Fall Break in the desert

by Oliver

Friday morning we loaded up the trunk full of camping gear and headed south on I-15 even though we still hadn't decided excatly where we were going. I had Friday off from School, so Megan took the day off and we headed south. I was getting bummed from the last few weeks of stormy fall weather and decided we needed to get some sun.

Usually on road trips, we are on the way to visit someone or someplace specific and I try to get us there with as few stops as possible. This time however we had no where to go and plenty of time to get there.

We stopped first at Filmore, the kids needed to get out and run around a bit, and we had never seen the old state capitol building even though we had passed Filmore several dozen times. So I pulled off and drove through town following the signs....and all the sudden we were on the other side of Filmore and no capitol building! Some how we passed right by it. So we stopped at some little park instead and the kids ran around a bit.

We took off south again and ended up in St. George. One of the places on our list of possible stops was Snow Canyon. After getting some last minute things at Walmart in St. George, we followed signs up hwy 18 through Ivans and found the entrance to the state park at Snow Canyon. The campsites were all full though so the ranger gave us directions to Gulock state park. About 15 or so miles further west.

Gunlock state park is about 3 feet wide and consists of a boat dock and a few picnic tables. When we pulled in there wasn't another person in view. We set up our campsite, ate some tin-foil dinners and roasted marshmallows. This is getting kind of long so I'll try to wrap it up.

We had a crazy night with the wind almost blowing our tent over several times and kids ending up not sleeping in their pack-and-plays. It was still too windy in the morning and our stove kept blowing out so we didn't get to cook our pancakes and eggs. In spite of a few random annoyances, we were so excited to be out in desert of southern Utah on an adventure to let anything ruin our spirits. We followed some back country roads through Washington and Iron counties, at some "famous" pie in Veyo, found the Meadow Massacre site, saw a lot of beautiful country, birds, and a few crazy hunters. We made it back in town in time to watch the 2nd half of the football game. What a great weekend. Thanks Megan and boys for the fun times!

Elder Oaks Devotional

Tuesday Elder Oaks spoke at devotional. I was fortunate to receive a ticket to go. My school cannot fit into our auditorium so when an apostle comes you have to get a ticket to go in the auditorium otherwise you have to go in the overflow area. Well it was a good devotional. But not one I expected. I think some of you would like to read it. It was about the constitution and the freedom of religion. I could see Oliver and Dad and I discussing it for a while. Just like some of our good talks on the way to the airport Oliver. Well you can find on the first page of lds.org. But here is a link right to the full talk if you would like. http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/apostle-says-religious-freedom-is-being-threatened

New Baby

I'm excited for Jen and Chris to have their baby! Any day now!!!! Come on little Tobe.

Conference Thoughts

Well, what a nice little forum we have at our fingertips to share our testimonies with each other. In other words, I really liked Elder Bednar's talk Saturday morning. Tell your family you love them, mean it, and then show it. Share your testimony with your family, mean it, and then live it. I suppose I could do a much better job of this with those that aren't living in the same space with me. While it is a blessing to be able to watch conference at home and not have to worry about keeping the boys entertaind at a chapel for 8 hours total, I still miss messages due to their needs. I am so thankful that the words are printed and we have them as written scripture to read and review and implement into our lives. The words of the prophets. I know that Jesus Christ has done more than we could ever ask and what He has done will allow us, children, to return to our Heavenly Father. What an amazing blessing to have that knowledge and then to be able to share it with those we love and to help lighten the burdens on another's back. I hope you had a wonderful weekend listening to words that will inspire you in a way that will be different from everyone else. What helped you this weekend?