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Jan. 18, 2009
Our time in Utah
 Okay, its been a long time since I have been able to post, so grab a cup of coffee or tea and prepare to relax and enjoy lots of pictures while we catch up. Our next stop in our travels landed us in a quiet little campground in Provo, Utah amidst beautiful fall foliage beneath towering snow capped mountains. Every weekend it seemed we were either biking or hiking somewhere enjoying the beautiful scenery surrounding us. It was amazing. We climbed Bridal Veil Falls, where the water was seriously ice cold. We hiked trails through Rock Canyon where the family managed to hike up to a cave in the side of a mountain. We visited Sundance Resort, biked as a family along the Provo River Parkway bike trail that meandered for miles and even managed a couple of homeschool field trips with our friends, the Steeles, to Wheeler Historic Farm and went Geo-caching with them at Jordanelle State Park. Geo-caching there was quite engaging solving the supplied riddles and following our GPS coordinates while exploring the diversified terrain.
Kelly did a wonderful job setting the field trips up for everyone. Oh and what a sweet weekend we had at Kelly and Chris’ home. They made us feel at home where we enjoyed wonderful fellowship, food, and laughter. It was such a precious time getting to know one another better, hearing their hearts for their family and for reaching others. They even had their first Christ Fellowship group online service while we were there. They had 10 people in attendance. (Our two families combined  ) Hopefully they will kick it off soon with the other relocated CF families and families from the community. They graciously showed us around Park City, where we shopped and dined and desperately long to come back during ski season.
Since it was autumn, we enjoyed some fun fall activities there. There was a unique display of scarecrows created by local families for their annual tradition of Scarecrow Alley. We also went on a historical reenactment graveyard tour of the Glenwood Cemetery that gave us a glimpse of how the city was founded and the rigors of life in that time period. This is only done around Halloween and was surprisingly quite interesting. Another unusual homeschool outing! 
God providentially brought us to Christ EV Church in Orem, where we met some terrific families that made us feel welcomed. We hung out with the Brandley family several times, doing different things from contests at Macy’s, to pizza at Costco after church, to dinners at their home where we just enjoyed each others company and the kids just had fun bonding. All we originally planned was a hike together as families, which we never did get around to. 
The church itself welcomed us and helped us get plugged in right away through bible studies, youth retreats and children's programs. I was able to attend a Beth Moore Bible Study where I met some really lovely women like Nan Skurga, who has a gift for making make every person feel special. Christy Brandley and I bonded over so many many things, I am so grateful to have met her and made a friend for life. Terry Balian and her daughters made our family feel so at home from the very beginning, starting at the student retreat through bible study and even lunch at Mimi’s. She and her husband unsuspectingly had our family over for dinner, where we enjoyed getting to know one another and laughed and laughed way into the  wee hours of the morning. So much fun! The kids are still enjoying the friendships we made and so look forward to returning soon.
 The colder weather was on its way so we had to make our south. We did manage to have our first family snowball fight after church one Sunday. I didn't get a good picture of the snow that day but here is one from later on in the week. It seemed funny to have snow on the ground while there were golden yellow and orange leaves still on the trees. But that is Utah weather I am told. We didn’t have the right gloves but we had so much fun. It's amazing how a snowball fight brings out the kid in you. It had been years since Greg and I threw a snowball. The kids even built a miniature snowman.
Sadly we said our good-byes, including to a campground cat, whom Kristin named Pickles.  This cat would not leave us alone and decided to adopt us while we were there, despite the fact that my family is allergic to cats. He was a very personable cat despite my efforts to the contrary. Eventually we headed 1200 miles southeast to Dallas. We stopped at Arches National Park along the way and saw some unusual rock formations. Yes, I made the kids go see more rocks but they were beautiful! The kids were good sports about it too. Jon helped with the driving, now that he has his permit, and we made it to Dallas in time to visit with the Gregorys and the Durruas before they headed east to Tennessee. We reconnected with the Peck family as well. Having a number of DMD families all together was such fun. Unfortunately due to the upcoming holidays and the nature of the job, it did not allow us a long stretch of time together, so we enjoyed ourselves as much as possible. I felt so blessed. God has indeed placed some incredible people in our lives that we would have missed out on if we were not on this wild journey.
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May. 29, 2009 - Untitled Comment
I LOVE these pictures and your post. What an incredibly beautiful place. Seeing those pictures reminded me of just how AWESOME our God is.
Blessings to you,
Wendy