The Monsoon

Oh hi my boy,

So this is the week with possible transfer news…I expect updates tomorrow morning as soon as rules allow.

This week was much an echo of last week. Mom is super busy, I’m stressed at work, your brothers are awesome, etc., etc. Friday night Jacob didn’t get home from work until after five. Which was fine with me because I’ve been fairly busy at work. We had an adventure with the Lone Peak 4Wheelers on Saturday morning up near Schofield Reservoir, so we decided to camp up there the night before. I invited my friend Doug to come and we met up there about 8. We found this campground called Fish Creek. My guess is that Fish Creek is probably a pretty common name for campgrounds, and creeks. I love going with your brothers, mostly because they are awesome, but also because they get right to work setting up the tent. Since it was late and we had foil dinners mom put together, I set right on getting the fire going. By the time we got set up and coals were glowing for the dinners, it was close to nine. We probably finished eating about 9:30, and to bed closer to 11.

I’m going to take a detour here from the camp story to talk about our gospel essentials class. I had been reading and studying the lesson all week. As you are aware, those are really simple and focused subjects on core gospel tenants. I really didn’t want to stray from the subject, which was Our Father In Heaven. But I didn’t want to just read it either. Mostly I wanted to let the Spirit to be felt. We actually had our new member Tara and her Friend Craig there,. He started the missionary discussions this week and is meeting with the elders at his house tonight. The ward missionaries and brother Knight were there too. I think the lesson went well enough, the comments were good, and I felt the Spirit. Craig even shared a great quote by C.S. Lewis. 

The reason I bring this up now is that the lesson started by talking about how we can know there is a God. It talked about seeing him in nature and in the stars. I think about that every time we go camping. There’s something about being under the stars, around the campfire with you boys that powerfully connects me to my Father in Heaven. The scale and depth of a starry sky testifies of the vastness of God and his creation. The connection I feel with your brothers reminds me that he loves and knows me in all of that vastness, that he’s given us His Son, the Gospel, and each other so we can return to Him and be together in the future. That’s why I like camping and the outdoors. 

So we got up Saturday morning and struck camp. Again, so much easier with your brothers. I’m not using the trailer because we all fit in the little tent and it’s so much more fun together. Doug made us breakfast burritos and we went to meet the group. Now, I really like this group and I think I have made some friends there. The ride was in the general area of where we camped when you guys made the Hunt for Bigfoot movie. It was pretty and not overly technical. I didn’t take too many pictures. We went on a slightly faster pace than that group usually goes because the weather reports had a monsoon coming in. Most of the trip was sunny and dry, even dusty. We were high up among the aspen and pine trees, the smell of those forests is the most beautiful smell in the world. It reminds me of my dad’s cabin growing up. But about 12:30 we were up on the Skyline drive and the skies to the West were heavy and gray. We could see lightning in the distance, then closer and closer. Then, I dumped, hard. The road we were on was wide and well graded dirt. It was amazing how fast and how much water collected. We only had less than 10 miles before we got to pavement, but it was a memorable 10 miles. We got to pavement and the group was deciding if the were going to wait it out and go on or call it a day. We decided to call it a day. I really like that group, but there is one thing that bugs me. They chatter on-and-on on the radio about the most inane and uninteresting subjects it’s becoming a little unbearable. It certainly isn’t my place, but I think it would be more pleasant if people would just enjoy the ride.

Your brothers have been catching up on the Alien movie franchise. There’s a new one out that they went to go see Thursday night, I wasn’t invited. Since we got done with our drive early though, we decided to go. Mom was busy with school and work so she chose not to join us. They really liked it. I thought it was good, but not great. 

We finally got home and unloaded. For the last several trips I hadn’t done a great job cleaning out the tent. Plus it got soaked going through the storm on top of the car. So we set it up on the basketball court to dry off and sweep out. I’d like to give it an even deeper clean, but this was better than nothing. I’ve really enjoyed that tent, I only wish it was bigger.

Mom made us shepherds pie with grandma’s leftovers from last Sunday. I love your mother’s shepherds pie.

Today in sacrament meeting that Morril kid gave his mission farewell and a new lady gave a talk. Humm, that last sentence really wasn’t worth even writing down, other than I always like to see how a mission changes you young guys.

Tonight we are having a Treats In The Street on the next horseshoe to the North. Chris Fielding has headed that up. It’s been raining hard again all afternoon, so we may be canceling it. I’ll put this down for now and finish up after whatever happens.

Well, it kept raining so we canceled. Mom had some scentsy stuff for aunt Patti and Jacob wanted to go for a ride so we went up there for a visit. It rained all the way up but dried out by the time we left. Aunt patti had some skillet cookies that were good. It was fun to be with them but I think your mother gets tired of the rants and routines, not sweet enough for her I guess. I just love to be together, but I guess i should encourage more proper conversation.

Well kid, love you. Talk soon.

Pops