Do You Have Your Hiking Buddy? It's Going to Be a Great Hike Today!

An absolutely gorgeous view of Utah Valley from only half way up Grove Creek Trail (by the G in Pleasant Grove).

This past Saturday Christy and I planned to go hiking.  As an apartment, Shelly and Christy and I decided that we should try and go hiking once a month together.  While Shelly was with her family due to the new arrival of a beloved nephew, the two Newman sisters decided to take their chances on the ominous storm clouds and chilly weather and go for a hike.  It was probably one of the best decisions we made!

With lots of wildflowers, a waterfall for a destination, and views of the gorgeously green desert environ to enjoy on every break--including parting clouds, sunshine, and a pleasantly warm temperature--we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!  Below are some pics so that you can feel like you went on a cool virtual hike yourself.

The end.

Family and Value

What a great looking bunch!  This is the family at Grandma Johns' home in Mountain Home, Idaho on May 25, 2008.  Top Row L to R: Sumner Newman, Matthew Sederberg, Tricia Newman Sederberg, David Newman.  Bottom Row L to R: Kari Newman, Janet Johns Newman, Barbara Mae McRae Johns, Christy Newman, Beverly Bott.  (I'm saying all these details because I hate when there are no details for past family pictures and you can't remember who's who or what happened or when it was taken).  Oh, and while Dave and Bev aren't married  (or engaged) yet, I assume that will change very soon.

This was an awesome get-away weekend.  Driving up I spent some great time with Matt and Trish.  They helped me to study for the GRE as we looked up meanings and and made sentences of verbose words; we took time to play with my laptop my me randomly picking songs from Disney soundtracks and having them guess what the song was and what movie it was from.  And we chatted.  One of my favorite things was when Matt read to us from Letters, a collection of letters that Marjorie Pay Hinckley wrote throughout her life.  Her letters were always about people.  People were most important to her.  Happiness was important.  Her life was patterned after making these things number one in her life.  And so it is with my Grandma.

While spending time with her over the weekend, people were most important.  She talked with us till it was way past her bedtime.  She praised us for all the little good deeds we were doing because we love her.  She made homemade bread for the first time in about a whole year--and she shared her super supreme raspberry jam to eat on top of it.  She made a whole entire roast dinner.  She shared her small, single bath home with all of us, and even let me sleep on her nice, new sofa.  She wanted us to sit by her at Sacrament Meeting.  She washed all the dishes after all our huge mealtime messes.  She prayed for us, and thanked the Lord for good people in her life.  And best of all, she shared her memories, stories, and love.  Yes, indeed, she is happy.

It makes me think about what I value.  I realized that my choices don't always follow after these values, because I let life get in the way and then they get lost in all the humdrum, blurr, and noise.  But yes, family is the best!  And it brings the most happiness we can ever imagine.  It's good to have family traditions to remind us of these things.