Too Many To Count 2

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Cove Fort

We had a very nice, smooth, quick, drive today. We even felt so good about it that we stopped at Cove Fort Historic Site, which we have driven by many times and wanted to stop and see but never did, and had a little visit.

First of all I love historic sites. They are interesting and charm me. I love church history sites especially and love seeing the courage and obedience that came before us. This was no different.

Brigham Young asked Ira Hinckley (Gordon B Hinckley's grandfather) to go and build a fort half way between Salt Lake City and St George. It served several purposes, one as protection because Utah was in the middle of the Blackfoot wars, 2 as a relay station for the telegraph and 3 as a place for weary travelers to rest and get food. At the time he was called he and his wife were happily living in Coalville and were the parents of 7 daughters. They all moved and lived at the fort and ran it for the next 10 years.

It was a very interesting visit and a nice break in our drive. I really felt the spirit testify of the strong testimonies of those early settlers, stronger than the foundation of the fort itself. I hope I am leaving such a legacy for my posterity.

Saturday, July 22, 2017

last day

Today is Hannah's last day home. She'll come back from time to time and hopefully for an extended time at some point but if she follows suit with her sisters this is it, she won't live at home again. We'll see I guess.

The day was unremarkable. We cleaned up and did a ton of laundry from camping. We went to Target and Ulta. Hannah made us dinner. We read scriptures together and packed her stuff into the car.

She will be 18 in less than a month and she's ready to take on the world! I'm excited for her and hope she has many adventures!

Friday, July 21, 2017

Solvang

One day we ventured away from the camp ground to Solvang, a cute little Danish town. We had some trouble meeting up..which caused some hurt feelings...which we got over, and then we had fun.

We rented a couple of surreys and rode around. Thanks Greg!

Did a little shopping!

ate aebleskivers

went to the farmers market

my 3 sons

Clayton, Ethan, me, and Greg

El Capitan

Every year growing up we went to El Capitan State beach the first week of June for our family camping vacation. We LOVED it

I took the big girls there a couple of times when they were small and we LOVED it.

This year we went again and we mostly LOVED it. Turns out the older you get the more the work side of camping manifests itself :), also the showers weren't working which was a huge (-).

Mostly it was awesome. Like 85%.

All my kids and spouses and grands were there!! So that was way awesome. Also 3 of my sisters and their families and mom and dad.

Marshall loved digging in the sand. He could dig all day!

Penny thought it was cold and was happy go come home :)

Tatum is so grown up. She played with Grace a lot.

Shitzu hair ;0

cute Kenz! I am so glad she and Hannah are going to be roommates this fall.

What we spent hours and hours doing each day!

Papa and Grams came down to the beach each day, they hotel hopped with Val and Ryan. This was a challenge for everyone. They had some very bad luck with their first two nights and their accommodations were subpar. The last two nights they stayed in Solvang at a hotel they thought was nice. It was kind of a pain to have them far away, I was sad they missed out on stuff and we sometimes had trouble meeting up.

This little dino...what can I say?

The boys played a variety of games involving throwing things and riding waves and jumping as far as they could.

Jenna and Penny

Campfire conversations

3 little grandkids

reading and eating were favorite activities.

Several nights we went grunion hunting. We never did see any but it was fun to explore the beach at night. One night Clayton and Ethan went skinny dipping in the dark. (We got to know each other much better this trip)

beach cave

Noah and Grace

"Jack and Jill" fetching a pail of water

quiet evenings around the camp fire are the best

There was lots of driftwood.

We saw lots of cool sea life. Lots of star fish, dolphins, urchins, snails, pelicans, seagulls. Also lots of land animals; skunks, raccoons, squirrels, birds, dogs, and a couple of cats that belonged to the loop host and had their own cat tent.