Sacajawea

About 5 minutes from my parents house

is the grave and memorial for Sacajawea.

Kyler had learned about her in school

and thought it was pretty cool to visit this site.

 

 

Look at the colors of this cemetery!

There were so many flowers and

colorful paintings on the headstones.

It was as pretty and happy as a cemetery ever could be.

It was lovely.

 

 

Sinks Slide

My dad went back to work
And so the boys, E, and I
headed back up Sinks Canyon
in search of the natural slide we had heard about.
It was only about a mile hike,
but the heat was getting to us
(I'm so not used to 90 degree weather anymore!).
We took it slow
and the chilly river water was very welcomed
for the most part.

 

 

We made it to our destination.
but unlucky for us,
because of the drought,
the waterfall was teeny tiny
compared to its normal size.
But it was still slideable.

Kacin and Kyler have no fear whatsoever.
They were hardly intimidated by the drop.

 

Eric hesitated, but took the first slide.

 

 

 And survived!

It was Kacin who gave us quite the scare.
It was terrifying for me to watch.
As he was making his way to a spot to slide down,
he slipped before he was ready
and as he went off the edge
he turned
and hit his forehead on the rock.
It was so lucky that he didn't knock himself out.
I was ready to jump in after him,
but he came up out of the water
and swam over to me.
He was slightly shook up and had a little bump,
but was rearing to go try it again.

 So here they went . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, I never did do the slide.
If the water had been warmer
I definitely would have tried.
But I'm not a fan of freezing cold water.

It was beautiful there
and fun to have a natural waterpark to ourselves.

Pioneer

Once you spend seventeen hours in a car,
what's two more?
We decided since we were that close
we really should check out two of the
Mormon Pioneer sites.
No regrets on this one.
Three words kept coming to my mind
as we heard the stories of some amazing people
learned the history and interesting facts,
saw the landmarks,
and experienced a small piece of their journey:
strength, faith, and sacrifice.

 

Now I've heard countless lessons and stories
about pioneers before,
but this time it really sank in for me.
And a few weeks after this trip,
it took on a real life meaning.

It was the Sunday
two days before the kids would come into our home
and two days after we found out they were coming
and three days after Eric finalized a business trip
that would take him away from home for one week.
I was feeling rather concerned that Sunday.
I was sitting at church thinking about how Eric would be leaving me
less than a week after getting two young kids.
And we didn't know all of their needs.
And how in the world would I do it all
when we all know in the past it has been hard enough on me
on my own with our two energetic boys??
I was fretting.
Then I looked over at Kyler who was reading from the Friend magazine.
My eyes fell on the title and pictures of the story he was reading.
It was a pioneer story.
My mind was flooded with the stories I heard while in WY
and of the spirit of the pioneers
and their strength and faith and courage.
And I decided if those women could do that,
I could do this.
I could.
It would be hard, I was certain.
But unlike the pioneers,
I would have a cell phone to talk to E
a computer to skype
and
the convenience to run to a local fast food joint if I needed to.
I was comforted.
I was resolved,
well until the next wave of worry washed over me,
but I guess even then,
I was resolved
to just do it.
To just trust in the Lord and do it.

Thank you, pioneers, for the inspiration and courage
to face a challenge.