City of Rocks, Baby Megan, and New Counselor

My birthday was this last Saturday. Ammon and I have been talking about meeting somewhere between his place and mine to go camping for a while now. We finally got to do it this past weekend. A friend of mine recommended going to the City of Rocks National Reserve, just south of Burley, so we decided to try it out.

We also invited others in our family. Angie and Gary’s family met us there and Dawn and Ray came up too. Unfortunately, Erin, Travis, Mom, and Dad couldn’t make it. Mom has been recovering from her surgery and also had back spasms all week. Erin had an emergency c-section and little Megan (spelling?) is doing well. I heard that it was a really traumatic experience for Erin (the baby was coming out “breach” and the nurse had to hold her in for twenty minutes until the doctor arrived for the c-section). I talked to them last night and it sounded like things are going well for both mother and baby now.

The Reserve was incredible! Huge granite boulders and spires struck out of the sandy ground for mile upon mile. We were fortunate to camp in the Twin Sisters campground farther away from most of the climbing routes, but plenty of rock around us to allow the kids to climb around and find little caves and tunnels in the rock. All the kids really enjoyed it and I often spotted Nathan and Bryan at the top of a large boulder or rock cliff, like human mountain goats. The smaller kids found little canyons and small caves to play in. It was fun to see them so excited. Now that we have a big tent and Grant is old enough to handle it, I’d really like to go camping more as a family. Unfortunately, winter is coming again. Maybe we can get a few more trips in before it’s too cold.

Friday night Amy and I made stew for everyone and after roasting marshmallows, we all enjoyed some dutch oven peach cobbler made by Ray and Dawn. We all sat around the campfire and talked until it was dark. After everyone else was in bed, Ammon and I stayed up and talked for a while longer until the bats started flying right past our heads. The next morning, Gary made his dutch oven breakfast and we had hot cocoa and juice. Most of the kids went with Angie and Gary on a good long walk and when they got back, we packed up and drove around the rest of the Reserve. The scenery was incredible and we could see climbers all over the Reserve. At one point as we were driving up the side of the mountain, we looked across the valley and watched two people climb to the top of a huge spire and then stand on the top as if it were a huge platform rather than a tiny peak with a precipice on all sides.

We stopped for lunch at a picnic area with tables and a large old fashioned hand pump to bring drinking water up from a perched aquifer below. The only negative adventure we had was when a bee got into Baily’s pants and stung her several times before we could get it out.

On the way there and the way back, Amy and I read together. We are reading the Lord of the Rings series for my first time and we are both really enjoying it. I thought back on the day and realized how great my birthday turned out. I would much rather spend time with my siblings and family in the outdoors than get lots of expensive presents. I wish the rest of our family could have been there, they would have enjoyed it. We decided to make a trip to the Reserve a yearly tradition. The scenery and terrain is fantastic and it is about four hours for both those in Utah and those in Idaho to get there.

Yesterday I got a new first counselor – Bro. Bender. He will also serve as the Assistant Varsity Coach under Lanson Baumgartner. This week we will be planning for the next six months of activities and I’m excited to have Lanson now be over the Varsity scouts. The Teacher age boys have a little more time to do activities and I look forward to having them get into the outdoors more. We have done very little of that in the Venture program. Last night at Rhet’s eagle court of honor I met the new Stake Young Men’s President – President Mansfield who was just released as bishop of the 20th ward. He informed me of upcoming firesides and events. It was so nice to have the stake actually communicate with me and I’m really looking forward to working with Pres. Mansfield. It feels like things are headed in the right direction. I sure do enjoy my calling and feel like the Lord is blessing me so much.