Ken's Adventures: Hiking and Birding

Now that Ken is retired, he spends a good deal of time hiking and birding.  He and his brother, Don, do a lot of it together.  A few weeks ago, they got up in the wee hours of the morning to be out near Cedar City to watch the mating rituals of the Greater Sage Grouse.

Petroglyphs at the Gap

  They saw these petroglyphs on the way out. 

Mating Ritual of the Greater Sage Grouse

Flight Path Arrows on Shinob Kibe Hill

On another day, he and several friends from our ward hiked Shinob Kibe, a hill in our area.  On the top of the hill is a cement arrow.  These arrows were featured in the April National Geographic.  They were placed on hilltops all throughout the United States before WWII to guide pilots on their flight path.

East Rim Trail in Zion National Park

Ken's brother, Rick just this last weekend organized a hike of family members on the East Rim Trail in Zion National Park.  It is the one Zion trail that many of them had never hiked.  Ken's brothers Don, Rick, and Jim and his wife Leslie all hiked it.  It's about a 13 mile hike.  Many of their children went as well.  

Randy, Bryan, Leslie, Jim, Rick, Ken, Randy, Brett, Melanie, Don, Travis- all Hintons!

The Rick Hintons: Rick, Travis, Bryan, and Brett

Jim took a picture of Ken taking a picture

The Hinton Hikers at the end of the trail: Don, Ken, Melanie, Lavar (Randy's son- so there were three generations), Randy, Rick, Brett, Travis, Bryan, Jim, Leslie

They had a great time.  They even got home in time for dinner.  They, along with all of us non-hikers met at Chuck-a-Rama for dinner.  There was quite a crew.  We filled five tables.  Then many came to our home to visit after.  Some stayed with us that night, then headed for home in the morning.

Let Us All Press On

Last Sunday, our ward choir sang the Richard Elliot arrangement of "Let Us All Press On."  I am the choir director in our ward.  It was a monumental task to learn this beautiful piece.  It challenged me, it challenged our fabulous organist (Sister Burdick,) and it challenged the choir.  We worked and worked on it for weeks.  I did everything I know to do to get the "beat" inside each of the singers.  I marched and yelled and clapped and screamed and made a total fool of myself . . . and I prayed.  Oh, how I prayed.  And it went so well.  I was so happy and felt the spirit so strong.  Just before we sang it for the last time at the final rehearsal just before sacrament meeting on Sunday, I had a sister from the ward, Sister Staheli, who was present when Cody Judy jumped the railing and threatened President Howard W. Hunter at a BYU fireside years ago, come and tell us the story.   She said a single voice in the Marriott Center started singing this song, then the entire congregation joined in, singing with great fervor. That music help diffuse the situation.  There is great power in music.
This group sings it pretty well, but you should have heard us!!!  Ha!

So many brothers and sisters that were in the congregation talked to me after.  They wanted to hug or take my hand as they expressed how the spirit spoke through that song.  One sister, with tears in her eyes, said she was given inspiration as to what she should do in her life as we sang.  Another called me that evening.  She was at death's door just a week ago, but recovered enough to be at church. In a shaky voice, she told me that she was so grateful to be there, that she wouldn't have wanted to miss that!
Nearly every time our choir sings, I feel that we have divine help.  I feel like after we've worked hard and done our best to learn and prepare that we are lifted beyond our abilities.   I love each of those who participate in our choir and feel so grateful for them. I am humbled by their dedicated service.  I am so grateful for my calling and for music in my life!

Easter Weekend

We had such a fun Easter weekend.  The Camerons came from Logan and the Princes came from Vegas to celebrate.  It was so fun to be all together.

The Easter bunny came on Saturday morning.  Man, he sure left a lot candy-filled eggs.

Jaron was delighted.

The babies:  Shonna and Blake's Hannah and Michelle and Brian's Kenny

The Easter bunny even brought them their own scriptures!

Lily Kay

We all watched conference downstairs.

Michelle, Brian and Baby Kenny all swaddled for a nap.

Grandpa and Hannah

Grandma Kay with Caleb, Gabbi, Lily Kay and Jaron

Just resting his eyes during conference.

Easter Picnic at the park between sessions.

After the picnic we had the Grandpa and Grandma Easter egg hunt in our yard.  More candy!!

Do a Dot Painting during conference.  These kids churned out a ream of artwork!

Sweet Michelle giving me a pedicure during conference.

Saturday evening was crazy while the men were at Priesthood session.  We were trying to get the kids fed, bathed and ready for bed AND get tomorrow's Easter dinner ready (funeral potatoes, ham glaze, ham sauce, salad.)  Shonna had the four oldest kids in the tub, Michelle was nursing Kenny, I was tending fussy Hannah in the kitchen.  Shonna had to run get something downstairs, so she left them playing with the tub toys.   So after a bit, I called to the little tubbers, "How's it going in there?"  Caleb's immediate reply I dub the quote of the weekend: "Jaron's peeing and Lily won't share!"  I just keep giggling over that quote.

What ever happened to GNO's shopping with daughters during Priesthood session???? 

After the men were home and the kids were in bed, we cooked the "adult" pizza and enjoyed a quiet dinner with a couple of games after.  But then we were all tired and went to bed.  Kids kind of wear you out!

I guess we didn't take pictures of our nice ham Easter dinner on Sunday which we ate between sessions.  It was delicious.  Then Shonna and Blake and family headed back home.  We enjoyed Michelle and Brian for the second session and the rest of the afternoon.  That evening, we all attended a baptism for a cousin's son.  It was nice to see so many family members.  Michelle and Brian left after the baptism.  

It was such a nice weekend.  Thank you so much for coming!  Happy Easter!!

Our Home Fix-up, continued

We've been fixing up our 30-year-old home  for a couple of years now.  We do one thing, then need to do another.  We just had the cabinets refinished.  It was quite the project.  Ken did a lot of the labor to save money. We started on Monday.  It took him a full day to remove all of the drawer fronts and cabinet doors.

He labeled every handle and hinge to make sure they got back in the same place.

He made a chart of the cabinets and drawers, assigning each a number. He then labeled each of them.

The second full day was spent scrubbing the cabinet doors and drawer fronts. It was hard labor.

The third day, Wednesday,  the painters came and masked and covered everything.

Then they sprayed it all with the varnish.  We had to be out of the house that day.  I came home about 4 and they were still spraying.  It was toxic!

The next day they came and took all of the cabinet doors and drawers outside and sanded and sprayed them.  Luckily, it wasn't too windy of a day.

Then on Friday, Ken put all of the doors and drawer fronts back on.  It was a dawn to dark project.  He got it done just in time!  Michelle and Brian and Shonna and Blake arrived that evening  for the Easter weekend.  

We love our "new" cabinets.  They look so nice.  They also did our oak table and it is just beautiful.  Next is the floor, but we may wait awhile on that!  Little by little . . .

Sydney Young in the Young Ambassador Concert

Recently, the BYU Young Ambassadors came to St. George to perform their show. Sydney Young - my sister Pam's granddaughter-is the only freshman in the group.  It was so fun to go and watch her and to see her mom- my niece, Stacy and her family and, of course, Pam and Roger.  Sydney is so beautiful and talented and such a genuine and sweet girl . . . just like her mom.  Stacy has long been one of my heroes.  

Sydney's St. George fan club!

Pam recently had me to her home for a beautiful and delicious lunch.  It was fun to visit with her and enjoy a delicious shrimp salad.

These brief encounters with loved ones are the stuff that make up a good life.  I am grateful for family.

The Screwtape Letters

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The classic battle between good and evil, told from evil’s viewpoint. This is definitely a book to read with a pen in hand.
I was absolutely astounded at Lewis’ insights. For instance, how did he know that truths from the bible have been withheld by men? That is not a widely known truth. There were a small number of suggestions in the book with which I did not agree. For instance, that Satan can “hear” our silent prayers. I personally think Satan is banned from knowing our thoughts. But, for the most part, Lewis nails human frailty and weakness uncomfortably on the head. The reader, if humble and astute, can learn so much about themselves and about Satan’s evil tactics from this book.
I thought it screamed “eternal truth” in Chapter 22 when Screwtape was SO furious that Wormwood had allowed his “patient” to fall in love. Satan is furious when love creates a happy family. As we look at our world today, we see the results of Satan’s unrelenting and successful attack on the family.
Though he lived long before such things were invented, Lewis prophesied the use of photo shop, Internet and pornography. “We have engineered a great increase in the license which society allows to the representation of the apparent nude (not the real nude) in art, and its exhibition on the stage or the bathing beach. It is all a fake, of course; the figures in the popular art are falsely drawn; the real women in bathing suits or tights are actually pinched in and propped up to make them appear firmer and more slender and more boyish that nature allow a full-grown woman to be. . . As a result we are more and more directing desires of men to something which does not exist- making the role of the eye in sexuality more and more important and at the same time making its demands more and more impossible. What follows you can easily forecast!”

When asked why he didn’t write a sequel to this book, C. S. Lewis answered, "The world into which I had to project myself while I spoke through Screwtape was all dust, grit, thirst and itch. Every trace of beauty, freshness and geniality had to be excluded. It almost smothered me before I was done. It would have smothered my readers if I had prolonged it."
And one of my favorite quotes of warning:
“Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,...Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape.”




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