Labor Day and home

 


We spent Monday at the gorge before we drove home to get back into life.  Adrienne and AJ took their boat and went as early as possible (considering the temperature) to get in some surf and wakeboard runs.  Caitlyn, Roy and I decided to go on our own boat so we could paddleboard and kayak.  We found a very quiet, peaceful cove and enjoyed our last day there.  

I mentioned in last week's letter that Todd was the holdout, being the last to start school, but I was wrong.  Cam started his preschool after labor day.  

Harvey didn't want to go to kindergarten.  He's giving mom a hard time.

Max' middle school picture

Dojin invited Roy and I to Grandparent's Day.  It was a lot of fun to meet up with him in the library and do a craft, answer some interview questions and do the Hoki Poki.  Well, I did the Hoki Poki and thought he was doing it with me.

Jieun painted a picture of our Wyoming home.  Roy framed it and hung it at the cabin.

Saturday I drove to Logan to spend some time with the Vances while Roy did chores at the cabin.  He picked up the lawnmower (he'd had to have the starter fixed again); unloaded firewood, moved sheet metal to where it will hopefully be less dangerous (it's razor sharp and was just lying in the garage), among other chores.  In Logan I attended Ruby and Greta's last soccer game of the season (they won).  We went to lunch and then I stayed with the kids while Crista and Matt went to the temple.  It's hard for them to leave the kids for more than an hour with Zack when the kids have no way to call them.  Zack slept the whole time they were gone, so my job was easy.  We played outside most of the time, having fun playing cops and robbers.  The robbers were captured and put on the tramp.  To escape they had to throw all four balls off the tramp without the cops being able to get any back onto the tramp.  The game was refined when Matt got home...it was revised so the cops could also win if they got all four balls onto the tramp at the same time.  I got some good exercise just chasing and throwing the balls.

Ruby and Greta's soccer team

Zack using his new walker and eating some fries that Crista put into his mouth.  He loves playing with paper.

Our cops and robbers game: Greta, Todd, Bridget and Ruby.  Ruby joined at the end, just before here parents got home.  She was enjoying playing minecraft.

One more picture of cute Foster at her dance class.  

Family history for the week: 

My 2nd great grandfather’s (Phineas Wolcott Cook's) oldest son, also named Phineas, was returning from business in Evanston (they lived in Bear Lake). He was driving a wagon for a load of hay for his mother-

in-law. Sitting next to him was his sister-in-law. About halfway to the field, his

brother Henry rode up on a pony and gave him an apple. Phineas H. stopped the

wagon, took out his pocketknife, and cut the apple in half to share with the sister-

in-law sitting next to him. He had just shot a duck and his father’s gun was resting

on the rack. As he handed the apple to her, the gun slipped off the rack and the

hammer struck a bar, pointing the gun directly at his heart just as the gun went

off. He was killed instantly.

His wife, Elizabeth, who was pregnant with her fourth child, says of the accident:

“This was a terrible blow to me.” However, she was able to see some blessings that

came from the accident and express gratitude. One of the blessings that she

shares was that she was feeling extreme, prolonged grief and was inconsolable.  One night

she fell asleep in a fit of tears and had a dream where her husband

came to her. He said, “Lizzie, don’t you know the Bible tells us that we must not

covet other people’s property and you’re doing worse than that grieving over me as

you are doing, as I am needed on the other side more than I am needed here on the

earth.” He then gave her one long loving look and he was gone. She related, “From

then on it seemed like that heavy weight that was hanging over me was lifted and it

was not so hard for me to reconcile myself to my loss.”

(More details are available on page 255 in the book Phineas Wolcott Cook, A Legacy of Faith).

I also found in my reading this week that Phineas was the founder of Garden City, Utah.  At great expense, he had a canal dug from Swan Creek down to Garden City. He planned the city, laidout the plots, sold them and developed the city.  Once there was water there, it was easy to attract settlers.  We owe a lot to our ancestors for their sacrifices and their example to us.