Back Home and Playing

We are home again and have had a bit of time to play. Summer has been full and good! I have traveled a bit and shared time with family and friends. I have had a chance to catch up with old friends through long phone calls and e-mails as well. Work is approaching quickly which means Bryant leaves us soon to travel back to school and begin yet another semester of studies. Brit is ready to start what will be a very full Senior year. What better time to spend playing as a family in our own backyard!

So...off we went with a picnic packed and hiking shoes loaded in the back. A day in the mountains had been calling me for some time now. I know! I Know! Getting up to those mountains is not my favorite thing in life. I am still thinking about a way to just be lowered into them each time I have the craving to hike them.

But having them so close makes them call to me often and with the schedule we have had lately there had been no time to enjoy their beauty other than as I would drive about the city and run errands. Looking up at the and enjoying their beauty from down here is just not quite the same as being amongst them, so my desire to walk in the mountains over rode my fear of driving up them and off we went.

It still amazes Wayne and I just how many different things we live near. Not just things,but activities and sights we love to enjoy! Making our move was a huge leap and leaving all our family and friends was horrible but thanks to technology and the visits back, we are able to keep in touch with everybody we left and still enjoy all that our new space has to offer. We swore we would never take for the granted this new space and all there is to do and see once we moved here and we are trying to fulfill that. There is just sooo much for us to see and so today we take off up the mountains to enjoy Kings Canyon as we know at least Brit has not seen this area yet and the rest of us are ready to enjoy it again. Not only is it a beautiful place to hike but it is cooler in the mountains and that makes for a nice change from our usual temps.

We spend time hiking among the sequoias, a tree that is just amazing!!! Not only are the huge, like in really really huge, but they have this appearance of being very furry and they are really furry! I absolutely love them and for the second time this summer I am reminded just how small we are in this huge universe and am in awe by it all! maybe we all really should having our churches meet outside of buildings. I think we might be missing the big picture by closing our congregations up within four walls. How can we not live in love and peace with each other when we are walking through the sequoias or riding on a whale boat or wandering the streets of Spain, or climbing through the beauty of Peru, or, or, or...
We hiked. We sat for a picnic under the trees. We toured a cave. We enjoyed life and time together as a family! It was a beautiful day to spend with three of my most favorite people in the world. We have come a long way over the last three years...and we have made it through a very tough year of separating. We have done well!

Blessed Be-