My man is 59

 

My tribute to my dear husband this year for his 59th birthday (June 24), is to give him a shout out for his exceptional fathering skills and to thank him again for the huge impact he had/has on the lives of our four children.  

My sweet husband is a kid in a man's body.  Because of this fact, he was and is a great father/grandfather.  Our kids were so fortunate that they grew up with a dad who loved to play with them, take them on adventures, spend time with them and just have a good time.  It was a very rare exception for him not to attend every one of their tee-ball, soccer, soft-ball, baseball, football, basketball, cross country, track, tennis events or music recitals, church events or honor nights.  If they were performing, he was in attendance.  His support knew no bounds, even with his very demanding time schedule.

Our daughter Claire wrote this list of games the kids played with their dad a number of years ago and gave the list to him.  The games bring back so many good memories of a dad who really loved his children and who loved to horse around with them.  Oh, and don't forget about watching Pee Wees playhouse every Saturday morning (I personally hated that show) with their dad, going to the Snack Shack behind our house with a quarter for a treat and of course going on "adventures" almost every Saturday afternoon to the BYU campus to tour around the buildings, run at the track, spend a quarter at the candy jar candy counter and get their dose of indoctrination for the week.  They also attended dozens of BYU athletic events over the years with their dad.  Most Saturdays consisted of doing chores in the morning as a family and then dad taking off with the kids for an activity while mom had some much needed time to get other things done.

My dad is a fun and funny guy, and used to like to play a lot of different games with us
when we were kids. A sampling:
Guess The Person - one person would think: of anyone on the planet: dead or alive, real or
fake, and everyone else had an unlimited number of questions to figure out who they
were thinking of. Sort of a variation on 20 questions but without a limit.
Get a Quarter - if you were the first to see Bear Lake, or to count 100 cars on a train, or
see the Pacific Ocean, your reward was one shiny Washington
Barber Chair - stand in front of someone who is sitting on a chair with their legs bent in
the air. Place your bottom on their feet. Wait for them to kick and send you flying
through the air.
Direction Choice - everyone would pile in the car and each kid would get two or three
turns to decide at each intersection: go right, left, or straight. We woud up at some pretty
interesting places around town.
Music Appreciation - Sunday nights at our old house, we would pile around the big stereo
containing one of the first-ever CD players, and listen to a selection of my parents'
favorite music, from classical to Weird AI, Journey, Chicago and Stix to Phantom of the
Opera and Whitney Houston
Count the Chins - during Conference, count the number of double, triple, and quadruple
chins present in the choir. I still can't watch them without doing this.
What religion?- admittedly a horribly judgmental game. While driving on the freeway,
look at the cars next to us and decide if it was likely they were of our same religion or
not. Obviously some of the smokers and long-haired people were, but this didn't stop us
from guessing.
Kickball - play a game of kickball in the front yard (measuring approximately 15 by 40
feet) of the old house for hours on end
Ride the Bumper -jump on the back bumper of the Silver Bullet that my dad used to
drive to work, and ride on the back of the car as he drove up the driveway upon arriving
home. Sometimes he would even back up into the neighbor's driveway and drive up ours
a second time.
Story Time - at bedtime, we heard stories of made-up individuals who lived adventurous
lives. We also heard about all the mischievous behavior that my dad and his siblings
displayed in their youth, including bringing a dog into church in a little basket and having
it start barking during sac meeting, throwing a dummy and a couch off one of the tallest
buildings on campus, egging the neighbors' party, and various other acts that would get a
person arrested now.
State Honk- every time you pass into a new state and go by the big sign announcing
such, honk your car horn seven times in the same pattern. If I'm driving with a nonfamily
member and they don't do this, I always get a bit sad.
Nose Alphabet- plug your nose and attempt to say the entire alphabet without any of the
letters coming out all nasally sounding. M and N are almost impossible to get past.
Knock on the Door - have a little kid close their eyes and mouth. Say this while doing
each step: Knock on the door (forehead), peek in (open their eyes), turn the knob (nose),
walk in (mouth). A favorite of very small kids.
One Guess - think of a person, any person, dead or alive, real or fake. Everyone else has
exactly one guess to divine who you're thinking o£ It may sound like a horrible game, but
can actually provide lots of entertainment, especially when someone actually guesses the
person in just ONE GUESS!

35 years and counting

I've always loved Sundance Resort.  My sister Janet and I took a BYU ski class there in 1975.  I broke my femur at this resort the same year.  I later returned to ski there with our kids and to enjoy the summer outdoor theater a few times with Rick.  We have gone to other places nearby including Timp Lodge and Aspen Grove many times over the years with church groups or work groups.  The canyon and surrounding areas are beautiful on the east side of majestic Mt. Timpanogos.  We've hiked to Stewart Falls with different groups of people at least a dozen times.  It is so close to our home, but it seems like it is so far away.  It is like visiting a mountain resort in a far away state.
When we were making plans for our 35th wedding anniversary, I told Rick that I would like to go to Sundance for dinner and an overnighter.  It was a relaxing get-away complete with good food, a cozy fireplace and a nice cup of hot chocolate out on the porch of our lovely room.  The decor is rustic and the scents are very earthy.  The ambiance is fantastic. The decorations have a Native American flair and the Tree Room has some impressive Native American baskets, rugs and Kachina dolls.  Our wonderful kids and their spouses treated us to dinner and we appreciated their love and support.
Unbeknownst to one another, Rick and I had each written a list of 35 things we appreciated/loved about each other.  As we took turns reading our lists to one another, it was a great walk down memory lane with a lot of laughs and happy, grateful tears and and a great way to recharge ourselves for the good years that lie ahead.
I appreciate and love my husband.  I am one lucky girl to have a good man by my side who knows me so well, who loves me in spite of my faults and who is my greatest champion.  Without getting too personal, let's just say that I did well all those years ago in saying YES to the man I married on June 16, 1979.  Happy Anniversary VFR!

The best part was...

 ...family time spent together.  We were all together for a few days over the Memorial weekend, with the noticeable exception of Dave, Courtney and Charlie.  We missed them. 
We visited, hiked, ate Navajo tacos, attended church at the LDS ward in Chinle, we played games, we had a FHE on family history, we celebrated Will's 2nd birthday, we chased rabbits, we played Frisbee and baseball, we took in the sights and we just loved being together.  The kids had a great time playing with each other and their aunts and uncles and grandparents. Family time really is the BEST time.

Canyon de Chelly

I had never heard of Canyon de Chelly (pronounced de shay, meaning inside the rock.) I didn't even know it existed. We have traveled to many places around Arizona and New Mexico, but we had never traveled this road before.  I love to see new places and learn about them.  This beautiful canyon was no exception.  No only was it beautiful with breathtaking views, but the Navajo history of this canyon is terribly interesting.  It is/was a sacred canyon to them.  They used it for protection, for gatherings, for raising peaches and other crops, for shelter in the winter months and also as a means to warn them of approaching danger when others came into the canyon.  Sounds and echos can be heard from miles away.
Kit Carson was spooked by the canyon.  As he began his campaign as an army commander, he was given the assignment to drive the Navajo out of the canyon. Outlaw Navajos (called ladrones, Spanish for thieves), as well as other Native Americans, and their neighboring New Mexicans, had raided, killed and enslaved each other since they had lived side by side during Spanish rule. Several treaties were made, but they were ineffectual at preventing violence between Americans and Navajos. It is interesting reading to get an idea of what happened in and around Canyon de Chelly by reading the Wikipedia version of events on Kit Carson, starting HERE. and beginning with "The Navajo Campaign." Kit Carson and his troupes used the "scorched earth policy" to drive the Navajo from the canyon.  A scorched earth policy is a military strategy which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area. It is a military strategy where all of the assets that are used or can be used by the enemy are targeted, such as food sources, transportation, communications, industrial resources, and even the people in the area.
Kit Carson never entered the canyon, but he commanded his troupes to drive the Navajo from the canyon and forced them to walk a distance of over 300 miles to be relocated in Bosque Redondo/Fort Sumner in January weather.  300 Navajo died along the trail and the people refer to this forced walk and relocation as "The Long Walk."  A very long walk indeed.  After four years of starvation and other trials at Fort Sumner they were finally allowed to return home.

This from Wiki:
On June 18, 1868, the once-scattered bands of people who call themselves Dinéh (pronounced
 DeNae), set off together on the return journey, the "Long Walk" home. This is one of the few instances where the U.S. government permitted a tribe to return to their traditional boundaries. The Navajo were granted 3.5 million acres of land inside their four sacred mountains. The Navajo also became a more cohesive tribe after the Long Walk and were able to successfully increase the size of their reservation since then, to over 16 million acres. The map below shows the current land mass of the Navajo Nation.  Interestingly, the green patch on the lower left hand side is the Hopi reservation which is surrounded by the Navajo Nation. Tensions between the two tribes continue to this day.

With all the history in mind, you can imagine the thrill we had in visiting Canyon de Chelly over the Memorial Day weekend.  We were able to see the canyon at sunset and again the next day when we stopped at several look out points to view the canyon and then to hike to the bottom along a mile and a half trail through absolutely beautiful scenery.  Our whole entourage was able to make the hike, including two boys in carrying packs on their father's backs and two four year olds who had the time of their lives.  At the bottom we were rewarded with a close up view of the White House ruins that were build by the Anasazi civilizations. Anasazi is Navajo for "the ancient ones." We also got to see the spectacular Spider Woman Rock.  Navajo lore tells that Spider Woman—one of their most honored deities—chose the top of Spider Rock for her home. It was Spider Woman who taught her people the art of weaving, and through many generations they have remained accomplished weavers. Amazing! We were only able to view a small portion of the canyon (some of the north rim) and hope to some day return and view more of this beautiful canyon.

Our daughter Jordan did a great writeup of the trip on her blog HERE.http://jtrainride.blogspot.com/