Father's Day

It has rained all day today and it has finally stopped. The misty clouds that remain slowly roll over the hills and engulf the canyon. The sun peeks through and sprinkles light over the mountains and hills. I marvel at nature's beauty and just take the time to watch beauty happen before my eyes. It's quiet, only the sounds of birds, the water rushing down from the mountains and the stillness that surrounds us.

We spent Saturday doing many cabin chores. Ben and I moved a log pile closer to the cabin in hopes for another winter visit. We enjoyed thinking about how ready we would be for those cold, snowy nights. Katie could hardly wait to wash the laundry. And she completed quite a bit, dipping and scrubbing by hand. After she was through, she looked to me, let out a big sigh of satisfaction and asked me if I knew what her favorite place in the whole world was. I guessed several guesses for fun, but then, her face filled with joy and she responded that is was here, right here. Later that afternoon, Hunter said he wanted to stay here forever. He never wants to go home, just wants to live here forever.

I do not know exactly what happens to us while we are here. Maybe it is the peacefulness, the quiet, the beauty, I do not know, but to hear our kids express how they love it here, we must do something right while we visit. Time is just irrelevant. Everyday tasks become group efforts and there is a shared feeling of success and accomplishment when through. All our little “jobs”, silly as they may seem on a larger scale, become opportunities for our children to feel what it feels like to complete something, to know and understand accomplishment, be able to define it in each of their own ways, then bring it into their sense of knowing and help them to define who they become. Watching this happen, seeing and knowing this truth is like magic. I hear pride in their voices when Scott gets back and they all go running up to him and tell him what they did. I see a look of satisfaction on their faces that speaks volumes as they look over a job well done. And I feel their sense of ownership as I quietly watch from afar.

Saturday afternoon we 4 wheeled up Water Hollow Road and checked the ponds. Lots of water!! We traveled farther up to The Cotton Woods, an area where water creates a small pond and Katie and Hunter spent a good part of their time playing in the mud. Katie discovered she loves mud and playing in it is her new favorite thing. She made mud socks~up to her knees. She made mud gloves~up to her elbows and sang all about how she loves mud. Hunter just took his pants right off and stepped in and all we could hear was “squelsh, squersh” and on it went. Benny was not too sure of the mud. We watched and laughed as he tried to go in over and over, but would get one foot in and you could just see it on his face like, “uh....no, I don't think so” and he would step back out.

As we rode up to the top pond, we saw a buck, several deer and two female elks. We also saw a Great Horned Owl earlier in the day just down from the cabin. It just sat in the tree watching us watching it and finally took flight and it was quite a sight. We got caught in the rain, but none of us cared. It just made for more fun!

The rain came in the night and it rained for the better part of the day. We went to town to pick up more supplies, some needed (like water) and some just for fun (like ice cream and coffee). On our way up the driveway, we stopped at the wash to stand in the drizzle and gaze in astonishment at all the water flowing. We could actually hear the rocks being pushed by the water it was flowing so rapidly. Katie and I ran up the rapids to check on a large pool of water. We had played there the day of the rattlesnake encounter. We noticed that the water had once flowed down in two areas, but one of them had gotten all damned up so we spent the afternoon digging a deeper channel for it to go. She and I held hands and hopped over and through the rushing water. Suddenly she looked to me and said, “I am so glad I have a mom like you.” Truly ~ my heart filled with such joy and love, it was a wave that washed over me and I felt myself falling into that moment as it engrained itself into my memory forever – she and I together in the rain. To have her not only feel that way but to be able to articulate that to me was really a special moment for me that I will cherish always.

After we get the kids to bed, there is about 2 hours of light left. Scott and I grab the camera and sit on the deck and wait for the hummingbirds to come to the feeder. Really...when is there another time to just sit and watch and wait. Scott really gets on a mission to get the best photo-op he can. I wish I had a picture of him taking the picture. They come zooming right past us as though they are just as curious about us as we are of them.

Father's Day was a wonderful day. Benny looked at Scott with a giant smile and said, “You are not my fada”. Then we had to explain that “fada” and dad are the same. “Oooooh, I know,” he says. To tuck the kids in and listen to how they wrap up the day, to see a smile take over their face in excitement for tomorrow gives us both hope for the new day and all of its possibilities.