Pahvant Butte and dirt muffins

Happy birthday week Benjamin!

Wow, the big 20 in 2020, how does it feel? You know, 20 years ago was a pretty big deal to your mom and I, maybe that’s why we make a bigger deal out of it than you would prefer. I remember going to grandma Heumann’s house for Sunday dinner the day before you were born and she started having contractions, that was a new one for me. We went home to our little house on sunny side avenue and they continued. Mom, in her toughness said they were just early ones, and she wasn’t really in labor. I guess both of her sisters had been turned away from the hospital with their first children because of that. You know mom, that wouldn’t be ok for her. So we finally went to bed in our little bedroom in the basement, but neither of us could sleep because of the frequency of the contractions. I had a little black and white tv in our room with no cable and bad reception. The only thing on to help distract us through that was Sesame Street. I distinctly remember Big Bird, but not any specific content. I finally Convinced mom to let me take her to the hospital by taking the blame if it was false labor. It wasn’t. 

I remember that whole experience distinctly Benjamin. I remember everyone was there, including my mom and dad as well as grandpa and grandma. I remember the labor, and not being super anxious to see all of the biology going on, but instead to be next to your mom while she went through it. I remember when you were delivered you were a tiny bit purple. They put a tiny oxygen mask on you and you instantly flushed to healthy pink, then you got mad. They wiped you down and wrapped you up, surprisingly tightly, and handed you to mom, then you calmed right down. It was as if the disorientation of birth was settled as you again made contact with your mother.

After a while the nurses took you out and invited me to follow. It was your bath time and my turn to help. You got really mad once again, i remember the strength you seemed to have as you cried. We got you all cleaned up and the nurses wrapped you up tight again. I never could get the hang of that, your mom always did it better and your grandma better still. I think of that every time I over fill a burrito and can’t wrap the tortilla up tightly enough.

The most distinct memory I have though is getting you home. The nurses bundled you up in your car seat and we strapped you in the car. You were quite all the way home. I remember trying to help your mother out of the car and getting you out at the same time. We got you both in the house. I set you down by the couch and helped mom with her stuff. You looked so calm and content in your car seat, I didn’t want to upset you, I remember just watching you, wondering what was next. And, in the blink of an eye, here we are.

_________

We had a really great week, one for the books actually. No milestones or momentous occurrences, just a really happy week, including hearing from you twice.

I’ve been doing my ministering interviews. I realize that while I cherish our family solitude on Sundays, I do miss our ward members. The brothers I get to talk to are fine men, good people, and my friends. 

Along the same theme we had a great church service at home today. I gave elder Rendland’s talk: Consider the Goodness and Greatness of God from this last April. I felt the Spirit strongly as we discussed it. Even though I had read it twice before today, several new things struck me as we discussed it. Jacob gave a fine Come Follow Me lesson. I’m really going to miss these time after things go back to normal.

Today we had our first Sunday dinner at grandmas for almost two months. It was fun, we all felt so happy to be there. It was us and uncle Tim’s family. We were there a while.

Friday we went camping with uncle Tim and Jordan. We went t a place called Pahvant Butte south of Delta. I’ve spent very little time in that part of Utah so when uncle Tim suggested it, I was all for it. He had just bought a new car that he wasn’t anxious to take on a dirt road, so we all piled into the Jeep. Pahvant butte is an extinct volcano that erupted from the bottom of Lake Bonneville. It’s about a mile and a half in diameter and rises about 1,000’ above the valley floor. In the 1920s, a con man convinced Millard county to build a wind farm on the shorter of the two peaks. There are 20 pairs of pillars there as well as a concrete bunker. I assume it was for the transformer station. The story goes that as he finished the concrete structures the county paid him for the rest of the job and he took off. I think he was convicted, but the county never got the power station. It’s a fun story, and had been legitimate, ahead of its time.

We got there about 6 and found the road to the top. It was a really easy Jeep road, but at one point it was off-camber and I did get some serious groinerflies. They were unfounded as we passed the spot with no drama. Once up top we discovered a couple of young men setting up camp in the concrete structure, something I was not interested in. We hiked around for an hour or so and I got some nice photos.

From the top we could see I possible camp spot in the former caldera. So we drove down to find it and found a fun road through a wash to get there. We set up camp, started the fire, and warmed up the delicious foil dinners mom had made for us. We told ghost stories and tall tales and got ourselves a little wigged out. About that time we could see lightning flashing in the distance and a pair of headlights bobbing up the road towards us. Jake and Jordan casually walked over to the back of my Jeep to be closer to “the knife”—you know that ridiculous thing I keep on my tailgate. I patted my backpack where I keep my 9mm and we waited. The vehicle pulled up and a guy jumped out. He walked over to the fire and said hi, in a very friendly way. Turns out that they were the fellas camping up in the bunker on top. They had built a campfire and the wind blew a bunch of live embers through the openings. They just drove down to make sure that they hadn’t started a wild fire. I admire their responsibility in checking it out. As they drove off, we all felt a bit idiotic for our concern.

The next morning we had dirt muffins—you know, muffins that were full of dirt because Jordan had dropped the entire half dozen top down in the dirt. Somehow when you’re camping that all just adds to the experience. After we struck camp, we went to explore the other side of the mountain. We found this drainage that was really beautiful, with so much exposed geology. Uncle Tim minored in geology and it was fun talking to him about it.

On the way home we stopped by Fort Deseret, build during the Utah Black Hawk Indian war. We also stopped by the Topaz Internment camp, where they kept Japanese families, many of them citizens of the United States, during World War 2. Nothing is left but streets, foundations and monuments, but it was interesting. I felt the perspective of the place as we drove past the signs in front of the empty lots labeling what had once been built there and we passed the second of two elementary schools. What a big place.

Well, this letter is too long as it stands so I’ll stop. I sure love you kid.

Pops 

P.S. today we watched a documentary on Alex smith and his broken leg. It was so gruesome and his recovery was brutal. It portrayed him in a very positive way. I was surprised how bad it was, and how close he came to dying