Falling Off

Apparently I haven't posted since October 15th. Ugh. Not sure what's been holding me back. Guess I just haven't been feeling it lately. I suppose I put pressure on myself to be clever or insightful or something. Not a good idea... those moments are too few and far between to rely on for content.

We've been busy mostly. Fall was beautiful here and it actually lasted more than a week. Or maybe summer just ran long. Either way, it was something to be grateful for. It's only just now getting truly cold and the snow has yet to really fly. Those with season passes get uptight, the rest of us who only dabble in winter sports don't seem to mind.

I don't know that I have a million things to say about the last couple of months, but I do have a fair amount of photos. Everything I post may be way overdue, but still worthwhile I think. Guess I consider this a bit more time capsule than news report.

Lamb's Canyon

Fall is my favorite season by far. 

To be honest, I go a bit mental about seeing the leaves at their peak. Of course, I never actually see them during this time. I see them later... when I remember what month it is... and when they look more like they are diseased than autumnal. Fortunately, I also like this kind of thing too... (photos in a minute). Not sure the family feels the same way about all this as I do, but they graciously, briefly humor me anyway. This time we took a quick trip up to Lamb's Canyon to see what there was to see. See for yourself what we saw. Not pictured: The squirrel that assaulted Eden after she quite logically decided to straddle it's home. Pictured: Eden's semi-terrified reaction. Hailey couldn't make this little adventure so she went up later on her own initiative. Atta girl Hailey... I knew I liked you best.

And Yet...

Another year of poor gardening comes to a close. The chile peppers didn't go anywhere. The basil was a bust. Even the tomatoes went down in flames. Who can't grow tomatoes? Apparently us.

And yet... Just when we were ready to completely write off the whole endeavor... hope has been ever so slightly restored.

While the strawberries didn't exactly yield a lot of fruit, they didn't die. And because they are perennials, they might have even established a firm footing with next season in mind.

The pumpkins pulled off a comeback in the nick of time. There won't be many of them and they won't win any prizes. They will however, make Tracy happy whenever she goes out to check on them. This is, for me, almost entirely the point.

And perhaps best of all... Blackberries. In an unexpected turn, the vines I hate have produced something I love. Will there be more? Enough to make a truce? Or better yet a pie? Stay tuned...

Ascent

Tracy and I have taken up hiking!
Okay, not exactly.

We did, however, take the following three steps toward becoming hikers:
1) We bought a map of the hiking trails along the Wasatch Front.
2) We looked at (but didn't buy) hiking shoes at REI.
3) We actually went on a hike. (not our first, but not too far from it)

It's probably also worth noting that if you live in Utah and don't hike, you'll be viewed dimly... not unlike the way you'll be viewed if you say you don't really like dogs... or kids. We don't have anything against hiking... except the incessant climbing part. As it turns out, if you live in a valley, and decide to go somewhere... anywhere you go will be uphill. Drastically so if you live in the valley we do.

We looked at the map and picked out a trail to follow in Big Cottonwood Canyon... the name escapes me. What didn't escape me was the listed distance, difficulty rating and elevation gain. .8 Miles, "Easy" and about 500 feet. This looked promising. We agreed that the key to our hiking success was to start slow and work our way up from there.

Like most, or maybe even all, of our plans... it began to unravel quickly. We couldn't find the trailhead we were looking for, so we took an alternate instead. Lake Blanche, the sign read. One way distance: three miles. Now I'm no good at math, but I was pretty sure 3.0 miles is longer than .80 miles. It was. The sign didn't really say much else. Whatever... We were here. Let's do this!

How did it go? I'll just cover the high points:

• Tracy is in better shape than I am... as apparently is everyone else. As toddlers and old folks made the return trip down, she was patient and waited while I frequently pulled over for a breather on the way up. I did do better than she on the downhill portion of the hike... maybe she does need those shoes afterall.
• We never quite made it to Lake Blanche... Dinner Plans and low blood sugar cut the hike short. We were probably only about halfway in... later research revealed the hike to be a roughly five hour endeavor. Three hours and a half hours up, and hour and a half back. The internet also revealed the elevation gain... 2500 feet. Yikes. If you're unimpressed, keep in mind that the starting elevation for this hike is over 7000 feet. Don't worry, I'll always provide more reasons to be unimpressed.
• Even though we didn't make it all the way up this time around. It was so worthwhile. Time together, doing something difficult and new. It was also a nice reminder of a simple truth. We live in an amazing place with even more amazing places a short drive away.

Rest assured... endless uphill trail to Lake Blanche... We'll be back.

Fly By

Visitors to the front yard a little while back... Yet another reason to love having a camera with a shoe-mounted flash. I can't find the exact name of the first one... almost the length of your hand. The second one feeding in the flowers (shot after dark) is called a White Lined Sphinx Moth. At first we thought it was a Hummingbird. Dorky? Yes... yes it is. Guest photography by Eden.

Svenhardcore

If you're going to buy a Svenhard's Danish Variety Pack (30 Count) from Costco... and I suggest you do. You should and (inevitably will) eat them in roughly this order. The Breakfast Claw is pretty much a guaranteed #1. It is nothing short of multi-textural cinnamon sandwich delight. Positions #2 (Cheese Horn) and #3 (Berry Horn) may vary by individual, depending on your level of fondness for faux fruit filling or simulated cream cheese. Actually, both fillings are probably legit... but I still like them just the same. Raisin-ette at the #4 spot may surprise you... I can't say I wasn't taken aback. If you detest raisins (some do), you'll agree to disagree. Unaffiliated others will, I think, find the Cinnamon Claw to be the lesser of the two. Hyphenation aside, the Raisin-ette is at least trying. To be honest, I think the Breakfast Claw might be to blame. When you see what can be done with cinnamon and frosting in the very same variety pack, it's just so hard to forgive.

Two additional notes... I'm not really sure why some of these are called claws and some are called horns. Maybe the shape? Sort off...? I could Google it, but honestly... it would probably take at least three clicks.

Also, as passionate as I am about anything you can buy in a 30-pack from Costco, this was mostly an excuse to mess around with my new studio lights. Thanks Amazon.

Oh Yeah...

Eden is home. Two weeks now. I know. I know... It reflects poorly on me that I can write a 2000 word post on the weeds in my yard and it takes me this long to acknowledge her return from the other side of the planet. I'd feel bad about this, but I've also failed in a lot of other areas lately too... and so this particular failure doesn't feel all that unique. Sigh... Who am I?

Eden had an amazing time and made us all proud and jealous again. I'm trying to get her to send me some of her many pictures so I can post them here. I'm also almost past the desire to throw sanity to the wind and attempt to adopt one of the girls she worked with there. We teared up more than once see photos of and hearing about the beautiful kids who deserve better lives than they're on track to have.

Among the other things I've failed to do:

I forgot to tell you that Evan's weeklong scout ordeal went just fine. At least he briefly admitted as much as he walked in the house, covered in dirt, rambling about how he needed to get to GameStop ASAP. Apparently he and the other scouts had been comparing notes on a game he simply had to have. His favorite part of the canoe trip in the Tetons? The car rides in between campsites.

I also failed to mention that Evan is now 6' 3" and 150 pounds... 7 inches taller and 50% heavier than he was a year ago. Oh yeah, he also started school again. A sophomore. Yikes.

I omitted a mention Hailey's work trip to Las Vegas. The bridal shop she works at paid for a few of the girls to go to some seminars at the Magic Show. No, not Siegfried and Roy, fashion stuff. She was a little nervous, traveling with a bunch of new people, but I think she had a good time.

Lessons Learned - Eden Rabdau

I could write more about the vines in our yard or how I can't handle ordering at drive throughs, but I thought you might get a little more out of this: A new post from Eden, again in her own words. You can read the original post along with others here.

Coming into India I had no clue what to expect. I had no clue if I would find that favorite girl that I would do anything for. If we would feel like we made a difference. If I felt like I helped someone at all. In one week I found that favorite girl I would do anything for. We made a difference. I feel like not only did I help one person, but 25. 

These girls have the most spectacular souls. Souls filled with pure joy. Souls filled with the desire to give and to love.  Souls that I’ve never seen before.

I think sometimes we come into an adventure like this expecting to change these girls lives and to help them so much. Which we do.  But in return they do the same. The girls live the most simple life style, one with no excess, even one without the essentials. It’s honestly one of the most humbling experiences I’ve ever had. So many of the girls either have a single mom who cannot afford to keep them at home or no parents at all.  25 girls live in a crammed “house” hardly big enough to hold a family of 4. Ceilings sit two inches above my head and mud floors are beneath me, beds made of wood with a dirty rug over the top is what they call home. No one deserves to live like this, especially these girls. 

These girls have taught me a few very important things.

-How to be selfless.

-How to truly love someone for all they are. Flaws and all.

-How to devote your whole heart to service.

-To pay attention to the girls who has just peed herself. Also to not pick her up while playing soccer.

-They’ve taught me to smile and to laugh just because you can.

We were going to say goodbye today but it got postponed until tomorrow so we could celebrate India’s Independence Day with the girls. When Raj told everyone we didn’t have to say goodbye today the girls cheered and hollered. I can’t even begin to imagine what tomorrow will bring.  Either way, India and the people of India have changed me yet again.

Eden Rabdau

Melting

Hailey in the back yard. Photos taken, I believe, by Eden. It's annoying that other people can capture such nice images with my camera. Really dispels the self-perpetuated rumor that I have "special photography powers". Although the fairly adorable subject matter didn't hurt either. I wasn't out there when they were taken, but I'm thinking the idea here was to show her hair before it changed... again... dark this time... girls...

Heartburn

This is a picture of the bacon we had in our BLTs for Evan's birthday dinner. Mike, Hailey's boyfriend, ate three (we ran out of bacon). This post doesn't have anything to do with bacon.

Evan returns sometime today from a week long scout canoe trip. He and about 15 kids and leaders drove north to the Yellowstone area... Jackson Lake, Island Park, bays, islands... You get the idea.

He didn't really want to go. Actually, it was more complicated than that. He was dead set against going, then he seemed okay about it, then he was very reluctant, later somewhat excited, followed up by denial, anger, bargaining, acceptance and maybe even... enjoyment? It's important to note that we never actually see the enjoyment stage, we're kind of assuming it might happen. But he always waits till we're out of sight to show it. He also tucks it into his pack right before he gets home, depriving us of the parental satisfaction we understandably crave.

He wasn't the only one with mixed emotions about the whole affair. Tracy and I agonized before and after we sent him on his way. It's maybe not what you think: We weren't afraid of the canoeing (life jackets) or bears (he can run faster than at least some kids) or even pervy scout masters (I'd trust these guys with my life). He's just become a little distanced from the scout program and subsequently the people and things that go with it. It's possible that's entirely our fault, but I'd like to hope otherwise. Nevertheless, his attendance on the trip was not a foregone conclusion. A couple of primary reasons: 1) Tracy and I aren't really campers... and so we're reluctant to insist our kids do something for a week we usually won't do for a night. 2) He had been teased by some of the kids on previous trips and was dreading more of the same. We could get past the first reason, the second wasn't so easy.

Not sure about other parents, be we've always received a lot of joy from seeing our kids spend time with other kids in a way that makes them happy and keeps them busy. Not sure why... maybe we take it as a sign that they will eventually, in spite of our parental prowess, adjust okay to others and the outside world. It's like that when we visit family in Pocatello. We pull up, unload the car and they just disappear with their cousins. Riding horses, throwing knives, chasing chickens, texting boys. We see them at meal time but not much more... they seem completely content, completely independent of us. No, it's not just us being lazy parents... I think that's how it's supposed to work. It's never quite clicked that way for Ev with scouting. He has friends, but no close friends. And those closest to being close friends are fickle and and often interested in winning the favor of the older/others.. sometimes at Evan's expense.

We felt good about our reasons to have him go... get him out of the house and into the light, provide more exposure to the splendor of the American west (Tracy's idea...weird, right?), reconnect with scouting and the kids from church, make memories, eat hamburgers and have new stories to tell. And yet we were worried that we were setting him up for a rough week... surrounded by kids his own age, but possibly feeling isolated or worse. Might he overstate the problem, to avoid a lengthy camp out? Maybe. But it still felt a tiny bit like we were throwing him to the lions. Potential exaggeration aside, no parent ever wants a hand in that.

How did it all turn out? We'll find out soon enough. We did get a text from one of the leaders a couple of days ago (Thanks Ben) that said he seemed happy and was doing well. I think it probably, hopefully turned out fine... maybe even great. Will he admit that, knowing it will validate our decision and motivate us to send him back next time? Probably not.

Stay tuned.

Garden Park After Dark

Locking up the building for a week does have its advantages. Couldn't take too many photos though... my building security companion (Evan), who was strictly in it for the money, didn't have too much patience for being artsy.