The Christensen Family: July 2013

The feet of Lily and Steve relaxing in the hammock after church.

In the morning, we went to church in the town of Alton. We all knew where that was because of last year. It was nice to revisit that place. It's got a nice peacefulness to it.

Later, in the early evening, we all got to participate in a family history pagaent that was written/produced by Steve's mom. The setting was on the shaded deck, the stage was a half-world map of sorts outlined in painter's tape with place labels printed on paper and affixed to the approximate region coinciding with the outlined map. Those playing ancestors (most of the kids) were given their pristine name plates with speaking parts attached to the back. Those not on stage were the audience. Steve was an angel that brought the ancestors from place to place. Ancestors were "born" in a place, then they moved around, met their spouse, had children, moved around more, the children grew up, met their spouses, had families, ancestors perished (our actors played that part quite dramatically sometimes), etc.. Matt and Steve were narrators. There were also musical numbers interspersed played by me (flute), Tron (harmonica), Isaac (keyboard), Emilee (voice), and Kimmy and Bekah (guitar). At the end everyone sang their hearts out to the tune "We've All Got Daddy's Nose" from Saturday's Warrior. I loved the program. And with my love of all things family history, it was right up my alley!

one of my favorite pics.

Who are these children coming down? We've all got Daddy's Nose!

We had family pictures afterwards.

The fam. I was trying to keep my eyes open for the photo, but it made me look ridiculous.

I like this smile on me better than the one I pulled in the "pretty" family photo.

Steve's sister, Doralee and her family

Steve's sister, Beverli and family

It's us!

Steve's parents, Margaret and Art.

Steve's sister, Elinn and her family

Steve's brother, Matt

Steve's sister, Laurel and her family

And while everyone waited their turn for pictures, they entertained themselves...

Eating outside was lovely on the large decks at the cabin!

HooDoo? We Do!

Red Canyon Hiking and Picnic Lunch

We got started a little late on the trails, so it was plenty warm for our hike, but the scenery was awesome. Unfortunately, I started feeling ill just a little ways into the hike, so I made my way back with poor Lily that was tired of hobbling about with her crutches. We looked around the cooler visitor's center, then waited a short while for the rest of our group to finish the hike. Then, we all drove to our picnic spot up the street for lunch.

Amara building a nature house

It's beautiful.

top view

Picnic Lunch

Red Canyon, Joined by some of the Force family

Uncle Stephen Force identified some "lemonade berries" in the area, and we got to pick some to taste. Boy! They were lemony! He told us that the pioneers would use them to make lemonade in place of lemons. Seems to me that they would make a nice lemonade.

Amara standing by the lemonade berry bush.

Steve took the camera and tried to get some candid shots of his family...

Isaac showing us how well he can spray water out his mouth.

Steve with his Uncle Stephen. See the resemblance?

Animal Museum and Exotic Deer Petting Zoo

Enroute to Bryce Canyon

While most of the families headed to Bryce Canyon for more hiking, my family took Matthew and Grandpa and went to a wildlife museum and deer petting zoo in the area. It was a large facility with plenty of dioramas of wild animal taxidermy for us to look at.