Desert

We took a sunset walk through the desert tonight. It was lovely. The recent rains make everything bloom. The girls had fun counting the tiny frogs they saw all around. Sometimes the desert has its charms. 

Braces

 Paige got her braces on today. Our orthodontist is actually our bishop. Paige has been wanting braces since her older siblings have had them. I don't think she quite understood the pain involved. Until they can correct the position of the overbite, she just has top brackets on. They'll add the bottom ones later. She will have them for just under a year. These are phase one and she will likely need phase two in her teen years. 

Eva chose Invisalign for her phase two braces. The price was about the same for traditional or aligners and since she is a growing young woman she wanted something less noticeable (plus she can take them out to eat). She will have them for over two years and they will need to do a buildup on her peg lateral when there is space. She got her scans today and will start treatment in about a month when they come in. 

The Bear 100

Jason ran the Bear 100 in Logan Utah again this weekend. This will be his 6th 100 miler. I am a teensy bit jealous because Logan is so pretty in the fall. This is the scenery he ran through.

This race has crazy elevation gains. He always makes a chart like this before he runs. The Bear has live tracking so I was able to somewhat keep tabs on his progress. 

He started the morning at 6am. By noon he was past the 20 mile aid station. Having run this before this time he is running with a friend of ours (Heather Wood) and trying to help her make it to the end. 

Around 8pm he was at the 45 mile aid station. The first day isn't the hardest. The wee hours of the morning and the next day are. He was at the 62 mile mark around 3:30 in the morning. He had to make it to the highlighted aid station by 9am or he would miss the cutoff. If you look at the picture you can see the fourth number, which is the elevation. The rest of the race is a lot of uphill. Sadly, Heather missed the time cutoff for Franklin Basin and DNF'ed. Also, the first place runner was done with the entire race at 12:45am in just over 18 hours. It amazes me that people can do that!

At noon Jason was fifteen miles from the finish line. His pace was steady and he it was expected that he should finish well before the cutoff. If you look at the elevation profile he printed before he left you can see that there is a big elevation gain at mile 92 and then its all downhill. He loves downhill racing. He was at Ranger Dip at 2:20pm. I expected a call from him shortly after the race. Calls from him post-race are usually funny since he doesn't make sense and rarely remembers what he says. 

He finished in 32 hours and 15 minutes. His phone battery died so he couldn't call me until hours later but he sounded okay. I was a little worried when I didn't get a call but I figure he just fell asleep. Cell reception was spotty so he had to call me again with more details but he did tell me that he lost the map an hour in. Oh no! So he had to use his phone, hence the low battery. He comes home tomorrow.

 

Homecoming Parade

Do you remember when I said I was going to ask around to see how else walked to Lundy Elementary so Paige would have someone to walk with. Well there is a a family in our ward that has a daughter in Paige's class. Paige walks with Cassidy to school each day and they have become great friends. Cassidy's mom asked me if they could take Paige after school to the high school's homecoming parade. I thought she would have fun so I consented. She had a blast!

Little did I know that they would come home with more candy than if she had gone trick or treating! Seriously, the bag is bigger than her head. If the older kids had known they would not have passed up the opportunity to go when I asked if they wanted to attend as a family. 

Mom Life

Oh the job of a parent. As Jason says, "Its tough raising small humans". This is a picture of all the things I found on Paige's floor, hidden under her bed or hidden in the closet. This was after she said her room was clean. Sigh. We had to have a talk about what clean means and how she should not hide things that she just doesn't want to put away. Some of the things I found were folded clothes and trash.

Keeping the house running can be challenging, with all the chores and appointments and paperwork. Last week Brendan was goofing around and broke his glasses so the lens fell out. We tried superglue but it was both ugly and ineffective. Jason used his dental skills (and dental adhesive) and was able to fix them until I could get him in to see the optometrist. 

Then there is also the complaining that you hear from kids. This one wasn't so bad and was actually funny. You should have heard the groan of disappointment when Darby heard that Eva's Young Women group was going on a an overnight camping trip. This girl cannot wait to be 12. 

 Mom life can be rough at times but I wouldn't have it any other way. 

More Home Updates

We are still working on making the house a bit more "us". Jason made me these floating shelves in the entryway. It was previously just a big niche in the wall. It isn't styled white the way I want yet but its getting there. I love my new shelves!

Jason borrowed a big ladder from Hal across the street and braved the precarious perch to bring the chandelier glass down for me. I was able to scrub off the dark tint and I like it so much better! Now I need to find a replacement for the other chandelier because it is just too ornate for my tastes. 

Before:

After:

 

Carlsbad Caverns

We don't live far from Carlsbad Caverns so we made plans to go visit this weekend. The kids were particularly excited. 

The drive wasn't long but it also wasn't pretty. The caves were pretty amazing though. We rode an elevator 750 feet underground and followed a mile long path. It was VERY dark (not surprising) and also cold (56 degrees). It echos tremendously so everyone was asked to whisper. 

We saw so many interesting formations and learned a lot about how the caves were discovered and how the park was built. 

We enjoyed talking about what we could see in the formations. Some of them seemed to have faces. Many were named. Some stalactites and stalagmites were almost touching each other and others had merged long ago. There were pools as well. It was all otherworldly. 

We stopped and took a little rest partway through. We laid down on these benches and stared up at the roof of the cave so many feet above us. It really is a HUGE cave system. 

The coolest part was that there is a restaurant in the caves. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to have lunch several hundred feet below ground. The food in the underground lunchroom was okay, perfect for a bunch of hungry kiddos. At one time this was a fancy eating destination for travelers. 

Here is a little blurb about the caves and lunchroom.

Beneath the rugged and rocky slopes of Carlsbad Caverns National Park in the Guadalupe Mountains in southeastern New Mexico, lies a hidden underground treasure. An extensive system of caves comprising of 118 caves and many hundred miles of caverns and tunnels all formed as sulfuric acid dissolved the surrounding limestone. The largest of them is aptly named the Big Room. This natural limestone chamber is almost 1.2 km long, 191 meters wide, and 78 meters high at the highest point, and covers a floor space of 33,210 square meters (357,469 square feet). 

Tucked away at a corner of the Big Room, at the head of the Left Hand Tunnel, where the elevators from the visitor center exit into the cave, is a cafeteria - 750 feet underground. The Underground Lunchroom came into existence in 1928, two years before the cave became a national park. At that time there was a desperate need for food and drink for tourists who were exhausted by the six hours walk required to get in and out of the cavern's Big Room. The hike had such a reputation for making visitors hungry that the last few hundred yards were known as ''appetite hill."

We went into the visitors center and then took a picture outside. It was disorienting to see the sun again after so long in the complete dark. Back at home, Jason's boss and friend Ed was checking in on Stella. She likes him. 

Jason's Birthday

It's Jason's birthday today!! He doesn't like a fuss made over him. He does, however, like apple pie a la mode instead of cake for his birthday. The girls made the apple pie. I made one of his favorite dinners - Reuben sandwiches. He would rather I make his favorite meals than go out to eat. :)

He wanted new farmer carry handles. I am glad I ordered early as they took a while to get here. He loves them. You should see his home gym now. 

 Happy birthday Daddy Jason! We love you!

Temple Trip

Yesterday the youth of Redd Ward got to go to Gila Valley Temple in AZ. Due to our assigned temple being in another country (Juarez, Mexico) and requiring passports (and due to the fact that military and state department employees cannot go there), the youth always have temple trips to Albuquerque, NM or to Gila Valley, AZ. Both are about 4 hours away so it is an all-day affair. Brendan and Eva were able to go this time. Because temples mostly closed down in 2020 due to COVID, Eva had only gone one other time.  They had a wonderful time. Here is Eva with a couple of girls in her YW class. 

I am so glad that this ward has frequent temple trips. I need to work on getting my passport so I can go to the Juarez temple (which is only half an hour away). So that Jason and I can go together we need to find time to make the drive to those other two temples.