Sunrise over Mt. Timpanogas. I know I am home when I see these mountains. I grew up in these mountains. I have traveled a lot of places and minus Mt. McKinley in Alaska and some mountains in Colorado, very few mountains can even be classified as mountains when compared to these. I love my mountains. Our favorite thing to do in Utah is to spend time in the great outdoors with our friends and family.
Brian and I went hiking up Battlecreek canyon one morning and ran into this homeless guy toting a pistol and a giant hunting knife. He cornered us in the woods and said, "Let me tell you the secrets of this canyon." Okay, weird--but we both looked at his weapons and thought, "Do we really have a choice in this?" He turned out to be just an incredible geology enthusiast, but it made for an awkward moment as we debated whether to hear him out or make a run for it.
This is my nephew Eli. He is the spitting image of my little brother, Justin. Justin is in the Navy and is currently on a ship somewhere in the Indian ocean. His wife and four children came home to Utah for the summer, which was fantastic for us because we haven't seen them in years. The cousins were so excited to be together again.
While home in Utah, Brian got to attend his 20th class reunion--which was really fun for him. (Me, not so much--my old boyfriend was there and he wouldn't come near me. Shouldn't there be a statute of limitations on these things--or I should say "flings". Seriously? Twenty years and he's still not over it?) It was also Strawberry Days, which is an ages old tradition in our hometown. This night was the concert in the park and alot of my old high school friends were there with their families. My friends Mitch and Beth were there with their two adopted children from the AFAA house and they took off with Diamond to go dance near the stage and pick up chicks. When Brian went up there, Diamond was break dancing and was surrounded by a group of 8 to 12 year old girls.
On the Top side of the family, there are a lot fewer cousins and they're the same ages as my youngest four kids. That means the oldest three kids get to do family bonding the form of babysitting the younger cousins. They're good sports about it, but I think they prefer the Simons side family get togethers to be with their other teenage cousins.
Lucky me, while we were there, my littlest sister, Janey, gave birth to her second child--a little girl named Blythe. She was three weeks early and weighed 5 lbs. I've never held a baby that size before. Not to mention I haven't been around babies at all for years. It was lots of fun to be able to see my brand new neice. That happens so rarely in our lives since we live so far away.
Brian staged these light saber pictures by posing the kids and then holding glow sticks up close in front of the lens of the camera. I thought it was pretty ingenous method of cheap special effects.
The night before we returned to Korea, we had the "Cul-de-Sac of Fire" dance competition and fireworks display. It was so much fun until the police officer showed up and told us to end our fireworks display due to the fact that were already far too many brush fires burning the drought stricken hills. Nonetheless, we still were thrilled to spend the 4th of July in the U.S. Somehow it loses it's excitement when you live overseas!
I know we are so blessed to have such wonderful, relatively functional families to go home to on vacation. My children are lucky to grow up with cousins and aunts and uncles who love them and are really great people. When I was growing up, I had no cousins and most of my aunts and uncles were drunk or taking painkillers. Family get togethers were awkward, fake and involved a lot of drunken arguments. Don't get me wrong, they're good people--but I am so thankful for the family my kids get to grow up with and enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment