After the reunion, Reagan had to head back to Orem for work, and we drove to Grand Junction to spend some time with Rock’s parents before they go on their grand adventure to Mexico to serve in a temple there. On the other side of Capital Reef is this awesome gas station in a cave!

On our way to GJ we stopped in Goblin Valley. For those of you who are old enough, this is one of the places they filmed the movie Galaxy Quest-a great 90’s spoof on Star Trek. The movie is a classic and the valley was amazing.

Rock’s parents are currently living in a 5th wheel trailer while they build their new “barndominium” on their beautiful property and get things ready to go live in Mexico to hopefully serve as temple workers in the Merida Temple. Here’s a picture of their new “home” and one of the awesome view from their property.

Because they are living in a tiny trailer, the tables were a little flipped this time and we had them over to our airbnb for dinner. The next day we hoped to play around and explore on their property, but we got rained out! Grand Junction had rain like crazy while we were there. We did manage to help Grandpa with his truck bed lid before it started raining though.

After it stopped raining we weren’t able to play on the property because of the mud but we were able to visit the Grand Junction Temple currently being built. Nancy took this picture maybe a month before we were there, but it’s too good not to share.

The next day for Grandpa’s birthday we decided to brave the rain, hope for the best and head to the Mesa. After eating at our new favorite restaurant in GJ, Starvin Arvin’s for breakfast, we drove through rain, sleet, hail, and fog to get to the top of the Mesa. When we finally made it, we got a little reprieve. The sun came out for about 30 minutes so we could eat some lunch at the beautiful Mesa Lakes picnic area. After the rain, the fish were jumping so much you could almost catch them with your hands. Levi and Grandpa were sad they hadn’t brought their fishing poles.

Us girls did not get our fill of action that day so Nancy, Libby and I drove through the Colorado National Monument later that day! This place never disappoints!

That night we had Dave and Jeannie and Grandma and Grandpa over to our place and Grandpa made steaks for his birthday dinner. It was great to see them before they head off on their amazing adventure!

The next day we headed home, stopping in Orem to take Reagan to lunch at our favorite Brazilian place!

Trek 2024

The Wednesday after we got back from Utah, the kids went on Trek. It was shorter than in past years, only 3.5 days, 2.5 days of actual trekking. The rules have gotten “shockingly” lax over the years and kids are now allowed to bring deodorant and bug spray and the girls are not required to wear bloomers and bonnets. Their first night they were supposed to sleep in tents but the property double booked them and had to put them in a big huge barn for the night instead. This turned out to be a little miracle when an afternoon thunderstorm dropped massive hail that would have destroyed their tents and gear had they not been in the barn. The next two days they pushed and pulled their handcarts up huge hills working hard together. They even had a few real service opportunities as they worked to carry a young man who had broken his leg in several places earlier in the summer and a young woman who had a rare case of eczema on her hands that gave her blisters that required constant bandage replacement. Both kids toughed it out and taught all the others some awesome lessons in perseverance. Levi and Libby had a great experience and can’t wait to do another trek. I am so grateful for all the ward members who volunteered their time to go along and help my kids do something hard and learn about the pioneers.

That was all the traveling we did in June. We had one more happening to blog but it deserves it’s own post, so stay tuned.

My family has been saving for several years to have a real family reunion and this year we finally made it happen. We all drove down to Capital Reef National Park in Utah, a park my whole family loves. We stayed in a beautiful Airbnb and played (sort of) in the park for a few days. It was really fun! Get ready for a Red Rock Overload.

Our first night there we enjoyed the view, the pickle ball court and the 9 Square game and the trampoline. The dog came with the neighbor’s house. lol.

The next morning Dad made Swedish pancakes for everyone-a family favorite. It was too windy to play on the property so we drove into the park only to find out that most of the park and the scenic drive were closed for construction ALL SUMMER. We were able to see quite a bit of beautiful but we were all bummed about the road closures.

Even though we didn’t get to see Capital Gorge, we did get to hike along Grand Wash which is pretty cool.

On the second day Levi came back from his morning run telling us that he’d found an amazing rock formation for us to hike to AND he found some abandoned puppies! First, the puppies:

He gave them some water but they were pretty worn out. Possibly traumatized by the huge wind storm the night before. Rock called animal control to report it and they said they had already gotten some calls on the puppies and that they would take care of it. We wrangled everybody up and headed to Levi’s rock formation which was actually called Lion’s Head. Only the knee and hip handicapped-Mom and Rock-couldn’t join us. 😦 But this area was SO cool! And it was even cool temperature-wise. We had beautiful weather our whole stay; in the high 70’s. We climbed around on these rocks for hours.

When we finished climbing the rocks and everyone else headed home, Levi insisted on making sure the puppies had been picked up. We checked and sure enough, they were still there! So we called animal control again and this time they actually got them. From animal control:

Levi was the hero of the day-he found the coolest place to hike AND he saved some puppies.

That afternoon we played more pickle ball, more 9 square, and this Hedbanz game which was super popular. Rosie was amazing at it!

We ordered some food in and finished off our leftovers before heading into the park one last time. We ended the night with smores.

I think we did pretty good for our first official reunion. We have a little left over in our $ pot so let’s keep saving and do it again!!

Stay tuned for Jam Packed June part III-Grand Junction and Trek!

June was by far our busiest month this summer. We had something almost every week! The first week of June Levi and Liberty were gone at FSY. We were empty nesters for a week. It was weird! While Rock worked during the day I worked on a project in the yard and at night we ate yummy food outside on our patio. Steak or salmon almost every night.

Stay tuned for the first ever Don Wesel family reunion and our trip to Grand Junction in Jam Packed June Part II