Birthday Blessings

Miles and Molly's birthday cards for me.

My birthday was this past week. For me, this was no cause for fanfare. In fact, in the days just prior, I was feeling pretty depressed about it. For at least a few years, birthdays have dredged up reflections on how little I have to show for my accumulation of years. I try to remind myself that I have at least accomplished some worthwhile things along that time, both big and small, but it's hard to entirely dispel the gloom. Good friends and family have helped to brighten matters up, though. This year, I felt especially blessed after experiencing a number of tender mercies from God.

Arizona Reunion Part 2: Sedona and Mesa Verde

The day after doing the Grand Canyon, it was planned for us all to go to Slide Rock near Sedona. I didn't know this at the time, but apparently, this is a big Arizona attraction. I have a bunch of friends who have gone out of their way to include a stop there while down in Arizona. Unfortunately, while it is a cool place, there were some drawbacks to the trip there.

Arizona Reunion Part 1: Utah to the Grand Canyon

I'm back-tracking a bit this week to the family reunion that took place down in Arizona back in June. It was really delightful, as usual, and gave me a chance to see some awesome new things in addition to spending time with people I love.

Lemons Into Lemonade

Left to right: Bros. Melvin and Birkeland, Bishop Lemon, Bro. McDonald

Last week our bishopric got released. In the past when that has happened, it has been moderately sad to me, but never that big of a deal. This time, it's quite different. Though there are silver linings, the truth is that I'm pretty devastated about the change. I was quite a mess last week, but this week I'm beginning to feel the effects of the transition, for better and for worse. I have to keep reassuring myself that God's hand is in this and that I'd best get used to it. In time, I'm confident that will happen, but for now, it hurts and I feel the loss.

AFY: Days 2 & 3

Saturday at AFY got started bright and early with a counselor meeting at 8 am. After reviewing the day's schedule and talking some logistics, we were set off to check bathrooms and other areas to ensure everything was stocked and prepared for the day. Soon, it was time to go get our rooms set and prepare to meet our youth at 9.

AFY: Inception, Preparation, and Day 1

Time to write about AFY, which feels like a daunting task. I'll start with some of the lead-up to it. Back at the end of last year, Bishop Lemon started looking forward through the rest of the time they would serve. Planning the long-game is rather in his nature, but in this case it seemed like making a plan to sprint to the finish.

An Adventure to Arches National Park

Paul and Marinda at Turret Arch

Back in April, the National Parks Service did a free admission week to all parks across the nation. I figured that was something I should take advantage of and worked out that the parks in Moab would be the closest for me to reach. That was good news, because those are the Utah parks I haven't visited yet. So I started thinking through my options on how to make a trip down there.

2016 Conventions: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Weirdly, I attended a convention at the Salt Palace each month from February to April. I don't consider myself particularly drawn to conventions or something; that's just how things worked out. It seemed only fitting to go over them all in one post.

2016 Temple Times: Provo City Center and Ward Temple Day

Okay, it's time to start blitzing through a number of things since the beginning of the year. I think I won't do that entirely chronologically, but will go for a more categorical approach instead. Hopefully that won't lend itself to too much confusion!

California Trip Part 3: Tuscon and Home Again

We returned to Steve and Merina's house quite late at night after arriving from Catalina. We knew that we'd have a long drive the next day to get to the home of Paul's grandma in Tuscon. I hadn't realized that going to Catalina would pretty much eat up all our time in California, and I'd really been looking forward to going to the San Diego temple. I've done baptisms there before, but I've always loved the design of that temple and was eager to go back now that I'm endowed. It looked like maybe we wouldn't make it there on this trip, but Dad said that as long as we could get in on the first session, we should be okay. That was good news, but it meant not getting a lot of sleep that night. Bright and early, Dad and I made our way to the temple while Mom, Paul, and Marinda got some needed rest and prepared to leave.

California Trip Part 2: Catalina Island

Before leaving on the trip, we'd talked about perhaps going to Catalina Island with Merina and Steve's family while we visited with them. Marinda was really gung-ho about the idea, so while we were in San Diego, Merina made arrangements. As it turned out, the whole thing ended up being much more expensive than anticipated. The ferry tickets to get there were quite pricey, especially because they charged a lot per person and there was no family option. The hotel was reasonably priced, but had I known how much the ferry would cost before Steve booked the tickets, I would have argued for doing something else. Once the money was spent, however, there was nothing to be done but enjoy the opportunity.

California Trip Part 1: Vegas and San Clemente

The day after Christmas, Mom & Dad, Marinda & Paul, and I left on a trip to California and Arizona. Paul served his mission in San Clemente and wanted to go back with Marinda. Mom and Dad agreed to take them, and I just tagged along because I like California.

With all the snow that fell on Christmas Eve, we all had a bit of concern about how the roads would be for the trip. Fortunately, things were pretty well cleared up by the time that we left. Somehow, on the morning of departure, I didn't get my alarm properly set, so I didn't wake up at all until Mom called to say they were on the way to get me. I hurriedly worked to be ready, but Mom and Dad did have to wait a few minutes until I was ready to go. That ended up not being too big a deal since we all had to wait significantly longer for Paul and Marinda. When they were finally ready, it was time to hit the road.

Everyone Gathers at Christmas

I can't believe I'm finally writing about something other than Trek again! I still have some catch up to do, however. We'll see how much of it gets done. So I'm going to start with relating the events of December, as a lot happened through there. The first occasion of significance I can remember was my birthday. I don't much care much for my birthday anymore. Honestly, aging when you're single with no end in sight isn't the most fun thing, and any reminder of that fact isn't particularly desirable. Though it isn't the most easy day for me, I do my best not to brood about what I don't have and instead try to be as grateful for the good things in my life as I can be.

October Trek Wrap-up: Baptisms and Home

This was the spot where the baptisms were held. Everyone sat on or stood around those benches in the foreground.

After we stopped at the Rescuers memorial, it was an easy jaunt of about a mile to where we all stopped so people could use the bathrooms and fill up the water at a pit stop area. I say all, but I mean most. The majority of the carts made it that far and stopped, but there were a few in the back who had lingered in the back, unbeknownst to the rest of us. After we'd been waiting at this rest area for about 10-15 minutes, a couple carts came along the trail from the rear at a running pace. On each of these two or three carts, there was someone riding on top while being pulled along quickly by a yoke of two men. As they barreled past the rest of us who had pulled off to the side while waiting for folks to finish their bathroom business, those of us who were just waiting by the carts raised a huzzah for the passers.

October Trek Day 4: Women's Pull and the Sweetwater

Leading the pack out front all on our own

The last day of Trek got off to a strange start. Unlike the previous days, where we'd been woken up at the crack of dawn, actually before the dawn sometimes, the last day, all the women just woke up naturally. It was a very cold morning, so the heated bathroom at the Trail Center became a natural gathering place as people got up and going. The first topic of conversation there was the fact that the men were all gone. No one had any idea where they were, but since I was on the Trek committee, I knew that they were off doing their "Zion's Camp" thing while we were going to do a women's pull. Still, the mysterious disappearance hadn't been in the original plan, and it threw camp into something of an uproar. We hadn't been given any instruction, so we just decided to pack up our tents and gear after which we decided to do the same for the men. In about an hour, we had everything all packed up and ready to go.

October Trek Day 3: Independence Rock and Martin's Cove

Here's the whole crew at Rock Creek Hollow. I'm just a couple people to the left of the memorial stone.

I mentioned in my last post that I slept quite soundly after the 17 mile handcart trek. I should now clarify that I did wake up somewhat early due to a feeling of cold in my feet. It wasn't terrible, but it was uncomfortable enough to wake me up. The rest of me was perfectly warm, so I wasn't sure why my feet were so cold. I didn't find out until I got out of my bag what was going on. It turned out that because the foot of my bag was touching the side of the tent, it had gotten all covered with frost as had all the walls of the tent.

October Trek Day 2: Handcarts and Rock Creek Hollow

The Sermon family treks on through thick and thin!

Day 2 of Trek started bright and early with people getting ready at around 4:30 AM. I slept quite well after the shivering at the beginning of the night, but I still didn't want to get up in the morning. This was because that meant getting out into the unpleasant cold again! Somehow I resigned myself to exiting my now-warm sleeping bag. I quickly got dressed (no fun in the cold) and started working on packing up. I found that process more troublesome than expected. The three of us all trying to maneuver, dress, and pack up in a small space left a lot to be desired on the speed front. Still, it was nice having the time to bond more with Amy and Karen. Eventually, we all got our stuff out. Then it was time to get the tent down. The whole thing was covered with frost as we packed it up, but there was no time to do more than simply brush it off as best we could before packing it away.

October Trek Day 1: The Journey to Wyoming and Sixth Crossing

Ok, time to buckle down and finally write a post about Trek. I've been putting this off longer than I should have partially because it intimidates me. I just don't think I can really do it justice, but I'd better give it a shot to preserve at least something. Additionally, the pictures are finally available from the photographers, so I can at least make this a complete record now.