Weekend with the Kirby Family

On Thursday, May 23, we suddenly realized that it was Memorial Day weekend and we would have work off on Monday.  I called my parents and Amy and they were kind enough to agree to an impromptu get-together in Salt Lake.  We arrived at the Kirby's house late Friday night (Daph was a complete champ on the drive) and didn't see until the next morning the chalk-art welcome sign they had drawn for us!

View of the Salt Lake Valley from Ensign Peak

On Saturday morning, we tagged along with the Kirby family on a hike up Ensign Peak.  For those of you unfamiliar with this spot, Ensign Peak is famous in Church History for being the spot where Brigham Young raised an "ensign to the nations" after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.  You can read more about the spot HERE in a talk given by Boyd K. Packer.

The hike was short and the view was spectacular!  It really shows off Salt Lake at its finest, especially on a green spring morning.  

Karl's parents, Dale and Anne, were in town visiting as well.  It was fun to see them and hear just a little about the meaningful genealogical work they are doing.

It was fairly windy at the top and I loved watching the way the wind feathered Daphne's scant blond wisps straight back as she stared with wonder out at the city below her.  We also saw a hawk hovering gracefully  on the wind current, held aloft seemingly without effort on its part as the wind kept the bird elevated in the the same spot for long seconds at a time.

In order to meet Mom and Dad in time for a lunch appointment with Dad's choir friend, Bill Gibbons, Burke and I had to cruise back down the steep path ahead of the Kirbys.  Daphne was perfectly content playing peek-a-boo with Daddy as she rode on his shoulders, leaning down towards his face until he would look her way and declare in mock-surprise, "Oh there you are!"  She would then sit back up, cackling with laughter at how well "hidden" she was on Daddy's shoulders.

We had a great meeting with Bill, learning about his project Inner Circles 5 and brainstorming how we could help him bring the idea to life.  More about that later.

The rest of the evening was spent visiting and playing with the Kirby family and my parents followed by a delicious carne asada dinner (yum yum!) out on the patio while the kids cruised down the zipline and hit a volleyball back and forth up over the wire.  I felt so completely content and at peace, enjoying the conversation and observing Daphne playing to joyfully with her cousins.  She is so blessed to have so many people to love and be loved by.

That night after Mom and Dad drove back to Logan and the kids (and husbands!) were tucked into bed, Amy and I stayed up talking late into the night...like, ridiculously late.  It has been years since I have stayed up that late, but I didn't regret it for a second!  I felt so privileged to hear about my sister's experiences, to hear her counsel and to share thoughts and feelings on a myriad of topics.  Amy is an amazing woman and when I am trying to create a sense of fun out of learning for Daphne, I try to think of how Amy would approach it with her zest for discovery.  Those four kiddos are so lucky to have her as a Mom. 

The next day we went to Amy and Karl's ward and I was spiritually fed like I haven't been in a while by one man's talk at church.  He shared how as a young father, he had blessed their new-born son to one day serve a mission, marry in the temple and have children in the covenant of his own.  Within just a few weeks from that blessing, they discovered their son had Cystic Fibrosis.  At the time, the average age of life for children diagnosed with the level his son had was age 15.  He was devastated and confused.  How could this happen?  Why had he felt prompted to bless his son with those things if he would not even live to adulthood to fulfill any of the promises he had been given?  Amazingly (I am hugely summarizing this wonderful story), the son is now 30 years old, served a full-time mission and is married to a faithful woman who is now pregnant with their first child.  The thing that hit me most powerfully from the story of this miracle was his reiteration to "trust in the Lord's plan for us".  It was something I needed to hear.

After a scrumptious salmon lunch, we said fond farewells to the Kirbys that afternoon.  Thank you for hosting us at the last minute Amy and Karl - it was a lovely visit!