Merry Christmas! A season full of Christmas lights, Santa, Nativities, families, and presents. I’m immensely grateful I have an awesome family to share it with.

For Thanksgiving this year, my husband’s family came over. We had a great meal, lots of good company…but my meal looked a little different. I headed into my Grandpa’s room and ate with him. He’s 94, and we’ve lived with him for the past three years. Recently, he’s declined a lot, and I don’t expect him to be around much longer. It was a privilege to spend a quiet meal with just him.

There have been more beautiful moments recently: we went to the hot springs with cousins, set up Christmas decorations, and did a scavenger hunt that ended with playing hide and seek in a furniture store (highly recommend, but try to find a store without a lot of salesmen). And even some quiet time for walks in the woods. There is a lot of beauty in the world: the wild beauty that we don’t create but is waiting for us if we stop to pay attention.

It’s been a beautiful fall. We’ve been doing fall things like making apple cider, jumping in the leaves, and celebrating Halloween. Henry was a lemur, Zack was a wizard/grim reaper, and Evie was a ghost.

Joe and I also took a belated anniversary trip up to Midway. We visited the Homestead Crater, stayed in a tiny home, and hiked Memorial Hill and Lost Creek Falls. It was a fun trip, we had a great time talking and enjoying each other.

Peter recently received his driver’s license. That also meant that another vehicle for our family would make a lot of sense. I went and bought my dream vehicle, but it is probably not what anyone would expect. It was a green cargo ebike. (I bought a Flyer Via, because after some research, it seemed like an affordable option that would also work comfortably for my tall children and me.) It is a fun family vehicle. I take two kids on it all the time, and it’s my primary form of transport for preschool drop-off.

One cold morning, I took my bike to drop Evie off at preschool. Temperatures were just above freezing, so we bundled up, and as we left, a light rain started. Not ideal biking conditions. Except there was also a rainbow almost the entire bike ride, and I could stare at it the whole ride.

Another day, Peter had taken the car, and the only way I had to pick up the kids was by bike. I was grumpy. and didn’t want to bike, but I had no other option. By the time I drove back home, my mood had changed. Biking is fun, and being forced to bike doesn’t make it less fun.

Before I got my bike, I was driving many hours a week and not too happy about it…now some of that driving is replaced with bike riding. I was hoping that my quality of life would improve simply by biking more places, and after a few weeks of biking, I can say that that hope was valid. It doesn’t take a whole lot more time to bike, and it’s a whole lot more fun.

I should now be posting a picture of the bike, but I don’t have one. I do have family pictures that I haven’t posted yet. Thanks, Heather, for the photos!

In the middle of our trip, as we were driving 20 minutes down a dirt road for something that looked mildly interesting, I wondered if people were enjoying themselves. Not everyone is up for finding hidden treasures in remote areas, but my extended family is usually up for the adventure. This trip was a perfect campout for us.

Day 1: We arrived in Green River and camped at the state park. It has a very nice campground and group area. Peter went golfing with his aunt and uncle, and we set up camp and had a nice dinner around the campfire.

Day 2: We woke early, grabbed some food, and went out to Goblin Valley. Four hours of exploring, hiking, and playing. Goblin Valley is the best place in the state for children of all ages. I went out and got a little lost with my sisters, finding new places I hadn’t been to yet. The kids climbed up cliffs that are not as dangerous as they look, played hide and seek games, threw a football, dug in the sand, and had an all-around good time.

We had lunch there, and then went over and hiked Little Wildhorse Canyon. Due to recent rains, part of the canyon was knee-deep in water. We didn’t go up very far, but it is still an amazing hike. A pair of Zack’s shoes is basically ruined from wading through muddy water. More chill time at camp that evening.

Day 3: We went over to the John Wesley Powell River History Museum, which was a normal small town museum, but also with a very excellent traveling exhibit. We drove up the Green River and picnicked at Swaseys Beach. Then drive back down the river to check out Crystal Geyser. It did not erupt while we visited, but it was a beautiful spot to check out and walk around. We finished the day with a hike to Petroglyph Canyon and Spirit Arch. This would be a horrible summer hike, but was beautiful on a nice fall day.

Fall is fun. I bought a new e-bike, and I’ve been riding around town. I love it; it keeps me outside more. The older boys and Joe also attended a session of General Conference.

I took Henry on a hike to Battle Creek. He’s been enjoying hiking recently, and I love having a hiking buddy. We also went to the Pioneer Village. I was surprised at how much my kids love it: I think modern life often has too fast a pace for small children, and a glimpse into simpler times brought a lot of happy smiles to our kids.

We went on an adventure down south. We were going down a path and didn’t know where it led, so instead of turning around, we decided to ford a small river to get back to our car. It was great fun. We also went and did some scrambling at the Red Rocks Picnic Area.

Here’s some life advice that I’ve been giving variations of to myself: don’t let things bother you that don’t really matter. I get caught up on things like getting chores done, polarization and violence in the news, regretting how I spent my money, and disappointment that I have yet to achieve some of my goals. But I would rather not let that bother me and instead live the best I can and try to do good.

We’ve had fun with cousins visiting, including a quick trip to Cabella’s. Curtis had the opportunity to go hunting with his cousin for the first time. He shot a deer and had a close miss. I was able to spend some time with Evie at Meadow Hot Springs and Cove Fort when we dropped him off.

We also took a free day and went up to Kennecott to see the mine, as well as went to the nearby Copperton Park and Butterfield Canyon. It’s worth a visit, although none of my kids were all that excited about it.

I’ve been wanting to try something new, and when the opportunity came to go fishing with my extended family, I decided to give it a go. It’s not entirely new, but when I went to renew my fishing license, I realized I hadn’t had one for about 15 years. I also bought and tried out a tenkara rod, and that is very new to me. It’s been fun. I realized I didn’t stop fishing because I disliked it; it was simply something that I stopped doing when I was busy. Now that the kids are old enough to fish and not spend the whole time untangling lines, I think I will continue to go.

We went out on Strawberry Reservoir to fish. Lots of the family had football, so I took Evie and Henry. We caught a few rainbow trout and took a couple home to eat. We also camped for a night and got to see huge kokanee salmon.

Between all the football, we went on a fall drive to Cascade Springs. It’s an excellent family hike: all of my kids didn’t want to do the full hike, but as you start walking along, before you know it, you’ve already done it.

We also stopped and looked at Bridal Veil Falls. We drive by here all the time, and rarely stop to actually take in the view. I am so blessed to live so close to such beautiful things, and it is easy to start seeing them as boring, instead of the wonderful things they are.

I felt like going to a local pond, so we did. And it was awesome. Thanks to bribing some older kids with fast food, I got everyone there, and we all enjoyed ourselves. For teenagers, that meant sitting in a camp chair and playing phone games, but some nature is better than no nature. We got the paddleboard out, swam in the pond (we did check the website for water quality first), played on the playground a bit, and went on a short walk around the lake. I think a fishing pole got cast a couple of times too.

I need time in nature to feel like myself. Small, local adventures like this are perfect to fulfil that need.

In other big news, I sent my last kid to her first day of school. She did awesome, walked in with a smile on her face and had a good time. She’s ready. I got a bit emotional: I just sent my last little one away to school. It’s a big deal, but a good milestone to reach. (Another huge milestone is having no kids in diapers anymore. There’s only happiness in that one. And taking down the crib, which I do not need to keep, but I did store it because I had the same crib for all five kids, and I can get sentimental sometimes.)