Birthdays and Bracken

Kedra and I took a great trip to Las Vegas this weekend to celebrate my dad's 50th birthday, and Jason's 18th. The whole family was able to come to Vegas, and we had a great time going to the lake, playing racquetball, and just chillin' like villains.

We also made some videos celebrating certain events from my dad's life, and watched those together. I will try to put some up on here ASAP.

It's always tough to come back to "real life", but this week was tempered by Pioneer Day yesterday. Elder Uchtdorf talks about pioneers in his July Ensign message, and I've been thinking a lot about my pioneer ancestors lately. Whenever I go to Las Vegas in the summer I am always amazed at what the Muddy Mission pioneers endured in order to follow their prophet.

Steven and Paige, Kedra and I took a lovely hike up the nearby Hobble Creek Canyon in celebration of Pioneer Day. We felt a lot like pioneers, except that we only hiked a few miles, we could stop whenever we wanted, we had a car to drive home in, and we had Subway and Snack Packs. So, pretty much the same experience that the pioneers had.

At any rate, we had a great time - Northern Utah really is a beautiful place. Other than central Nevada, I've found that it's pretty hard to go very far without seeing God's hand somewhere in this beautiful world.