BLOGGERS, TAKE ME AWAY: Details & Pix-5th Installment

Oooh!  Almost forgot that I promised to take you up Middle Canyon to the top of the Oquirrih Mountains so you TOO can see down into the Kennecott Mine!  Let's do that before I hit the road to journey home to Washington, shall we?

THIS is what it looks like from space, according to Nasa.

This is what it looks like from the Oquirrih Mountain Ridge, for an FHE night:

The night I met Kim & her family IRL, this gal was on a first date with a super cute kid.  They were both home by their curfews AND FOR THE RECORD: she DID NOT get her first kiss during the weekend I was visiting, much to the dismay of her younger brother who wanted to incessantly tease the crud out of her!  She's a good girl.  Strong in her standards, and has a good head on her shoulders. 

These kids are 3 out of 4 and are hilarious!  (Their older brother is currently serving his mission in Portland, OR.)  After we got done freezing our butts off in the cold wind, we wound up back at the house playing card & board games until bedtime!  What a blast we had.  Three totally different kids full to the brim with energy, sibling rivalry, and above all else, hope.  I loved getting to know them!  Kelsey on the left is a cheerleader & is currently enrolled in a dental assisting class (we had oodles to talk about!).  Shane in the middle is totally a younger brother!  He also is coping with severe asthma & allergies so I could totally relate to him with those burdens.  Hailey is quite the soccer star, and is learning how to be herself outside of her older sister's shadow.  (I never played soccer, but I knew what it was like to be the younger sister.)  All in all, these kids were easy to understand what they were each dealing with and overcoming in their lives.  What a privilege to get a glimpse.  They're all great kids!

Kim & I, trying to avoid becoming momsicles!

What a younger brother!

The fog/mist started to roll in (literally looked like a blanket being unrolled over the Valley!), but it was spectacular...especially the sunset I'll show you later.  If you look real closely above you can make out two tiny lit buildings that look very similar right up the middle....they're temples.  Kinda like sights on a rifle!

That teddy bear of a guy?  Yeah, that's Gordon, Kim's husband.  He's a brain & a half.  And quite the history buff, and is currently doing his student teaching in High School History & Spanish.  So couple his affinity for history with the fact that he worked for Kennecott for several years, he taught me a lot about the area (including about dead mines scattered throughout the Oquirrihs; the old Topaz Internment Camp that was out 15 miles west of Delta....basically a Japanese-American concentration camp of sorts following Pearl Harbor---it was 4 times the size of the famous one in California; also a little about Utah's own Area 51, Dugway...Gordon said people know it exists but no one outside of the government knows what really goes on out there; various little Utah towns, how they were settled, why, and where military posts such as Camp Floyd came into existence after Johnston's Army came into the valley; and especially Kennecott Copper Mine and how it operates, including the process from excavation in the mine clear through to the refinery & off as a precious metal product!  There was one point while he was driving that he took exit 99 off the freeway towards Tooele, that he got so into what he was telling us about the materials being at the smelter (before getting sent off to the refinery) that Kim almost had to steady the steering wheel!  It was soooo awesome to see how much he loves what he knows!  I myself have always been fascinated by history as well as geology, so I was delighted to learn as much as he was willing to tell us.  Cool guy.  I'll always be grateful for him.  Neat part was how interested his kids were in what he was sharing.  As if they'd never thought to ask about any of it before.  Way rad.  They're such a great family!

So, Monday morning I was out of the house before the kids were even awake.  Wanted to make it as painless of a farewell as possible.  So I left a note of thanks, with a favorite new sketch....

Haven't I mentioned that I love me some frogs!  Get it?  'Hop'-kins?  Hehehehehe...did you know that FROG stands for Fully Relying On God?  No lie.  Totally does!

...I made it as far as the Tooele WalMart where I had to invest in a Ute's hoodie cause it was too. dang. cold! (Tried to get a Stansbury one, but they were all too ginormous for me, and I'm sorry Gordon, but I couldn't bring myself to pick up the Tooele one....really wasn't digging the colors so much.  Please forgive!)  When I was done there, I got a call from Kim.  We were both in tears of gratitude by the end of the call, and I seriously felt like I was leaving Utah a better person than I had been before even heading to Cherie's in Idaho the week prior.  I felt so incredibly edified!  All these fabulous women & their families have endeared themselves to me, and helped me recognize my own self-worth.  That inner-appreciation has been long overdue, and the Lord knew I needed this time with all of these women so very badly.  I'm grateful, so very very grateful.

While still floating on a cloud, I zipped over to the Flying J truck stop to fill my gas tank, and headed east towards SLC to catch the 15/84.  The closer I got to SLC the more I felt a prompting to go to Temple Square.  Ladies & gentlemen, NOTHING is open on Temple Square until 9am, besides the gates.  WHAT on Earth was I gonna do?!?  ::shrugs:: 

Ah well, I went with the gut feeling and circled the area like a vulture looking for prime parking.  THAT was an ordeal & a half, but I somehow got great parking UNDER the Joseph Smith Memorial Building!  Totally rad.  The only other people there were those showing up for their shifts/jobs as tour guides.  So it was quiet and peaceful....so I meandered and soaked up the Spirit I felt just being there, and being so close to the Lord's House without going in (cause it was locked down tighter than Fort Knox for some reason that morning).  But there were workers all over the place, planting bulbs & sprucing up the flower beds, etc.  It was Heavenly!

This allowed me to get some fabulous photos, to enjoy the melted butter lighting from the sun as it rose.....oh, and to meet Rick...He told me I was so beautiful, and even asked me to take his picture....and then he asked for 2 bucks.  Unfortunately I really did not have any cash on me whatsoever....(part of the problem I had finding parking earlier)...but alas, he was still pleasant, and I plan on sending him his picture....(from my LKP email address!  Just in case, ya know?)

So, here is the splendor that IS a non-bustling, buttery-lit Temple Square from 7-9am in the morning:

Have you ever seen the movie "Baptists at Our Barbecue"?  If not, you should.  One of my favorites.  In there is a line, "Go to the mountains!"  And I couldn't help feeling this way that morning....go to the mountains, the mountain of the Lord!  So here it is, the Salt Lake Temple....

Oh, hello Rick!

The Assembly Hall.  My maternal grandmother used to sing here when she was a teenager.  I hear she was quite good!

Oh!  That lovely Tabernacle!

My attention kept being drawn to the words in my mind, "...some must push, and some must pull..."

...here I was drawn more to the responsibility of the pushing...

...here more to the pulling aspect, the carrying of the family....and to the tattered & worn knees...gets me thinking, and feeling very grateful.

And again gratitude flooded my heart, while reflecting to the miracle of the Segulls & the Crickets...

 And....I thought I was going to be able to squeeze the rest of the trip in this post, however the folks at Google/Blogger have informed me that I'm out of image space....so I had to buy more, and they're saying it may take 24 hours for the system to take note of my brand-spankin' new storage space!  So, I promise, we'll wrap this up with one last post.  I swear!   (I think anyhow....)