Age Doesn't Necessarily Equal Wisdom

From the "Age Doesn't Necessarily Equal Wisdom" desk, I bring you the following cautionary tale of woe:

 

Today we attended a football get-together at a park near a man-made lake.  The idea was to bring the members of the team together and have their parents available to meet the coaches and each other.  The other members of my family put sunblock on their exposed body parts.  Somewhere in the back of my head, I believe I was thinking of doing the same thing, but when we reached the park, I saw we could put our chairs in the shade of a tree.  My brain said, "Hey, we're in the shade; we don't need to put any sunblock on!" (Knucklehead thought #1)  As we set up our chairs, one of the parents pointed to a pop-up awning and said, "You can use that area over there if you'd like."  My reply, "Thank you, but I'll think we'll be okay over here." (Knucklehead comment #2)  We arrived at the park just as the first wave of barbecued hot dogs were laid out on the picnic tables and people began to eat (each family was asked to bring a specific additional item--we were in the side dish category and Jen made a noodle salad).  As we all got up to join the line, I noticed the baseball cap I had brought with me.  A thought went through my head about wearing said cap, but I pushed the thought away with the counter-thought, "I don't want to deal with 'hat hair,' and besides, I'm in the shade, I'll be okay." (Knucklehead thought #3)

 

As we got in the car to return home, I was already starting to feel the effects of my several hours in the shade.  I think I asked a couple of times, "Did I get sunburned?"  At first, the reply was, "You look a little red, but I can't tell."  When Jen and I returned from correlation meeting with the missionaries at the Kraus' house, both Isaac and Ben told me how red I was.  I already had a pretty good idea it was bad because one of the Elders said I had a true California sunburn--my sunglasses had kept the skin around my eyes white (it's a full raccoon, hurray!).  Isaac took this picture of me; I tried to look as pathetic as possible.  For some reason, it doesn't look as good in "full view" as it did do when smaller-- the picture below suffers from the same fate.  In the vernacular of the day, I believe this would be called a "fail."  I don't think I'm in the "epic" category only because the shade did offer me enough protection to keep me from being burned beet red--but I think I'm hovering near the "epic" line.

 

I also learned two new things today.  First, Sister Teddy Kraus told me that putting Noxzema on the burned area would help keep the burned skin moisturized and possibly keep it from peeling.  She said she had done this before and it had worked quite well.  Her remedy sounded good to me and I figured it might be funny to walk around the house looking like I had a cold cream mask on my face.  "No, you rub it into your skin," she said.  "Where's the fun in that?" I replied. "I could wake up the boys in the middle of the night and make them think I'm a ghost!"  Jennifer said she had Noxzema at home. "It's old, but I think it's still good," she said.  Sold!  I'd give it try.

The second thing I learned today is that Noxzema doesn't last forever!  Jennifer told me the jar was in the boy's bathroom.  Fair enough.  I waited until everyone had gone to sleep (maybe I was still entertaining ghost thoughts) and retrieved the jar.  Upon opening the lid, I found the Noxzema to be ... a weird orange-brown color.  Strike one!  Hesitant, but still undaunted, I sniffed the contents.  Yikes; smelled worse than it looked!  Strike two!  Still not entirely convinced, I touched the cream with my right index finger ... and came away with a slimy goo!  Strike three!  I'm convinced.  There was no way the stuff was going on my face!

 

Note to self: Next time the vain part of your brain tries to tell you that you don't need sunscreen and the shade of a tree is enough to protect you ... don't listen!  As I wrote at the beginning, sometimes age doesn't necessarily mean one has wisdom.

 

*Here endeth the lesson!*

Baptism (Lesson 20)

*** Now that we’re back from vacation, it was my turn to teach the Gospel Principles lesson concerning the first ordinance of the gospel: baptism by immersion for the remission of sins.  After writing this post, I was looking for pictures to include with it and felt I should look for the baptismal pictures of Jennifer, Ben, and Isaac.  When I found them (Isaac's is the only digital one, Ben and Jennifer's were scanned), I was struck with deep gratitude to my Heavenly Father as I realized I had been given the great opportunity to offer this priesthood ordinance to all three members of my family.  What a great blessing to have been able and worthy to exercise the priesthood in their behalf.  To see the glow and the happiness on their faces brought back wonderful memories for me.  I thank God for this tender mercy.  Their pictures are interspersed throughout this post.  ***

One of the things I find interesting about the 4th Article of Faith is how the first two principles (faith in Jesus Christ and repentance) lead a person to the first two ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ (baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost).  As defined in the Gospel Principles manual, an ordinance is “a rite or a ceremony” (114).  According to President Gordon B. Hinckley, “Baptism is the primary ordinance of the gospel.  It is the gate through which all come into the Church” (Ensign, May 1988, 46).

Jesus expressed the importance of baptism to Nicodemus: “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5, emphasis added).  With this statement, Jesus made it clear that baptism is required if we want to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father.  The Prophet Joseph Smith explained, “Baptism is a sign to God, to angels, and to heaven that we do the will of God, and there is no other way beneath the heavens whereby God hath ordained for man to come to Him to be saved, and enter into the kingdom of God” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 91).  Father’s standard is the same for each of His children.  Even Jesus was not exempt.

The necessity of our Elder Brother’s obedience to this commandment to be baptized was demonstrated when He presented Himself for baptism to John the Baptist.  At first, John expressed surprise, “I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?”  Jesus’ response is important: “Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness” (Matthew 3:14-15, emphasis added).  John’s message from the moment he began “preaching in the wilderness of Judæa,” had been, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (3:1-2).  From his immediate reaction to the Savior’s request for baptism, it appears clear that John recognized who Jesus was and that He had no sins needing to be remitted.  So how did Jesus “fulfil all righteousness” by being baptized?  Nephi asks the same question of his people and then answers his question by explaining: “But notwithstanding he [Jesus] being holy, he showeth unto the children of men that, according to the flesh he humbleth himself before the Father, and witnesseth unto the Father that he would be obedient unto him in keeping his commandments” (2 Nephi 31:7, emphasis added).  Jesus fulfilled the righteous command of His Father by submitting Himself for the ordinance.  He fulfilled all righteousness by demonstrating the importance of being baptized.

Our baptism differs from the Savior because we do have sins needing to be remitted.  Father in Heaven has made it clear that “no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of God” (Alma 40:26).  We cannot expect to be welcomed into the celestial kingdom if we are soiled by our sins.  It is, therefore, important to understand, as Elder L. Tom Perry taught, that “repentance, which is a cleansing process, precedes baptism, which is a cleansing ordinance” (Ensign, May 2008, 45).  The required baptismal prerequisites are for us to be “humble[,] ... come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, ... truly [repent] of all [our] sins, and [be] willing to take upon [us] the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end” (D&C 20:37).

Preparing ourselves for baptism allows us to begin our journey away from worldly inclinations and toward attitudes and actions compatible with God’s will and desire.  As Elder Robert D. Hales explained, “There is a familiar phrase: to be in the world, but not of the world (see John 17:11, 14-17). ... We must therefore live in this world, but we must also resist the worldly influences that are ever before us. Jesus taught, ‘My kingdom is not of this world’ (John 18:36). ... When we are baptized by immersion by one with the proper priesthood authority and choose to follow our Savior, we then are in His kingdom and of His kingdom” (Ensign, Nov. 2000, 7).

Baptism is not a decision to be taken lightly; it is a life changing event.  When a person decides to be baptized, not only does he or she take the preliminary steps I have discussed, but as part of the ordinance, God binds us to our decision through our making a covenant with Him.  Elder Jeffrey R. Holland described a covenant as “a binding spiritual contract, a solemn promise to God our Father that we will live and think and act in a certain way—the way of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  In return, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost promise us the full splendor of eternal life” (New Era, Jan. 2012, 3).

It is very important to recognize, however, that when you make a covenant with God, you are not sitting with your advisers on one side of a mahogany table in a big conference room while Father and His advisers sit on the other side.  You are not in a negotiation.  As Elder David A. Bednar clarified, “It is important to understand that God determines the conditions of all gospel covenants.  You and I do not decide the nature or elements of a covenant.  Rather, exercising our moral agency, we accept the terms and requirements of a covenant as our Eternal Father has established them” (Ensign, May 2006, 28-29).  Father’s terms on non-negotiable, we either accept them at face value or we do not.  Alma the elder highlighted the covenant we make when he explained to his people that they should be willing “to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light; ... to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death” (Mosiah 18:8-9).

The instructions revealed to Joseph Smith concerning the baptismal ordinance and the accompanying prayer are set forth in section 20, verses 73 through 74 of the Doctrine and Covenants:

73 The person who is called of God and has authority from Jesus Christ to baptize, shall go down into the water with the person who has presented himself or herself for baptism, and shall say, calling him or her by name: Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

74 Then shall he immerse him or her in the water, and come forth again out of the water.

Because the words of the prayer was received by revelation; it cannot be altered and must be spoken precisely.  First, the authority involved is stated.  Baptism and every ordinance that follows are performed under the direction and authority of the priesthood.  This authorization is addressed by the words commissioned and of.  One of the definitions of the word commission is “the entrusting of authority to a person;” and one of the definitions of the word of is “originating or coming from.”  Understanding these definitions, we learn that to be “commissioned of Jesus Christ” means that the authority used to baptize originates from Jesus Christ and He has entrusted the designated priesthood holder to complete this ordinance in behalf of the candidate.  In other words, the priesthood holder performing the baptism is standing in for the Savior and Jesus has authorized him to take His place.

After stating who has authorized and entrusted the baptizer with the authority to baptize, the prayer then states that the candidate is being baptized “in the name” of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  In this context the word of is used as an indication of respect.  Thus, the act of baptism is performed in the sacred name of and with respect to each individual member of the Godhead.  Once the prayer has been properly spoken, the candidate is immersed completely under the water to symbolize being “buried with [Christ] by baptism into death;” and the candidate is then lifted out of the water to symbolize being raised “like as Christ ... from the dead by the glory of the Father” (Romans 6:4).  In this manner, the candidate symbolizes the death of the “old man ... of sin” (6:6) and is “raised up from the dead” to “walk in newness of life” (6:4).

As Nephi taught, baptism truly is “the gate by which [we] should enter” (2 Nephi 31:17).  It is not an ending of a journey, but the beginning.  With a desire to humbly come before God and change worldly attitudes and practices, we now step through the gate to begin our journey on the “strait and narrow path which leads to eternal life” and we are prepared to receive “the Holy Ghost” (2 Nephi 31:18) as a companion and guide.  Our Father in Heaven has not, nor will He, leave us alone or unaided on our journey back to His presence:

Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed,

For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.

I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,

Upheld by my righteous, … omnipotent hand

("How Firm a Foundation," Hymns, 85).

I am grateful for the baptismal ordinance and the accompanying covenants.  It is my hope that I may always strive to allow those covenants to lift me above the decay of the world to a higher plane of living.

The Relaxing 2014 Vacation: Returning Home

Our return trip home pretty much took all day, so I’m writing it today instead.  The morning began with an opportunity to celebrate Grace’s birthday.  We gave her the present we had purchased a couple of days earlier and she was very happy to receive it (as can be seen from the accompanying picture).  After breakfast, we prepared to start on our way home.  We couldn’t leave without getting pictures of all the cousins together.  They took a couple of serious pictures and then a couple of crazy pictures.  Can you guess which type this is?

 

After leaving Joanna’s house, we drove back to the Salt Lake City cemetery.  Back in 2011 and the day before, I had looked for the headstone of Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve and not been able to find it.  He was someone I really respected while he was a member of the quorum and I wanted to pay my respects at his gravesite.  I had followed the map Joanna and Chad had made, but the gravesite wasn’t in the area indicated by the map.  We had looked in that area and in the surrounding vicinity, but had not found it.  I had asked Chad the night before about our problem.  He told me the headstone was a little difficult to find, but gave me a couple of clues of other places I might look.  Luckily those clues helped me and we were finally able to find the gravesite.

 

From there, we drove to places where I had lived in Utah before my family moved to Wyoming.  It was interesting for me to see these areas now.  In certain cases, there wasn’t much change, but in others there were a lot of differences.  I forgot to take pictures.  Maybe I didn’t because of the flood of memories that came back to me as I looked at those houses.  From there, we drove toward Provo.  We wanted to see the progress of the Provo City Center Temple before we got on the freeway to head for home in earnest.  I also wanted to visit my brother Jay on the way toward the temple, but we couldn’t get ahold of him on his phone and I didn’t know the directions.  Unfortunately, we were not able to visit him.  As for the temple, during our 2011 visit, as we drove toward BYU for an opportunity to see the football game vs Utah State that year, we drove past the Provo Tabernacle.  It had been gutted in a fire about a week before Christmas in 2010.  Although I had no emotional ties to the building, it was still pretty heartbreaking to see the venerable old building in such ruins as we drove past.

 

Now, the feeling was completely different; from sadness to wonder.  To see the progress that has been made as the former tabernacle is now being converted into a temple was quite remarkable.  A statue of Moroni has been placed atop the new center spire.  At one point during the construction, the outer walls of the tabernacle had been raised on metal stilts in order for work to be completed on the basement and foundation.  Now the façade has been lowered and work is moving in earnest on the outer and inner portions of the temple.  Scaffolding covers the temple all the way around the building.  It looks as though one of the reasons is for the workers to be able to clean the smoke and fire scorch marks off the façade to prepare the building for its new use.  Jennifer wanted to have her picture taken next to the artist’s rendition of the completed temple structure.  After finishing our walk to see how the building was coming along, I drove to the south side of the temple and took a picture of the underground parking structure and the above ground fountains.  I know the temple is scheduled for completion some time in 2015.  I just don’t know what the time frame is at the moment.  If the open house is scheduled at a time when we could possibly make the trip up to Utah next year, I’d seriously consider it.

 

From there it was back on to the I-15 freeway and off toward home.  As it came time for dinner, we remembered the Stake n’ Shake at the South Point casino in Las Vegas.  We are still waiting for the grand opening of the one in our area.  My understanding was that the restaurant would be completed in mid-July, but I keep hearing conflicting time frames.  While we were waiting in line to be seated, I began noticing people who looked as if they had spent time at a comic book convention (there were three people—two guys and a girl in line very close to use who were having a conversation about different Marvel and DC characters).  I looked up the South Point’s website today and found that there indeed is a convention going on there.  I guess it started yesterday and runs through Sunday.  If not for the probable cover charge to get in even at the later hour and the fact that it would probably near to ending for the day, I might have been interested visiting the site.   Oh, well.  My inner geek had to be content with eating.  We enjoyed our food (as usual) and made the remainder of our trip home in descent time.  A very successful, relaxing vacation!  Just what was needed to help recharge batteries and get us ready for the months ahead.  I am very grateful to Mom and Dad and the Stowell’s for letting us stay with them and am grateful for those we were able to visit (and bummed about those we missed).  Until next year … J

The Relaxing 2014 Vacation: Visiting Salt Lake City

Since we are in the Salt Lake area, our visit would not be complete without an actual trip to Salt Lake City.  After arriving on Temple Square, we entered the North Visitor’s Center and walked up the curving, ascending ramp to see the Chirstus statue.  The trek up the ramp was a bit rough on Ben, but he managed with same help from his “human cane” and we set on the benches for a while to rest and look at the statue.  I’ve always liked this particular image of Jesus for the way his arms are depicted.  The outstretched position of the arms suggests a beckoning—either for an embrace or as a way to signify Jesus’ call to “Come unto me” (Matthew 11:28).  A Book of Mormon verse that comes to mind for me when I see this statue is when Jesus tells the people of the Americas that He was lifted up upon the cross that He “might draw all men unto [Him]” (3 Nephi 27:14).  I like how He invites us to Him, but we need to make the move to come up to where He is.  Jesus doesn’t step down to us in the sense that He doesn’t compromise His teachings to conform to us.  We need to humble ourselves and step up to where He is.  A young woman Jennifer approached agreed to take our picture in front of the statue; this is my favorite of the two.

 

Luckily, we located an elevator to get us back to the ground floor.  We decided next to walk around the Temple Square block and take some pictures of the Salt Lake Temple.  This is Ben’s favorite temple, so he made sure we took our time.  There were several wedding parties taking pictures in front of the temple.  It was interesting to watch the family groups move from place to place as the wedding photographer took his or her requisite family poses before breaking the bride and groom from the group to take photos in all the photo album worthy places.

 

From the temple, we entered the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and went to check on the times of the showing of the Joseph Smith film that has been showing there for quite some time.  Two reasons, 1) we all like the film, every time we come to Temple Square we end up seeing it), and 2) Jennifer was an extra in the film.  Back when the file was being produced, she took the boys and drove up to Utah (stayed with Joanna’s family back when they lived in Provo) for a week in order to participate.  She was in the Far West, Missouri expulsion scenes.  At one point she was got scraped up a bit because of an accident during the scene and didn’t want to leave—she felt she looked more authentic that way.  When we first saw the film, we were pretty sure we heard her voice and a scream.  At some point, however, the film was recut to add some things and give it the point of view of Lucy Mack Smith and we’re not sure if Jen survived the reconfiguration.  Either way, it’s a fun family story knowing that she participated in the production.

 

After the movie, we walked back onto Temple Square and then decided to cross South Temple Street to visit the Deseret Book store.  We bought a few things there and wandered out into the new (to us) City Creek shopping mall area.  Joanna had told us about a Farr’s ice cream shop and said it was across the street from the temple.  Ben’s legs were acting up and he needed to sit.  I told everyone to rest and I’d try to locate the Farr’s.  Thus began my odyssey.  I left my family and walked south until I came across a “you are here” sign giving directions.  A moment or three of searching helped me locate the Farr’s on the map.  I plotted a course in my head and began walking.  My path took me east, up to the second level, then north.  Before I knew it, I was standing … on South Temple again (“Are you kidding me?”).  I walked west about 5o yards and there was the shop; if I’d just walked east from where I’d left my family, I would have found the place easily. *sigh!* Just for the heck of it, I retraced my steps back to everyone.  As I was approaching them, I noticed a Polynesian family walking nearby and a young woman who looked familiar.  I was still several paces away from rejoining everyone when Jennifer noticed her and immediately went to give her a hug.  She looked familiar to me because was a young woman from our ward back home who was visiting her aunt and uncle and their family.  If I hadn’t gone through my odyssey to find Farr’s, we would have missed seeing her.  I guess sometimes it pays to do things the hard way. :)

 

Our ice cream was yummy.  Ben was feeling better and he wanted to see the Conference Center, so that became our next destination.  During our time inside the area where general conference is held, Clay Christiansen, an organist for the Tabernacle Choir, started practicing a musical piece on the organ.  During my mission, I had the privilege of hearing Brother Christiansen play the organ in the Riverside West Stake building during the Christmas season.  I heard him again on that same organ a few years later during the same season.  Isaac was manning the video camera at the time.  Since I didn’t want to conspicuously snap a flash picture while he was practicing, I whispered to Isaac to take a video of him in order to preserve the moment.  Turns out he played the piece he was practicing on the Music and the Spoken Word program two weeks later.  Midway through the tour, Ben began to hurt again.  The sister missionary serving as our tour guide left us in the area where the Arnold Friberg Book of Mormon paintings are located to get a wheelchair for Ben.  When she returned and Ben settled into the chair, Isaac quietly grabbed the handles and pushed Ben around for the remainder of the tour.  I was very impressed by that.  We’ve all dealt with Ben’s situation in our own ways over the last several months, but to see Isaac step up and want to be the one to push Ben showed me the love my sons have for each other.

 

Our last stop before returning to Joanna’s house to have dinner with Andrea, Kirsten, Heather, and Joanna’s family was to go to the Salt Lake City cemetery to look for some more gravesites of general authorities and prominent church members.  The visit to President Snow’s gravesite had been the catalyst for wanting to make a return trip to this cemetery.  I mentioned in yesterday’s post that we came to this cemetery in 2011 to find some gravesites.  At that time, we found Orrin Porter Rockwell’s grave as well as those of past presidents of the Church (Hinckley, Hunter, Kimball, Lee, Joseph Fielding Smith, McKay, Joseph F. Smith, Wilford Woodruff).  Since we had already visited many former church president’s grave sites, we decided to look for other earlier church members this time.  We spent such a long time looking for Eliza Snow’s site that we didn’t have as much time as we had hoped.  During our visit this time, we found William W. Phelps’ gravesite as well as Bruce R. McConkie, Hugh B. Brown, Emmeline B. Wells, Daniel H. Wells, William Clayton, Frances Monson, and Jane Elizabeth Manning (one of the first African-American saints).  It’s interesting finding these gravesites and being able to talk a little bit about each of these people and their role in the restoration and moving forth of the gospel.  Tomorrow we’ll be heading back home.

The Relaxing 2014 Vacation: Mini-Excursions

I mentioned in my chronicling of our vacation last year that we like to visit temples.  For last year’s vacation I made it a point to find several along our route and we enjoyed the opportunity to walk the grounds and take pictures.  Today, we wanted to visit some temples nearby Utah temples, so we decided to make a trip to Ogden to see how the construction is coming along on the remodeling of the temple there and to see the recently completed Brigham City Temple.  Before we left, Mom and Dad arrived at Joanna’s house.  They had come to Utah for doctor’s appointments and stopped by on their way back to Wyoming.  It was nice to be able to see them again if only for a brief moment.

When the Ogden Temple was first built, it had the same design as the Provo Temple.  A few years ago, an announcement was made that the design of the temple was going to be changed in order to expand the current temple's capacity.  According to this article back in 2010,seismic requirements and modern mechanical systems were also considerations for the remodeling.  During our visit in October of 2011 to see a session of General Conference, Mom and Dad and I were in Ogden and they took me to see the how the temple was progressing, but I don't think the rest of my family were able to see it.  Since the temple was now near completion (we missed the open house by two or so months, bummer), we thought we'd swing by and check it out.  Because the area was still a construction zone, we couldn't walk the grounds or touch the temple as we like to do, but we were all very impressed by the work that has been completed.  The remodeled temple looks nothing like it did originally, but we all like the new design.  I think it will be a nice addition to the area when the construction is completed.

After stopping at a nearby Wal-Mart to buy a birthday present for Grace, we drove to Brigham City.  I think I visited this small Utah town when I was a teenager, but I don't recall the reason.  Not that it really matters one way or the other.  I guess I mention it because I was a bit surprised at how relatively close it was from Ogden.  I guess I was expecting a longer drive.  By the time we arrived in Brigham City, the weather had become a bit more threatening.  Even though the sky was generally partly cloudy, Mother Nature had settled on scatter showers in this particular section of Northern Utah.  Thankfully, we didn't get rained on since we weren’t really dressed for it (being from California, why would we think we’d run into bad weather in June? :)), but the wind picked up a bit during our visit.  The temple grounds were very nice and the building, as is all of the temples I’ve ever visited, was beautiful.  I always find temple grounds to be peaceful.  Even though the front of the temple is adjacent to a main roadway, the noise of the cars seemed muted somehow.  We walked around the temple, admiring the architecture and taking pictures.  When we came to the front of the temple, I noticed the Brigham City Tabernacle across the street.  From what I understand, it is still used as a meeting house.  I suspect it is thought of by the members in the area in the same way as the Provo Tabernacle—a treasured pioneer built building that continues to have functionality.  It was quite striking, so I took a picture of it as well.

Before we left Joanna's house, she mentioned that President Lorenzo Snow is buried in the Brigham City cemetery.  Back in 2011 when we visited Salt Lake City for a week in October and went to a session of General Conference, we spent some time one day in the Salt Lake City cemetery visiting the grave sites of general authorities and prominent people in Latter-day Saint history.  It was quite fascinating.  When Joanna threw out this little tidbit, we decided to take a look.  With the way Brigham City was laid out, I didn’t have too much difficulty finding the cemetery.  After a bit of looking and a visit to the main office to make sure of our directions, we found President Snow’s grave site.  We thought Lorenzo’s sister, Eliza R. Snow (who served as the 2nd General Relief Society president and who wrote several well-known LDS hymns), would be buried in what appeared to be the family plot there in the cemetery, but were disappointed in our search.  After we returned to Joanna’s house, she showed us on a map she and Chad have put together that Eliza is buried in area several blocks above the Temple Square block in Salt Lake City.  We tried to find the plot the next day when we visited the city, but had a very difficult time figuring out where it was exactly; maybe next time.

Our final excursion of the day was to have dinner with my brother Aaron and his family.  I had talked to him the night before and we had settled on meeting at a Mimi’s Café a few miles from Joanna’s house.  Before we left, I asked for directions and was told how to get there.  It sounded easy enough.  “There’s a big sign,” Joanna assured me. “You can’t miss it.”  The directions were very easy (turns out, I had driven this way earlier in the day), but as I looked for the Mimi’s sign, I couldn’t see it.  I looked and looked and then suddenly … “Wait!  That building!  Wasn’t that?  Oh, man, I missed it!”  As I drove over the overpass and made a U-turn (legal), I kept saying to Jennifer that I couldn’t figure out how I had driven past Mimi’s without seeing the big sign.  Greater insight was received as I came back toward the café.  There was the big sign Joanna had mentioned … but it was blank, empty, devoid of anything to expressly assure me that I had reached the right place.  As I turned into the parking lot, I found Aaron’s car in a very empty lot with a very vacant restaurant in front of us.  Apparently, the place had recently shuttered its doors.  Okay.  This is fun.  Aaron walked over to our car and we joked about our situation for a moment.  He then asked if there was anywhere else we were interested in going.  “Chili’s!” piped up Isaac; Ben quickly seconded the proposal (I don’t think they were really all that keen on Mimi’s).  Chili’s was on the other side of the street and west about 500 yards.  Sold!  After a couple of deft driving maneuvers, we found ourselves in the parking lot of a very active and open restaurant.  Yeah! :)

No sooner did we sit down and order drinks when Ben and Isaac began asking Aaron how he felt about the latest Marvel movies.  From the smile on his face, I got the impression that my brother was impressed with my sons as they gave their own critiques of the movies and offered their own opinions on what would be coming next.  I guess it’s good to know that I’ve raised my sons right.  I think Jen and I have done a pretty good job of teaching them the gospel and I’ve supplemented their schooling with just the right amount of Marvel lore (plus they’ve done a bit a digging as well).  I also tried to bring Anna and Alissa into the conversation so as to not allow the entire evening to be dominated by “guy” talk, but it was fun to see Ben and Isaac engage Aaron.  We had a great time.  I think we were all sorry to have to bring our time to a close.  After we finished eating, we didn’t immediately leave.  The waitress kept coming over and asking if we needed anything more.  Finally, after a few more minutes, we finally left the restaurant.  Jennifer wanted to take pictures before we departed ways.  She told Anna and Alissa she wouldn’t post her picture with them on Facebook; she only wanted the pictures for herself.  I will honor that promise and only post the “guy” photo.  We had a very fun day. :)

The Relaxing 2014 Vacation: A Change of Venue

Our last few hours with Mom and Dad were spent with them this morning.  A pretty good rain fall had happened at some point in the wee hours.  Thankfully, the rain stopped long enough for me to load our luggage and other various and sundry things into the car before starting to fall again.  Most of the dirt the car had accumulated during our almost trip to Lake Alice had been washed away and I could see out the back window--an added bonus.  Mom had volunteered to participate in a Relief Society service to some local ladies living in a nursing home in Montpelier, Idaho and  left before we were able to say good-bye to her.  I guess Jennifer was able take this picture beforehand, however.  Dad seemed to conveniently hide when Jen mentioned picture taking and wiggled out of getting his picture snapped before we left. :)  I guess Mom and Dad will be in Utah tomorrow for doctors appointments.  We should get to see them at Joanna's house.

 

About the time we said good-bye to Dad and piled into the car, the rain began to fall more earnestly.  The storm was very large and seemed to follow us all the way to Joanna's house.  The rain wouldn't stop until sometime in the late afternoon and would actually leave a dusting of snow along the tops of the mountains.  The storm wasn't so bad that driving was made difficult, the rain was steady, not a downpour.  Any outside plans we may have thought about had to be put on hold until tomorrow.  We didn't call Joanna until we had turned off the freeway and started on the city streets toward her home.  By this time, we found out later, she had left briefly to pick up Merritt from his piano lesson.  Consequently, no one answered the phone.  The trip from the freeway to her house didn't take as long as I had anticipated.  Before I knew it, we were pulling up to the curb.  The rain was still falling and none of us had packed rain coats.

Since Joanna hadn't answered her phone, I told everyone to stay in the car while I went to the door to see if anyone was home--no sense in all of us getting wet if there wasn't a need for it.  I jogged up to the front door and rang the doorbell.  The roof overhang afforded me enough cover to keep dry, but I had to squeeze onto the small porch and not move very much to remain water free.  I knocked with no immediate response.  I was beginning to think Jo had left to run a quick errand and we'd have to sit in the car for a bit, when the door opened and I found myself looking down at her daughter, Grace.  "Hi!" I said hopefully.  I'm not sure she completely remembered me.  She gave me a quizzical look.  "Are you here to see my mom?" she asked.  "Yes," I replied.  "Okay," she said as she shut the door.  I waited, thinking Joanna would come to the door momentarily ... nothing.  Ever had those moments when minutes seem like hours?  I had one of those moments as I stood huddled on the porch wondering if I should knock again or return to the car.  I turned toward the car and saw Jennifer looking at me as if to say, "What's going on?"  I shrugged.  Finally, after what seemed like hours (but was only two minutes tops), I heard the noise of the garage door opening and Joanna's van pulled into the driveway.  Saved!  I quietly chuckled to myself as I finally figured out why I'd been left on the porch. :)

On previous visits to the Stowell clan, Ben's younger cousins used him as their private jungle gym, but Joanna had warned them to treat Ben nicely.  Because of this, Isaac became the focus of rough-housing.  I'm not sure he was completely prepared for this up-grade in status, but I think, for the most part, he handled it well.  As for Ben, he was introduced to the game "Angry Birds."  When Grant and Joseph found out Ben was playing, they left Isaac alone for a time and became Ben's audience.  Grant offered a few pointers and some friendly advice to his older cousin from time to time (which was funny to watch).  Joseph was just happy to be there.  Heather came over at dinner time and we were able to sit and talk a while.  Chad is the ward mission leader for his ward, so he and I were able to swap stories and talk about missionary ideas that were working for our respective wards and to talk about things we were doing as member missionaries.  Again, much like the time we spent with Mom and Dad, being with family to reminisce or catch up on news was nice.  We have some places we'd like to visit tomorrow.  It appears the rain storms are finally finished with us (for the most part, a chance of intermittent showers tomorrow), so we'll see what happens.

The Relaxing 2014 Vacation: Partial Trip to Lake Alice

We decided to go for a drive today.  With the sky still overcast and threatening rain, a trip to Bear Lake was ruled out as being impractical.  We piled into the car and drove out to Pine Creek ski resort.  I've never been much of a skier.  My only real attempt was in high school during my class' senior sneak.  One of the places we visited was Snow Bird.  If I'd been left on bunny hills, I would have had a fun time (to a point).  Unfortunately, I was convinced to go up to the top of one of the major hills and then left there by those who initially came with me.  I tried to ski down, but I either fell down after 50 feet or so and my ski kept popping off my right foot.  After this happened several times, I grabbed the ski in disgust, yanked off the other one and stomped toward another chair lift some 200 yards from me.  One of the resort employees yelled, "Hey, you can't do that!" when he saw me walking.  "My ski keeps popping off!" I snapped back.  I think he realized I was going to walk down the hill if he didn't intervene, so he put me on the chair lift going down.  It was humiliating to watch the other people coming up the hill whisper and point at me.  The experience cured me of any desire to continue skiing; but I digress. :)

 

We stopped at the resort for a moment and I pointed out the different runs (as best as I knew them).  Afterward, we drove back to the main road and I turned right and continued driving along the road until we reached the end of the pavement.  The dirt road branched to the left and right.  Wooden signs pointed us in several directions.  We had driven on the left road the last time we came this way about 7 years ago, so we chose the road to the right leading to Lake Alice.  Although the road wasn't paved, it was maintained and in generally good condition.  There were a few places where prior rainstorms had made the road muddy, but not impassable.  Also, there were a few times when rain spotted the windshield, but it never turned into a huge storm.  The road took us through a couple of cattle ranges before becoming a part of the Bridger National Forest.  At one point, we were treated to a spectacular view of the local mountain ranges.

I couldn't drive very fast on the road, so the miles didn't pass as quickly as they normally would have (driving fast on the dirt road wouldn't have been a particularly good choice on my part).  We had a feeling we were pretty close to our destination which caused me to keep going forward.  Finally, the road wound its way down the mountain in a series of switchbacks (not too overly pronounced) until we came to a river.  At first the river ran alongside the road until we came to a bridge.  I thought this was good since we wouldn't have to ford the water.  Five hundred yards later, however, we found the river had overflowed its banks and covered the road.  I didn't like our chances of making it through the water and mud without getting stuck--not a good plan with us so far away from Cokeville and I don't think Jen brought her cell phone (not sure if we would have had reception out there).  Reluctantly, I carefully turned us around and we started our way back to the main road.

The trip wasn't a total bust.  Even though we didn't make it to the lake, we were able to see some beautiful country.  Also, we caught sight of some animals on the way back.  We hoping to see a bear (we saw two black bears during our trip 7 years ago), but no such luck this time.  Instead, we found two does grazing in an open field.  One of the does hurried quickly into a group of nearby trees, making it impossible to get a picture of both animals, but the other one hung around long enough to get her picture taken.  I also caught sight of a cow elk (it may have been another doe, but it seemed too big to be a deer).  She was also on the side of the road and quickly ran down an embankment into a stand of pine trees.  Everyone else caught a glimpse of her in the trees before she disappeared deeper into the woods.

Later in the evening after we returned from our excursion, Dad gave the lesson for family home evening.  He focused on Adam and Eve and pointed out two additional things to go along with what I wrote in my posts about them and agency.  When we read (Moses 5:4), he pointed out that Adam and Eve had couple prayer.  His comment for Moses 5:12 was that Adam and Eve had FHE with their family.  I like those insights, along with the others he mentioned because they "likened the scriptures unto us" (1 Nephi 19:23) as I mentioned in my post concerning scriptures.

This is our final full day with Mom and Dad.  We have had a very nice time with them and have been grateful to spend a relaxing 9 days with them.  Dad even got a sample of Jennifer's Father's Day gifts as she put together a picture craft for both he and I yesterday.  I love my parents and am glad they let us come and disrupt their lives for a little while. :)  Tomorrow we make our way to Utah.

The Relaxing 2014 Vacation: Yellowstone

Mount Lassen 2008

Jackson Hole 2014

*Groan!*  The kabin here at the KOA was nice in that it gave us a solid roof over our heads to keep us from getting wet (a possibility if we had been in our tent), but the mattresses on the beds were . . . more firm than comfortable.  Of all of us, Ben was affected the most by this situation.  In his condition, a firm bed is not his friend.  Still, we seem to have worked out most of the kinks in our bodies and are in good spirits as we prepare for a breakfast of either chocolate or strawberry milk, chocolate covered mini-donuts and fruit snacks (breakfast of champions!).  Also, before we leave, Jennifer, Ben and Isaac want to recreate (after a fashion) a picture I took of them back in 2008 during our very first stay at a KOA when we visited Mount Lassen in Northern California.  This kabin here at Jackson Hole has a chair swing that is very similar to the one on the porch of the kabin at Mount Lassen..  Maybe I'll contrast the two pictures when I type out this post; I think it would be fun.  Anyway, my reasoning for staying at this KOA was to give us time to get into Yellowstone park in plenty of time to see the sights and return to Cokeville at a descent hour.  We'll see how well my theory works.

Old Faithful

It's now the next day.  I'm sitting in the living room of Mom and Dad's house and have a moment to finish writing what I started yesterday.  One of the things I always seem to forget (but am quickly reminded) about driving into Yellowstone is the time factor.  It takes longer to actually reach the park than one would predict because of 1) the reduced speed limit, and 2) the cars one ends up driving behind.  RVs are the worst of the second scenario because they are slower and the drivers won't move into the passing turnouts until there are 7 to 10 cars piled up behind them.  "Gawker" cars are almost as bad.  These are filled with the people who are too busy looking at everything around them to remember to drive.  They remind me of the dogs in the Pixar movie Up who are constantly distracted by the non-existent "Squirrel!"  A shadow in the trees suddenly becomes a "Bear!" or a "Deer!" or a "Moose!" and they suddenly slow down long enough to confirm they're seeing . . . nothing.  When they finally do see something (or think the shadow really is an animal), they pull off the road to take pictures which causes great rejoicing in my vehicle.  Over the years, I've had this interesting (to me, anyway) phenomena occur in Yellowstone where I'm consistently stuck behind someone with a Texas license plate.  I'm not sure if I've been surrounded by some weird cosmic force that attracts Texans to me, but this year there may have been a shift in the magnetic pull.  Instead of Texas, cars with Colorado plates (either initially parked at the side of the road or making turns onto the main road at junctions) would pull in front of me at the last second and proceed to drive 10 miles slower than the speed limit, apparently on the lookout for Bigfoot or something equally photo worthy.

Grand Geyser

Nevertheless, we arrived at Old Faithful about 20 minutes before noon and learned it was scheduled to erupt 5 minutes after noon.  I believe this was the earliest we'd ever arrived at the Upper Geyser Basin and I don't know if it was because of the earlier hour or just fortuitous timing, but we were treated to more geysers than usual.  The storm from the night before caused the weather to be cold and windy.  Somehow, I got a bit turned around as we drove into the parking lots and we ended up initially parking several hundred yards from the main lodge.  When we finally reached the Old Faithful viewing area, I noticed people looking toward the northwest.  When we looked in the same direction, we saw a geyser erupting in the distance.  We found out later the geyser was Grand Geyser.  Not long after the Grand Geyser completed its spray, Old Faithful lived up to its name and started close to on time, shooting water high into the air.  After watching nature's display, we walked to Castle Geyser to watch it shoot spouts of water and gouts of steam, one which enveloped us, into the air.  As we continued along the boardwalk, we eventually made a stop at Grand Geyser.  While my family rested on one of the benches, I walked over to the sign showing when it would erupt.  The times listed coincided with the geyser we saw erupted when we approached Old Faithful--this is how I made the connection.  Later, as we walked along the boardwalk, we saw another geyser erupting.  We were close enough that we could watch it from where we stood.  When we approached it a few minutes later, we found it was the Beehive Geyser we had seen.  By this time, Ben was getting tired, so we made our way toward the lodge.  As we approached the area where the trail dropped toward the bridge crossing Firehole River, we saw Old Faithful erupt again!  I can't recall if we've seen this before, but it gave us a different perspective of the geyser.

Beehive Geyser

Old Faithful a Second Time

After leaving the Old Faithful area, we decided to drive along the Firehole Lake Drive and view the sights from the car to give Ben a chance to recover.  Not long after that, we reached the Fountain Paint Pot area.  Ben felt good enough to walk again, so we decided to hike up the incline to the paint pots.  At first, we didn't plan on going any farther.  Luckily, Ben felt good enough to continue.  When we arrived at the overlook area for several geysers, we were treated to the sight of three geysers erupting at once: Fountain, Spasm, and Jet.  It was difficult to get Jet in the picture from this vantage point and its spray wasn't as much as the other two, but this was a sight none of us had seen!  Jennifer started talking to another family standing nearby.  The father told her that two "professional" (I guess) geyser watchers had told him that these three erupt in sequence every 5 or 6 hours.  I don't dispute his claim, but I guess I've never walked along this particular boardwalk when this phenomena has occurred.  The Spasm Geyser always seems to be shooting out water in small to medium fits, but the amount of water coming from Fountain was quite amazing.

Fountain Geyser

At first, Ben wasn't sure if he wanted to walk down the stairs from the overlook to get closer to the geysers.  After several minutes, however, Ben indicated he wanted a closer look.  We descended the stairs and approached Fountain.  From this vantage point, we could see Jet better.  The water playing from this small geyser wasn't much, but since I had never seen it erupt before, any amount was fun.  Also, I noticed the lady and the man who the family at the overlook had said were the professional geyser watchers.  She was closer to us.  I didn't talk to her, but saw several people having a conversation with her.  A few minutes later, Fountain went quiet.  It was quite a contrast.  For about ten minutes we had watched water explode out at heights of around 10 to 15 feet.  When the eruption stopped, the pool reverted back to what we had seen on all our previous visits; a blue pool of very hot water with wisps of steam curling up from the edges.  Thankfully, the boardwalk loops around back to the main trail and we didn't have to return to the staircase.  By this time, Ben needed extra assistance.  I sidled up alongside him as I've done at other times and we walked in lock-step back toward the car.  Moments after we reconnected with the main walkway, I felt a touch on my arm.  Glancing to my left, I found the lady geyser watcher at my side. "I wanted to tell you," she said, "that this is one of the most touching scenes I've seen in all my years coming to this boardwalk."  I was stunned, but honored by her words.  When I relayed our conversation to Jennifer after Ben and Isaac had gotten into the car, I couldn't stop from tearing up.

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Our final area to visit was the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the upper and lower falls.  Before visiting Niagara Falls last year, Ben and Isaac thought these waterfalls were amazing--now, as Ben says, they're just descent.  Still, when we drove to Artist's Point and viewed the lower falls framed by the beautiful yellow rock on both sides of the canyon walls, we were all impressed by the sight.  Obviously, this is where the park gets its name.  The Grand Canyon has this canyon beat as far as depth and size, but what sets this canyon apart is the yellow rock and power of the falls as the water cascades down the cliff sides.  As we left the falls and started on our way back to Cokeville, we encountered a herd of buffalo.  After all our visits to Yellowstone, buffalo have become a familiar sight and don't cause us to want to pull off the road to look at them.  The only time we do stop is when they're walking across the road.  In this case, however, the buffalo were close to the road and some of the people who had pulled off the road were getting out of their cars and approaching them to take closer pictures.  This is a practice the park brochures warn against because of the unpredictability of these animals and the chance that they might charge anyone coming close to them.  In this case, we slowed down because of the people crossing the road and the off chance we might see the one particular knucklehead, edging in very close to the lead buffalo with his expensive camera, get head-butted.  No such luck; although the two in the foreground are giving the guy a good long look.

As I mentioned at the beginning, my second hope in getting into the park earlier than we had before was to return back to Mom and Dad's house at a decent hour.  This also worked out for us.  We made a stop at a Wendy's in Jackson for dinner to go and drove the Jackson to Alpine portion of the trip with enough daylight for me to pick out two does eating near the side of the road.  I saw one other deer a few miles outside of Smoot.  Other than that, our return trip was as uneventful as our two days were eventful (still no stars, however).