Idaho!!

Utah!

Sometimes when I am in church listening to friends tell about their road trips to Utah, inside I have this conversation with myself.  I tell myself that I am glad I am not driving all that way with my family, that I would go insane driving that long and that it can't be much fun. Then, the other part of me argues that it is a whole lot cheaper than flying that far and that we would rather have that money for other things.  That and flying is no easy feat either with 5 kids.  Someone is always sick, flights are delayed or cancelled, and then we have to rent a car.  In the end it is a draw.  

I think as the kids get bigger and as long as I am able to take two weeks for vacation, painful as it is, driving out west for vacation is going to be part of our summer tradition.  It makes sense, plus it isn't as bad as I fear always.  It is a long drive, and there are fights in the car.  Kids get bored and since everyone has to be buckled (locked in place) people get restless.  Including me. 

Over all it was a nice break.  We went to Fountain Green to visit the Cooks, then went to Provo to visit with Leila's family and go to Neil's wedding.  I never went to Bridal Veil falls as a student, somehow there was always something that I had to do and getting off campus or out of the basement where the lab was seemed almost impossible.  

Southern Utah could be a set for movies on Mars.  The rocks are beautiful, but man I wouldn't want to have to walk across that wasteland.

Fountain Green is so different from Provo and the Valley just an hour away.  The town is tiny and Ag is the dominant industry.  Kids walk their sheep in the evenings to get ready for Lamb Days.  And the Cooks are there so it is our home away from home. 

Thinking of an animal

The thinking of an animal guessing game just got harder as Becca includes imaginary animals and Pokemon. 

Cyborg swimming robots

Between the police shootings, continued desparate circumstances for refugees across the world, hundreds killed in terrorist bombings and attacks in Iraq,Turkey, and Miami, and then the appalling sniper attacks on cops protecting the black lives matter protesters, there isn't a lot of good news.

Somehow, this BBC story of a tiny swimming robot run by heart cells seems a welcome distraction.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36748076

One more photo of Grandma Shirley