Small and Simple

I left work early last Thursday and headed, with a group of friends, to Moab. Every year for the past five years we have gone on this camping trip the weekend of Moab’s half marathon and this year was no exception. There were only six of us on Thursday night, but we sat around the campfire and laughed until our sides hurt. The next morning we left the princess palace (better known as my tent that can fit the United Nations within its walls) and headed for the red rocks of Arches National Park.

We hiked around and played all afternoon in the sun. I do believe that there are a few pictures of me that got taken lying on rocks letting the sun beat down on my face. After we all had played hard and laughed just as much we headed back to the campsite to get a fire going before the sun was completely down and to greet the additional ten friends that joined us that night. The tin foil dinners cooked in the fire were so yummy and the company was fabulous! I watched the interactions for a while. There have been a lot of changes since last year and it was fun to see that all the spouses just fit right in and the dynamics really didn’t change at all. It is a marvelous group of people that are so accepting.

The next morning we got up and broke camp and headed back over to Arches. We played and hiked and laughed and I only got one huge bruise on my knee where I hit a rock climbing up a steep ledge. When we started hearing stomachs growl, it was time. The annual visit to Pasta Jay’s was our next stop. For those who have never been to Moab, may I suggest that most of us would drive the four hours just to eat at this restaurant. It is delightful. A little ice cream from across the street after a late lunch and we all headed home. It is always something which I look forward to. Thanks again for the grand adventures and marvelous memories!

Sunday morning was Stake Conference. As I walked into the gym to find a seat, one of the families in my ward invited me to join them. As soon as I sat down, Aspyn, who is almost two-years old looked at her grandma and said, “I’m going to sit by Brenda.” She came over and crawled up in the seat next to me. We proceeded to play with her magnetic princess dress-up toy. While we were doing that the choir started singing the opening hymn which was I Am A Child of God. Aspyn looked up and then stood up on her chair, leaned into my side and put her arm around my shoulders. We softly sang the words together. It was so cute.

After the opening hymn we continued putting things together. I folded fans out of the programs for her and she had to have one for every member of the family so it took a while. When the rest hymn came and we all stood up, she lifted her arms to me and I picked her up. The song was Family Can Be Together Forever. Although she didn’t know the words to this song, she was sitting in my arms with her big blue eyes intense on mine, her hands playing with the back of my hair and she was attempting to follow my lead in singing the words. Talk about melting my heart, that did it. Tender mercies from our Heavenly Father were given to me once again.