Enjoying summer in the pines of Arizona

As most of you know, Arizona gets hot.  Really hot.  So every once in a while we decide to get away out of the Valley of the Sun to the pines a couple of hours north. This month, we did a day trip to the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park, which I learned is the largest travertine natural bridge in the world. I also learned that the difference between an arch and a natural bridge is that arches are primarily eroded by wind and bridges are primarily eroded by water. It was truly incredible.  It was big enough that it was hard to get a good picture to show its scope. It was essentially a 180 foot tall (my estimate) cavern with two entrances. To get there, we hiked down into the canyon and past some pools. Under the bridge, the temperatures dropped 20 or so degrees and it was raining from the ceiling. There was a waterfall on one side of the bridge. After bouldering until we couldn't go any more, we went back and played in the pools. What an awesome trip!

2013 family trip

Hello family and friends,

We have to document some of the highlights of our trip and are happy to share with you. The two weeks consisted of reunions with 3 families, Em's immediate family, Em's extended family, and my family. For those of you we saw, thanks for making it lots of fun. If we missed you this time, hopefully we can visit you next year.  Let us know!  :)

Since having little E, we have been less able to do the long 10-12 hour drives we used to do on vacations, so we started by going to Bluff, Utah first. We stayed at the Frederick Adams pioneer house there. It is an 1890's stone home built by pioneers trying to carve a town out of the harsh desert south-east of the Colorado River. If you are familiar with the Hole-in-the-Rock pioneers, these were those pioneers. It was very cool to be in the old, though refurbished home and read the history of the area.

We also were right down the street from the Bluff Fort church site, which we visited. they had one authentic and ~15 replica cabins from the original fort, as well as the church, Relief Society building, and other historical buildings complete with furnishings. We weren't expecting much, but it was all very impressive. 

While in Bluff, we also attended church in the small branch there. Other than our families and the missionaries, there were probably 10 members. It had been several months since they had conducted Primary, so they were delighted to have us. In small branches, everyone helps out. :)

Bluff Fort

Wow, inside a Ute teepee

Realistic reenactment for sure

A beautiful town for a picture!

 

After the rest in Bluff, we continued on to Moab, where we met with Em's siblings and parents. Unfortunately, we took the Arizona temperatures with us. When C went with his uncles on the Sovereign mountain biking trail, it was 104 degrees. We enjoyed several hikes in Arches National Park, including Double Arch, Delicate Arch, Landscape Arch, and everyone's favorite, Sand Dune Arch.

Landscape Arch

A perfect kid cave

Navajo Arch

We played in the shade under the walls and arches

Enjoying the sand under the arch

Little E found a fitting niche :)

Everyone chilling under the Double Arches

Mashup of the musical park with A playing drums

Helping a Chinese lady and child stuck on a ledge with flip flops under Double Arch

The boys in front of the cliffs

The girls enjoying the beauty

 

Em and A with Delicate Arch in background

The next stop was in idyllic Upalco, Utah, in the Uintah basin, where the extended family gathered at the Burton farm. There were lots of fun crafts, a zipline, 4 wheelers, and lots of cousins. We had a great time camping on the farm.

D loves farming!

Homemade sling shots

Look, the line for the zipline's pretty short!

N on the zipline

 

Wearing reunion shirts

From Upalco, we next headed to Brigham City where we met up with my family. We played lots of games with cousins, attended the Brigham City Temple, took a drive to Utah State University in Logan, visited Lagoon, and saw the Brigham City 4th of July fireworks.  It was an exhausting and rewarding trip.

First time at the Brigham City Temple

Riding the boats at Lagoon

The train is a favorite for everyone

N, C, and A exploring Box Elder Canyon

The boys peering out of the port-hole windows at Scott and Heather's house.

Mother's Day

Happy Mothers' Day for all you moms!

This entry is about the silly things that happen around here on Moms' Day.
C has always liked gardening and helping Mom with the composting and watering. This year he decided he wanted to help her longtime dream to have a shade screen over the garden come true.  We tried it about 3 years ago by attaching some screen fabric to poles buried in the groud, but the summer storms easily shredded it and pulled it off the poles. C has always liked building things, especially with PVC pipe, so he came up with a simple design for a frame to go over the garden. We went to Lowes and got some pipes, fabric, and zip ties. It was pretty easy for him, and he was happy with the finished product. I admit, it should be much more durable than the one I built and should withstand more wind.

N has recently been practicing cooking more, which makes us happy. She has never shown much natural inclination to cook up a storm (mainly because her twin gets hungry faster so cooks more). Her gift for Mom was a delicious looking plate of scrambled eggs with peppers, toast, and fruit. I was proud of N. She's getting so grown up. She also made a beautiful pastoral scene on a card for Mom.

A likes to give homemade pictures and cards, so this morning, he bounced in to Mom's room with a foldout 3 dimensional flower card that he made. He is always so expressive, even when giving a gift. He was positively beaming with love and pride because she liked it.

D gave Mom a very nice hug and I love you this morning, but his real gift was during sacrament meeting. In between talks, they have the children come up and sing songs for their moms and grandmothers. When D couldn't remember the words, he still apparently wanted to share the message, because mid-song, he suddently started gesturing high and to his left with both arms and his eyes looking distant (happy hands club style).  Then he began swaying and waving both arms, while rolling his eyes and grinning. He completed the show, by turning serious and leading the music for the audience. Considering that only 21 kids were there, he sticks out quite a bit. I was cracking up so much that I had to lower my head. It was the best laugh I've had in a while.

Little E didn't really give a gift, but she did come up to me while I was reading about Noah's Ark tonight and tapped my arm.  Then with the most adorable, dreamy eyes, she confided, "Daddy, I just went to Fred and Sarah's house. We had dinner and everyone ate their green. I love you Daddy!"  I wish I could just film her adequately to capture the incredible cuteness for all time. A couple of days ago, she said, "Mom, I want to invite Autumn to my birthday, but not her mom and dad." She's only two, but thinks she's sixteen. Raising her should be interesting.

For my part, I bought Em some earrings and took her to dinner on Friday. It was just a gesture really, because it is hard to say how grateful I am to have her in my life. She is so unselfish and such a strong influence for me to do what is right.  I can't say enough of my love for her!

The boy who cried Bear!

Some of the youth in our ward have given me nicknames from time to time, one of which was Bro G. They extended this nickname so my 3 boys were referred to by the youth as Big G, Middle G, and Little G. So I've got a story about Little G.

Each day, I try to be helpful in putting the kids to bed, which almost always involves telling a bedtime story. Sometimes we use books, but often our story time involves freelancing or telling a variation of a well known occurance or fairy tale. I'm not that good of a story teller, but it does my ego great good that my sons who can tune me out so often will hang on my every word when a bedtime story stands between them and "time for sleep guys." Little G, in particular, gives me directions with the stories, like saying, "Dad, it's not supposed to go like that. Make it happy."  He also has a frequent request that the story must be about a bear.  We've done Rapunzel, a mission to Wales, Pecos Bill, and even Dr. Seuss where major parts were carved out for bears. It adds humor and fun to see where the bear will show up.

So tonight, I was telling the story of the boy who cried bear. After telling about how the boy's reputation for lying about attacking bears led to the slaughter of the innocent sheep, I asked Little G what the point of the story was. He took a second to understand what I was asking, then said something like, "If that bear started eating my sheep, I'd , uh, kick him with my boot.  But then he'd cry and go tell his family and they'd come eat me.  'Cuz he's a bear." Well put.  There's a chance he understood.

I like bedtime stories.

Priorities

 I love the beautiful cards, pictures and love that get sent this time of year and wish that I had been able to send some love also. But right now, I'm just grateful we actually made it through 2012!

Germany Trip

I had an audit in Munich Germany in November and didn't get around to posting pictures until now because I was too busy with work, Thanksgiving, and birthdays. It was a short week, but I did get to at least walk around the city and get a feel for old Europe.  As an architecture and history buff, I was in heaven (except for not having my wifey there).

First, Munich is very compact, not sprawling, so you can walk all over the downtown. In fact most of the old downtown is only for walking. There are 3 layers of subways under the thousand year old city (not sure how they did that without destroying everything), so no cars are needed. Just take a subway and then walk. Second, much of the city was destroyed in WWII, so they've been rebuilding it for the last 60 years.

The downtown is dominated by churches and old monuments to the royalty who reigned in the 18th and 19th century. The same family ruled from the 1300s until 1918. Munich has been largely Catholic since the 1000s, when it was founded by some monks (hence the name Munchen in German). Unlike northern Germany which became protestant in the 1500s, Munich has remained Catholic. There is a large spire near the city center dedicated to Pope John Paul II (who was Polish but had links to Munich and to Pope Benedict, who is from Munich). Now only about 35% of the population claims Catholicism.

View of Downtown from my hotel. St. Peter's church, Frauenkirche, Rathaus, and other churches are prominent. Most buildings are 5-7 stories tall.

St. Peterkirche, built in 1100s on the ruins of a 9th century church that was the start of Munich. This church has been modified many times in the last 900 years.

Not sure why I'm sideways, but that's a 18 story church behind me. It was first built in the 1400s.

Inside the Frauenkirche (the really tall one)

The church belonging to Maximilian University

Theatinerkirche is a grand Italian Baroque style cathedral built in the mid 1600s. Over 18 members of the royal Wittelsbach family are buried inside.

Dome of Theatinerkirche

Nave of Theatinerkirche

Paintings and plaster details

Tomb of a young princes in Theatinerkirche

St Paul's church near the Oktoberfest grounds (taken at night from about half mile away)

St. Lukas Lutheran Church built in late 1800s (Romanesque style). Picture is also from my hotel window.



St. Johann Baptist Church on the east side of the river, built in the 1850s. I heard it was Gothic revival style. 



Marianilf Church, a neo-Gothic church built in the 1830s. 



Don't know the name of this one, but it was an awesome view with the Alps in the background.

This old church in the center of Munich, called Heilig-Geist-Kirche or Church of the Holy Ghost, is from the 1300s. It has been remodeled several time, most notably after being nearly demolished in World War II.

The next group of pictures were a few cool non-church buildings, of course headlined by the amazing Rathaus (town hall).

This is the Rathaus, or town hall. It was begun in 1867 and has more than 400 rooms.

The tower of Rathaus has a glockenspiel which performs at noon. It was pretty ingenious for its day. This is one thing Grandpa G remembers from his trip to Munich in 1962. It's been there a long time.

Rathaus is covered with hundreds of details like statues. Some of the gargoyles look quite grotesque. I wonder what message the royal family was sending with the design of the building.

Notable kings from the Wittlesbach dynasty are shown on the grand porch of Rathaus.

I loved the subtle wrought iron frog on this entryway.

There's a copper dragon climbing up the corner of Rathaus.



In the Residenz district, the State Chancellery or similar to legislature building is very cool.



Simply called Residenz, the Wittelsbach family built it in the 1300's and expanded it to 110 rooms.

One of the medieval gates of the city, still intact after 750 years.

 

I like this wind chime, which is certainly unique.

Fall on the Isar River, which bisects Munich.

Strangely, there is a place in the city where a river comes out of a bridge at such an angle that it creates waves very much like a surf.  So of course, in November in Munich, there are always lines of surfers waiting their turn. They were pretty good.

Without body suits, this wouldn't be so fun.



There is a huge park in town called English Garden which is larger than Central Park. It was very pastoral, with rolling hills, colored autumn leaves, and streams. There were also numerous street musicians playing. We even saw a jazz quartet in an ancient square playing on a white baby grand piano, a bass, a saxophone, and drums. They had a box where people were dropping donations.



A bridge in the English Garden

A "Chinese" pavilion in the park. Here temporary restaurants (biergarten) are set up to serve traditional Bavarian food. In a week in Munich, I concluded (perhaps unfairly?) that they eat great quantities of meat, especially pork, that they drink prodigious amounts of beer, and that they smoke much more than here in the US. The food is good, but is quite heavy and rich. Probably not such a healthy diet!



I loved the alpine paintings on the ceiling of this restaurant, a reminder that the Alps are just 40 kilometers away.





Not that you care, but these are some of the people I was auditing. The work environment in Germany is much more formal than where I work in the US. They are quite disciplined. The reason for the picture, however is so you can see the radish and lard appetizer tray on the table. Yum!



The Opera house is part of the Residenz Palace complex. The building on the left is part of the palace that is still being rebuilt from WWII. I thought it remarkable that while under construction, a giant screen is placed in front of the wall that looks like a finished wall.

 

At the Oktoberfest grounds, there is a hill with this gigantic monument to the heroes of Bavaria. The lady in the statue (Bavaria) is standing next to a lion (the Wittelsbach family).



If any of you actually read all of that, my condolences. This is a way for me to journal, and if you like it too, that's fantastic.  I hope you enjoyed it. If any of these pictures brought back memories or spurred thoughts of other cities, I'd love to hear about them.