A Climb in the Nick of Time

Last year, Colorado made headlines for its raging mountain fires. This year, it made national news for devastating floods. I have never seen the front range as wet as it was during the month of September, and have observed more flood damage in my vicinity than I ever witnessed during all my years in the Midwest. We are grateful that none of this damage reached us directly, and that our home has stayed safe and dry.

The week before the floods, Forest and several of his colleagues from work set out for Rocky Mountain National Park (now extremely difficult to get to because of collapsed roads) and made it to the top of Long's Peak. I'm glad they had a victorious summit . . . and that they didn't choose to hike the following weekend, when the water/snow would have stranded them or swept them away for sure.

 

"It's MY birthday party, right?"

Despite being postponed, Mika's ducky-themed birthday party ended up being pretty successful. We borrowed Whitney's kiddie pool and made a rubber ducky pond . . .

 

 . . . blew bubbles . . .

 

 played "ducky buckets . . ."

 

 . . . decorated duckies . . .

 . . . put them on a ducky pond. . .

 . . . pounced in a bubble wrap "pond . . . "

 . . . ate pretzels . . .

 . . . played "pass the ducky . . . "

 . . . played "duck duck goose . . . "

. . . played "ducky seek and find . . . "

 

 . . . created some cupcake chaos . . .

 

 . . . and just played with friends.

 

 

It was supposed to be a no-gifts party but Whitney snuck a present by anyway--Mika loved the little Rapunzel doll.

 At this point in the day, Mika kept saying, "It's MY birthday party, right?"

 After Daddy came home, Ramona and Mika splashed in the pool (now full of pebbles from the "soup" Ramona and Eva were making earlier) . . .

 . . . and gnawed on some watermelon.

 

Well done, little party princesses.

See you on the other side

This is a photograph of my grandmother that I display in our home. It is one of my favorite pictures of her because it depicts so much spunk.

After spending the weekend with Forest's sisters and their families, it was time to pick up my parents from the airport, head to Spanish Fork, and prepare for Grandma Keturah's funeral.

At Grandma's house, my dad and I worked on arranging a cello/piano number in the living room while Ramona and Mika made flower dollies in the backyard with Uncle Wayne and Aunt Patty.

The funeral service was on Tuesday morning. I was so glad I got to attend, along with all nine of Keturah's other grandchildren. Although funerals tend to be solemn occasions, this event also felt like a celebration--honoring a life that had been full of hard work, happy memories, and faith. The great-grandchildren all came up to the front to sing "Families Can Be Together Forever." My dad and I played a medley of "Abide With Me" and "Come Thou Fount" inspired by the old hymnal left in Grandma's piano bench. Every grandchild got up to share what they most loved about and learned from Keturah.

Following the burial and luncheon . . . 

 

 

 . . . it was time to hit the road and bring our trip to a close.

Thanks for everything, Grandma . . . we'll miss you. See you on the other side.

Labor Day Weekend: Utah

The morning after Mika's birthday, I heard news that my Grandmother Keturah had passed away. She had been back and forth between the hospital and rehab with pneumonia recently, and wasn't able to recover. Her death came sooner than I had expected, but after being a widow for over twenty years, she must have been overjoyed to be released from this life to rejoin her husband Reed. I will miss her, but I felt happy for her, too.

The funeral was scheduled for the Tuesday after Labor Day in Spanish Fork, Utah. Our family decided to leave early and spend the weekend with Forest's sisters, who graciously accepted our last-minute ambush into their homes.

After our drive on Saturday, we spent the afternoon in Salt Lake City with Maria, Josh, and Caleb. The little cousins were glad to see each other . . .

 . . . and glad to run around with the Lichty chickens, as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 On Sunday we attended church with Crissy, Aubrey, and Connor in West Jordan.

 Then we crashed at Aunt Crissy's house.

 

 

The girls got popcorn and a movie that night. (Popcorn was devoured and movie was almost entirely ignored).

 They also got story time before bed. (Not ignored--very much appreciated).

Monday morning Forest and I woke up early to go for a hike. It was so dark (and we were confused enough) that we chose a different trail head from the one we intended.

 Luckily, it wasn't too treacherous. Just dark.

 Eventually, the sun brightened things up enough for us to enjoy some mountain views.

 

 

We didn't "finish" the hike . . . we had a date with the kids at Hogle Zoo and had to get back. (And I was tired). But we felt kind of triumphant, anyway.

 Going to the zoo . . .

 . . . monkeying around at the zoo . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks, Maria and Josh for treating us to the zoo! And thanks to them and Crissy for hosting us all weekend on a day's notice. We love our extended family.