Halloween and Trip to Ticaboo and Happy Birthday to Zack!

 Each week I read all the letters my siblings share about their families and each week I am inspired by each of them.  This week I want to share something Christine wrote in her letter.  I'm sure I've heard the quote before, but it was a great reminder for me.  Hopefully you can all glean something from it as well.  Christine quotes from from Sarah Sun Kanell’s book called Made For This. 

“In the middle of the story, Eve ruined everything. In the middle of the story, Joseph was rotting in prison. In the middle of the story, Noah built a boat for a storm that wasn’t coming. Moses wandered for forty years. Hannah was infertile. Isaac was not coming back from that hike. Jonah got stuck in a whale. Mary was going to get broken up with. Bethesda was too far. The Egyptians were too close. It was just mud. Lazarus was dead. And Jesus Christ underwhelmed the Jewish nation, was hung on a cross, and dashed all hopes of the revolution that had been hoped for thousands of years. Everybodywas ready to close the book on these stories.”

But those stories were not over, and neither is ours.

Sarah Sun Kanell continues, “Joseph became second-in-command. The entire earth was flooded. Milk and honey were everywhere. Hannah rejoiced. Isaac was spared.  Nineveh repented. Mary became the mother of the Messiah. The paralytic leapt. The Red Sea parted. The blind man washed his face and could see. Lazarus was just kidding. And Jesus Christ pulled off the resurrection, defeating sin and death. And the earth that Eve thought she ruined was restored for all eternity.”

"Our modern prophets and leaders have counseled us on this same topic. President. Ezra Taft Benson taught, “Men and women who turn their lives over to God will find out. that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can.” Our dear prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, has asked us: “Are you willing to let God prevail in your life?” LDS Professor Adam S. Miller has said, “God’s work in your life is bigger than the story you’d like that life to tell. His life is bigger than your plans, goals, or fears. To save your life, you’ll have to lay down your stories and, minute by minute, day by day, give your life back to Him.”

This is a great reminder that we are all in the middle of our stories.  We can have faith and keep reaching up to Christ. 

Our sweet Zack turned 2 on November 1.  He is growing fast.  Last time I held him I was surprised by his weight and size.  He's reaching his milestones, just a little slower than his siblings. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZACK, 
WE ALL LOVE YOU!

From all the pictures I received, I could see that everyone had a great Halloween.  Roy and I had our own celebration in Ticaboo, Utah.  We went together (yes; I went, too!) on a side X side ride.  We had a short ride Thursday evening, and two long rides Friday and Saturday.  I have always appreciated the beauty of Lake Powell when on the water; but I didn't realize how extensively the beauty continues in the surrounding land.  First I'll share pictures of everyone else's Halloween; then I'll tell a little bit more about our party.

Avie: Corpse Bride (her beautiful light skin lends itself to creepy costumes)

Ori as Hermione

Effie as Snow White

Camden, flying squirrel

No--Not Halloween! This was church on Sunday.  Hair by (Ori?)

The Girl with a Bad Case of Stripes

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Dojin, Yuli and Hyeji (I'm missing pics of Doyeon and Yuna)

Yuli is Rumi from Demon Hunters.  Her cousin Beverly is also dressed as Rumi

Mav

Harvey with a friend

Max

Cub

Finn and Cub

Adrienne's kids are all in this picture with neighborhood friends.  Gunnar is the tall one in the back.  Ollie is in the orange jacket, Finn is front left, Ila is 2nd from right.  Cub is in the back by Gunnar.

Not sure, but I'm guessing Ila.

This one's better because you can see Ila's cute face.

Checking out the haul: Greta, Ruby, Bridget, Todd, Zack and Matt

Ruby

Bridget (Moana)

Greta (Katara, from The Last Airbender)

Crista

Zack and Todd: transformers from the movie "Transformer"

Jordan, Elijah, Foster and Jennie

Dallin and Caitlyn.  They didn't dress up, but I wanted to include them.  They came to my house to pass out candy for me and Roy.

Avie was diagnosed with Auditory Processing Disorder.
She got her "aids" this week.  Nick and Sara are calling them aids because there is no problem with her hearing; just a problem with processing what she hears.  Her teacher will wear something that will take her voice directly to Avie.  We're grateful to live in a time where we can get help for so many different issues.

Our Halloween weekend started on Wednesday when we drove down to Helper to check out Main Street and the museum there.  We wandered the streets and enjoyed looking in the various shops and galleries that were open.  It's a pretty slow town when summer is over.  The museum highlighted the history of the town.  The history of the town was shared over four floors in the museum.  We enjoyed learning about what went on there.  Over the years there were at least 3 major mine explosions.  The coal there is pure and even a tiny bit of oxygen can ignite it.  The first explosion was 1900, 1963, and 1984.  I thought that the mines had closed down because of the danger, but they are still mining in the area.  Some of the mines are closed because they are on fire.  

It seems to have largely escaped settlement from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because of the coal mining there. Instead they had brothels and gambling dens and bars, etc.  The brothels lasted until the mid 1970's, which surprised me.  I guess there were some pioneer's there, however, because one of the interesting displays was about Teancum Pratt; son of Parley P. Pratt.  He had two wives and 22 children.  He was involved in the United Order there and spent time in prison for being a polygamist.  I asked the curator if he was related to PPP, and was told "no."  Then I read the story on the wall and saw that he was a son.  He died sometime after being released from prison by falling down a mine shaft.  

After leaving Helper we continued on to Green River.  One of the couples (Brian and Amy Davis) in the side X side club told Roy they were going a day early and staying all night in Green River to break up the ride.  Roy thought it was a great idea and made reservations at the suggested B&B, then found out that Brian was talking about next week (there is a ride every weekend in November).  We were still glad we did our trip this way because we had a great time in Green River.  The Inn was darling with lots of cute touches.  The owner was also the breakfast chef and the food was delicious; made to order!  Roy took a picture of me with the hotel owner.  He was very friendly, but I don't remember his name.  We also took a picture of Roy eating the delicious breakfast. Eggs, sausage, potatoes and toast; all cooked perfectly.  We were surprised to find melons still available for sale at a farm stand.  We bought one that's supposed to be good at Thanksgiving, and one that's supposed to be good at Christmas.  We also bought several winter squash.

Buying melons in Green River

Our first ride in Ticaboo was a night ride to a slot canyon.  

To show just how narrow the canyon was, I took a video.  We were perfectly fine, but one of the guys (Dave Schoss) hugged the wall too closely and got a good scratch on his brand new vehicle.  

On Friday's ride, the Ticaboo loop, there were so many different rock and desert formations.  We had a paleontologist lead the ride and explain some of the different sites we saw along the way, such as the uranium mine.  

The real fun began after Friday's ride.  There was a costume contest and a side X side decorating contest.  I helped Linda and Dave Schoss get their side X side gussied up.  I'm not that into this kind of thing, so we didn't decorate, but we should have because everyone who did (all four couples) were pronounced winners and given a two night stay + a jet ski rental.  Because they gave out so many, the 3 couples that won from our group  were told they had to share the jet ski.  I'm not sure how that'll work out.  The pictures give a little taste of the fun we had.  We made some new friends and associated with some that we've known for a little bit longer.

This was our group: Dave and Linda Schoss; Roy and me; Lynn and Cassie Thomas; and Amy and Brian Davis.  We're standing in front of two of the winning vehicles.  Schoss' and Davis'

Ticaboo employees.  Josh, the paleontologist that guided our ride on Friday.  Maddie; who worked the front desk along with misc. jobs.  and (her boyfriend) Mike.  He was in charge of everything and led our ride on Saturday.  Maddi is from Newnan, GA. Roy guessed immediately that she was from Georgia because of her accent and because she used "Sir" and "Ma'am" excessively

Dave and Linda in front of their fancy Halloween side X side

Amy and Brian Davis.  New friends.  Roy's done rides with them before, but this was the first I'd met them and we had a great time together.  The blond hair is a wig.  Their costume and "car" is from a movie I haven't seen called, Talladega Nights.

Lynn and Cassie Thomas; new friends and new to the club.  

I told Roy that we're more social now than we've ever been.  We have friends from the club, friends at the Gorge and friends from our Israel trip.  

Saturday we rode all around the Henry Mountain range.  

Saturday's sunrise

Henry mountain

Petrified wood

This piece of petrified wood was embalmed into the rock face.  We were able to find a couple of specimans of petrified wood to bring home.

On the way home we stopped with the Davis' for breakfast at the Slickrock Grill in Hanksville.  They live in Morgan but are originally from Virginia.

It was a great trip, but I'm always glad to get home and sleep in my own bed.  Tomorrow, Roy leaves for Vermont for a conference and when he gets home on Wednesday night, he'll pack for another weekend jaunt.  I'm grateful he has a hobby that he loves.  I think it keeps him young and active.  

One more cute picture from the week: Elijah