Campfires and Cousins

Last Wednesday evening, the Goldsberry family gathered up Mueller Park canyon for a weenie roast.  Everyone had kindly arranged their schedules so we could be included.  Thanks, fam.

The weather was perfect.  It was so fun to visit with family members we hadn't seen in years.

 And you just gotta love a campfire.  The flame...  the heat...  the lingering aroma that begs a shower.

Along with hotdogs, marshmallows, potato salad, and watermelon.

Seriously, the perfect meal for such an occasion.

Oh, and rice krispie treats... a personal favorite.

 (Grandpa and Calle)

 All my siblings came.  I don't think we've all been together at one time for 5+ years.

 The cousin pic.

These cute girls (Mar, Hannah, and Evelyn) had fun with the camera as darkness fell.

We closed up camp at the designated hour (10 pm), said our good-byes, and headed back to Grandma's house, with a resolution to get together more often.

The very next day we were on our way to the Syddall reunion up Fairview Canyon (which happens to be along the very same route we took to Manti, just two days earlier).

 Lex and Justin

 Shi and Grace

 Mar, Kade and Justin

Cole.  'Nuff said.

Jessie refused to let me take her picture.  I caught her off guard and snapped one anyway.

Me and the mountain man.  I'm lovin' the scruff.

 MORE marshmallows.  More campfires.

We rested...

(Austin and Britt)

went four-wheelin'...

(Tay and Hunter)

...and a select few went shooting.

(Angela's next action movie will be released this fall.)

We came away with some amazing fish stories, too.

4 days, 3 nights, no showers.  

Then it was time to say good-byes once again.  But not before the photo shoot.

Another cousin pic... with Grandma and Grandpa this time.

We decided that NEXT time, we'll take the pictures on the first day of camp, rather than the last.

The trip home was long.  And eventful.  The car-top carrier we had borrowed from our neighbors (then inadvertently drove into our garage with it on the car the day before our trip... ooops), flew open on highway 6 between Price and I-70.  A 2-lane road.  Sleeping bags, a tent, and a tarp were scattered down a stretch of highway.  Lucky for us, we were able to recover all our strewn belongings (run, Bill, run) before a semi ran over them OR someone was injured or killed trying to avoid them.

Phew.

Bill looked amazingly calm once everything was back together, don't you think?

We ran into ultra-slow (stop and go) traffic along I-70, extending our presumed 7-hour drive to 9-1/2. 

We missed our Trek fireside, the purpose for our somewhat early departure from the reunion.

It's good to be home.

Ya'll come back... change is coming.

Road Trips

Our visit to Utah was event FULL (not to be confused with, but including, eventful).  

Monday was a travel day, so it doesn't really count.  The drive was pleasantly UNeventful, and amazingly scenic, for I-80 through Wyoming (the sky was A. MAZE. ZING.)  The only disappointment was the long bouts of single-laned-due-to-roadwork stints, one of which was spent behind an oversized load and flashing-lights-van notifying me of such, going 20 mph in a 65 for 10 long miles.

The next day, we climbed back in the car and headed south.  First to Provo, to say hey to Britt and our EFY-ing cousins.

 We even said hey to our cousin's cousin.

 I got to meet "the ladies man" in person (he lives in Provo, you know, and just happened to be at the Creamery when we were there).  He and his friends looked about 12.  Or maybe 11.  His older and wiser twin brothers were unfortunately unavailable during our brief visit.  Bummer.

 We said hey to another cousin.  Hey, Nate.

Then we piled back into the car and headed down to Manti.

Somehow, the actual time the pageant started was in question.  We initially thought it started at 7 pm, but after our arrival, discovered that it started at 9:30.  Dusk.  We were a little early, so we scoped out some good seats, then took a lengthy walk through town to enjoy the famous BBQ turkey dinner hosted by a local ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It was a hot day, but the company was excellent.

The church building was beautiful, and although the wait was long, and the hallway stuffy, once we were in the cultural hall (Mormon lingo for gymnasium), it was refreshingly cool.  The turkey dinner was delicious, as promised.

Then we took the long stroll back to the other end of town.  Aunt Jill treated the girls to a snow cone, and we met up with my nephew (and only follower, but who's counting) Josh and his friends.

While we waited for dusk, we snapped a few pictures.

(A birdie left Moroni a little accessory.)

At last, it was time for the pageant to begin.

Then it got really, really cold.  Good thing we had a few blankets and a sleeping bag to help battle the chilly night air.  And, after traveling on and off for several days, I got really, really sleepy.  I'm usually ready to hit the hay around 9:30, so I'll admit... I slept through some parts of the pageant.  But I saw the live-action angel Moroni on the top of the temple (which had impressed me so much the first time I attended the pageant as a 7-year-old, it is the only thing I can still recall), and I saw the happy ending, with random scenes throughout between sleep cycles.

On the drive home, I had fogged contact lenses, and a groggy brain (fog and grog are a lethal combination, you know).  Thankfully, Jill took over the drive somewhere along the way, and we made it back to Bountiful around 2-ish (I think).

On Wednesday Bill joined us, and we headed into Salt Lake in hopes of running into my parents, who are serving a mission at the Family History Library.  We knew they would be in training at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, so we took in the updated Joseph Smith - Prophet of the Restoration movie, meandered the grounds, and snapped a few pictures.

 (This pic was taken from inside the JSMB... through a window, for goodness sake.  If you can ignore the reflection of the lights, and the shadows on the side, you could almost call it a postcard.  At least I could.)

Shilo made a comment to the effect of, "Gosh, this has been a spiritual trip..."

You got it, Sista.

While we were cooling off (and purchasing drinks to acquire parking validations) in the JSMB, I couldn't help but share with my girls that I had my Senior Ball in that very building, back when it was the Hotel Utah.

Same columns, see?  After coincidentally (seriously!) running into my parents, they showed us around a bit.  The ballroom where The Ball had been 25 years earlier, is now a lovely chapel where my parents attend church while serving their mission.  Nice.

I've only just begun.  Tune in for Reunions (and Campfires!) tomorrow.