Eclipse Trip: "Yellowbone"

…(as Teddy referred to it)…is such an amazing place. We love it, but when we visited there last year, I figured we probably wouldn't be back for a long time, since there are SO many cool places I want to visit even just here in the Western U.S., that there just isn't time for repeats! Except…that most places we go end up being so great that we WANT to repeat them. Sigh. Anyway, sometime last August, I looked at the calendar and realized that the total solar eclipse was finally coming up (in a year)! I had been looking forward to it for years, having always vowed I would see a total eclipse someday, and once I did some research I learned that the Snake River Valley in Idaho was a great place to see it!

So, I made reservations right then for a rental house in Island Park, and with Yellowstone being so close, we were delighted to realize that we WOULD have time for a repeat visit in the few days before the eclipse! Hooray!

When the time finally came, we were happy to have my mom with us on the trip too, and in addition to her devising all sorts of clever games to play with the kids in the back seats (thus keeping the arguments/fighting in the van to about 50% less than usual), it was fun to have her along because she could remind us what Yellowstone was like when she last visited, which was when I was about 4 years old. AND she was another pair of hands for the little ones to hold (the most popular pair of hands, naturally) which made the hiking much easier!

Sebastian said, "I think the worst thing about having a big family is having to stop at the bathroom so often." Yes, there was a lot of that.

Teddy seemed like a whole different boy on this trip! He was hiking under his own power (mostly), he was commenting on things, he was pointing out geysers…he has truly become an actual person during this year! (And I had forgotten until reading about it here…or perhaps repressed the memories…about how he SCREAMED nonstop while being carried in the backpack last year! And he was so HEAVY!) This year he was pleasant and darling and liked everything, and it was so fun to watch him taking it all in! Sebastian especially liked showing and telling Teddy about all the things we were doing, and then they'd reminisce about them as we drove home at night.

Because we'd been here so recently, and because everyone was warning about crowds and madness due to the eclipse, I thought maybe we should just skip Old Faithful and that whole area. But Sam thought it wouldn't be that bad, and he was right! We tried to get there fairly early in the morning, which helped. And there were crowded areas, but mostly later in the day, and really no worse than the crowds in the prime of summer season (end of June) we encountered last year.

Last year after seeing Old Faithful, we looked up the other "predictable" geysers (there are about five or six of them that have a fairly regular eruption schedule) and realized there was no way we could arrange to be in the right places at the right times to see them all. Some have a predicted time, "plus or minus six hours," and who has time to sit around and wait for that? We just assumed you had to get lucky to see any of them, or waste your whole day waiting.

But there are tons of cool things to see even when the geysers aren't erupting, so we started off around Upper Geyser Basin while we waited for the next Old Faithful eruption.

The Lion Group of geysers erupt frequently—we were happy to walk by while this one was erupting, and get sprayed with a lovely mist of water. (At least…I was happy. Teddy didn't want to get wet!) There was even a rainbow in the mist! It was lovely.

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Baptism and Fire

That title sounds like I must be saying "Baptism BY fire," which I guess would also be a good post, but what I really mean is that we had Daisy's baptism, and then that evening we went up the canyon and had a campfire for Seb's birthday. It was such a fun and happy day. Full of good things! First, the baptism, of course. Daisy was so bright and happy and glowing all day long! It made me smile just to look at her. We did her hair in Danish braids just like I had at MY baptism!

I'd gotten this white dress for her a few months earlier, so in June when the daisies were blooming by the lake, we went and took some pictures by them (as is our custom every year).

Oh how I love her. And her name. What name could be better? I'm sure there isn't one.

And then this August before the baptism, Junie and Daisy and I took a few pictures by the temple too. So fun.

After the baptismal service we had Belgian Sugar Waffles with homemade yogurt and lemon curd and strawberry sauce and cream, and before everyone got completely coated with strawberry sauce, we attempted a quick family picture on the porch. This one seemed pretty good. "This is everyone, right?" I kept saying.

Oops. Forgot Junie. We tried again. 

Well. Close enough.

It was so pretty at sunset in the canyon. And so nice to just sit and not do ANYTHING except watch the fire and listen to the birds and crickets, and see the kids going around and climbing on things and exploring.

And scraping their shins, of course.

Sam, working on two huge freelance projects at the same time, wasn't quite doing NOTHING…but at least he was doing it in a pretty location! Every time I tried to get a picture of him in his serious drawing-concentration mode, he sensed it and looked up at the camera. When I asked why, he said it was because he didn't want be captured looking like "THIS." "THIS" being…well, I will respect his wishes and not show you…but this is Sebastian's imitation of it:

Which Sam then imitated back.

That sparked a scourge of VERY silly faces. I tried, with minimal success, to be disapproving.

I love this. Teddy's dimply elbow and little hand on Malachi's shoulder.

This whole post is—possibly—just an excuse to put up pictures of Teddy eating marshmallows.

And firelight pictures, of course. We can't ever have enough of those!

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We should see the face of the Lord

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the Saturday Afternoon Session of the April 1977 Conference.

In Elder Loren C. Dunn's address "Did Not Our Heart Burn Within Us?", he tells the following story about John Murdock, a friend of Joseph Smith's:

For a time he lived in the home of Joseph Smith and relates this incident: “During the winter that I boarded with Brother Joseph … we had a number of prayer meetings, in the Prophet’s chamber. … In one of those meetings the Prophet told us, ‘If we would humble ourselves before God, and exercise strong faith, we should see the face of the Lord.’ And about midday the visions of my mind were opened, and the eyes of my understanding were enlightened, and I saw the form of a man, most lovely, the visage of his face was sound and fair as the sun. His hair a bright silver grey, curled in a most majestic form; His eyes a keen penetrating blue, and the skin of his neck a most beautiful white and he was covered from the neck to the feet with a loose garment, pure white: Whiter than any garment I have ever before seen. His countenance was most penetrating, and yet most lovely. And while I was endeavoring to comprehend the whole personage from head to feet it slipped from me, and the vision was closed up. But it left on my mind the impression of love, for months, that I never before felt to that degree.” (John Murdock, An Abridged Record of the Life of John Murdock, p. 26.)

Brother Murdock heard the prophet's words in a meeting. He believed them and followed them immediately. And they came true!

I know things don't happen this way all the time, so quickly and noticeably—and probably for good reason. But it seems important to believe that they can. Because there is something so true and simple and beautiful about this retelling, right down to the way the vision fades long before Brother Murdock is ready, but the impression of love remains. This is the result of hope and perhaps expectation: but it's an unassuming kind of expectation. The miracle and the humility are entwined.


Other posts in this series:

• A Day in the Life of President Howard W. Hunter by G
• Sacrament: An Incentive to Change My Life by Jan Tolman

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Summer things and funny things

Seb attending to customers at the carwash

People gasping as the water hits them. I've always liked pictures of that.

We had a nest of baby robins in our tree, and Seb and Malachi kept close tabs on them until they left the nest. They were so cute and chirpy!

Cuties after church

An instructive trip to the Boise Penitentiary

Orange dragonfly!

Boise Botanical Garden

And a bunny we saw there!

The girls wanted short haircuts, so we went to a haircut place (where they talked their stylists' ears off!) I think they all turned out so cute! 

Abe and Sam both have new suits—and they both chose this handsome silvery grey color.

More suits.

Raspberry and blackberry picking at our neighbor's house

I made the best blackberry pie I've ever made.

It didn't ooze out the sides when you cut slices from it! I've never accomplished that feat before. I took a picture in case it never happens again.

And as a reward for reading this far, some recent cute things from Teddy:

• When he does something he wants you to be impressed with, he says in an awed tone, "How I can DO that?"
"Look Mommy, I'm kicking and kicking! How I can DO that?"

• (After reaching the light switch and turning off the light): "Look! I can turn on the light off!"

• (Reading a book about sharks): "Shark, shark, shark, the end."

• He talks ALL the time and is basically able to say anything anyone else says, but with the strangest sort of grammar:
"Daddy, are you got home?"
"Mommy, what do your green shirt is?"
"Daisy, time for eat!"
"There's the full of moon!"

• Sebastian told him to be careful crossing the street, and Teddy agreed knowledgeably, "Yeah, I have to be careful, because I don't want to get hit by a dump truck! Or a crane!"

• Sam told Teddy, "You should ask Goldie nicely to open the door. Just say, "Goldie, please open the door.'" Teddy went to the door and thought for a long time (obviously trying to remember what to say) and then finally tried, "Goldie, may I have some…open?"

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