Farenheit 451

I somehow escaped all my years of school without every having to read Farenhheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.  Joel came home from school the other day with the book, and as soon as he had finished reading it, I started reading it and I couldn't stop.

I was amazed at the description of our modern society, with everyone more concerned with what's buzzing in their earbuds than the sounds and conversations of real life.  The characters knew and cared more about their "TV families" than they cared or knew about the people they actually lived with.  The whole book was just awesome, and eerie in the way it described our society today.

And then I got to the end.  It was still awesome, but my mind totally switched from analyzing the societal parallels to something much more personal.

The book perfectly described my feelings of grief about the loss of my dad this past summer.  I really think I am doing OK with my dad being gone (if there is such a thing--it is still horrible), but every now and then some memory will pop up, or I'll see something that reminds me of him and I cry. This part of the book made me cry.  Sometimes things that remind me of him make me laugh.  Like today when I happened to have an extra stylus in my computer bag at a school, and a teacher next door desperately needed one, I laughed.  And I think my dad was smiling from heaven.  My dad kept everyone he knew well-stocked with styluses.

Anyway, here are the beautiful words I read last night that made me think of my dad, and how lost I feel sometimes without him here.  He made his mark on the world through the things he did, and I am so glad to have many things I can look at to make me think of my dad.

"When I was a boy my grandfather died, and he was a sculptor. He was also a very kind man who had a lot of love to give the world, and he helped clean up the slum in our town; and he made toys for us and he did a million things in his lifetime; he was always busy with his hands. And when he died, I suddenly realized I wasn't crying for him at all, but for the things he did. I cried because he would never do them again, he would never carve another piece of wood or help us raise doves and pigeons in the back yard or play the violin the way he did, or tell us jokes the way he did. He was part of us and when he died, all the actions stopped dead and there was no one to do them just the way he did. He was individual. He was an important man. I've never gotten over his death. Often I think, what wonderful carvings never came to birth because he died. How many jokes are missing from the world, and how many homing pigeons untouched by his hands. He shaped the world. He did things to the world. The world was bankrupted of ten million fine actions the night he passed on."

"Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there. It doesn't matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn-cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime."

"Grandfather's been dead for all these years, but if you lifted my skull, by

God, in the convolutions of my brain you'd find the big ridges of his thumbprint. He

touched me. As I said earlier, he was a sculptor.

Geology field trip

Savvy's class was heading to central Oregon for a 2-day field trip to see some awesome things I have always wanted to see.  I normally shy away from field trips, because parents come out of the woodwork for them.  But this one was too tempting, and I jumped at the chance to go.

The teacher who planned it didn't do the best job.  She drove the route twice this summer, and used her time frame to plan the trip.  However, she forgot that a bus goes 55 miles per hour rather than 70 or 75 on the freeway in a car.  She also forgot that stopping somewhere for 150 kids to use the restroom takes a bit longer than it does with a single carload of people.

The first day was way too much driving, and too much time at boring museums, which left not enough time for the real reason I went on the trip--the Painted Hills.

The first day we stopped in Fossil, Oregon to dig for fossils, which was awesome.  Sadly, we were so behind schedule that we only had 30 minutes to do this.  I could have done it all day.

 Bugs trapped in amber.

 Fossils!

 I was loving the hammer and chisel action splitting rocks in half to find treasures.

 We got to the Painted Hills just before sunset.  It really was the most beautiful place in Oregon.  I wanted to spend hours there, but I wasn't in charge.  I am seriously taking my family back there this fall to thoroughly explore.

 Red, green, yellow, white, blue.  Every color of soil and rock formations here.

We made it to the town of our overnight stop about an hour and a half late.  It was pitch black, and we were all starving and dying of thirst.  I inhaled two slices of pizza, and then went to check out the sleeping accommodations.  I knew the plan had been to stay on the gym floor of an elementary school.  I came fully prepared to do so.  But when I saw that the boys and girls were sleeping right next to each other in the same gym, and that the gym was not air-conditioned, I was not doing that.  And I wasn't making Savanna do that either.  I called the Best Western down the road.  Savanna and I had the best night's sleep ever in a huge, comfy, cool room.  We were asleep by 9:30.

We walked the 1.5 miles back to the school the next morning to join the group, and after many delays getting kids up, packed, fed, and lunches made, we were off to Smith Rock State Park.

It was magical.  I loved everything about it.  One teacher and I took a group of adventurous kids on a trip up a steep trail to see Monkey Face.  It was awesome.  Smith Rock is a caldera, with steep walls and rock columns remaining from an ancient volcano.  It was simply incredible.  I can't wait to take my family back to spend more time in this beautiful place.

 Just a 500 foot drop.  Of course, Savanna had to lie down and spit.

We love Logan!

We loved staying in Logan for a week.  It was especially fun to stay on campus at the hotel.  We basically took over the student center ever night and played games there.  We also loved eating in the cafeteria!  Good food, and Aggie Ice Cream every night.

One day we decided to head up to Preson, Idaho to track down Napoleon.  The kids thought it was the best adventure ever.

 My very smart children decided that Kneaders was the best place in the world to eat lunch.  We are so glad that Mark had his camera with us one day and took these very flattering shots of us eating...

 Zack was so happy to lose two teeth on our trip.  Both of them from corn on the cob!

 The kids loved ice blocking on Old Main.  We got 2 blocks of ice, and they spent the next hour sliding down the hill and them climbing back up.  Over and over and over.

We visited the Logan temple grounds.  It is such a beautiful building.  It always amazes me to see what beautiful buildings the pioneers were able to construct using such primitive tools!

 I love my Savvy.

 Savvy splashed Zack with some water from the fountain, and I love Zack's expression in this picture.

It was so strange to have only 4 kids with us as we went around town.  Jacob stayed home to work, and so once Aubrey moved into her dorm, it was just 6 of us!

 As we were staying 9 nights in the hotel, Savanna unpacked and moved right in.

 Noah is pretty dang cute.

 Sav and Joel found a chess game at the local mall.

 Hotel living is pretty fun.

 The bookstore has enough ipad minis for everyone to enjoy.

 We took a trip to Lagoon one day, and Zack was a trooper.  He went on every ride and loved it.  It was a completely empty day at Lagoon, and so the kids went on soooo many rides.  Finally, around 6:00, one last trip on Colossus was one ride too many.  I saw the look on his face (above) and rushed over to the shrub bed.  He puked.  And puked.  And puked.  And then he puked 4 more times before we got in the car.  And once in the car.  And twice while we were stopped at Kneaders in Layton for dinner.  He slept the whole way to Logan after that, and when we got back to the hotel, he was as good as new.

 Zack is always interested in the leaves and plants.

 The kids liked playing in this fountain/waterfall on campus.

 It was sad to leave Aubrey, but really not too sad.  She is at an awesome university, and she loves it.  We miss her terribly, but she is just a phone call or text away.  I am thrilled that she is away at college and doing just what she should be doing with her life!