Talk about hope.

Hiking

James noticed a trend. We hike on Labor Day. This year was no different. We went on a more vigorous hike called Heughs Canyon Waterfall near Holladay. Several websites clock this hike as 3.5 miles roundtrip. You have to park about 0.4 miles away. According to my dad's watch, we walked close to 5 miles. We did it!

This was a shady and pretty trail. Sunflowers greeted us as we entered. I feel bad for the poor people whose driveway aligns with the beginning of the path. Yikes. The hike begins in a neighborhood. It is a steep climb the whole way. You cross 2 bridges. Near the end, it was easy to slip due to steepness and rocks. It was pretty anticlimactic when we couldn't find the waterfall!! What! We came across endless giant boulders and it was unclear where to go.  Fortunately, we ran into some other hikers who pointed out which massive rocks we had to climb.

By the end, the kids were tired. My dad went ahead and got the car for us so we didn't have to walk the extra distance. We were treated to Krispie Kreme doughnuts on our way home courtesy of Nana and Papa. Thank you!

Rafting

"ABH" which is the "All Brothers Hike" looked different this year. Andrew went white water rafting with his brothers on the Salmon River in Idaho. Andrew drove 10 hours to meet his brothers there. We had to get new tires on his car and do some other maintenance but his car felt brand new after the tires were replaced. They were in a bad state. 

The timing of Andrew's weekend away seemed unfair. On Labor Day evening, all of our kids came down with an abominable stomach bug. There were over 13 throw-ups that night. The next night, only Penny was still throwing up. The first night of ABH, Penelope threw up some more. Lucky me. Our house has reeked of throw up but the stench is finally diminishing after endless loads of laundry and several repeated laundry cycles.  

That being said, Andrew had a blast and like usual the Dittos partyed until the last possible second... He returned home at 4am on Sunday morning which made me nervous. Phew-- he stayed awake and avoided deer. Everyone but Vaughn (BIL) was there, so Andrew + his 4 brothers, + 1 BIL= 6 total men.

I hope our trees will thrive in this cooler weather.. We just replaced this toasted tree. We got it about 1 year ago and thankfully it was still under warranty. Don't mind me just opening all the windows and enjoying the breeze and the green grass. The aroma from a spiced apple toddy candle is currently making our home smell heavenly.