I just finished reading Gerald N Lund's new book, The Undaunted, The Miracle of the Hole in The Rock Pioneers. Reading this story awoke feelings and memories from times past when our family and later our youth walked that memorable trail. I drove our Landcruiser on the Hole in the Rock trail and was pretty busy with the driving, so didn't take many pictures, but as the flood of feelings came pouring into my heart, I was compelled to search through stacks and stacks of photos until I found the few I have.
As you read this story, you will read about "The Chute". We drove the Hole in the Rock backwards - from Bluff to Lake Powell - so this is at the top of "The Chute" going down. The pioneers would have come UP this crazy trail.
Although pictures never do justice to perception, you can see how narrow this chute is. And it's much, much steeper than it looks in this picture. That's me in the Landcruiser there. I had to be careful not to scrape the sides of our Landcruiser on the rocks it was so very narrow. How they got covered wagons up here . . .
And this is going back up the other side of The Chute, which the pioneers would have come DOWN. You can see Dave there with his motorcycle helmet on, which is why I was driving the trail instead of him. I had more room in my Landcruiser than those who were driving jeeps had, so any kids that wouldn't fit in a jeep got to ride with me. These kids had heard tales of "The Chute" from their parents, and as I drove down The Chute, the kids started crying, which unnerved me a little bit. I finally told them that if they were that scared they didn't have to ride down, they could get out and walk which, as you can see many people did, but they bucked up, stopped crying, and stayed with me in the car.
Hopefully you can see the Hole in the Rock way off in the distance on the other side of the lake. It's the straight line coming down the rocks. If I knew how to put an arrow there I would, but I don't so you're on your own. You'll be amazed when you read about those pioneers coming down that Hole. By the way, those cute kids in front - they're mine. Mine, minus Kyle, plus Tiffany.
And you'll read about San Juan Hill. Now this place will take your breath away, and when you read the book you WILL cry when you read about San Juan Hill. Those pioneers got here after traveling six months when they were told it would take six weeks. They had hacked out every inch of trail along the way. They were exhausted, discouraged, and weak and yet the trail building wasn't done. Whoever this person is (they are too far away for me to tell and I didn't label the picture :() ) is walking up the trail the pioneers carved out of the rock up San Juan Hill.
And these are our Stake Young Men and Women trying to take handcarts up San Juan Hill. We emptied them so they wouldn't be quite so hard, but it was still a struggle to get those handcarts to the top. It took a lot of man power and a lot of rope!
There isn't anything quite as humbling as getting to the top of something that hard and see the words,"We thank thee Oh God" inscribed in the rock. I loved the way he worked that inscription into the story. You will, too. By the way, that's Drew doing the pointing there. That's how long ago we went on this little trek.
And for those of you who loved The Fire Of The Covenant, guess whose story continues on in The Undaunted? Yep, Jen and Elsie Nielson, who barely survived the Martin Handcart trek were also on the Hole in the Rock trek. This is their house in Bluff, Utah where Jens served as Bishop for 23 years - until he died. Yeah, whenever I think I have anything to complain about, I remember Jens and Elsie Nielson. They were the epitome of The Undaunted.
I was most excited to see the giant Redwood trees, so we drove all the way to the side of the park where the Mariposa Grove was. They were massive and so impressive! My really strong husband almost pushed this one over. I stopped him just in time. 
This is a cool place called The Devi's Post Pile. I don't know why it belongs to the Devil, Oh! Dave just told me. These are rocks called basalt and they were made into these shapes by volcanoes and polished nicely by glaciers. See,they were pushed up from down under by a volcano, so the thinking was they came from hell. Hence, they were the Devil's. Most of them are a perfect hexagon shape.
Here I am in front of the Devil's Post Pile. See the stop sign shaped rocks? Dave wanted to bring some home and build a house out of them. Does anyone want to live in THAT house?
And we hiked to this beautiful place called Rainbow Falls. Dave took this shot of me near the falls and he did a pretty good job of getting me in focus. You know, I'm so far back I don't think you could tell whether I'm in focus or not. We've had some focal issues so far this trip. Pretty place, wish you were here!
All focal issues aside, I'm still patting myself on the back over this shot. I thought it was pretty good considering it was hand held and, well, it came from me.
And I'm kind of liking this one, too. Thought I would share a few successes with you. My delete button has been working overtime and what little confidence I had as a photographer is waning, but I shall press on. Next, post, Yosemite and the giant redwood trees! 
The fact that I love The West Wing might be disturbing to my Republican friends, but I do. I own seasons 1-5 and I fall to sleep every night listening to a West Wing episode. Listening clears my mind, or maybe fills my mind? Or turns it off? Anyway, with the West wing playing I can sleep instead of thinking about everything I didn't get done today that will need to be added to the agenda tomorrow. Just yesterday Brennan walked into my bedroom, smiled and said, "It's nice to know that after two years some things don't change." "Like what?" I asked. "Like I can still walk into your room and hear The West Wing playing."
This is my piano. I was my Grandma Johnson's piano and she left it to me when she died. It was in TERRIBLE shape when I got it, and we weren't sure it was worth the time and money it was going to take to fix it up, but I was pretty attached to it sentimentally, so we decided to try having it tuned. I'm not sure it had ever been tuned before, in fact, the piano tuner told us it was so badly out of tune he was sure strings were going to break when he tuned it. But I told him to go ahead and try. Low and behold, not a single string broke. He also looked up the date it was made - 1912. I taught piano lessons for two years to earn the money to have it refinished. Dave and I made the stained glass insert in the music desk. My piano tuner is from Missouri, and he reminds me every time he comes that out of 800 upright grand pianos he tunes, mine has the best sound by far. I really love my piano.
This is my CTR ring. Drew made it for me in his high school jewlery class. I love that it is wide and chunky like my fingers. I love that he made it for me with his own hands. I have wanted a CTR ring for years, but could never find the perfect ring. This one is perfect.
And shall we mention my love for books. Especially old books that I read as a child, books that are no longer in print, that I have to look long and hard to find used copies of. This particular book, His Enemy, His Friend, I found on the internet. It came with a library card inside stating that it was from the library of Shawnee Mission Public School, Shawnee Mission, Kansas. When I got the book and opened it up, there was a card from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - a card I could fill out and send in if I wanted to have a representative of the Church visit me. That made me smile. Somebody is doing creative missionary work. I love old books. They smell good as you flip the pages. So good I am almost compelled to chew on the corners of the pages just like I did as a child.
The shoes need no explaination. Anyone who knows me at all knows that shoes are a passion of mine. They make me happy. They are my treat for being a good girl. I know I have too many. My closet is so full of shoes I couldn't get back far enough to get them all in the picture. And those pretty new red ones? They are going to San Fransisco with me tomorrow!
Here is the proof, our wedding announcement informing the world that two irresponsible parents were letting their tiny children start a life of their own together.
Look at her, so idealistically in love in her homemade wedding dress and veil. She had $364.00 in a savings account that was supposed to be for her college education, he was about $365.00 in debt on his credit card, so they were pretty well balanced I'd say. Not a thing in the world to worry about because there was just too much love.
Now here's a classic wedding shot for you. My big brother Kim trying to get one last tormenting session in. I was just trying to keep that hideous veil on my head. Look at his long hair and those sideburns! And whose little kid did he borrow that tie from?
And here I am with my Dad . . . and he is standing on my dress. This is a classic, because my Dad was always standing on my dress. At my Junior Prom, at Gold and Green Balls, I loved to dance with my Dad and I always came home with his footprints walking up one side of my dress. Did I wear my formal dresses to long back then?
Now here we are, proof that you can start a life together as relative children with nothing but dreams and a lot of love and still be upright and moving forward - and really quite rich in all the ways that matter thirty years later. Thanks Dave. It's been quiet a journey!
