Making Space

I enjoyed church today. I was in a funk over a few days last week and was praying for my spirit to be nourished. Fast and testimony meeting did not disappoint. One brother who is helping take the youth down to Lake Powell this week, shared several things, one of which was how they wanted to make sure his boat was good so they were going to Utah Lake to test things out, and as they were on the freeway, a problem happened and his car said "Press power button" which he'd never done on the freeway obviously. He tried it, didn't work, they drove over to the side, OnStar was able to come help them but couldn't take the boat. That was ok, they just happened to be in a perfect sport for his son, who lived close by, to come get the boat. Their car needed a new engine. They got a rental, a big truck, which was going to work perfectly to take all the food down for the trip, something they had been working on figuring out but hadn't yet. He shared how it was just such a great blessing and they felt so grateful as they were on the side of the freeway, and as they were getting the truck rental. It made me think of Abi's accident and how grateful we should be and are, that they didn't roll, that the airbags didn't go off, that they didn't get hit by other cars as they spun across 4 lanes of traffic twice! Despite being in an accident and having problems, we know they were very blessed and protected! I felt the same about my hike on Friday and how I didn't take the short cut and thus was not on the trail where the bear crossed it ahead of me. And when accidents do happen and tragedies do occur, like happened to the branch in Lesotho, we can know we are in the Lord's hands and we will look to him for peace and comfort. 

Then after we got home, I didn't really have a day of rest or worship. I did sing the Living Christ as we rearranged rooms and made space for Edmund. He'll be with us for a month and we can't leave 4 boys in the smallest room. After much discussion, we have decided to move Edmund and ODP into Sophi and Natalie's room, for Sophi to join Lily in Abi and Lily's former room, Natalie and K in the smallest room. Abi is now in the basement. At first we also thought of having Natalie would stay in the big girls room and Abi and Katharine being in the small room, but Lily protested hard against Natalie coming in there. But, it wouldn't be fair for Abi Natalie and Katharine to be in the smallest room. After more squabbling, Abi decided to go to the basement. She felt sad to be done in her room already but I know she'll enjoy how cool it is down there. The kids are always complaining about it being too hot in the summer. It will be good, she'll like it. She'll also have room to organize her stuff before her mission starts in less than two months. She's got a lot of stuff to do to get ready, with what to store, what to take, and what to donate. 

I wanted to listen to Conference or something but there was too much communicating that needed to go on as we moved things around. Here's a short unlisted video of the current state of the kids' rooms. And screen shots from that video of the rooms: Abi and Lily's bedroom...

Sophi and Natalie's room...

And the boys' room.

I look forward to the after photos and hope they will look better than the "before" pics. The boys room was the smallest, had the post people, and the youngest people, and it was the most orderly of the three. I helped everyone work, and as I moved Daniel's stuff off of his bottom bunk bed, I found this treasure tucked into the boards above, listing his goals, so cute.

Corey had a long day yesterday and he was able to get some rest. Abi took this photo of Corey and shared it with Wride Nation with the caption "sleepy dad"

I found later on his phone that the boys took his phone and made a few videos of themselves and of him! Funny. We watched Les Mis tonight, the closing scene made us all cry as usual. Tomorrow we'll be doing more cleaning and hopefully finish up the room before the girls leave for Lake Powell at 6am on Tuesday morning. 

Connor's Wedding

Today was a special day for the Hibbert side of the family. My brother Neil's oldest boy Connor was married to his sweetheart Stephanie in the Layton Temple!

We woke up early (me at 6am, kids around 6:30) on our check out day at Park City and started to throw stuff together so we could leave. Corey loaded up the bikes last night. We were on the road around 8 and Corey headed south through Heber and Provo so he and the little kids could cheer on Christian as he crossed the finish line of the Utah Valley Marathon. He qualified for the Boston Marathon!

Corey knew he was pushing it to make it the wedding, and I (as the blood related aunt) decided I didn't want to risk being late, so I headed home with the girls ALSN and we went home and had an hour to shower and get dressed. I also grabbed Sunday clothes for Corey and ODPK. We left around 9:30 and Corey was on his way up and also had Mel with him. ALS dropped me and N off at the temple, so I could go in and Natalie was there to watch Alvie, and Abi drove with LS to McDonalds where CODPK were going to change their clothes. That was when we realized I had not grabbed Corey's white shirt. I had a bin of clothes, sock and shoes, but I had put his shirt on a door handle so I could put it in the bin last, so it wouldn't get wrinkled, but then I forgot to grab it. Luckily I wasn't in the waiting room yet, so I had my phone, so I got his message and was able to go rent a white shirt from the temple. I got a chuckle as he came in to the temple wearing a blazer over his plaid shirt. Then he also let me know that the pants I had grabbed for him had a huge tear along the seam of his seat! Ahh sorry sweetie! I messed up twice! So he was very careful to walk straight and not bend over for anything while at the temple. We took photos outside - all the cousins!

Cute kids waiting on the grass for photos to be done. Cousin Edmund from Texas in the gray suit there. 

He came up with Grant - Grant drove a car that he was going to sell to someone, and then Grant was flying back, and Steph and I arranged for Edmund to stay with us until they come back on July 4th for some family reunions. So this will be fun to have Edmund with us these next few weeks! He and Owen share a birthday, Edmund is one year older. 

Katharine dancing, and then her face in this one, haha

Corey and the girls laughing as they talk about the Lego drama we learned about last night. We watched Part 1 of Reckless Ben's video again on the drive down from Park City cause Lily missed the whole thing last night. She watched the first few minutes with us and thought it looked stupid so she left and took a nap. We told her all of the injustice done and that it was really interesting and there was lots of drama, and so we re-watched 40 min of it on drive home from Park City and finished the rest on our drive up to Layton. Corey and I stayed up past midnight watching Part 2 where things get kinda crazy for Reckless Ben. Sophi is really annoyed at the American Fork Police and Abi started to fill out a complaint against them on her phone as we drove, lol. I told her not to send it. Abi said "Don't mess with Gen Z and social media! We know how to use these!" as she held up her phone.

So then we went to a park where they were having an "I Do BBQ" which was very cutely decorated.

The only thing was that the wind was not cooperating and kept blowing over the flowers and photos!

And plates of food a few times!

But Neil's wife Amy did such an amazing job, it was delicious and so nice to be there to visit with everyone and hear a few things about Connor and Stephanie's relationship. After that Corey and I headed home with a few kids, to drop off our bikes and get Corey a white shirt. Just a quick pit stop and turn around, which felt long only because his car still does not have a working AC and it was in the 90s today! Very hot. So we let our hair get all windblown and we were back for the reception at 6. ALSNO all went shopping to get some stuff for the girls' trip to Lake Powell next week with the youth from our church. And they stopped by Uncle Mark's house for a few things too. We all met back up at the reception and had fun there visiting again. The dancing was epic, and after the bride and groom were sent on their way, the dance party kept going as we cleaned up. Corey got a few pics of that, I'll need to get those from his phone later. It was a long day, a great day, a sacred day in eternity for Connor and Stephani and we are very happy for them! How lucky are we to have another Stephanie Hibbert in the family! The house is a wreck but that's ok. We left it a mess as we packed for Park City, it's a mess now from our unpacking from Park City and girls packing for camping at Lake Powell, and tomorrow we'll  also need to figure out a space where cousin Edmund can stay... we might do some re-arranging of rooms, which is guaranteed to make a bigger mess on top of the mess we have. Lol, I still have stuff out on our bedroom floor from when I made Abi a kinder bueno necklace for graduation last Thursday night. I'll probably spend most of this next week trying to recover some order around here, but for now, sleep. Goodnight

Last Day

Corey and I took an epic ride this morning. Up Jenni's (Armstrong was closed boo). We made it to midmountain and then kept going. Empire Canyon! I can see the Judge Mine S curve!

Continued riding Mid Mountain to the Montage, then went east over to Deer Valley. Super fun, felt so good to be out today. Maybe we'll get a bike haul pass sometime this year and go spend a day riding. We saw Jordanelle then started to head back, but that still took another 40 minutes. We rode down Deer Crest and Snow Park in Deer Valley and then followed a few other trails for fun until we got back on the road. I put on my swimsuit and went to find the kids - they were playing Mega Jenga in the Silver Station.

It toppled on Daniel's turn.

K coloring, she's so cute. 

You're cute too Peter.

Boys playing Star Wars Battlefront.

So they weren't swimming, but I went and read the scriptures while I gave my legs a few minutes of sunshine. Abi didn't work today so she was here. Corey worked in the hotel lobby. 

I went back to the room and did a little bit of stuff while Lily made lunch - she cleaned and gutted and fried up the fish they caught last night.

I went back to the station. (I keep wanting to say "the mine" which is the activity center at the Mountainside.)

Natalie and Sophi walking to the room.

Corey and I were going to go on an early date, but then we got distracted watching some video about a guy who got arrested in Utah recently for some lego thing... Corey had heard about it from his brother, we started to watch it while we waited for the kids to have their pizza ready, and then we were all hooked - it just kept going and going and it was funny and so then an hour and 25 min later we were done and the kids wanted part two. Pic below of when the BAM employee was accepted into a cult and brainwashed.

So that was super interesting and we will be following Ben for updates! Corey and I left after that, we walked to Sammy's Bistro. I got the teriyaki salmon burger again with sweet potato fries again, YUMMMMMM it was so good. Then a 20 minute walk back to the room to work off dinner. The kids were watching Star Wars back at the room. Today was our last day here and it was a good and relaxing one. We are getting up early tomorrow to check out and make it down in time to get to Layton by 10:30 for cousin Connor's wedding, one of Neil's kids. Christian is running a marathon tomorrow morning too, and Corey wants to try to go to that to cheer him on, so we'll see if we can pull that off too! So now it's time to head to bed before a busy and wonderful day with family!

Fishing

Abi, Lily, and Corey all went down to the valley today. We've had two cars commuting twice a day 3 out of 4 days this week, feeling like we live in LA or something. Abi went to do some Visa stuff for her mission and then she had work until 7:30. Lily had an SBO thing so she went down with Abi this morning, then Corey went down to do work and he picked her up. I watched ODPK go swimming and when they were done I colored with Katharine. The boys played some video games, I came back to the room for a bit and let Sophi and Natalie stay with the kids in the Silver station. Good news from me is that I had enough time blogging to finish May today! I'm all the way caught up until just this past week! Wow! So that was super exciting and I'm pleased with myself and my effort to record our family history. Corey and Lily got back in time for Lily to take the girls to go to the outlets and Corey took the kids fishing in Deer Valley. I was there with them for like an hour, took two strolls around the pond, then I decided to go on a walk back to the room. I left right before Daniel got his first catch! 

He felt very proud. Good job Daniel! What's your secret??

The secret was getting help from Miguel, a fellow fishman there who caught a fish right away when we'd been there for 45 min with no bites. He was doing some fishing talk with Corey (teal shirt below).

Katharine was so cute casting her line. 

She didn't catch anything but enjoyed playing the game. After Daniel's catch, then Owen caught a fish (Corey killed it). Sorry the pic only pic with Owen didn't have his face.

When the girls were back from shopping they wanted to give it a try. Natalie caught one! 

She was freaking out and grossed out by it, but also excited. Then Lily...

and Natalie again...

Finally Peter got a fish! 

Corey was glad with that final catch and was ready to wrap things up as the sun had gone down. So again I had left before they started catching fish. I decided to walk back to the hotel. And as I walked I was thinking about the Judge Mine and if I had enough daylight to make it there, and maybe if someone could pick me up. Yes, they probably can, and Google maps says it's a 40 min walk, I have time to make it before sundown. Then I turned left on Main street instead of going to the room. I'm going to find the Judge Mine. I had spent sometime today doing a little family history research on my grandpa Julian who used to live up here in Park City in the 1940s. I googled his name and "Park City" and found this old Salt Lake Tribune article from June 29 1947. On page 46 it mentions my grandpa AND that he worked at the Judge Mine. I followed Google's directions. When I still had 20 minutes left, Abi called to see what everyone was doing. She was back and came to my location to give me a ride home, but I hadn't found the Judge building yet! I told her I'd be "right" back, it was just .5 miles and I'd hurry. She waited for a minute and then drove back to the room instead of waiting. But then 5 min later she called cause she didn't have a room key, so she'd be on her way back to me and would wait at the Daly trailhead gate for me. Then I found the Judge Mine office building! 

There were "no trespassing" signs, but I went up two steps and touched the wall, thinking it was cool my young grandpa walked up those steps and through that door. 

And that was all I did. I was glad to find it! I want to go to the Park City Museum this summer and learn more about the mines and see if I can find anything on my grandparents. On the walk down, I saw these logs sticking out of the mountainside that I didn't notice on my hike up, probably from an old cartway or mine shaft thing to dump the rocks? 

It was super cool. So one other thing - on the walk up, there's one part where the road does like an S curve, and you can turn to get back on Daly Avenue or take a road that goes over the ridge to connect to the Ontario Mine. On my hike up, I was able to skip it and just hike up this little hill to where the road continued. But on the hike back down, I was on the road and didn't notice the hike spot until I was far enough past it that it made more sense to just continue and walk the S curve, so I did. But I would have taken the shortcut if I had noticed it. Looking back now I see that as a tender blessing, cause it gave me probably another minute of time to my walk, which was important because as I was almost to the car, a big brown animal came rushing down the west side of the Ontario Ridge and then crossed the path in front of me and hurried up a dirt maintenance road. And I've seen moose many times up here, so I first thought it was a moose, cause it's body was about the size of a moose, but this animal did not have long legs, nor did it have antlers. It had short fat legs, and a big giggly body. It was a bear. It looked like a grizzly bear to me. A big brown bear. I've been reading that there are "black" bears in Utah that are brown, so maybe it was a black bear, but it was a bear. And after I got back to the car I asked Abi if she saw it. She didn't (might have been on her phone) but she heard something running through the trees breaking branches and stuff. If I had not taken that extra distance on my hike back down, I would have been there on the trail where he came down. !!! I don't know if bears that are in a hurry pause and eat when they see something available to snack on, like a hiker, but I am so grateful I was not there in his way when he crossed the trail!!! Nice to feel like God's looking out for me. 

Color & Swim

Today's been a good day of more of the same. Corey and I went on a morning ride up Armstrong and down HAM and Seldom Seen, until Seldom Seen was closed and then we had to take Jenni's up for a little bit then came down CMG. Back at the hotel, the kids came and went from the activity center to their heart's desire. I joined Katharine a few times coloring. 

This little girl likes to color! She draws so carefully, she's as good as Daniel was and also still holds her pencil the correct way (last pic). 

She was bffs with the staff lady today, who was very nice and joined in coloring with us. She and I both did the same color page with a shark, jelly fish, and clam. I kinda liked hers better. Katharine said they were both good. Daniel looking for a good page to color. 

Katharine got a cute page with a unicorn in a tea cup. So fun, she was working hard all day. 

Lily taught us which ones are AI and which ones were illustrated by actual artists. 

Abi didn't have work today so it was nice to have her around. The kids all went swimming tonight and it was funny watching Abi Sophi and Natalie be silly doing stuff, like trying to stack themselves up on Abi's shoulders. (They couldn't do it). Abi and Owen tried to hit the ball back and forth for each letter of the alphabet. Took a few tries to get to Z. Abi used some of her newly acquired life guard skills to teach Peter how to float and swim. Taking off his floaties is a big step!

"Make yourself like a star!" Peter was excited and would call us to look at him and watch. 

Katharine was floating around everywhere. 

Peter and K in the hot tub. Corey and I sat and enjoyed watched them all for an hour. 

Owen and Daniel playing Battlefront. 

No movie tonight, we're heading to bed. The teenagers (just Lily and Sophi) need to go to bed so they can hopefully get up before 11 tomorrow!

Karaoke

Another nice day at Park City. I was able to get out for a walk and it was nice. Abi went down for work again. Corey worked all morning and left around 2:30 to go to his dad's to pick up something that was delivered and he was down there for the rest of the day. The kids have all been helpful though. Lily and Sophi were in charge for a bit this afternoon while I went to the lobby to try and do some online work for a bit. I've been mostly present and on duty, but I was glad to have a break for a moment. I didn't go swimming with the kids this morning, but I was by the pool watching them (struggling to not fall asleep... and I might have dozed off. Natalie came over twice to stare at me through my sunglasses). Lily sponsored a Karaoke night tonight. Katharine sang Let it Go and was twirling as she sang into the plastic spoon ~

They did some Michael Jackson and Kpop Demon Hunters - "Huntrix don't miss!! How it's done done done!"

No complaints from other rooms about the noise, but we did turn it down as it started getting dark. 

They put red shirts over the lights to make it more night club-y.

They've been having fun today - swimming, watching some tv... Corey locked up all the remotes, as we usually do up here, and there were 4 remotes, but then somehow the kids were watching tv, and they had an extra remote, and then we found ANOTHER remote... No one confessed to stealing one from the other rooms or asking the front desk, so we're not sure how we got 6, but they're all accounted for and locked up. 

We like to set one out for them to use in the morning when we're gone on a bike ride, and that is a good strategy to keep the kids staying put until we're back. We're planning on going on a ride tomorrow morning though I'm not sure how early we'll be getting up cause it is late and we're watching a movie - Lily recommended "Confessions of a Shopaholic". We prob have a lazy morning tomorrow cause of it but that's ok if we start late. The show is cute and I'm glad it teaches that shopping for clothes can't satisfy what we're really after in life (love and connection). Save your money - that's a message our teens prob need to hear!