Last weekend was fall break and we decided to head out to Price to do a little bouldering.  It's a new sport to us but our expert son told us about The Mountain Project app to help us find places to boulder.  He also borrowed his friend's crash pad and loaned us climbing shoes to make it a little less dangerous.  Turns out it's still kind of dangerous. The first place we went was in the "Price Recreation Area" which is right off the highway shortly before you arrive in Price.  I actually stayed in the car to read my book and feel warm while the rest of the family hiked around looking for the boulder called "Baby's Got Biceps".  It was a fairly easy climb which Susanna and Talmage did.  When they came back, I got out and Scott and I hiked around a little.  It was a beautiful setting. That night and the next morning we enjoyed swimming at the hotel in Price and by we, I mean my children.  I'm not a big fan of indoor swimming and my husband wa...

I'm so lucky to have three grandchildren.  Not so lucky that they live far away in Louisiana.  But lucky we can Skype every week with them.  And lucky that we get to visit now and then.  And lucky that they came to visit us!  They arrived shortly after Everett came home and stayed about two weeks including over the reunion. I didn't take enough pictures but here are a few: It is challenging to get a good picture of Max: One thing I'm especially glad to have a picture of is this 5-generation picture with my 98-year-old grandma and my dad: We wanted to get a picture with Stephanie but our bystander photographer wasn't the greatest:

Recently my youngest daughter started taking a tumbling class.  On the way home, I noticed a rock-filled field full of wild sunflowers blooming very cheerfully.  I don't think anyone planted them. The flowers are growing in one of those ugly fields next to an industrial-type building with no landscaping or anything.  What you need to especially understand is that these sunflowers have had next to no water for this entire hot summer.  We had exactly one rainstorm in August that gave us about 1/2 inch of rain.  That was it for all of June, July, and August with highs in the 90's or even 100 most of those days. But somehow these sunflowers have not only grown but blossomed and thrived despite having almost no water and a serious lack of fertile soil.  They are truly resilient flowers. It's a good lesson for me as I think about the adversity I face and will face in the future.  How can I be more resilient and teach my children resilience?

After a summer of being far apart, we all gathered together over Labor Day weekend for a family reunion.  Everett came home from Armenia, David and Stephanie drove from Louisiana, Lincoln and MiCayla came back from Houston, and Garrett and AnnaSue came home from spending the summer in Latvia.  We were definitely far-flung this summer! We drove up to the rental house in Bountiful up in the foothills on Friday afternoon.  All the married couples got their own bedroom and there were enough other beds for everyone else too.  Each couple was in charge of a meal and I put my teenagers in charge of Saturday morning breakfast. On Friday evening, we played some fun games--Werewolf, 4 to a Couch and maybe something else I can't remember. We started an Assassin game with water guns.  The hot tub was quite popular. Saturday morning we went on a hike not too far away.  When the younger children got tired of hiking, I stayed with them at a little creek where the...