Pioneer Day Weekend

 With Calli in Lake Powell and Sadie in California, Adam, Gentry and I decided to try a 24 hour camping trip. With mine and Adam's callings, we try to be to church as often as possible but we sure love our camping trips and getaways, so we thought we'd try a short one and see if it's worth it or too much work!...Turns out, it was so worth it, We had such a blast. I see plenty more quick camping trips in our future!

We drove up in a rainstorm. But it passed pretty quickly. 

We drove to Enterprise reservoir and found a spot. It was supposed to rain for a few hours that night and then be clear the rest of the time. So we set up quickly before the rain and then huddled inside. 

We ate Subways, played games and watched a movie!

View from the steps of the trailer the next morning. Adam had gotten up early to head to the reservoir to fish and kayak. 

Heading back!

He was successful. Caught 5 fish within an hour and called it a day!

We ate breakfast and went for a hike. Gentry opted to stay and hold the trailer down. She had brought a new book to read and had her nose in that most of the weekend. 

Love camping by the water, always provides such amazing views. 

We spotted out campsite while out exploring. 

Found the waterfall of the upper reservoir dumping into the lower. 

Made from some great pics!

We wandered over to the Honeycomb campground and walked through it. It was so nostalgic. We camped here every year, in the same site while the girls were just little. It was fun to walk around and remember those times. This was the big rock right by the site that the girls spent hours on playing.

The Cave Rock

The stairs in between our old site and the one next to it.

Our Old Site! It will forever be "Our Site"

After hiking we ate lunch played more games and then went out on a razor ride. Again Gentry stayed behind. 

The water level was so low that we could go all the way around to the other side of the reservoir. We could never do this before. We saw places we'd never seen before. It was crazy driving on the dry land where water used to be. 

We found the Osprey nest that usually can only be found by boat. After our ride, we went back and hung out with Bo for while. 

Later, we decided to go back to the reservoir and do some fishing and kayaking before loading up and heading home. Once again, Gentry was more than happy to stay in the air conditioned trailer and read. 

Kayaking!

Relaxing, basking in the sun and listening to my book while Adam takes a turn in the kayak. 

He ended up catching a huge fish. 

It was a big mouth bass and weighed about 3 pounds. 

Deciding we'd done all we could, we packed up and headed home. It was so easy. We didn't take much so there wasn't much to pack up. We teased Gentry all the way home that we didn't get one picture of her and how she never got out of the trailer. Haha! That was her kind of camping. We all had a great time! Happy Pioneer Day!

Gentry's talk on Prayer

So, So proud of Gentry for giving a talk in sacrament meeting. She is so timid and shy and does not like the spotlight, does not like getting up in front of people and does not like reading in public. So when Chuck Gillette asked her to speak (I think she has only talked one other time when she was 12) she instantly did not want to. I asked her what she thought and she said "Well I can't say no" and I told her that if it was just something she could not do then it was okay to say no. She thought for a minute and said "I really don't think I can say no" She is such an example. We planned her talk and she read through it over the next few days changing things here and there until she was comfortable with it. Sunday morning she was up before everyone else getting ready and preparing herself. The whole family came to hear her speak and we even made it in time to sit in the chapel. Haha! (Even Calli made it who had been to a Garth Brooks concert the night before and drove home from Salt Lake Saturday night getting home around 5:00 in the morning. I wasn't going to bother her thinking she'd be sleeping but was so touched when she texted and asked if someone could give her a ride to listen to Bo. (She still has her license suspended) I got myself ready lightning fast and picked her up) Gentry was so nervous but she did amazing. She was so glad that it was over. I could not have been more proud of her. She took on something that terrifies her and knocked it out of the park. Way to go Bo! 

 Hi My name is Gentry Peterson. I was asked to speak on Prayer. 

Prayer is a way for us to communicate with our heavenly father. When I am away from home or have gone on trips with friends, my parents are always anxious to hear from me. They want me to call home as much as i can

 and tell them about all of my adventures. Prayer is just like that with our Father in Heaven. We are all on a long journey away from our Heavenly Home and our Heavenly Parents and our Heavenly Father wants us to check in as often as possible. He wants to hear about our day, let him know how were doing, thank him for our many blessings and talk to him about our struggles. It’s pretty cool that he didn’t send us here alone. We can still communicate with him anytime we’d like to. 

In D&C 19:38 it says “Pray always, and I will pour out my Spirit upon you, and great shall be your blessing—yea, even more than if you should obtain treasures of earth.” 

Not only can we talk to our heavenly father whenever we would need to but he blesses us for doing it. 

In a 2017 New Era there’s a talk called  “5 promises of prayer” It talks about 5 blessing that we can receive from praying:

#1. Strength to Overcome:

As humans, we can feel weak–ness in many ways—physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. We can struggle trying to run a race or pass a test or withstand temptation or even feel the Spirit. But prayer can give us the strength we need to overcome anything that life hands to us.

As Nephi said, “The Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them” (1 Nephi 3:7). The Lord can give us strength to accomplish any good thing that we try to do if it’s His will.

Pray for the strength to overcome a temptation. Pray for the strength to focus and study productively for a test. Pray for the strength to run and not be weary. Pray for strength, and He will make you strong.

The 2nd promise of prayer is Knowledge and Guidance

 Joseph Smith lacked knowledge about which church to join, so he got on his knees in the Sacred Grove, asked his question, and received an answer—in a pretty big way.

But revelation isn’t just for prophets, and it doesn’t have to be an earth-shattering experience. If any of us lack wisdom on anything, we can and should ask of God. He will answer, though sometimes not in the way we would expect. The Lord will answer our questions and help guide our lives, but we have to first ask!

#3. Forgiveness

Though it’s nice to think otherwise, we’re not perfect. We make mistakes, and that’s just a part of life. But the Lord provides a way to fix them: the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And one access point to His power is prayer.

When we ask for forgiveness through prayer, we can be forgiven of our sins through the Savior’s Atonement.  whether we are asking Heavenly Father to forgive us or to help us forgive someone else. He’ll even help us learn how to forgive ourselves.

#4. Desire to Do the Lord’s Will

It may be harder to see this one as a blessing—because, honestly, sometimes we want things for ourselves that the Lord doesn’t want for us. But as we pray to be truly converted and to have the desire to do the Lord’s will, we’ll notice something pretty amazing: what we want starts to look more like what He wants.

And the last promise is Peace

One of the blessings we are promised if we pray is peace and comfort through the Holy Ghost. After all, He is called the Comforter. Be reassured that peace will come even in difficult times. Remember the Lord’s promise in John 14:27: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth,  unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Peace will eventually come if we ask.

Prayer is a direct way to communicate with our loving Father. Use it and let Him bless you for it. But after receiving these blessings from sincere prayer, remember to express your heartfelt gratitude in—you guessed it—a prayer.

I’m so thankful for prayer and the access it gives me not only to my Heavenly Father but also these blessings.  

Testimony

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

4th of July Weekend

With the 4th being over a weekend, we had 3 days to play and celebrate. 

On Saturday, July 3rd we went to Cains for a crab broil and games. 

Sunday Night July 4th we made smore's by the fire pit and played with sparklers. 

Monday, July 5th Adam and I only had to work half a day. We all took off to New Castle for the day!

Matching patriotic Y shirts. 

We invited Porter and Gabe to come along as well.

We had Adam, Me, Sadie, Gentry, Austin, Porter and Gabe. 

Relaxing!

Cousins!

Sadie and Austin took the kayak out. They came back drenched. I have some great video footage of them tipping over...more than once. Haha!

Adam in heaven as he fishes. 

Me in heaven, tagging along

Austin and Sadie racing Porter back to the shore...

and in the water they go...again! :)

I love  watching these two interact. No matter what the future holds for them, they are going to be alright. 

Taking a picture of my reflection in his sunglasses. 

He caught one.

Trying some shore fishing. 

Amazing Night Sky on the drive home. 

What a great holiday weekend!