Got to Love Those Old Clothes

Mia raided my closet and found an old blue blazer.  I am so glad she loves it and I can't believe it fit.  I got it for my birthday in 9th grade and I loved it back then (aaah that is almost 40 years ago). It brings back memories of good old Hillside Jr. High. I think that was the year that some of the students decided to burn down the school over Christmas Break.   They did a pretty good job but only 1 hallway burned so we still had to go to school.  We just got to double up lockers and classes-good times.
 Too bad I didn't save the blue and white checkered pants I wore with it.  They were the best and the Seventies Rocked!

Let the Olympics Begin

At least the viewing marathon is starting for me. I don't know why I feel compelled to watch sports that I don't even care about, featuring people I don't know, but hey, it's the Olympics and it just has to be done every 4 years.  Thanks to Matt I do feel like we supported one athlete.

The scarf I am wearing was given to me by Matt.  He brought it home from Jerusalem.  The man who sold it to him is Maher Abu Remeleh.  He was the flag bearer for Palestine in the Olympic Opening Ceremonies and is participating in Judo.
GO ABU!!

In Support of Free-Range Mothers

Mary Ann Frost Stearn Pratt

     I am going to give another little post from my talk since this has to do with Pioneers and this is the time of year to honor them.  I talked on strengthening families.  If you have seen all the wonderful families around me you would wonder why I was asked to give advice on this subject.  I know it perplexed me.
     My kids euphemistically call my parenting style "free-range".  I have to plead guilty but in my defense I come from a long line of "free-range" mothers.  To paraphrase what my cousin told her kids- "Don't you feel blessed that you came into a family where you could learn so many things by kindergarten: how to use the microwave, how to make your own lunch, how to amuse yourself with books and going out into nature, etc. Aren't you glad you don't have a parent hovering over you all the time?"
     Anyone who knows my mother, Carol, knows I was raised this way. Her mother, Elsie Booth Brockbank was the same, and tracing back through the mothers you get Delia Winters Booth, Mary Ann Stearns Winters and then Mary Ann Frost Stearns Pratt.  This is a story about her.
    

     Mary Anne, was married to Parley P. Pratt.  While he was imprisoned in Missouri she would take her 2 children and stay with him in a prison. Parley, though in jail, was secretly writing some manuscripts that they felt would be dangerous to the men if they were discovered.  On one visit, Mary Ann was letting her daughter crawl up the door or on the walls. I'm not sure which but her daughter, also a Mary Ann (who is the child I am descended from) fell and broke her arm. All the ensuing commotion allowed Mary Ann to get out of the prison with the manuscript.

      The lesson I learned from this story growing up was that there are blessings in letting your kids explore without a lot of supervision. Although maybe this story was told in our family to show how the Lord works miracles in strange ways, but... I don't think so.  You should let your kids roam.

Feel the Burn

     I only have 10 more treatments; two weeks to be exact.  I have tomorrow off because of the Pioneer Day so I will be done on August 6th.  The last 5 treatments are on a different linear machine that goes deeper but they will just do it in the area of the cancer so hopefully won't damage the lung too much. I am very excited to be nearing the end. I am starting to get a little sore and the seams in my shirts really bother my underarm skin so I have pretty much taken over Bryan's short-sleeve button downs. They say it will get worse for about 1 week after (I guess radiation burns take time to fully develop) but then should stop calming down.  Here are some lovely pictures:

 I don't know if you can see but under my arm is pretty red and sore. I wasn't expecting that.

     I am getting a nice tan (or burn as the case may be) but in all the wrong places.  Luckily I don't have any open sores and the gal I was exercising with at Huntsman the other day said that I was doing better then any one else she had seen so I feel lucky that way.  I do keep a lot of aloe and other ointments on the area.
     I did have to stop shaving under my arm.  Mia said I would just have to let my pit go rogue but then I realized that I am not growing hair there any more.  I don't know if that is permanent or not but it would be kind of nice.  Another way I can be asymmetric.

Mount Olympus and the Meaning of Grace

I gave a talk today in church on the home and shared this experience that Bryan and I had while hiking this summer.
    

     Bryan and I hiked Mt. Olympus a couple of weeks ago.  We read some about it, not a lot, not enough.  We got took our one bottle of water each and started on the trail early that morning hoping to avoid the heat.  Well, it was a strenuous hike, much harder then we were expecting and longer than the book had said, and remember back a couple of weeks ago-there was no way to avoid the heat.  We made it to the top and took our pictures but I had an appointment in the early afternoon and the trail was longer than they had said in the book. We tried to save our water but we needed it in the high temperatures and sunshine and on our way down it was soon gone.  Our muscles ached and we were so hot but we didn’t have time to really stop because of my appointment.  We just kept going. A little over ½ the way down in a little shady bower a couple was sitting.  They asked us if we had enough water.  We lightly said, "Oh, we’ll be fine" and started  up again when the man stopped us.  He must have noticed our beet-red faces and looks of exhaustion. “I’ve got a surprise for you”.  He handed us two still partially frozen bottles of water and juice.

     The couple wasn’t that young and they didn’t look like super-athletes but they had carried up bags of bottles to stash on the trail and give to people to help them on their way. It couldn’t have been easy for them because we thought the trail was hard without hauling heavy bags. They said that they were so bad off their first time that they always bring up water to help others now.  We were so grateful.  We really were in a little bit of trouble and might not have made it without their help. When we left I called back “thank you, this is like heaven” but I don’t think they knew how literal I was being and what I also thought was "you just showed me the meaning of grace". I miscalculated and made a stupid decision but I was trying my hardest and they just gave me that enabling power (of rehydration) to help me finish. There was no judgment there, no harsh recriminations on our poor preparation, or humor at our expense – just relief, understanding and help.

          I hope that my home can be like that cool, shady bower: a place of grace, a place that my children can stop at and know that we can help them back on their way.  They might have done something a little stupid without realizing the consequences, they might just need a rest but they will know they have a place of refuge, they know they will be loved and they know we will try to help them in the best way we know how.  I also hope that our example and our home will help remind them of their heavenly home and their Heavenly Father and their Brother and his atonement.

           As Pres. Monson said “A home is much more than a house built of lumber, brick, or stone. A home is made of love, sacrifice, and respect. We are responsible for the homes we build. We must build wisely, for eternity is not a short voyage. There will be calm and wind, sunlight and shadows, joy and sorrow. But if we really try, our home can be a bit of heaven here on earth. The thoughts we think, the deeds we do, the lives we live not only influence the success of our earthly journey, they also mark the way to our eternal goals.”

    

Half Way There

     Here is where I am spending my afternoons lately.  I have hit Day 15 out of 30.  Hurrah!  This is Andy - He helps me get set up, along with Matt and Shane. They are very nice. Sorry about the bright light in the background but you get the idea. I lay down with my head on the personal mold and grab those 2 rods at the top.  The wedge at the bottom is for my knees so I can be a little more comfortable. The cross up above in the ceiling has a little red laser light beam.  There are also lights on each side.  The line these up with my 3 little tattoos.  They also have 3 cameras that watch me and make sure I don's move. (I moved my upper arm once and they made me do the CT scan over -lesson learned) 
     First I go in the machine for a CT scan.  It double checks that the machine will give me the radiation in the right spot. They tell me that they want to be exact to the millimeter.  After they scan and get it all set up then I get radiation in one direction and then I go through once more and get radiation from the other side. It really should only take 15 or 20 minutes but it always seems to take longer.
     I asked if the machine had a nickname but they said no so I decided to call her Toni the Tomo machine.  I have known a few Toni's. They are usually cranky just like this Toni.  They usually tend to be chain-smokers too, but luckily I have never seen this machine smoke.  She does seem quite menopausal: She is moody, she likes to have the room kept really cool or she gets overheated, and she never seems to have enough energy.. It always seems like she is having a problem. (I apologize to all Toni's who aren't like this).
     Let's just say that I can't wait until 3 weeks from now.

The Hike Up Mount Olympus

     Oh, this was another exhausting one for us.  The guidebook said 6.5 miles but I believe the sign at the start of the trail which said 7.  In that 3.5 miles going up you climb almost 4200 feet, an average of over 22% incline.  We were also on a time constraint so not a lot of time for resting. Oh, and did I mention that the weather was in the 90's on our way down and there was not much shade. We really needed lots more water.
     There are a switchbacks on the first half of the trail but after that there are a lot of rocks.  I think they decided it was easier to just climb up the trail using the rocks then try to build a trail across them.  Probably true but there were times that Bryan and I seemed to need to rest every 30 seconds.  I would look up for a nice stopping point or goal point but the trail of rocks just kept going unceasingly up. We finally made it to the nice shady saddle near the top.  We took a little rest and then headed up the rocky top.  No real trail here.  The rule of thumb is: If it gets too scary turn around and go the other way. Someone like me can make it without any real mountaineering experience. They do end up having to rescue people up here all time who get lost. Near the top we went right when we should have gone left but we could see the top and it wasn't too difficult so we kept going.

The last 500 feet

A view towards the cottonwood canyons

If you go through the saddle instead of going left and up you end up in really bad hiking territory

Someone was nice enough to bring up chairs so you can rest your legs while enjoying the view

Great view of the valley and Kennecott.  As you can see at the top you are basically hiking rock rubble.

Looking down. Don't go up the north side

Found the right trail down from the top

     It is just as painful going down because of the steepness. We really wished we had more time but had to keep going.    Luckily it isn't too far to the nearest convenience store where you can grab a quick Slurpee for a nice inner cool down.  Unfortunately you can't get the muscles taken care of so easily.  Bryan's quads were sore for days.
      Well, I'm glad that is off my bucket list and I don't feel like I ever have to do it again.

Holmes Creek Hike

     This is a tale of why you should do your research before you hike. I read one little post saying they were going to do an easy hike and end up at the bottom of Holmes Creek.  For some reason I thought they were hiking along the creek and I had passed over it many times while doing the BST and thought it would be fun to explore it further.  I talked Bryan into it and we got up early and off we went. We were okay for the first 100 yards.  There is a little dammed up portion that my kids used to visit, a little further looked like we should cross the stream but got over there and didn't really see anything so crossed back, came to a huge rock outcropping next to a very steep slope. Took turns crawling up since the falling rocks were a little hazardous.  We went up quite a ways before deciding this wasn't really a trail but we could see a faint trail on the other side so we went back down to the river crossing, climbed up a scree slope and followed a trail (I guess it was a trail).  Anyway we went on steep slopes, scree slopes, slippery slopes and did find one nice grove of trees.  Managed to usually find the trail after a little searching but the last time Bryan climbed up a scree slope he was gone for awhile.  I called and called but no answer so I started to climb up thinking something has happened to him.  I got a bee sting and started into the string of negative thoughts.
     Last year I got stung by hornets twice -1 week apart- and the second time my whole calf was quite swollen so I started thinking maybe I am really allergic now.  I'm going to die of anaphylaxis, Bryan's had a heart attack, they will find us both dead up here if they ever find us at all on this god-forsaken hillside. Needless to say none of this happened but when I did find Bryan and found out it had taken about an hour to go 1/2 a mile and I was totally miserable I told him we were going home.

Bryan on a part of the trail where you could see Holmes Creek.

A view into the valley

       I still don't know what the start of the creek looks like but I did get a hole in my pants, lots of scratches, a bee sting, sore muscles in my hands from trying to hold on to rocks and branches and a few glimpses of creek which looked like it would be pretty if you could get a little closer.  I feel no need to repeat it although it is always hard not to reach a real ending to your hike.