A Week with Cousin Kendon

After rockhounding we spent the week with my sister Natalie and her husband Steve, and son Kendon. Or should I say, the kids and I spent the week with them. Chris had time to take in a yummy dinner from the Red Iguana (if you haven't been there in SLC you need to check it out), sleep and visit a little then he was flying back in KS for work.

We went swimming a couple of times at an indoor pool (it was cold outside and rainy!!). The kids couldn't get enough of the 2-story slide, and Analise could wander out pretty far in the water without it going over her head. Why doesn't KS have anyplace like this indoors? O.K., besides Great Wolf Lodge which costs and arm and a leg to go to and a new place which is a ways away??
It truly is a small world. Steve's brother in law served a mission with someone whose sister went on art history study abroad with me in 1992. Natalie invited her, some of her family, her sister-in law, Laura and family (who were visiting from CA and who I haven't seen for a very long time) over for dinner.It was great to catch up with her after so many years while the kids played in the park!

Natalie taught gospel doctrine on Sunday. She did a great job dodging the whole caffeinated drinks issue while talking about the Word of Wisdom. As much as I loved sitting through gospel doctrine and Relief Society I have to say it was hard! I felt like I should be running around doing primary stuff instead of sitting.

After church we went to Temple Square. We spent a lot of time in the visitors center looking at the interactive exhibits. Analise liked pressing buttons more than anything else, but the other girls enjoyed the movies.

We stopped in the tabernacle and I couldn't help sharing memories with the girls about how we used to get up really early to stand in line to sit in the tabernacle. We would be packed like sardines sitting on the hard benches around the top of the tabernacle, listening to conference. Utah has gotten more rain than usual and because of that my sister's drain overflowed with water and flooded her garage. She had someone come out to help fix it the next week but until then we were on a vigilant rain watch. Here's my sister bailing out her driveway after more rain. One morning we attended the Oquirrah Mountain Temple open house. This was a real highlight for me and I think it really made an impact on Kiersten and Abs. The tour was pretty much a self-guided tour with signs in each room and so Natalie and I explained what happened in each room and shared our testimonies of the restored gospel. The girls were amazed at the mirrors in the sealing room. The Spirit was so strong. I couldn't think of anything better than being in the temple with my children. I can't wait until they can realize all of the blessings of the temple! This trip was an eye-opener for Kiersten as far as the church goes. We could see 2 temples from my sister's deck, and we passed church after church after church. She couldn't believe how many there were in Utah.

Zoo Day--kids loved it. It's not a big zoo but the animals are up close and personal. I can't help but compare it to KC. A lot bigger but a whole lot harder to get around.
Of course we had to ride the carousel!

Natalie and Kendon.

One day we drove the 3 hours from SLC to Burley, Idaho to visit my parents' graves. My parents spent most of their married lives in Boise, but when my dad died, we felt like he should be buried in Burley, where he grew up. My parents are in the same cemetary as my grandparents, and a lot of other Nielson relatives (Kiersten remarked at how many Nielsons there were)!It's been 11 years since my dad died and this July it will be 3 since my mom died. I think that when someone close to you dies the hurt is almost unbearable. Even after you feel like you've grieved, thinking about them is painful. You push the pain away daily, trying to forget how much you miss them, trying not to think about what you wish you could share with them. Although we were crying, Natalie and I were able to share a sweet moment remembering our parents and laying flowers at their resting place.

Afterwards, we laid flowers at other relatives' graves and drove to nearby Oakley. My great great grandparents (the Haights) helped settle Oakley, Idaho at the direction of the prophet. There's a small museum there that has a beautiful picture of their family and we visited their graves as well as my great grandparents'. Some large photos of my great grandparents hang in my house so it brought a little meaning to them as we told family stories to the girls in Oakley.

We took a detour to Shoshone Falls, near Twin Falls. For some reason I have never seen these falls on a map, but if you're from the area, you know they are there. Supposedly they are taller than Niagra but not as wide. Some years I have been there barely a drizzle has fallen from the rock, but this year with all the rain it was spectacular. When I was about Kiersten's age my dad took me to there after he had finished some business in Burley. I always remembered how amazing it was. It definately did not disapppoint us!

The girls in front of the falls. Analise wouldn't turn around because she was so taken with all the water.
Natalie and Kendon.

Another day we went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point--one of our favorite places! Analise got caught up with the dinosaur puzzles. A lesson in erosion--or just digging for dinos!Uncovering bones.
BYU was a trip down memory lane. We had to stop at the BYU Bookstore and take advantage of Steve's discount. While there, we ran into a friend from med school (who lives in CO) and also my niece, Coryn! I thought she had gone home for the summer so it was a real treat to visit with her for a few minutes!
We toured Steve's office in the new humanities building. Beautiful!

The kids played in the fountain for a few minutes. Analise got a little into it--if you can't tell, she's sopping wet.
BYU Creamery for dinner. Yum! Everyone looked happier after ice cream arrived.The day before we drove home my Aunt Ronda and her daughter Jennifer Jo dropped by. I brought back such great memories to see them. Jennifer Jo and I used to hang out when we'd go to Utah and I haven't seen her in a very long time.We also had a nice dinner with my Uncle Don and his wife Joan, my great-aunt Lucile and her son Norman. The next day we started the long trek back to KS. How did the pioneers ever do it by wagon??

We had a great time with Natalie and family! Thanks for all your hospitality! We just wished it hadn't gone by so quickly. The only thing missing was Chris!

Utah Rockhounds

In March, while visiting Grandpa & Grandma Stapley in Denver, we got the rockhounding bug. At the Denver Science Museum we saw room after room of crystals, rocks and minerals and right then and there decided that we needed to find some of our own. Chris and I have always liked rock hunting but have never taken a trip specifically to search, we've just picked up petrified wood and rocks that we liked wherever we've gone. Grandma Stapley found a website that showed where to rockhound in Utah, and so a plan was made. Spots were chosen after hours and hours of research, maps were printed, and with a chisel, shovel, picks, trowels and our grubbies packed, we were off. Now for those of you who have never gone rock hounding, you spend a lot of time looking at the ground, digging in the dirt and cracking open rock, which for us was a lot of fun. We're definite amateurs but this trip gave us experiences that we've never had before. We chose places that were easy to get to (it's pretty hard to hike very far with a 3-year old and the minivan couldn't do ATV moves) and also chose some places that would give the kids instant gratification.

Day One: Chris had to round at the hospital before we could leave. We left in the early afternoon and didn't arrive at Grandpa and Grandma's house until late at night but we couldn't wait to start the next morning!

Day Two: Had breakfast with Chris' sister Wendy and her son David early in the morning. Left early and headed across I-70 for the Squeeze, right next to the San Rafael Reef. We didn't have any luck finding jasper but we did find a few rocks to break open. We wondered about the rest of our trip since this place was such a dud, but we were hopeful and pressed onto our next stop.

Greasewood Draw was just a few minutes away. We pulled up to the area and jasper and jasper geodes covered the ground. Abbie holding pieces of jasper geodes and agate.

This gives a view of the Greasewood Draw. the San Rafael swell is right behind us.After filling a bag with jasper pieces we headed for Torrey, our stopping point for the night. The drive through Capitol Reef was incredible! This picture was taken out the front window of our van.

Day Three: Old Faithful Mine, an old copper mine just south of Torrey.

Grandma and Kiersten discovered a vein of azurite and chrysocolla.Chris got out a couple of nice pieces but couldn't reach the biggest piece of azurite clearly visible in the middle of the vein. On the way to Cedar City we got a taste of Hell's Backbone when the highway dropped off sharply on either side. You can't tell by the picture how steep it really is.

We stopped briefly at Cedar Breaks to take in the view. Beautiful!

Analise is a true Grandma's girl and stayed by her side most of the trip.

Next stop: Cedar Mountain to look for blue agate. It used to litter the area but we were only able to find a few small pieces.
Right off the freeway we picked up fossilized oysters.

Kiersten and Abs standing next to a large hunk of fossilized shells, which are known as devil's toenails.

We stayed overnight at Chris' uncle's house in Cedar City. The kids had a great time on the tall swing and riding the golf cart. We enjoyed catching up with family and really appreciated Kent and Bonnie's hospitality!

Day Four: Iron Springs Mine and Rock Corral. Right outside of Cedar City is a large iron mine. Chris' dad grew up in Cedar City and used to help set explosives for the mines. He remembers huge pieces of amythest turning up with the iron that came from the mine. While we didn't find any amythest, we had fun climbing on the mine tailings and searching for other interesting rock. We didn't let the kids go as high as we did, though!

You can barely see Chris on the mountain of tailings.Abs standing next to huge hunks of almost pure iron.

Lunch at a diner in Cedar City.

After lunch we searched in the Rock Corral for smoky quartz.Kiersten was ready to break apart rock.

We located a few vugs of small smoky quartz. Some of them were easier to get to than others! Chris is on the ground trying to break quartz free from under the rock.

Our hotel for the night was in Milford, Utah. A tiny town with a lot of railroad business--for us that meant a decent hotel!

Day Five: Highway 21 Quarry, Old Hickory & OK Mines, Black Springs and Sunstone Knoll. We didn't find anything except for a snake at the Highway 21 Quarry. Grandpa pointed out the tarantula holes to Kiersten and Abs, which immediately prompted Kiersten to volunteer to keep Analise busy in the van. Then we headed for the Old Hickory and OK Mines. Since the price of copper has recently gone up, these mines have become active. We ran into a mining engineer on our way who gave us directions to the mine rock dump, away from any of the explosives. We found beautiful pieces of chrysocolla mixed in. Abs is sitting on a rock with chrysocolla running through it. Too bad we couldn't bring home the large pieces!

One of our biggest worries on this trip was the heat. Traveling in southern Utah in the summer we thought the kids would be blazing hot and we would be going through cases and cases of bottled water. Fortunately for us, the weather was unseasonably cool. A downpour even started when we drove towards Black Springs. The rain washed the dirt off of the mahogony obsidian and it shone like glass. Every rock was more beautiful than the next. It was amazing!

Chris and Abs are on top of the quarry. All of the dark areas are mahogony obsidian!

A snowflake obsidian quarry was supposed to be nearby but there were so many small roads that we couldn't find it. We later learned that we were only about 200 yards south of the quarry!

At Sunstone Knoll we looked for crystals of yellow labradorite. As usual, Analise preferred to stay by Grandma's side.

The pieces of labradorite were scattered all over the ground in the wash. Analise loved looking for the "jewels."

We stayed the next 2 nights in Delta. We'd heard that Loy Crapo, who owned the rights to the Dugway Geode beds, owned a rock shop in town and we stopped by that night to talk with him. He gave us directions to the beds, where to look, and directions on Topaz Mountain. It was very helpful for the next day! Here we are getting our fill of Mexican food right next to our hotel.

Day Six: Dugway Geode Beds and Topaz Mountain. The drive out to the geode beds was bumpy and rocky. Thank goodness the van stayed together! We looked through the piles of rock to locate geodes. Cracked ones were scattered all over the ground and we found a few good pieces that way. Grandpa started digging in one hill and hit the jackpot.

Kiersten holding up a broken geode she found on the ground.

Analise digging in geode beds.

We broke open a few pieces and took back the rest to be cut open at the rock shop.Topaz mountain was our next stop. Small bits of topaz glittered all over the ground in the sunshine as we drove up the hills. We sat in the wash sifting for pieces.

Chris and Kiersten ventured higher up on the mountain to search in the rock.Veins of brown topaz were scattered throughout the rock but the topaz crytals were extremely delicate and hard to get out without shattering them. We still had fun trying!

Day Seven: Silver City and Vernon Hills. At Silver City we looked through the mine tailings to find pyrite. The sun hid behind the clouds, but every time it came out the pyrite shone brightly and we would gather as many pieces as we could until it dipped behind the clouds again.
Here are Chris and Abbie climbing up the tailings.

Kiersten and Analise at the bottom of the tailings.

Chris and Grandpa climbed to the top of the tailings and then debated where to go next. They found huge pieces of pyrite up a little further on the hill.

Our last stop on our rock hounding trip was to the Vernon Hills looking for wonderstone. It is a uniquely Utah stone and gorgeous. Small pieces littered the ground and we dug into the hill to pull out bigger pieces. Chris and Grandpa tried to get a couple of large pieces to put in our gardens.

Analise sitting among the wonderstone.

From Vernon we drove up to Salt Lake City and dropped off Grandma and Grandpa at Waynard and Bee's house and we went to Natalie and Steve's. Chris flew out the next day to get back to work and I stayed another week with the kids. But that's for the next post!

We had such a blast rock hounding that we're already looking forward to the next trip! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for joining in on the fun! (When are you ready to go again? Next week?)