Wow, what an eventful week! When we last wrote, we were hanging out in Cedar City between family reunions, getting ready to head to the Big Rock Candy Mountain Resort for the Hugh reunion.
Mom, Amber, Christy, and I got up early Monday morning to get a run in. They did about 4.5 miles and I did a little over 7. We then came back to Karl & Christy's, showered, picked up a few last-minute items at the store, and packed up for the 1.5 hour drive to the resort.
The "resort" is split by the main road (highway 89), with motel rooms on one side of the road, and cabins on the other side, next to the Sevier river. Kent Lee and his family arrived and we all explored around the ropes course/zipline area (Both Kent Lee and Karl had been to this area before with their scout troops). At 3pm was our first scheduled event: whitewater rafting. We rafted about 7 miles down river, and there were actually some good rapids. Everyone got plenty wet and all had a fun time. The river was running fairly high, despite the drought, as it is fed from a reservoir upstream and is regulated for use in farming downstream.
That evening, we played a lot of volleyball (Christy had brought a net) and tried to avoid getting too many mosquito bites! After dinner, Grandpa Hugh did a fun powerpoint type presentation with some family history, sharing stories from his days in Kanab regarding how he and grandma met, and some related experiences from his youth. It fit right in with our Stake 142-day temple/family history challenge! We had homemade ice cream and cake (a belated celebration for G&G's 53rd? wedding anniversary).
On Tuesday morning, Mom, Amber, Christy, and I went out for a run along a bike path that lines the river bank for miles. We went down about 4 miles, where Karl drove down and picked us up. The big event Tuesday morning was the zipline tour, which everyone found to be fun and a bit scary at the same time.
Below the zipline were various rope lines and obstacle-course-type equipment for everyone to play on, including a ladder bridge and tightrope that both spanned the river. We all had fun playing around on that equipment till about lunchtime.
Grandpa had rented a Ranger (4-person quad) from a nearby town (Marysvale) for a quadding trip up in the mountains the following morning, and we decided we would try to join in by renting an additional quad. So, a group of us went to nearby Marysvale to check out the options. Luckily, they had one 2-person quad left for rent, so it worked out perfect. We rented it for 24 hours (noon to noon), and drove the quad and G-pa's Ranger back to the resort.
By that time, everyone was gearing up for a river float trip, where we would drive 4 miles or so upstream from the resort and float back down on rafts, kayaks, floaties, or just a lifejacket. The river in this section is really calm, so it sounded like fun at the time. Well, given the time of year, monsoon clouds started rolling in just around the time we were getting in the river. Long story, short, it ended up raining a bit, even some lightning/thunder and got a little cold (particularly for folks like me, who were just in lifejackets). After a teeth-chattering 3 miles or so down the river, I finally just pulled out at a spot and walked the rest of the way back to the resort. It wasn't really that bad, but I think we were all glad to be back at the resort when it was over. :-)
That evening consisted of quad riding, more volleyball, card games, big bubble blowing, and other games and conversation. It was a fun/relaxing time. We had run out of bug spray at that point, so everyone was covered up in long pants, jackets, and hoods to keep the mosquitoes at bay. It was only partially successful, and I think everyone came home with at least a few bites (and others with a lot more than that!). By the way, how are the bugs in Peru?
Anyway, the reunion was officially over that night, with the plan being that everyone would pack up and go home Wed morning. As mentioned, though, Grandpa and the Karl Hugh's were going on a quad ride up in the mountains, and we joined in, spending all of Wednesday morning, roaming the mountains, along creeks, rivers, beaver dams, waterfalls, beautiful vistas, and fair amount of dust :-).
We had a great time and arrived back at the rental place just before noon. Mom and Karl had shuttled our cars down to the rental place before we left in the morning, so we were able to just hop in and hit the road for home.
We had to stop in Kanab on the way back because we had accidentally forgotten a couple of pillows there over the 4th of July. We also stopped and got ice cream/shakes. Then it was cruising for home.
We were making good time and hit Camp Verde about 6:30 pm. As we were climbing the big hill out of CV, our engine overheated and we pulled off to the side of the road. All of our coolant had leaked out ... We waited for it to cool down, made phone calls to the insurance (for potential towing, if needed) and to Bishop Ralph to see if he could give us some mechanic-guidance. He suggested we fill the radiator reservoir with water (once the engine cooled) and try to nurse it back down the hill to Camp Verde and a gas station to see if we could find a hose and fill it/see where the leak was coming from. Well, we were able to get down the hill and to a gas station, but when we filled the reservoir, it just leaked right out the bottom. Ugh. The insurance agent gave us the name of a towing company, and though we ended up not needing a tow, the towing company gave us a number for a mechanic that would do after-hours calls. We called him and were able to nurse the suburban over to his garage, which was about 8 miles away. It was a pretty sketchy garage, but we were just grateful that we could get it fixed and weren't going to have to spend the night in Camp Verde. Turned out that our water pump was shot/leaking, which was causing the problem. I guess that was good news, b/c it's less expensive than replacing the radiator. It still cost us $550, but we were back on the road by9:30 pm and happy to get home around midnight.
An eventful trip, but lots of fun (except the last event/car issue).
In non-vacation news, Kent and I did our last training hike for Mt. Whitney yesterday. We were thinking of going back up to Flagstaff to hike Kendrick Peak for the a little more altitude acclimatization, but I couldn't stomach another 5 hour road trip, so we opted to stay fairly close by and hike Thompson Peak in the McDowells (same range as Sunrise Peak that we hiked on New Years before you left). It was hot (as we expected), but we had some wispy clouds that gave some relief, and we were on the trail by around 6 am, and were done and on our way homme shortly after 11 a.m. 10.4 miles, 2300 ft. elevation gain. The views from the top were nice. Next week at this time, Kent and I will be on our way to Yosemite and then to Mt. Whitney the following Wednesday.
Mom and the girls are off to girls camp tomorrow. I'm going up Tuesday to help with rappelling, then hustling back home to catch a flight to Minneapolis on Wed morning for depositions. I'll be back in Gilbert Thursday night. Then, it's prep for my trip with Kent.
Well, I need to sign off, but we love and miss you. Everyone at the reunion asked about you and we were glad to report that you are having a great experience. Keep up the good work!
Love you tons,
Dad
Hope you are having a fantastic week! We love you so much. Getting together with family allowed us to chat a lot about you:) as well as the other missionaries in our family. Look for a couple of letters soon (relatively speaking that is)! I am sending some of the pictures (hard copies) of our trip. Did you ever get my last letter that had pictures? Please make sure you let me know when you get anything from me. Sometimes I feel like I am sending them but that they might get lost in the abyss! It seems to take so long to get to you:(. I just keep a prayer in my heart that they get there! In fact I am going to send you a birthday package in the next couple of weeks. Any requests?
The last week was the busiest of our summer so far. Dad did a great job with all the details so I won't double up. It was fun to see all the family.
Girls camp is tomorrow. I am really trying to have a good attitude about it. I'm sure it will be great. Amber is excited to go to 4th year camp. They will be camping in tents. Hopefully it will all get good. We got a super hard rain storm today (first one since the cultural celebration in March). In fact all the fire restrictions have been raised on the rim so they will be able to have camp fires. I think they will be camping near the blue ridge reservoir (where we canoed and swam when you were a 4th year). The bad part of Amber being in the grade younger is that all the 4th years that she is going with will be sophomores in the fall. I told her that it will be good for her to get to know more girls and that it will be fun to see them at school. I hope she believes me and makes the most of the experience. Hopefully we will have some missionary experiences while you are gone too!
Paige and Karisa are going to be YCL leaders together over the 3rd years in our ward. Karisa was going to originally go with Bridlegate, but now she is going with our ward (with Paige). She has met with the missionaries once, but it was kind of a flop. Paige said the elders didn't really teach a lesson that she and Brother Carr did most of the talking and then the elders never set a followup appointment or anything. So tonight Paige asked me if the missionaries in our ward (still sisters, but different ones than you went with when you were here could meet with her. I will have to look into it and see what we can arrange.
All the stuff that I am a part of at camp this year is finished on Wednesday before lunch. Since Dad is not in the Bishopric anymore I don't have to stay, so we are leaving early:). Everyone else will be back on Thursday morning. I will miss the testimony meeting, but Dad has to leave town on Wednesday, so it is better that I can come home early.
This past Saturday, Sister T. had the missionaries come and help them pick up pods at Doris's house. I am always surprised at how the missionaries (there were 6 of them, 2 I know and 4 I didn't (2 sisters and 2 elders) don't take the opportunity to introduce themselves and always leave it up to the members to make the first move. It honestly does not inspire a lot of confidence in me as a member to trust that they can build relationships with my friends. I know that you are jumping right in and helping people feel comfortable because that is what you do! I brought them some Gatorade because it was so hot and the only ones that said ANYTHING to me (not even a thank you from the others) was the sisters from our ward. Maybe they felt that since they weren't serving in our ward that they don't need to worry about getting to know me? Maybe I was over analyzing the situation. I know that as a missionary you wear a different hat than one that they may be used to and it may take some time for them to get used to stepping out of their comfort zones. I hope that you are taking every opportunity you can to get to know everyone!
Just a quick side note, could you include ________ in your prayers? ___ is struggling with some things right now and need some extra faith on ____ behalf, it is personal and so I won't go into the details, but I think missionaries have some strong faith and can work some might works!!
On a side note, I know you don't get Jacob's letters, so I just will tell a bit of what is going on with him. His Spanish is not quite as great as he thought and he is being stretched, but loving it. He has a native companion who speaks No English (sound like something you can relate to?). I think he leaves the CCM this week and heads out into the field.
Ryan has less than a month left on his mission...now that is CRAZY! Kim is going to go to MCC in the fall so she and Ryan can spend a bit of time together.
Kamille H. is going to...yes you guessed it...UVU! McKenna is going to go to Dixie (in St. George) and is excited for the change.
Well, that is all for now! Love you so much! I am thrilled about your Spanish and thankful for the Lord answers to a mother's prayers. Have another amazing, fantastic week!!
Love,
Mom
