Midway and Missions

In July, my parents got three condos in Midway for all of us to stay. It was such a great vacation! Each condo had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a murphy bed and a kitchen. My parents and Emily had one, my brother Dave and his family had one and we had one. They were all right next to each other and across the hall so we could go from place to place while still having privacy (and a quiet spot for sleeping babies). They were also on the golf course with the mountains right behind. It was beautiful!

It was nice because it was only an hour away, so not much traveling, yet as soon as we got there it felt like a very remote destination. And I was instantly relaxed once we got there. Instantly there were no projects to do there. Mostly, we just relaxed and hung out together. We played games, ate meals together and watched movies. We took walks on the golf course almost every night. We got to go inside the crater at the Homestead where they have natural mineral springs and walk on top to look inside. Really cool.

This is one of the walks we took.

 And on our way back.

  

 One day we went fishing. Alex caught the first fish!  

We caught 7 in all and Becky cooked them up for dinner. Yum!

Erin caught a baby frog.

 And they all fed the ducks. We were noticing on this trip that the kids almost always sit or stand in order. We don't make them do it, it just ends up this way so much. Kind of funny.

 One day we took a "mile" long hike, which turned out to be about double that. This is everyone except for Jared, who was taking the picture. Not sure if my outfit, greasy hair and backpack straps from the baby carrier could be any any less flattering (I figured I would be hiking, after all), but everyone else looks good.

 Sweet Hallie fell asleep.

We flew kites twice. The first day wasn't windy enough, so we tried again another day. It was perfect. We had like 8 kites for all of us and everyone had a fun/relaxing time. A few of them got stuck in trees, but I'm pretty sure you haven't flown a kite if you haven't had one get stuck in a tree before. As we were all sitting there on the grass watching the kites in the air, my dad commented that there was nothing better than this, meaning being with family and doing something in nature that is so relaxing. Basically meaning that everything is right with the world at that moment. That's how it felt.

The girls spent a morning shopping at the outlets in Park City while Jared and the boys went on a walk/excursion. Jared learned how to ride the rip stick on this trip. Too bad I didn't take any pictures of him doing it. It is no surprise that he could pick it up so well. He is so athletic. My brief try at it was both non-athletic and terrifying. I have children to think about now!

We went on a couple of crazy mountainous roads on this trip. One was Cascade Springs where we followed a sign saying it was 7 miles away. Not too bad... until we got on the windy, bumpy and cliff side drop off road! Crazy. We went the long way home just to avoid it. The other one was a wrong turn that we missed. We ended up going up this steep, windy road and over the mountain into Park City when we were almost out of gas! Again, a little scary. I have always hated those steep roads that make you feel like you will slip off the road at any moment.

We also went to a parade in a neighboring town where my kids made out with a good amount of candy. And it's always great for the adults because the kids do the work gathering up all the candy and we get to have some (after the right amount of begging that is).

The first Sunday on the trip was my nephew Sam's mission farewell, which we came back for. He gave a great talk. I am so impressed with that kid. He has grown up to be such a friendly, kind, funny, spiritual, talented and smart kid. He took tons of AP classes and got straight A's in all of them. He is an amazing trumpet player and can play just about anything on the piano in any style or any key, by ear. He's pretty much a genius. He was the sterling scholar for music and made it to the state level. Anyway, I am just proud to know such a great person and know he will be a great missionary in North Carolina. He will be missed!

The next Sunday was my parents' mission farewell. Their talks were both really good too. The week after that we got to go to their house to see them get set apart as missionaries. It was a very spiritual time to get to hear everyone talk about my parents and hear their testimonies as well. They are going on a Family History Center mission in LA. I have always seen my parents do family history, especially my mom, and I am so grateful for all the work that they have done. Even though I feel like I haven't always been that interested in it, I have also felt strongly lately that there is not much of a better way to spend your time than doing family history and temple work. It is lasting and so important for our ancestors to receive their ordinances. A few weeks ago we all got to be part of a sealing session for many of the names my mom has found. I felt the spirit so strongly while we were there and received personal insights as well. Anyway, I am just grateful for all that my parents do and are doing on their mission. Luckily, we get to talk to them regularly and hopefully will get to make a visit or two during their time there, so it's not as sad (even though we won't see them as much).