Adventures in Southern Utah

For as much as I still like blogging when I'm in the middle of it, I definitely haven't refound my groove yet.  And, for whatever reasons, trips are the things I most want to blog about and to make sure we have a record of, but they're also the hardest for me to write.  WE always take a gazillion pictures that are fun, but overwhelming to sort through.   And, unless I blog immediately after our trip, I tend to forget the details of it pretty quickly (hence why I want to blog about them in the first place).   So, there you have it and, now, here I am trying to piece together a trip we took 2 months ago.   

We've really missed being able to travel since COVID kicked in, so we decided that we needed to take advantage  while we were in Utah to see Emma and see some sites too.   After we went through the temple and spent some time with her, we took off for Southern Utah.  We'd already been to some of the National Parks, but, for as long as we've had connections in Utah, there was still a surprising amount we hadn't seen yet.   

Right after our trip, a friend told me that she was visiting Southern Utah soon and asked for some advice.  The rest of this blogpost will be our pictures, interspersed with the advice I sent her.  

Goblin Valley--
1. You only need an hour or two for this park, but it's totally worth the stop (especially with kids).
2. This is one of the best chances to get up close and personal with the hoodoos and we totally loved getting out and exploring amongst them. It's super kid friendly, it's also a great place to fly drones, watch the sunset, and stargaze (if the moon isn't full). 

  

Capitol Reef --
1. Stay in Torrey, Utah--it's very near the park, has great views, and is just a cute little town. The restaurants were a little pricey, but surprisingly good! We ate at Rim Rock and enjoyed it. We heard that Hunt and Gather was one that people drove from hours around to get to.
2. take a backcountry jeep tour to see Cathedral Valley--we LOVED getting off the beaten path to see parts of the park that would be hard to see otherwise. Kevin--our guide with Fremont Tours was so knowledgeable and a really good guy. We'd highly recommend this as a way to see the depths of Capitol Reef.
3. Stop and see the Petroglyph Panels. This was a super short hike and totally worth the stop.
4. Take the Scenic Drive through the park (only about 10 miles long) and then take the little side drive into Capitol Gorge. Capitol Gorge was soooooo pretty and one of our favorite parts of CR!

Highway 12 --
1. This is a gorgeous scenic byway that will lead you from Capitol Reef most of the way to Bryce Canyon.
2. There are lots of cool places you could stop between the two places (including Calf Creek Falls, Kodachrome Basin SP, Escalante, etc)



Calf Creek Falls Hike --
1. This was a moderately difficult hike (about 3 miles each way) mostly on sand. The ups and downs are about equal both ways. The falls and the views along the way are gorgeous and I'm sure your kids would have a hayday playing in the water at the falls (although it was quite cold)!
2. This hike was right on the way from Capitol Reef to Bryce Canyon. 

Escalante--
1. Okay, so we only passed through this little town, but the food truck we ate dinner at was sooooo good and I highly recommend it. It was called Georgie's Outdoor Mexican Cafe and everything we got was delicious (and it had good gluten free options if that's something important to you).


Bryce Canyon --
1. Stay in Panguitch, Utah--it's about 30 minutes outside of Bryce Canyon and has everything you need here. WE stayed at the Blue Pine Motel and were actually reasonably impressed with it. We don't normally stay at motels, but this was clean, had great reviews online, and was close to everything in town.
2. Bryce Canyon is a park you only need a day to explore. You can park at the Visitor's Center and take a shuttle to all the overlooks, but with kids it's probably easier to just drive and park at the different overlooks.
3. We really enjoyed taking about a 3 mile hike to get down into the canyon and see the scenery from a different viewpoint--we started at Sunset Point, then took the Wall Street trail to Navajo Loop to Queen's Garden and back to Sunrise Point. It's a lot of elevation change, but totally beautiful and worth the walk.

After that, we headed home and spent the last day or two visiting good friends....

Spending time with Nana...

Dropping by my Aunt Zina's house....

And cursing my new hiking shoes, which apparently are evil and don't work with my walking stride.  I had gotten them right before the trip and quickly discovered on our numerous hikes that one shoe somehow catches on the other and causes me to "almost trip" a lot.   Walking on a sidewalk near my parents' house, I went from "almost tripping" to falling flat on my face and I was not happy.  

I haven't worn the shoes again.

After all that excitement, we flew home and have been here ever since.   I imagine that someday we'll travel more regularly again, but for now, home is where it's at!  

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Reunited!

Temples for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints closed very early in the COVID pandemic. We very much missed being able to serve there ourselves, but were most sad that Emma's appointment to be endowed before her mission (scheduled for the end of the March) had to be postponed indefinitely.  We heard of temples starting to reopen around the time Emma started the MTC, so we held out hope that perhaps some temple within 3-4 hours of us might reopen before she finished her training.  Unfortunately that didn't happen and it wasn't until the day we dropped Emma off at the airport to take off for her mission, that the Philadelphia Temple announced that they were reopening soon for individuals to receive their own endowments.   We  were disappointed that the timing ended up so close for her, but sent her on her way knowing that she would likely go through the temple on her mission without us.   

She'd only been in the field for a week or two, when she announced to us that her mission was scheduling endowment dates for all of the missionaries who were unendowed and that we were invited!   Never mind that we live on the other side of the country and travelling isn't really encouraged right now....we didn't hesitate for a second and bought our tickets to Utah ASAP!   

Over the next couple of weeks, we realized that Spence's summer job was ending the week before we arrived, so he was going to be back in Utah too.    Then, by a stroke of luck, Cami and Garrett serendipitously bought tickets to Utah the same weekend for a completely different reason, not even realizing that that was when Emma's temple appointment was then.  

Some may call that luck....I call it a tender mercy!  It is a rare occasion these days when we can be all together!    And thus the impromptu reunion of 2020 was born.   Here are some highlights: 

One of the first things Glen did after the dates of our trip were finalized, was plan a fishing trip with his brother, Alex.   It's become somewhat of a tradition for them now.  Glen rents a boat and the Goold boys all go on a fishing adventure together on the Strawberry Reservoir.   The weather was beautiful and many fish were caught....so it was definitely a success!  

Meanwhile, Ellie and I got together with the Goold girls and went to a cute fall craft boutique together.   It was great to see them and fun to pick out some unique fall decorations for our home.   

Later on that day, Heather took us to the orchard right around the corner from our parents' house and introduced to their fresh peach ice cream.   Yum!  

The next day we realized that we were all wearing ripped jeans and had to pose for a picture...

This was also the day that we got to see Cami and Garrett!   We actually met them at the Bourne cabin and got to spend time with Garrett's family too.   It was great to see them again and I love that our families are connected by marriage now, so we get a good excuse to keep their friendship closer, though we live far away now.   Here's the group shot with Amy in it....

And the one with me in it...

Here's a glimpse of the drive up to the Bourne cabin...  😍

Ellie  loved having a sister around again and wouldn't leave Cami's side!  

The next day we got up bright and early and headed to the temple to meet Emma!  Unfortunately there was a gap in communication somewhere along the way from the temple, to the mission, to Emma, to us, because on our 20 minute drive there we got a desperate phone call from the temple wondering where we were.  All we had known was the time of the session and had NO idea we were supposed to be there an hour early.   😕

So we missed the initiatory and other early stuff, but we made it in plenty of time for the session!   Sadly, because of COVID, they wouldn't let Cami and Garrett join us, but Glen and I were certainly thrilled to be there.  We had my sister, Heather, meet us there afterward to take pictures for us.   Gotta take advantage of the whole family being all together!   

AS you can see (and probably expected), we took a gazillion pictures...

And then afterward, we got to take Emma and her companions out for brunch....

 Sisters McKinlay and Skinner were delightful to meet and we felt privileged to be able to get to spend some time with them all.    It was also fun to take them out for their weekly shopping and let them get a few fun splurges.  

After that, we headed back to my parents' house and spent some time with Nana....

and Heather....

We also got to spend some time with Alex's family.  It was fun to get these cute girl cousins together.  

Then Cami and Garrett took off back to Austin....

Stay tuned for a recap on the rest of our trip coming soon.....

Hey, I'm Back...

I've decided that I miss blogging and the record that it provides for our family, so I'm going to attempt a little comeback here.  I doubt I'll ever get as into it as I was a few years ago, but here's hoping I can stay consistent enough to get at least some of our highlights down.  

So, it's been a week!   On Saturday, it was this sweet missionary's 20th birthday!   I was so excited to hear that she'd actually received her packages on time and it was fun to watch her open them over the phone.   I LOVE LOVE LOVE that particular missionary rule change that allows us to communicate with Emma on a regular basis.   BEST. THING. EVER.

I also loved that she sent us this picture from later in the day.   All the sisters in her apartment dressed up for Halloween.    Emma was Arthur--the kids' storybook/tv show character. 😁

We spent quite a while talking with Emma, then went out on one of our favorite hikes to Ridley Creek State Park!   The loop we do is about 5-1/2 miles long and involves passing by a small dam, so of course it's our favorite. 😆  The weather was a little chilly that day, but the leaves were PERFECTION!  I love autumn.

Here's a random picture I found on my phone of Cami and Garrett--both students in Texas.  

Tuesday was Election Day and Adam, at 18 years and 18 days old, got the privilege of being one of the youngest people to vote!   It's been a crazy election and it took us forever to figure out who we wanted to vote for.   We honestly felt like it was choosing between the lesser of two evils and I didn't make my official decision until the morning of.  With all that indecision though, we definitely did not want to miss voting. 😑  We very much recognize it as a privilege to be able to vote and I am grateful to live in the USA. 

We waited 2 hours, 15 minutes in line in the freezing cold to vote, so it's a darn good thing we felt so strongly about it, or it would have been really easy to walk away and go home.  

Here's a closer look at the cool stickers we received after voting.    

After voting we took an almost 3-hour trek to Northern Virginia for Ellie to visit her pediatric neurologist.   We tried to find her one in Pennsylvania, but, alas, searching for a new specialist in a pandemic is not the easiest thing in the world and ultimately we decided that it would be easier to drive her to VA than to wait whoever knows how long before she could get an appointment here.   So we drove her there, took her to the doctor, then turned around and came home.   We literally saw no one and did nothing else than take her to the doctor.  But it's done and we got to see this sunset on the way home.   This particular picture was actually taken by Adam as he left work in PA, but we were very much admiring it as well on the way home.  

On Wednesday we headed downtown for Adam's boat building class.  Glen's job just ended last week, so it was fun to have him join us for that.   We went to the Nation Constitution Center, a place we really enjoy and we think the whole world should visit.   The "Freedom Rising" show is normally live and is worth the price of admission by itself, but even just watching the film version (due to COVID) was still cool.    We also love the Signers Hall with lifesize statues of all the signers of the Constitution and the exhibits about the amendments.    

We also maintained our Wednesday tradition of eating Philly Cheesesteaks for lunch.  WE've been on a quest to find the best cheesesteak restaurant in Philly and have been to over 15 as part of that quest. 

 We decided that instead of trying a new one this week, that we'd introduce Dad to one of our top 3....so we took him to Gooey Louie's.  And after try #2, it's definitely still staying in our top 3.  One day we're going to buy one from each of the top 3 at once and try them side by side and figure out which one is the best of the best.  

Here is a cool shot Adam took down by the river.  

And lastly, what would a blogpost be without a picture of food?  I try hard to make my first meal after fasting as wholesome as I can, and this one hit the spot bigtime for me!   A vegetable saute, with fresh avocado, and a big bowl of frozen blueberries with a small splash of almond milk.  

This is not normally the type of thing I eat for breakfast, but after fasting, it was delicious and ultra-satisfying!  

And that is all for now.   

2020 Update

Here's a glimpse of what we've been up to in this crazy year of a pandemic and canceled everything.  Maybe someday I'll add pictures and add more details, but this is all I've got for right now.   

January: Started the month off in Uganda and Kenya on our humanitarian trip.   Then spent the rest of the month trying to adjust back to real life.   

February:  More real life.   As per usual, it felt like a long month of short days and lots of places to go and things to do.   Emma got her mission call to the Toronto, Canada--Spanish speaking mission to start the MTC on July 15th.   

March:  This is when the world started falling apart.   It started off normalish, then Cami came home for spring break, which was pretty much right COVID started hitting hot and heavy.  Our spring break trip to France, Germany, Norway, and Portugal  was canceled, my parents came home from their mission, and we tried to leave the home as little as possible.  

April:   I learned that I can't digest gluten properly anymore.  I think subconsciously I knew it for the last couple of years, as I had been gradually eating fewer and fewer grains.    But all the COVID baking made me realize that it's not grains....it's gluten....and it 100% makes me sick, even when I eat very small amounts.  I'll be honest, this was a tough realization for me and I've cried over it more than a few times.  On the bright side though, my digestive system hasn't felt this good in years.     Emma came home from BYU at the end of the month and my parents returned to their home in Utah.  

May:    We get desperate to figure out what we're doing this summer.  Things were falling apart at Glen's job and he didn't feel like it was in the long-term cards to stay, however it also wasn't the right thing to leave yet.   So we soul-searched and prayed, and ultimately decided that we needed to commit to stay here for another year.  Our landlords were returning from overseas in July, which meant that we were hot and heavy looking for a new place to live.   

June:   We made a last minute dash to Texas to bring Spencer our extra car, after his was totaled while parked on the side of the road.   It was quick, but great to spend time with Spence in Dallas and Cami and Garrett in Austin.   While we were in Texas, Glen picked out a new place for us to live.  Many places were not allowing showings and rentals were flying off the market, so we were grateful to find something in a nice neighborhood at a reasonable price.   It was a little crazy committing to it sight unseen, but we had little choice and it turned out to be a good thing. 

July:  This was a crazy month.   We packed up the bit of  stuff we had with us in Malvern, got the rest of our stuff out of storage in Virginia, moved into the new place in Phoenixville, then Emma started at-home MTC...all within a week.   It was crazy to say the least, but it was surprisingly lovely to see all of our stuff again after it had been in storage for so long.   We weirdly felt more at home in this new rental within a couple weeks, than we ever had living in the pre-furnished house in Malvern for an entire year.  

August:  This was a month of getting settled in and enjoying having a missionary living in our home.   It was a blessing to have her around for a bonus 6-weeks and my only regret is that we couldn't provide her a more peaceful, put-together environment for her MTC experience.   By the time she left at the end of the month, was when we finally started to feel like things were pretty settled.    She was reassigned to serve in the SLC-West mission and left unendowed, because the temples were still closed. 

September:    It's a weird school year for everyone, but we tentatively jumped in and tried to make a go of it the best we could.  We've really enjoyed being able to talk to Emma on a weekly basis and we were very excited when she let us know that she was scheduled to be endowed on September 28th and that we were welcome to fly out to accompany her.   Glen had a huge deadline to get through, but happily the endowment date came right AFTER the deadline, so we decided to make it our belated summer vacation.   Cami and Garrett came up from Texas and Spencer finished up his sales job in Las Vegas, so it was fantastic to be all together as a family for a couple of days.  

October:  After we went through the temple with Emma, we headed to southern Utah for a few days and enjoyed some time exploring down there.  It was a well needed vacation for all of us and we were happy that Spencer was able to join us for that part of it too!   When we got back, church started meeting in person again and we are now back to having sacrament meetings every week again.  They're shorter and socially distanced, but it's good to be back....although weird to be new to a ward in the time of COVID.    Glen's job officially wraps up at the end of this month.  He's leaving the company on good terms and now he is officially looking for something new again.  

To be continued... 

The First Few Months of 2020

Well, so far 2020 has been quite a year. 

We started the year in Uganda on a humanitarian trip.  It was the experience of a lifetime and I will forever cherish our time there.  We were humbled by the simplicity and the joy with which the Ugandan people live their lives and we fell in love with them.  It was so meaningful to be there all together as a family and I think I would go so far as to say that it was totally life-changing for all of us.

 It had taken so much time and energy to get ready for the trip, that I felt like we came back and were in a bit of a funk.   It took us most of January  to reestablish good habits and to really find our groove again.

February came around and it was, well....February.  It was fine, we were doing our thing, but the days were short, and the 29 days seemed endless.     The one big bright spot was February 25th when Emma opened her mission call!   She was called to serve in the Canada Toronto Mission--speaking Spanish.   She goes into the MTC on July 15th and we are all very excited! 

Then March came and it was set to be a good one.   Cami was coming to spend spring break with us, and then we were taking off on a grand adventure to visit Matt and his family in Germany and then to my parents on their mission in Paris.   We also had short waystops planned in Oslo, Luxembourg, and Lisbon, because I'm a Crain and I had to make sure we were hitting some new countries too {Plus tickets were way cheaper into Oslo and out of Lisbon}. 

Then COVID-19 came along and changed everything. 

We were scheduled to leave for Oslo on the evening of Thursday, March 12th. We watched the news of COVID-19 with increasing wariness through the first week of March, but still thought that we should be able to go.   I did buy a little extra toilet paper, because I heard people were starting to freak out, but really didn't do anything else.    Then that second week of March came and there were new developments popping up by the hour.  Cami came to town on Wednesday--the same day Donald Trump announced that he was imposing a travel ban on flights from Europe.   At that point, we had already pretty much decided that it was not in our best interest to take the trip, but that announcement sealed the deal and made the decision a no-brainer for us. 

So we spent the next few days stocking up on food, baking treats (Cami!), and, in general, getting ready to hunker down for a bit.   During that time EVERYTHING was canceled--all the kids' classes, sports, activities, events, and even church.   Cami decided she needed to get home early to her hubby, so they could prepare to hunker down too, so she left several days earlier than planned. 

In the midst of all that, my parents found out that all senior missionaries were being evacuated from Europe.  Since they have a tenant living in their house, they needed somewhere else to stay.  We have a lovely, private basement, so we immediately offered for them to come here.  They accepted and we immediately went back to stocking up on more food for them and other things that would make their stay more pleasant.   People gave us a king-size bed, a toaster oven, a small fridge, and a microwave.  We bought a little hotplate, some bedding, and tried to make it as comfortable as we could for them. 

So now we are about two weeks into all this craziness.  My parents have been here 8 days.  Glen's been working at home starting this week.  We basically only leave the house  to exercise and go to the grocery store, although we've been trying to make that a lot less frequent than usual too.   It's all rather surreal and it's crazy to think that the whole world is essentially on pause for a while.

Cami and Garrett are safe in Texas.  Garrett's med school has put things on hold for now, since they don't want med students using up the precious supplies or getting exposed.  Cami's classes have been moved to online.   She is fortunate that her student life job is funded by a grant and she will continue to get paid, though she is no longer able to work. 

Spencer works at CVS and has been very busy.  He recently broke up with his girlfriend, so the busyness is good for him, though we are definitely worried for him being exposed to so many people during these crazy times. 

BYU moved all their classes online, but we have yet to convince Emma that she wants to come home.  She has two roommates that have decided to stay and few guy friends that are also staying and we are hesitant to cut her freshman year short, so we are not pushing her to come home.   The saddest part for her right now is that they've closed all the temples and she was not able to receive her endowments before all the craziness hit.  With so many missionaries being sent home right now (and the MTC being closed), she also worries about whether it will affect her mission.   We shall see! 

I do worry about COVID-19, especially with a husband and son with asthma, but more than anything right now I am worrying about the long-term effect on our society and economy with everything shut down.   I strongly dislike feeling "trapped" in our house, but have started to really enjoy the extra time with my peeps at home.  We've continued baking yummy treats, we are doing lots of puzzles together, and playing board games.  Ellie and Adam still have all their homeschool classes except one (one of the in-person classes was not able to meet online), so they are busy with school work.   They are missing the in-person interaction of all their classes, sports, and activities, but, again, are enjoying the more laid-back schedule. 

So, there you have it.  The last two weeks have been a blur and I have definitely shed a few tears over the lost opportunities (a trip to Europe, my parent's mission unexpectedly ending more than a year early, Emma's freshman year being cut short, the kids' sports' seasons ending before they really began, etc), but we are happy to be safe, together, and in good health.  The virus is really taking off here in the US now and I think this quarantine will likely last for several more weeks.  Schools in Virginia have already announced that they will remain closed for the remainder  of the school year.   WE will join the world this Sunday and pray for a resolution...a vaccine, an effective treatment, a slowing of the spread...whatever needs to happen to help life to get back to normal again.