Progress

First: Renovation News.

We gotta lotta dust.

(De)Construction continues at the Melton house.

If I had known how much DUST grinding and buffing concrete floors was going to create I might have thought twice about a finished concrete floor. I remind myself that it will be cool.

We are starting to see some of the fruits of our labors.

Our friend, Frank Catmull and his son put up the batten board in the living room and built a cabinet for the water shut off valve in the basement (yay!!!).

Here's the (sort of) finished product (before the final coat of paint). I think it's a definite improvement and breaks up the monochromatic brown of our house a little bit. I still need to get some things up on the wall to finish it off, but you get the idea.

The electrician came and brightened up the basement even more...

...we also had them install lighting under the deck on the upper patio. This picture is from Grace's 14th birthday party where we tried it out it for the first time. The spiral stairs off the deck are being manufactured and should be installed before the end of July.

For now, Roy is chipping away at the framing and sheet rock patching. Next steps will include staining and sealing the floor and then painting the basement and getting the kitchen cabinets delivered.

Other forward strides: 

We finally got the horse runs cleaned out at the barn, and new sand laid down.

Mom and Dad - Thank you for having a place where my kids have learned to do the "dirty jobs". Work is so important. Look at these confident, capable kids.

While Holly and Bruce were out of town for two weeks we added feeding the horses twice a day to our routine. Tillman was eager to do it (because I told him I would pay him a little something - and he is earning money towards his football registration) even though he is VERY allergic to horses. Every day he insisted on going. He would take a deep breath, dash into the barn, shoveling and feeding as fast as he could to avoid breathing in the dust for as long as possible. After the horses were fed he would come running out of the barn again as fast as he could straight into the house where he would wash his face and hands in an attempt to minimize the impact. Then he would sneeze, rub his eyes, and blow his nose and cough for the next hour until the reaction passed. One day I suggested that he use one of the construction masks we have kicking around the basement to see if it would help. He was skeptical but what do you know, it worked! He was able to feed the horses the last few days in relative comfort. We joked with him that now that we have discovered a solution to his disability, he should do 4H with the girls. He didn't think that was a great idea.

Our determined Tillman.

 Grace ran her first 5k - a very difficult trail run course above their school in the hills of Herriman. She not only beat me handily with a respectable sub-30 time, but was the third overall female finisher, earning herself a medal. I was proud of her. She plans to run on the Providence Hall Cross Country team this fall.

Don't tell anyone, but we've been sleeping on the same mattress for nearly 19 years. In our defense, it was a pretty high quality mattress gifted to us by Mike's parents as a wedding present - and I figured two small-ish people can't wear out a mattress that quickly, right? I had a hard time justifying the expense of a new mattress while our old one seemed perfectly good. Mike had been complaining of morning stiffness and finally insisted that he would NOT let our mattress hit 20 years. And just like that - we have a new space age mattress - and I LOVE IT. The first few nights I don't think I moved at all in my sleep and I had a hard time waking up in the morning. It was like my body was saying, "Why have you been holding out on me?! I'm not moving from this spot!"

It arrived in this bundle - and once cut from the wrapping grew into a full-depth mattress. Our buff UPS man RAN up to our porch with this over his shoulder, and as he laid it down, pointed at the weight on the shipping label as a warning not to try to move it myself, "110 lbs.." 

Abner graduated from the lofty academic heights of the Big Kids on the Block Preschool with high honors (i.e., the alphabet necklace awarded to those who had attained mastery of the English alphabet). Watch out Kindergarten!

Abner and Finn - natural smiles.

Abner with our neighborhood buddies.

I could watch this video again and again. Sweet Abner.

Untitled from Angie Melton on Vimeo.

Sully took swimming lessons. Here's a video of relay day. It took Sully a minute to get in his back kicking groove.

Untitled from Angie Melton on Vimeo.

Sully has been hard at work making plans for his up-coming 8th birthday party. Last week he handed me this schematic with this explanation: "First, someone teaches us to mow the lawn. Then we have lawn mower races, then we go to the Dollar Store, then we open presents, eat cake and then play until everyone's moms pick them up." A perfect plan.

Noble went to EFY in Provo with his BFF, Noah.

Settling in. They were SO excited.

They had a WONDERFUL time. In the past we've been on the fence about EFY; Mike used to jokingly refer to it as "Especially For Rich Kids." We made the plans with this friend earlier in the year - and I have to say it couldn't have come at a better time. It was life changing for Noble. Literally. So we're all in now. 

Anything that helps one of my children in a time of need has my support.

Summer wear.

The girls had their first horse show of the year. Considering that we've barely been to practice this year, the girls (and their horses) did exceptionally well. Grace and Pecos got a blue ribbon in one of their show events and Jessie and Dolli cleaned up in speed events. It rekindled the flame in both of them - they are excited for the next show.

Blues make Grace smile.

Pecos got spooked by a downed pole and Grace went for a little bronc ride. 

She stayed on. No big deal. ;)

Youth Conference 2016

When I was released from the Young Women's organization at church a few months ago I was bummed that I was going to miss youth conference this year in Zion and Bryce Canyons. So when the Bishop called me in about a month ago and asked me to be on the planning committee I was excited. 

We stayed at a little formerly-KOA camp ground between the parks on highway 89. The first day a bunch of kids played a version of pool volleyball with a piece of twine strung across the pool and broken tether ball. They played this for HOURS. (Noble and a few other kids decided instead to explore the near-by hoodoo cliffs...without telling anyone where they were going, by the way. Ughh.)

My assignment was to plan the camp activities. The result was an "Iron Rod Challenge" - where the kids participated in team-building challenges that we related to gospel principles and "holding to the Iron Rod." 

The first was - "Experiment upon the Word". The kids split into teams, and each team tried the Diet Coke / Mentos experiment - related to Alma 32 - planting the seed, and the good seed swelling and growing. They had a good time.

We also did "The River of Filthy Water" where the kids had to cross a span using just enough "stepping stones" (paper plates) for each of them, they had to get their team across without falling off.

There was "The Human Knot" - an object lesson for repentance.

Lastly, they had to "Press Forward" - (keep an inflated balloon wedged between themselves and the person in front of them without hands and press forward toward a Tree of Life).

In the end we made a Tree of Life (no picture - sorry) for them by inflating white balloons with a glow stick inside, and hanging them from a tree with ribbon. Attached was a "Hold to the Rod" key chain / pendant. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite dark enough by the time we reached the tree for the glow sticks to have their effect - but the Bishop fixed that by working it into his message. He told them to take their "fruit" with them back to their tents where the light would remind them tonight of the love of God. I think it worked out nicely. 

Day 2 - Zion. 

We began the day with a hike on the Zion Canyon overlook trail - one I have never done. 

After lunch we headed for the Narrows. 

WOW. So, so beautiful.

 Noble lead the cliff jumping at a deep spot. (I was super nervous watching.)

This little buck had nowhere to hide up the Narrows.

That night we had testimony meeting - such a sweet experience for me with 3 of my kids. The next day we went to Bryce and did the Queen's Garden hike and had a message before eating lunch and heading home. 

On the shuttle in Bryce.

Meanwhile, Mike had the taken the youngest 3 kids to St. George to visit Mike's parents (and Mike snuck up to be with us on our Zion day).

Hiking in Kolob.

They had their own adventures, especially on their way home on Wednesday, The truck lost power on a hill about 25 miles south of Fillmore. Mike had to call a tow truck that took them into their shop in Holden. Things worked out: the tow truck driver ended up being the brother of a lady in our ward, the boys happened to have their bikes - so they spent the afternoon riding around Holden visiting Mike's ancestral home, the cemetery where Mike's grandparents are buried, and the vending machines on Main Street. Mike's dad went above and beyond the call of duty, driving all the way up from St. George to pick up the stranded boys and bring them into South Jordan so that I didn't have to turn around and go back. (Dad of the year! Thank you!) The repair turned out to be fairly minor, and Mike, through a series of (un)fortunate events got a free shuttle ride to Fillmore to pick it up today. Tender mercies.

So that's our news.

Onward!

July - Living Large

July is gone in a flash. 

A lot of big things happened this month - things not to be forgotten.

Mike turned 40. 

He said all he wanted to do for his birthday was take the kids and hike Timp. It's been many years since we were up there. So we put out the call to our trusty friends, the Wheeler's. (How many friends can you ask to hike 15 miles with you knowing they will jump at the chance? Thanks Wheeler's!)

Per Tillman's brilliant plan, Mike enjoying a surprise birthday DP at the summit...(in commemoration of this commercial-worthy moment last year atop Angel's Landing...) 

photo cred Tim Melton

Tillman REALLY wanted to come. I admit that I had my doubts, but this kid was on the mountain for about 12 hours - hiked 17 miles (we did an extra 2 miles because of  an unintended detour at the beginning of the day) - without any problem. Tillman, you're the man!   p.s. the wildflowers were UNBELIEVABLE!

One of the highlights of the day was when we reached the meadow below the switchbacks up to the saddle - we came across two big horn sheep. The one just stood there while we sat and ate our lunch. He was definitely on his guard with River and a few other dogs around. WOW.  Something I've never seen before. It was so cool.

On the saddle, ready to start out for the summit. River was pretty wiped out by this time. But those dog booties Mike bought for him this past winter helped a lot on the loose, sharp rock toward the top. We ran into my sister-in-law's mother at this point. She'd already summited for the day, and made the rest of us feel like wusses. 

At the peak. A new perspective. And all of us with the beginnings of altitude headaches at this point.

The hike back was uneventful (except the fact that I managed a second degree sunburn on my neck...still paying for that) - but I have to say that toward the end I was wishing I had those two miles back from the beginning of the day when we took that wrong turn. 17 miles is a lot of walking in one day - especially with so much altitude change. Extended periods of downhill are hard. My hips and legs were aching a lot on the way back. River felt the same way I think. Every time we slowed down on the trail for any reason River would make a desperate attempt to lay down under a bush or tree. Mike had to work to keep him going. He loved the intermittent streams to drink out of and cool off in.

.

Noble was slated to join us for the Timp expedition but the week before developed a case of pneumonia... which not only put the kibosh on Timp for him but also kept him out of cross country work outs for almost two weeks.

Noble's incriminating x-ray. Note the faint white patches on the right side of the x-ray (left lung).

The day after Timp (Mike's actual birthday) we had his parents and some of my siblings over to share memories and eat cake and ice cream with us. Mike's brothers and sister's in law had sent their memories to me via email and we read them together. It was a great evening.

Mike's dad reading Mike's 8th grade autobiographical life sketch. It was so fun to hear what he had written about his life!

 Noble's birthday follows Mike's birthday (the very next day). For the big day he scored the professional grade downhill longboard he's had his eye on for a long time. It was kind of a funny how that all came together. He told us about the class of board he wanted and between Mike and Noble and I we probably went to 3 or 4 shops looking for it. Noble was totally disgusted with the lady at Zoomies who tried to tell him that she had a great downhill board with double kingpins (apparently exactly what you DON'T want for downhill). Since she'd lost all credibility with him, he just wanted to ignore her and get out. They didn't have what he wanted anyway. I told Noble we would have to just order it. But he had invited his bff for an afternoon of  epic downhill longboarding in Provo Canyon and he was really hoping to do it on a new Sector Nine Downhill Division deck. As a last-ditch effort Mike took Noble and his friend to a board shop he found online up in Sugarhouse. As soon as they walked through the door they knew that had found their paradise. It was bare bones, poser-free, with a couple of hard-core skater guys working on some bikes, and his dream board there on the wall. They talked shop with those guys for a while (Mike later put a damper on Noble's idolization of them, explaining that kicking around in a skate shop well into your twenties shouldn't be his highest aspiration). When, as they left the shop the skater-guys handed them a few skate magazines, they were officially fans for life. Because of the unplanned visit to Sugarhouse, there was no longer time to drive to Provo Canyon, and the skater-guys told them about some good skate hills around the University of Utah which they were only too happy to try out. Mike accompanied them on his own board.

Father son ride at the U

After that adventure they returned home and several other members of Project Thane (the moniker that Noble and his skater friends have given to their skateboarding brotherhood / board repair shop) came over for a bbq and, of course, more riding.

(A sampling from Project Thane's most recent photo shoot...Noble pulling some crazy slide maneuver.)

With summer birthdays behind us we turned our attention to a Trek family reunion at our house on Tuesday (a day after Noble's birthday), 4H the same night, and girls camp the morning after that. A lot of stuff to manage. Our Trek reunion went really well; we enjoyed having our kids over to reconnect, share a few inside jokes and take a photo. Jessie got herself to 4H and we planned to bring the trailer toward the end of practice. But during our Trek reunion she called us and said her horse was acting funny and that our friend Kyle (of Goblin Valley Arabian headdress fame) was helping her get him ready to take to the vet. Mike and quickly wrapped things up with our Trek kids and drove over to meet them. The vet checked her out and confirmed that she was in the early stages of colic. Jessie was really worried; she's seen enough horses die of colic. We got a hold of my dad in Nauvoo and he gave us some advise. The vet kept her over night to watch her. Jessie was pretty much decided not to go to girls camp till she knew what would happen with Dolly. I told her I'd leave it up to her. But my dad encouraged her to go anyway. Thanks, Dad. That gave her the courage to go...with the condition that Mike text or call me with updates for her. It all worked out, and Dolly improved over night and into the next day. Mike picked her up the next evening and brought her home.

Jessie with her Dolly

The next day Jessie, Grace and I headed for the Uinta's for 4 days of girls camp. With all of the distractions in the days leading up to camp I managed to forget a few critical things when we left, including my bag with all my clothes and toothbrush, etc. Thankfully, we had some people coming up that night and they brought it to me.

Of all the girls camps that I have been to, and I've been to a lot of them, this was without a doubt my favorite. And not just because we did some really fun things. The spiritual preparation ahead of time was evident in the spirit that filled our camp for those days. It was amazing. I really didn't want it to end.
Of course, there were a few other things that made this camp special. The fact that we stayed in a cabin was pretty nice: a bed to sleep in at night, indoor plumbing (though we didn't get  to take showers), and electricity. Also, we had the BEST food I have ever eaten at camp. Some of you will recognize Arlen and Jodi Jarrett in the photo below (they were in my ward growing up). They were our camp chefs, and the menu was incredible! As good as the food was on its own, Jodi stepped things up a notch with her presentation - sign boards, checked table cloths, no detail was overlooked (I should have taken a picture of the buffet).

I love these two.

Our camp directors were bold this year - which I SO appreciated - and went forward in planning a legitimate 4-5 mile hike (Lofty Lakes Loop above Steiner). We definitely had to do some encouraging with the some of the girls when they got tired - but most of them had doneTrek earlier in the summer (30 miles) - so we reminded them that they could certainly handle a measly 5 miles (the camp director told me after that it was only 4.1 but that she just called it 5 because of all the climbing). It was spectacular. I told Mike that I want to take the kids there. I thought it was the most "bang-for-your-buck" hike I had ever been on. I think we saw about 6 lakes and 2-3 breath-taking vistas.

with the girls at Kamas Lake- the first of many lakes we saw

The overlook above Steiner

Later that day...with Jessie and C-Mac (J's good friend) before skits. They did "Shoulder Angel" (see Studio C)

That night I went with one of the camp directors and the 4th years to do a night hike / star gazing. It turned out to be my all-time favorite thing that I've ever done at any girls camp. It was simple and it was life-changing. With the near full Blue Moon in the sky we walked (only about half a mile) without flashlights to where we laid out blankets or towels, had a song and prayer and then laid back to watch the sky while the camp director played 2 hymns (All Creatures of Our God and King, O My Father). After that we talked about our thoughts and feelings while she fired up some hot chocolate and cider on a couple of rocket stoves. The girls sat around sipping and sharing, and everyone wanted to just stay longer.

This is my super inadequate attempt at capturing the moment as we walked to our site. A glowing sunset in the west with a beautiful moon rising in the trees to the east...and mostly black in between. It really was an amazingly beautiful night.

 The next morning we headed out for Sulfur Creek Reservoir a few miles down the road to do some boating, wake boarding, tubing, etc. The girls (and leaders) got in all the high octane water sport they wanted (I myself ended the day with a big wipe out on the tube with J. and her friend), and also with a handful of kayaks and duckies that one of the camp directors brought. It was so much fun!

Gathering for testimony meeting later that evening.

What an amazing week. I missed Mike and the boys, but I wouldn't have minded if camp had gone a little longer. I really love these girls and the women I get to serve with.