April 2024

April was another packed month for us.  It was packed with fun outdoor activities though because the weather is finally turning warm.

We started the month out in St. George for our Spring Break.  We came down for Easter and then stayed for a week in the sunshine.  While we were there, we decided we were not just going to sit around and waste our time.  We were going to do some exciting things.  First we planned a trip to Las Vegas.  

Russell and I took Emily and Colby to the Las Vegas Temple to do baptisms for the dead.  This was a cool experience because none of us had every been inside the Las Vegas Temple before.  It is always fun to see a new temple.  The funny thing was the few people we met at the temple were all people from Cache Valley!  This was also a good experience for me because I was able to do a few baptisms as well.  I don't think I have done baptisms for the dead since I was in Young Womens.  It was really cool.

After leaving the temple, we headed north a little ways to Moapa Valley and the Valley of Fire State Park.  Grandma and Grandpa Morwood met us there with the rest of the kids and we made a day of it.  This State Park was awesome to see.  We had never been here before so there was so much to see.  Really we ran out of time before we even saw half of the Park.

The first place we stopped to explore was Beehive Rocks.  These rocks were so fun to climb on because they were all pox marked like honeycomb and easy to get a foot hold to climb.  The kids were like monkeys just climbing all over them.   Some were pretty high so I didn't really like that but they were having a good time.

The next place we stopped was Atlatl Rock.  We were able to eat lunch here before exploring the petroglyphs.  The whole rock wall here was covered in ancient petroglyphs.  There were animals and circles, and all sorts of ancient writing and pictures.  I wondered what it all meant but I am sure it was important communication back then.

After lunch, we continued to drive around the Valley of Fire and see all of the amazing rock formations.

There were quite a few rock arches including a really distinct one called Elephant Rock (picture in top left corner).   We also stopped and walked around the Petrified Logs Loop.  On this loop we saw, you guessed it, multiple petrified logs.  Now it was pretty remarkable because this log was pretty big.  I have seen petrified wood before but this was the biggest I have ever seen (picture bottom left).

The place we spent the most time at was Fire Canyon.  The rock formations and coloring in this place were impressive!  The rocks seriously looked like bacon with the red and white swirls and lines going through it.

These rocks and all of the desert colors were a landscape photographers dream,  I only wish I could capture it better with my camera.  The kids kind of balked at hiking a mile to see rocks but when they got there and saw the cool designs and were able to climb up to the top of the rocks to see the whole area, they were glad they made the trek.  I love being able to show the kids some cool things about nature.  Then Colby got into it and explained how the different minerals and erosion and so on formed the rocks and the area into what it was today.  I love that they are learning!

Our final stop of the day was White Dome.  We were not able to do the whole hike around White Dome because it was getting dark and the park rangers wanted us to leave.  We did do a small half mile hike to the back side of the Dome though and that was interesting because that area is where they filmed a lot of old movies back in the day.  I can tell why they used that area because it was very ruggedly beautiful.  Then we had to hike back out of the canyon.  The White Dome was impressive and I would have liked to hike to the top.  We definitely need to plan another trip to Valley of Fire to see the whole other side of the Park some time soon!

A couple days later I planned another hike with Trista.  We needed to get some training in for our Rim 2 Rim coming up soon.  While I waited for her to get off work, we took the kids to the Vernon Worthin Park.  I don't know if it is still called that because it has changed a ton but that is what it was called when we lived there.  Anyway the kids love playing there on the fun new park because it has a lot of spinny things, a zip line and hammock swings.  The younger kids had a good time playing while Russell took the two older kids to the St. George Temple to do baptisms.  When they got back to the park, Trista came and picked me up so we could go on our hike.  She decided to take me up Pardre Canyon near Snow Canyon.  It was an amazing hike.

We started the hike just outside of Snow Canyon and hiked around the mountain toward Tuachan.  Then we hiked along the trail to the backside of Tuachan and up the canyon to the top of the mountain.  Most of the trail was pretty well marked but as we scaled up the mountain, the trail became very sketchy and almost nonexistent.  I was glad Trista knew where she was going because I would have been lost.

The views from the top were amazing.  On one side you could see clear into Ivins and Santa Clara and on the other side you could see beautiful Snow Canyon.  At the top, we found a geocache box hidden in the cliff side so we had to add our names to the log saying we had been there.

As we hiked down the other side into Snow Canyon, the trail was more clearly marked than the bushwhacking we had to do on the way up.  Once again the views coming down the other side were awe inspiring.  We continued hiking down just chatting and catching up the whole time.  It was so nice to get away and have some one on one time with a friend.  We made our way through Snow Canyon and finished the hike along the bike trail through the Park back to Trista's truck.  This was a fun hike and a great training/trial run for our big hike coming up.  We talked a lot about our plans, nutrition, what to pack, and any other information we might need for the Rim 2 Rim.  This 6 mile hike took us a little over 2 hours to complete.  We felt like that was a pretty good pace.

After our hike, Trista dropped me off at the Fiesta Fun Center where Russell and the kids were having fun bowling with Grandma and Grandpa Farnsworth.  

This was most of their first time bowling so there were no scores of 300 but they all had a great time.  It is just fun watching the kids try new things.  

The next day we headed back home after a fun week.  We cut our vacation short though because while we were in St. George, we found out our good friend, Jake Randall, passed away.  Jake was one of Russell's Young Men when we first moved to Hyrum.  Jake had just gotten home from his mission when he started getting sick and the doctors found a brain tumor.  Brain cancer is a pretty terrible cancer and it was terminal for Jake.  He was 22 when he died.  We were so sad to hear this news and knew we had to come home and go to his funeral to support his family and our friends the Randall's.  

Jake's funeral was amazing.  His family decided they wanted everyone to remember the healthy, happy Jake and not the body laying in the casket.  So instead of having a viewing, they made a slideshow of his life to show us the real Jake.  They even included a few video clips of him playing his guitar and singing with his mission companions.  I loved it!  In fact when I die, I want this at my funeral instead of a viewing.  Jake's parents did an amazing job talking and sharing fun stories about his life.  We were all in tears at the graveside service as well.  It is just not right that someone so young and so good should have to die so early.  We were glad we were able to make it to the funeral.

As the month went on, we were able to celebrate Brooklyn's third birthday!

She loves Daniel Tiger and had to have a Daniel Tiger cake.

Emily is on the track team at the high school and loves running and hanging out with the other team members. 

She competes in the 800 meter and the 1600 meter races.  She has also done the 400 meter but prefers the 8 and 16.  She does very well in her heats and finishes about fourth on her team.  I enjoy going to her meets and watching all of the events, especially hers.

Now that the weather is finally decent, it is time for me to crack down on hiking and training for the Rim 2 Rim.  I decided the best way was to just got out there and hike and packing Brooklyn in the baby carrier backpack would be the best way to practice with a pack.  My first outing was with Brooklyn and Colby up Green Canyon.  Colby was out of school for Parent Teacher Conference so it was the perfect time to spend some extra one on one time with him as well.

The hike was really fun and I especially liked talking to Colby about some of his interests.  He told me all about riding his mountain bike up this trail and showed me all of the section checkpoints. We liked exploring the cave and climbing on rocks.  Colby was very good with Brooklyn and guided her along as we went up the trail. 

About 2 miles up the trail we ran into snow.  Well, we kind of dodged snow patches here and there the whole way especially on the north side of the mountain, but by 2.1 miles it was pretty thick.  We trekked through for a little ways but finally gave up when the trail kind of disappeared.  We figured it wouldn't get any better the farther up we went so we just turned around and hiked back down.  This was a pretty great hike.  I did realize though that if my pack for Rim 2 Rim is as heavy as Brooklyn, I will be doomed.  I sure hope its not.  

The next Monday, Emily was out of school for Parent Teacher Conferences so it was her turn to go on a hike with Brooklyn and me.  We decided to go a little closer to home and check out Providence Canyon.  Of course when we woke up in the morning it had been raining.  We we didn't let that stop us so during a break in the weather we headed out on the trail.  Thankfully the rain stayed away while we were hiking.

This was also a great hike and the prefect way to spend some one-on-one time with Emily.  We chatted about a lot of things while we walked.  Brooklyn loved running ahead and jumping off rocks.  She even found a rock that she called her bed.  Emily was really good about walking along with Brooklyn.  Carrying her in the pack was a little easier today so hopefully it is because I am getting stronger.  Emily and I made it just about to the top of the trail before the snow got too deep.  We were probably within a quarter mile though so we decided it was pretty much the end anyway. 

We decided it was time to turn around and head back before the rain started again.  We thought about stopping to eat lunch but by this time Brooklyn had fallen asleep in the pack so we just kept on walking and ate on the trail.  We ended up hiking about 6.35 miles today.  It's fun having hiking partners.

The next time I went hiking this month it was just Brooklyn and me.  Because it was just us, I decided to hike a well used trail and did the Logan River Trail.  We started at the parking lot at First Dam and headed up the Highline Trail.  This trail took us up a steep switchback before leveling out and following the ridge line around the Logan Canyon.  From here we could see the parking lot and river below us.

Brooklyn and I continued along this ridge line for about 2 miles before the trail sloped back down to the highway.  The views were awesome.  Once we crossed the main road and hooked into the Logan River Trail, I let Brooklyn out of the carrier and let her run along.  She loved jumping of all of the rocks, finding leaves and just running around.  We even found some pretty purple flowers growing out of the cliff side rocks.  We followed the trail and Logan River up to Second Dam before stopping for lunch at the picnic area at Second Dam.  Brooklyn liked throwing rocks in the river there.

After eating lunch we packed up and got ready to continue on when I noticed smoke coming up from a nearby abandoned fire pit.  That was really strange so I walked over to see what was going on.  When I put my hand near the fire pit, it was still hot!  Just then the wind picked up and a little flame started to glow.  I was surprised and knew I couldn't leave without putting out this fire.  Unfortunately I didn't have anything to put it out with.  The picnic area had a really nasty dumpster that was full of garbage and on top was an old juice bottle.  I flicked it out of the dumpster with a stick and decided to use it to put out the fire.  I filled the bottle up with water from the river and dumped it on the fire pit.  I had to do this a couple of times but in a poof of smoke, I put the fire out.  I saved the forest!!  

With the fire out, Brooklyn and I could finally get back to our hike.  We hiked up the trail another mile before turning around and heading back to the car.  The trail was so nice and I loved seeing all of the beautiful scenery.  This trail continues up the canyon for quite a ways so it would be fun to hike other portions of the trail later on.  When we finally got back to the van, we had hiked 8 miles.  After this hike my feet really hurt and felt like they were bruised a little on the bottom.  I was worried it was plantar fasciitis and treated it like it was in hopes of healing it.  I also decided I needed to invest in some better quality shoes if I was going to continue training and hiking as well as training and running a half marathon in a few weeks.  So I bought some trail shoes and immediately my feet felt better.  I guess hiking multiple miles with a 50 pound pack in worn out shoes is not the best idea for your feet.  I'm glad they are healing. 

For work lately I have been helping with field trips and showing off the baby animals.  Brooklyn came with me one day and had a blast with the little chicks and ducks.  

She also liked the goats and especially the baby piglet.  It is fun to see the excitement on her face when she pets the baby animals.  

Charlotte had her final music recital with the Let's Play Music program this month as well.  She has been participating in Let's Play Music for three years now and has learned so much.  For her final recital, she performed a song she composed herself and did an amazing job.

Her song was called "Sunny Day" and she used a lot of arpeggios and chords so it sounded like she was jumping on the trampoline on a summer day.  In the middle of her song she included a minor section so it sounded like a storm had rolled in.  Then she finished the song in the major key so we knew the storm was over and the sunny day had returned. The piece was very good!

After everyone had performed they all received a little trophy and completion certificate for completing the Let's Play Music program.  Charlotte did such an awesome job!!

Charlotte has also started playing soccer this month.  

This is the first time she has ever played soccer on a team and she is loving it.  I wasn't really worried about signing any of the kids up for soccer because they haven't showed interest in it in the past.  This year though Charlotte wanted to play.  She kept asking me when the sign ups were and if she could play soccer.  Her friend, Everett, loves playing soccer so they always kick a ball around when they play with each other. I think that is why she wanted to join.  Charlotte has loved playing though and she especially loves practicing and being with her friends on her team.  I am glad she is getting out there and being active.

Finally, at the end of April we let our butterflies go.

This has become a tradition in our house now. Each year around Easter time, we get a couple of cups of caterpillars and watch them grow and change into butterflies.  The kids like watching their growth process each day until finally it is time to release the butterflies into the world.  Sometimes the butterflies will let us hold them and play with them for a while but other times they just zoom away when we take them out of the enclosure.  This batch had a couple that stuck around but most of them were ready to see the world and just flew away.  It is fun to watch the kids reactions to the butterflies. I think we will continue this fun tradition.

There you have it. Our crazy busy life in April.