🌤sunshine and fireworks💥

Dear Caleb and Jacob,

     How are you?  This has been a week of recovery for us.  It's been so busy lately that our garden and yard have been a bit neglected.  Our Pioneer Day was pretty low key and I have to admit, we don't even seem to make a big deal out of the fireworks just next door at Elkridge Park.  I guess there are just so many fireworks around that they're not a novelty for us anymore.  It's just important that we're here to comfort the dogs and keep them from running away.

     The kids and I went up to Rexburg yesterday to hear Sister Natalie Winkel report on her mission to Belgium.  She obviously had a great experience.  She'll be headed to BYU in Provo this fall.  Then we ran up to the Blake's house to see their new German Shepherd puppy.  She's so cute and full of energy!  She's pretty much Allyson's baby.

     Adam left for EFY today at BYU.  He'll get to room with Daniel Fluckiger.  The girls sure will miss having a boy around.  Dad and I are headed to Heber Valley for a Tax Retreat/ meetings.  I may come back early because there's not much for me to do there but sit in a hotel room since Dad will be going on a bike ride during his "free time."

     Sorry this letter is so short.  We're just trying hard to hang on to every last day that we have left of the summer vacation.  It's slipping by so fast!  We love you both so much and hope you have a wonderful week!  

Love, 

Mom

Sydney's "spa" for the girls

Sydney helping Sariah make her tin-foil dinner.  

Adam's yummy tin-foil dinner 

Sent from my iPhone

Letter July 30 2017

Caleb and Jacob:

It's another week in the books and I can't believe how fast it goes.

Monday was the 24th and I went for a quick ride in the morning and spent the rest of the day with the family.  The rest of the week was work related.

Wednesday I was in SLC at the office there and heard that a plane had crashed on I-15 at Riverdale Road in Ogden.  I was basically trapped in SLC.  I left the office at 3:30 and headed home.  Once I got past the airplane wreck, there was another accident in Wellsville.  Basically, it took me 3 hours to get home from SLC.

That was one experience for the week.  

Another experience that taught me a great lesson had to do with a prospective client.

I've been working with a large business most of the summer trying to bring it into the firm.  The client has had an experience with another firm where the firm refused to finish the 2016 work and and had withheld all of it's work product once the firm found out that the client was changing to our firm.  As a result, the client is suing for the fees to be returned.  It's a mess.  As a result, the client wanted something in the contract dealing with fees being returned in the event we unilaterally pulled out of the engagement.

This past week we signed the contract for the tax work and I negotiated the final details for the audit work.  I don't do audit work and gave the final required contract changes to the audit partner that I intended to put in charge (I had agreed to these changes with the client in advance).  He took the changes to the managing partner and I had a call with that partner to agree to the final contractual changes.  We agreed and I told him that provided he incorporated the agreed upon provisions into the final draft of the contract, he could send the contract to the client.

He must've decided to he knew better than to do what we agreed to and sent a contract that lacked the one key provision that we'd agreed needed to be in the contract.  The client was ready to sign and because we failed to incorporate the needed changes, the client walked.  30K in fees gone.

There are spiritual applications to this type of fact pattern.  I think of Justice and Mercy.  There are laws that are immovable and Christ has interceded on our behalf as long as we do what he requires to obtain mercy.  If we choose another path, we are on our own.

On a temporal note, that little mistake by our managing partner  cost me personally about 5-10K.  So it pains me on a temporal level as well.

I'm buying a bunch of stuff to submit a claim against the insurance for the theft of my bike.  It's tough.  I'm a horrible shopper.

Blink and the summer is almost gone.  The days are noticeably shorter now that we are 1.5 months past the summer solstice.  Work while the sun shines on your mission  It will set soon enough.

I love you,

Dad

Photos

Where we got in the car
My new bike
Camp gear
Baxter and Snitch

Letter July 24 2017

Another Middle Fork trip in the books!  It was so nice to get out on the River again.  I love, love, love being on the Middle Fork; there is no place like it in the lower 48.

After the events on the Snake a week ago, it wasn't certain that anyone other than Adam was going but at the last moment, Matt Nelson (you haven't met him) agreed to come.  Matt has been a guide and because he was a great oarsman, the girls all agreed to come.  In addition to being a good oarsman, Matt is a great guy.

I forget how technical the first hour on the river is.  Once you put in, it's constant pressure on the oars to keep the boat safe.  Before when we've gone, the water levels have been under 2 feet, on this trip levels were right at three feet.  As a result, we didn't get hung up at all but I had to move the boat around a ton.

Getting out of camp the first day was eventful; Sariah locked the keys in the suburban and my oar got broke as I came off the slide into the water.  We couldn't figure out how to unlock the car after about 3 hours of trying so we took tent stakes and put a hole in the windshield to get at the locking mechanism.

This year we rented boats from the U and from Terran rafts in SLC.  The Terran boat was nice but the U boat was garbage.  Rich Brady had that boat and Adam and Daniel were on that boat with him...  After the first day, we completely re-rigged the oar system setup because it was so bad.

Within about 30 minutes on the river, Rich's boat got wrapped on a rock (Adam wasn't oaring at the time) and got flipped.  So Adam, Daniel and the rest of the passengers stood on a rock and watched the boat slowly flip.  We were down river and hiked back up and helped right the boat and get everything in order.  It was an adventure... the kind I love.

This year was fun because Mom, Manna, and Riah took turns reading the map and watching the river.  The entire time they were observing the river and keeping me out of trouble.  "There's a wet loaf on the right and a growler on the left..."  every time a rapid would come up, the anxiety would ratchet up a notch and they would offer suggestions on getting through the rapid.  It was fun.

I remember with you that I would try to hit rocks in the river to get you guys to stay alert and have fun.  I think the fun threshold for the girls was at max all week so I rowed pretty conservatively.

Sydney got off my boat and spent the week on Matt Nelson's boat.  He was so good to her.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see if the girls come again.  Mom will consider flying into Indian Creek so she misses the first day but she doesn't want to do the first day.  I'm not sure Sydney will ever go again.  She was a mess all week.  I'm glad she went and I think she had fun but she needs to work through some of her emotions before she attempts the Middle again.

Anyway, The week was great.  I thought a lot about you and I hope you are having a great time. Make the most of you missions, they will be over before you realize it.

I love you both,

Dad

🛶River Rafting and Pioneer Day!🏕

Dear Boys,

We thought of you nearly every moment this last week. So many memories of you on that river. What made it even sweeter was that I have all of those pictures clear back to our first trip in 2006 when you were young. We even stayed at one of the same campgrounds as we did before when there was a fire across the river as our evening entertainment. I had pictures to prove it and we tried to duplicate them. The Brady's were there too, except for Dallen and their Mom. Sydney and Maryn got in the duckie together to duplicate an old photo of them. Derek and Maryn are married now and had their spouses with us. They were great and so are their younger 2 kids whom we hadn't met yet. Samantha and Sariah had so much fun with the kids. I think Daniel was pleasantly surprised as to how much fun and adventure the week really turned out to be. I think he'd love to come again, and so would Janeen and Larry. Adam and Daniel rode on the Brady's 18' raft (which really was almost too big and harder to maneuver) the first day and they got wrapped up or highsided against a giant boulder. It was filling up with water and so they had to climb out onto the rock. Matt, our sweeper and "professional" oarsman came behind them to help. We had pulled over below the river and around the bend so that Dad could go and help. We felt helpless and worried as we couldn't see anything. Then we started seeing things floating down the river like their water bottles, Daniel's ziplock bag with his possessions, their map book, their boat's air pump, and their tent. We are able to collect a few of those things and luckily the most important. The passengers had to jump into the water and be rescued by Matt's throw rope. That was a little frightening for them but miracles happened that day. In the end, the men had to flip the boat upside down in order to get it off the rock so when we reached our first camp, their stuff was all hanging out to dry. Sydney loaned them her sleeping bag and just slept in her blanket and tarp. We all have to pull together in that kind of situation. If you two remember, the first two days are pretty frustrating and technical because of all the rocks and boulders. Adam was trained on Matt's boat how to Oar and became pretty good. He didn't go through any class III Rapids but got us through some pretty technical class II's. By the end of the week, Samantha liked riding in Rich's boat sitting behind him and being his "navigator." I think he liked having her. Personally, it's becoming a little more stressful to me that I don't think I want to go on the Middle Fork again. We got hung up on enough large boulders in some pretty fast water, especially Pistol Creek and Tappan Falls, that really made me wonder if we'd ever get out without having our boat flip. Maybe I'll go on the Main with you guys someday if they ever get a permit for that.

Anyway, enough about the river...how was your week!?!? Do members of the church even observe the 24th of July like they do here in Utah? I hope you have a great and relaxing or fun p-day. We can't wait to read about your week's happenings. Let us know if you need anything from us. Now it's time for me to go out and mow the lawn!

We love you both so much!
Mom

Kids hello

Letter July 17

Dear boys:

I hope everything is good with you this week. I have been trying to get everything ready to go on this trip last week so the week flew by. Mom went with the kids to youth conference on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I had the little girls for the last part of the week.

Girls are tons of fun right now. Samantha is to herself and Sariah is precocious. I went to work and Sariah found Sydney's phone and started texting and calling me reminding me that I need to be home with the kids.

Mom, Sydney and Adam were at youth conference but Sydney had recurring problems with the drowning that we saw. She doesn't want to go on the Middlefork but we're taking her anyway and will get through it.

Adam is bringing Daniel so those two are to have a lot of fun on this trip. Mom got home on Friday night and has been running nonstop trying to get everything packed and ready. But as it is right now, I am on the road between Twin Falls and Sun Valley.

On Friday night I went to Oneida Narrows with the YSA ward and we floated the river on Saturday. So it is been a busy week and I feel like I didn't do a good job getting this letter to you but I want you to know that I love you. I hope all is well with you.

I love you,
Dad

Sent from someplace really cool

More River...

Good morning boys!

How are you two? We had a great week! I was asked to go as an extra chaperone with Sydney and Adam to Youth Conference. We left Wednesday and came back Friday. We spent the first morning volunteering at an Autism school in Salt Lake. It was such a great experience playing with those kids of all ages. Then we headed to Moab. We camped next to the Colorado river. We had a huge windstorm blowing our tents down and then came a torrential rain. But, in spite of all that excitement and setback, the mosquitoes were the biggest challenge afterwards. The next day was the best though. We got on the river and floated for about 6 hours, stopping on a sandbar for lunch. The water was so warm. It was with a guide but they were so laid back. They were so envious that we were going on the Salmon river this week because the permits are so hard to get. When we got back to our camp, it was so stinkin' hot! The kids convinced the leaders to let them jump off the rock overhang into the river. They conceded and it was such a BLAST! It was a 20' jump and I even went over a dozen times. We should go there sometime.

We celebrated Sariah's 9th birthday on Saturday amidst all of the shopping and packing for next week. It was quick and in the middle of a mess. She was very in control of the events and still happy in spite of the rush.

Now as you know, we're off for another river adventure. We'll certainly be thinking of you up there and remembering past trips. We're taking Daniel Fluckiger with us because this was supposed to be their week to go to EFY. Sydney is (still reluctantly) back on her feet and facing her fear head on. Between talking to Dad and Bro. Field (who is a child physiologist and deals with post traumatic stress disorder), she's got some tools to help her to hopefully have a good enough time. She says that only thing she's looking forward to is the ride home. We'll see. We hope that Baxter won't run away again while we're gone and fireworks are going off.

Well, that's about it for our week. We'll be in touch next week! Keep up the great work! We love you both SO much! Sariah and I both dreamed about you last night! That's always a treat! 😘

Love, Mom

Letter 7 10 17

This week will live in infamy.

Saturday morning we got up and headed for Hoback Junction to do a preliminary float...  The river was running high but we are experienced oarsmen, right?  Right.

I had Derek Brady in my boat and the rest of the family.  I was teaching Derek to oar and he decided to head for a rapid in the river (later we determined it was 3 Oar Deal).  3 Oar Deal is called an unrunable river hydraulic by professional guides.  I didn't recognize the danger from above the hole so I hold myself responsible.

We got in the hole and the rapid was filling the back of the boat while the hydraulic was pushing us back into the rapid.  Sydney went out twice and on the second time I pushed her down the river (it was luck).  Then, luckily the river released us and we got out of the hole.  What a way to introduce Samantha and Sariah to the river, right?

We lost an oar that was later recovered by Lawrence.  We recomposed ourselves and I decided to oar the rest of the way.  In fact, the rest of the way was great but everyone was shaken.

We got to the take out spot and everything was in commotion.  We were directed to land our raft in the commercial load and unload area.  The search and rescue were in the private party area and were getting ready to launch.

No sooner did we get out of the boat than the group behind us landed and four guys ran up the ramp carrying a guy that had been floating face-down in the river since 3 oar deal...  His face was swollen and purple and he was obviously gone.  We were all within a few feet of this event and you can imagine what Mom and the the girls reaction was...

It was a mess.  Emergency personnel were all over the place and we got delayed a couple of hours.  Our little training trip turned out to be a huge life lesson for all of us.  First, I'm thankful we got out of 3 oar deal intact.  That hole is unrunable and pretty benign when you approach it.  It taught me to avoid all eddies on the river.  There is no point in taking a chance when one doesn't need to be taken.

This lesson can be applied to all sorts of things in life.  It has spiritual implications to everyone involved.

We did it again and the second run of the day was awesome.  The girls stayed behind and played clue and had fun and we all felt better about the day after that.

We love you and are so proud of the job you are doing.

Dad

Lakes

This week was awesome!!! The week boating. But the 1 time I went surfing! It was hard🙁 But I decided not to surf intel I'm 9. Thats like in a week😄

 love you gus

Summer fun

Dear Caleb and Jacob,

We went boating on three different lakes Hyrum, Mantua, and Cutler. I served on Hyrum and Mantua with dad. Sariah tried but she just didn't like it. When we came back from Hiram, Baxter ran away and was found by North Park Police Department at a different home. The grandma of the family wanted to keep Baxter. Baxter is here at home with us now and we are so happy. Last night Adam, Sariah, Sydney and I slept on the tramp, it was cold but we had so much fun saw billions of stars.

Love you guys
Samantha

Sent from my iPhone

The week of the LOST

Dear boys,

     What a crazy week this has been.  It started out as a fun spur of the moment Family Home Evening boating activity on Hyrum Reservoir.  We were only gone for 3-4 hours.  After getting home and backing the boat into the garage, Adam noticed that Baxter wasn't here to greet us, only Snitch.  Weird!  We called around and of course, he wasn't near.  Whenever I had been called from a neighbor saying they spotted what looks like our golden retriever, they have said that he just kept running and didn't look back, even when they'd call his name.  So, it was a question of which direction did he run.?.?  Someone in our family thinks that he doesn't need his perimeter shock collar on so they take it off.  Something must've spooked him.  I don't know what gets in his head to leave home and start looking for us elsewhere.  Anyway, it was getting dark and we all went separate directions to start looking for him.  None of us had a tying to report.  My first thought was "Caleb and Jacob are going to be so mad at us!"  I just had an emptiness in my heart.  We gathered back at our house and tried to call the animal control guy over North Logan, Nolan Krebs, but couldn't find his number.  Then Dad called the North Park police station and spoke with a dispatch lady who said that she thinks there was a call made about an older golden retriever found.  All we could do was go to bed and wait, not knowing if he was safe or not.

     We got a call the next day from the animal control guy saying that they found him but the family wanted to keep him!  Ugghh!  We were all headed to Salt Lake to a doctors appointment so Dad had to go get him.  The lady questioned him hard to make sure Baxter belonged to him.  They seriously would've kept him.  Anyway, all was well with the world because Baxter was back home with us when we got home from Salt Lake that day.

     The next incident happened on Thursday when Dad got his car & expensive bike stolen.  I'm sure he told you all about it.  

     Well, it all ended ok.  We've been able to try out two new lakes this week with no incident, other Dad losing his flip flops in the mucky mud as he was walking to our boat through 3' of water at Cutler reservoir.  Mantua was a pretty cool place too.  It's kind of fun to change things up.  Sydney had the opportunity to show everybody up with her mad wake-boarding skills when she went on a group date boating on Hyrum last Saturday.  On Tuesday, we had to say our goodbyes to the Hunter family, probably for 3 years as they are moving to Australia next week.  They'll certainly have an adventure.

     I hope all is well with you both.  I can't believe we have a date of Dec. 7th already for you Caleb.  It makes it a little more real.

Love you both SO MUCH!

Mom

Adam comforting Baxter during fireworks

Sydney painted Bobafet for Adams birthday

Roasting marshmallows and watching fireworks

Dad surfing with no rope at Cutler

Sent from my iPhone

Letter July 2 2017

Caleb and Jacob:

Probably the most eventful thing that happened this week is that on Thursday night, I left the Salt Lake office to come home and couldn't find my car.  After taking a few minutes to orient myself, and questioning my own sanity, I concluded that the car had been stolen.  Ugh...

Today I came home from church and had a nap and when I woke up, there was a message telling me that my car had been recovered with a flat tire and the inside ransacked.

It's my own fault, I was carrying a box in and left my key fob in the car.  Anyway, the universe was kind and everything will work out.

Sad though... My bike was in the car and is no more.  I rode a loaner on Saturday and although it was nice, I was ready to try something else after the ride was done.  Now I get to go through the process of getting a new bike and when I'm done it will hopefully be as nice as the previous bike.  But the process of buying a bike is agonizing for me.  I go through each component and try to make the best decision I can.

I hope everything is good with you.  I pray you're trying hard and that you feel good about your efforts.  I pray that the people you meet with be kind to you and that you will be committed to doing your best.  Maybe in all of this, you will find those who are honest in heart and will make and keep commitments and progress toward baptism.

Stay upbeat and keep your PMA.  I love you.

Dad