Logan: Part Two

On Thursday, August 9, Cassie and I took the kiddos up to Utah State University to show them Dad's office and have lunch together.  Being there reminded me of my Daddy's goodness which often blows me away.  A few years ago he was promoted at work to the Director of the USU Counseling Center (Dad is a psychologist and also teaches a few graduate level courses in psychology each semester) which included a big pay raise and an office 3 times the size of his regular office where he had been comfortably housed for over 15 years at the time.  When we went up to show the grandkids his office, he showed the kiddos around the same familiar space I have visited since I was a little girl with knick-knack gifts from appreciative clients all over the room, pictures & statues of bald eagles (his favorite) and of course loads of pictures of our family as well.  As we walked out, I noticed that one of Daddy's co-workers now occupied the big comfy office meant for the director and when I asked Dad why he hadn't moved into it when he got the position he simply shrugged and said he loved his office and felt his coworker would appreciate the space more than he would.  This also reminded me that when he had earned the new position with the accompanying new salary, it had been right when the economy was taking a huge nose dive and there were to be no pay raises in his department or bonuses at the end of the year.  In his amazing, humble way, Dad went to the chair at USU and worked it out so that rather than receiving his significant new wage, the money would instead be divided among the other counselors in the center, insuring that they would each receive a raise that year and significant bonus.  That is just so my Dad.  He is one of the most caring and generous people I know and always always thinks more about other people than he does about himself.  Being in "his world" on campus reminded me of all the good he has achieved there and the life-changing affect he has had on me and so many thousands of people who have sat in that office armchair and been changed for the better.  Daphne is lucky to have such a wonderful Grandpa.

In the garden with Grandpa eating an few bites of a bell pepper and an entire tomato!

That day Cassie and I took the kids to the park, watched more Olympics, played games with Mama, interview Grandma Ellsworth some more for her history I'm writing and then delightedly welcomed our husbands as they arrived late that night.

On Friday we woke up early and headed to Bear Lake for the day.  The drive up Logan Canyon was beautiful, although I kept looking anxiously up at the cloudy sky, hoping that the August sunshine would break through soon.  I have been telling Burke about Bear Lake since we were dating, describing the brilliant blue water and Labeau's mouthwatering raspberry shakes, dying for him to see it himself.  You can imagine my disappointment when we crested the mountain top and began the descent towards a glassy-gray body of water rather than the breath-taking aqua I was accustomed to as a kid.

We got to Ideal Beach and carted all of our gear about 200 yards from the parking lot to the beach-front where another disappointment awaited.  Due to another drought year the lake is super low and instead of a pretty sandy beach there was about 50 feet of murky brown mud leading to the water.  My picture-perfect beach day was not quite turning out the way I wanted, but we put our feet in the chilly water all the same and Burke, Mom, Dad and Dan even braved some swimming.  

Not an hour after we had arrived however there was a rumble of thunder and suddenly a pitter-patter of rain that caused us to scurry around as fast as possible, folding up the towels, blankets, food and toys we had just barely situated in the sand.  Argh!  I was so frustrated as we hauled everything back to the cars, changed Daphne out of her swimming suit and got ready to go home.  However, the rain stopped and Daddy insisted on a round of mini-golf before leaving.  

Grandma Ellsworth played pretty well for a 94-year-old and despite a totally ghetto course, it was actually quite challenging!  We then drove to Labeau's where the shakes were exactly as marvelous as I remembered them being and then loaded up to drive home.  To my great delight, the sun came out just as we were reaching the look-out point at the top of the mountain and Burke was able to finally see why I had always made such a fuss about beautiful Bear Lake.  Hopefully next time the weather will cooperate a little better.