So Many Days Are Bitter Sweet.

Today I attended Sacrament meeting in another ward.  It was their ward conference and I am in the stake YW presidency, so there I was.  The bishop of this particular ward was a friend I grew up with, so when, in his talk he said as he was growing up he had two heroes in his life, his father and his Bishop, I knew the bishop he was talking about was my Dad.  Because Dad was our Bishop when we were growing up.  My Dad was a great bishop.  He was a people loving, caring, there for you kind of bishop.  It was thirty years ago that Dad was bishop the first time, and people still remember him, talk about him, and ask me how he's doing.  And all my life I've wanted to be just like him.  I hope I'm coming somewhat close.

Oh, the wonderful things of our childhood that make a tough life easier!  This weekend we spent time hiking in old childhood places. 

 We call this place "The Giant Stairs"  It was a rite of passage when I was a kid.  We could hike as far as "The Little Hill" until we turned six, then we could go to "The Big Hill", and when we were eight, we could hike all the way to "The Giant Stairs"

 

The Giant Stairs are just above the old Senior Center.  But yesterday we hiked from our house, up to the Brown Rocks, and then over.  It was a little bit of a hike, so the boys were glad to see them when we got there.  

 

And when we got there, Daniel said, "We could have driven here!"  I said, "And miss the experience of hiking here?  Don't ruin everyone's fun :)  He said, "I was just saying what everyone else was thinking."  We're all about the experience. 

 You know how things are SO BIG when you're little, but when you get big, those big things aren't so big anymore?  Jill said just what I had thought before when seeing these GIANT stairs after not having been here for awhile.  "Funny how these used to be a lot bigger than they are now." 

 Brody didn't think he would fit inside this little cave in the rock, but I talked him into trying.  It was a perfect fit!  If you didn't mind spending your life bent over at the waist :)

And these two boys are at that the "I need to jump off things, the bigger and higher the better"  age.  Here they are jumping off the Brown Rocks. 
The Brown Rock are a rite of passage for my kids.  They love the Brown Rocks.  These three boys and Daniel camped out at the Brown Rocks on Friday night.  Ah, the memories  they are making . . . someday it will be these little things that will see them through the tough times ahead.