FOR-EVVV-UHHH

To celebrate our 24th anniversary, we went to Zion. During our dating years, we would go to Zion frequently to eat, watch concerts at the amphitheatre, and hike or drive around the area. We were able to enjoy some of those same things again. I am always amazed how beautiful that canyon is; everywhere you look there is something amazing to see.

We also drove to the Ghost Town of Grafton, UT.  It has been years since we've been there.  The one-room schoolhouse is always my favorite.  Looking in I can imagine the fun it would have been teaching in it.  With varying levels in all areas, in many ways the classrooms of today aren't so different.  I think the students would have been better behaved then, because they viewed education as a privilege and the parents didn't think twice about disciplining them with a switch when they misbehaved or were disrespectful!

Really, I could just live next door and walk to and from work.  After school I could sip lemonade on my porch and read a good book!

Here's Evan (who by the way, HATES to have his picture taken) looking quite intellectual in his first pair of reading glasses!   How lucky is he that he's had perfect vision until recently?!  Not one of our girls has been blessed with his eye site!  He's going to be mad that I posted this picture, but doesn't he look handsome and smart?!?

And being the smart one that he is, he ruined my little fantasy by reminding me of the realities of living in that time period.  Rattlesnakes, angry Indians, hard labor, isolation from others, no a/c or heating systems, very little pay, and harsh living conditions.  Hmmmm.....so perhaps I'll just enjoy imagining life back then.

The cemetery always sheds light on reality as well.  This family all died from diptheria, indian attacks, or tragic accidents on the farm or otherwise.  Two little girls (best friends) died when the swing they were on collapsed crushing them both.  So sad.

If only the massive trees and abandoned building could tell the other stories left untold.  Such obedient and stalwart pioneers were they that were sent to settle small places like Grafton.  It was a hot and dusty day, but it always make me grateful for them and also to live with the modern conveniences of our day.  I hope to sit down in Heaven with them one day and hear their stories.