Birthday Spring Run

Every Spring we have a run of birthdays to celebrate.  It begins with Angie, then Rebecca, and onto Debbie and then comes Eric followed by Gordon and finally Sheri.  We have begun to schedule our parties on Sundays and we batch them together in order to simplify it.  The exception may be a special birthday.  It requires lots of gift buying and giving and I think our family does a good job of making this happen without going over the top.  I usually request several days off around my April 16th birthday and hope to get in as many adventures as possible.  This year I was able to descend a remote and difficult canyon in Zion (Checkerboard Canyon) on my birthday.  Other days were filled with climbing and mountain biking.  After my mini adventure week this year I was sore and had a few minor scrapes but my biggest injury came while riding a small razor scooter in the backyard while I was tending the twins (Carter & Colten).  I launched backwards and landed hard on my elbow, wrist and hip.  I lay stunned for a minute or two until Debbie came over to check on me.  This injured me much more than those other "risky" activities did that week.

Canaan Sand

Rebecca and I joined Nick & his kids and backpacked up onto Canaan Mountain for an overnight stay.  We hiked up Water Canyon via the steep trail.  It is a beautiful hike all of the way.  In spite of the drought year, there was still water running in the lower part of the canyon.  We made camp in a sandy wash up on top where we used stale pothole water for our cooking.  Although the sun was shinning it was windy and blustery and cold.  This made for lots of sand in our tent and gear.  It was a full moon that night and it shone brightly through our tent all night.  It was a restless and cold and windy night.  The morning sun was welcome.  A morning hike over the next ridge led us to incredibly views of Zion National Park.  We then had an enjoyable hike back to our trucks.  The winds died down and the temperature was perfect for hiking.  The drive back home through the polygamous community is always interesting.

Mission Call Arrives !

Eric's mission call finally arrived!  It was delayed a week.  Something about a sleepwalking box checked on his medical form (how did that happen? Mother?).  He was on a day date with his Preference Dance date.  So they all met at our house to be there for opening of the envelope.  Eric seemed quite nervous but also excited.  He has been called to the Rancagua, Chile mission!!  He reports to the Mexico MTC on July 1st.