A Piece of History

Of the original 200 copies, only 25 are still in existence.

In 1989 this copy was found in a flea market, the buyer paid $4 for a frame he was interested in and found the document underneath the picture.

It was most recently sold for 8.14 million dollars.

There is a handprint on the bottom left corner and writing on the back (but no secret treasure maps).



It is a Dunlap Broadside. One of the original 25 copies of the Declaration of Independence printed on the night of July 4, 1776. It was on display in the Utah State Capital last Friday and the girls and I went with Grandma Diane to see it.

I struggled a little to explain the significance of this very old piece of paper that we waited in line for 2 hours to see. Our freedoms had their groundwork laid with this document, these were the thoughts behind the value of the individual and their right to self-determination. And America has lived up to the Declaration's promises and taken it's high-reaching ideals and implemented them for everyone. There have been failures to live up to the promised life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all, and yet we've done a pretty good job. Even when we haven't quite lived up to the assurances provided the Declaration has stood as an ideal, as a better way, and as a hope for the future. And it is one of the reasons that our country is great!

I Give In

It’s been building for a while, my THIRST. Everyone asks if I’ve PARTAKEN yet…after all I am known for DEVOURING them. But I was afraid, of the subject, the hype, and the audience, how could anything live up to this buildup of MYTHICAL proportions? And the fallout, you finish SATING your THIRST either OBSESSED or indifferent.

Well, I started CONSUMING them this weekend during our family vacation. I began at TWILIGHT, when Brin informed me it was time for bed. I tucked her into her sleeping bag and read by the light of the NEW MOON (and the tent light). It was a little COLD outside, and I found my arms falling asleep from loss of BLOOD as I rolled from side to side. But I…I was SLEEPLESS. I did eventually SURRENDER to the NIGHT but continued my HUNT the next day. It took me all of 72 hours to PREY through all 2444 pages, I read through the ECLIPSE (ok, so it only visible at the North Pole) and into the BREAKING DAWN—not really.

It took me a day or two to recover from the reading FRENZY. The DAZED look has finally faded from my BLOODSHOT eyes. And now I feel…QUENCHED.

Flaming Gorge Improvised

Vacations when I grew up were planned to the last minute. In a family with eight children the opposite of structure was chaos. So, on Tuesday night last week when I realized that we didn't know where we were staying, we didn't exactly have rafts reserved and we still weren't sure who was coming, I took several deep cleansing breaths. This was a boy's trip, and it was time to roll with the punches.

I asked myself the important questions...

could I sleep in the car...Yes

would we have enough to eat...I could plan for that

did it matter what we did or when we did it...No

And that was just on Tuesday!!

Thursday 1)we left an hour and a half later than planned, 2)we made it almost to Evanston before Brian realized he hadn't packed his brand new wetsuit...or any wetsuit...a crucial piece of equipment in 50 degree water, and 3)our friend didn't have his dive mask or gloves or booties. In the Wal-Mart Evanston parking lot at roughly 9:00 at night (no, apparently they don't carry 5 mil wetsuits or diving masks) the guys decided not to drive back home and retrieve their equipment. Truthfully, part of this was my fault as I refused to pull the trailer, in the dark on a winding road to a location that I had never been to before (bad sport, huh!). The new plan was to drive to Vernal the next morning and hope for the best at the local dive shop. 4)We pulled into our camp about 1:00 in the morning.

On Friday we picked up the rafts and put in the water just below the dam at Flaming Gorge. We loaded up the life-jacketed kids-all 17 of them- and started down the river. By the end of the first mile we had successfully determined the hierarchy of splashing. Adults-ride the raft-some splashing is fun. Teenagers-jump from raft to raft-splashing is necessary. Tweens-can jump in the river-will giggle if splashed. Kids-will drop their legs over the edge of the raft keeping a death grip on the side-splashing other people is fun. Toddlers and babies-where the heck am I, why am I wearing a marshmallow that I can't eat and splashing makes me scream.

When the family ride was over the serious stuff began. I was the lucky one selected for dive support and so with the able bodied assistance of a 12-year-old and 2 nine-year-olds and with 5 spare tanks on board we started again at the dam with the divers. They had an awesome time. A couple guys described it as flying as the current carried them down the river, and Brian said it was one of the most unique dives he has ever done.

Saturday we hiked down a precarious cliff to fish for 10 minutes until the rest of the group arrived and refused to endanger the lives of their small children by joining us. After hiking up the precarious cliff and relocating to a sandy beach (where you could cast your line to your hearts content without catching a single thing) the group split up. Serious fisherman, crazy trail runners, and the other parent not participating in the two before mentioned groups, now left to be responsible for their own part of the 17 children. After our group reassembled at camp, all 5 guys decided it was time for more fishing--coincidentally at the exact same time that dinner preparations were just about to begin. And Brian and I decided that instead of driving home we'd stay an extra night.

Sunday we were supposed to be home at 1:00 so we could be showered, cleaned up, and I would have time to make Brian's birthday cake before everyone arrived at 6:30 for cake and ice cream. By the time we had cleaned up camp...we could still make it by 6:30. By the time we finished fishing again at 1:30 maybe we could make it. By the time we left Vernal at 4:40 we were never going to make it.

And you know what we had a great weekend. Every day was fun. It wasn't what I had envisioned or planned for and it turned out just fine, in fact it was more than fine it was great!

So, for camping this weekend I'm just going to let it all go. I won't plan for anything. I'll have no expectations and I won't worry about what time we're leaving or getting back. I'll just go with the flow, I won't stress about packing or food or sunscreen and everything will be just fine...Yeah, right.

Wide Open Tight Spaces

I've noticed a change in my life. It seems that my friends know more about what is going on in my family than I do. I've read our "family" blog all of maybe three times. Each time I went here it was because someone made a comment about an accomplishment of one of my daughters and I was oblivious giving them a generic response like, "yeah, isn't that great". Have I really been that out of touch? I suppose I should take the title of our blog as a hint. It's bad enough, but to avoid it from changing to "4 girls and some Dad" or "4 girls and that Guy", I'm sharing a not-so-secret place that I love to take my family (and friends) each year. Public camping sites with RV hookups are for old people and rednecks. Oh, and apparently wife beaters.

I like open spaces. I like my privacy. I like to get away from it all. So it's ironic that one of my all-time favorite camping spots is a cave-like rock formation in Canyonlands 150 miles south of Moab that sits near a favorite family rated slot-canyon. I think I like it so much because the trip combines a lot of things I like; camping, jeeping, hiking, slot canyons, and lots of friends.

Canyonlands' Elephant Hill is a gem and someplace every family should go to. Specifically, camp in site #4 at Devils Kitchen (#2 is a second choice). This place is remote. Moab is 1.5 hours away if you need anything and of course, you usually do. We've been lucky so far and only broken down 3 out of 6 of 7 trips there. Simple things like front upper track bar ball links falling off, pitman steering arm breaks at the compression gear, spring retention clamps failing, and I think we broke a sway bar disconnect or two. But don't let that deter you, those are all easy trail fixes - bring lots of water and don't forget your spare pitman arm (Kevin!).

Rather than be wordy, I'm including some photos of our last trip. It really is one of my favorite spots in our local area and kids NEVER forget this place. The slot canyon is called "The Joint Trail" and is only a half mile hike to the entrance and only about a quarter mile inside. This trail hike makes the trip worth it. Yes, you can rappel into your campsite, explore the many hidden passageways leading from one campsite to the next through a network of dark connected tunnels, or just sit back and admire the amazing beauty around you for hours and hours but this hike is definitely a must-do.

Once inside the slot canyon, the kids can go wild. The width of the canyon is 3 ft with walls of 150ft+. There is a special side route that we always take the kids through that requires removing belts, hats, and exhaling for 5 seconds while slipping through. I don't get on the scale to check my weight much but once a year at this spot I know if I've added 10 pounds. We've only had one person get stuck and a good relaxing exhale solved that (sorry, I swear it looked like you would fit!). Kids love the narrow parts but if you are claustrophobic, stick to the main trail.

- B.

Little Fishes

Swimming lessons are a summertime rite of passage at our house. A few years ago we found a private teacher through Dive Utah and she is amazing. In addition she lives in Draper and has a heated pool in her backyard, what more could I ask for?

Two summers ago Betsy worked with Brin on water safety. This summer Brin learned the breaststroke and by the end of our 21 day imprint can cross the long length of the pool by herself. We swam with friends earlier this week and it was back to panic mode for me because suddenly Brin feels like she can go anywhere. With her little waist belt she feels invincible.

It was amazing to watch all of the girls progress. Sadie is like a little frog, within the first week she had coordinated her breaststoke arms and kick together and it has given her the freedom of the pool. She is quick and strong and confident.

Betsy's pool is not quite big enough for Emilee but while the other girls had their lessons she practiced her breaststroke, her freestyle and worked on her butterfly legs. It was amazing to watch her with fins in the water, so graceful and powerful.

During the last three weeks of swim lessons each of the girls has asked...Mom, could we get our own pool? It made me happy, I have three girls who love to be in the water as much as I do and maybe someday...after all if Dad gets to have a harley, shouldn't the rest of us have a pool?!?

Fountain Frolics

Quintessential Sadie

This is what summer is all about. My sister Lisa is visiting from California and on Thursday all the sisters (and sis-in-law, of course) got together at a local park. By the time we finished eating all of our kids were pink-cheeked and sweating and the fountain on the other side was to cool to pass up. This is how to spend 100 degree days!

Testing the Limit

Van 2 for the Wasatch Back

Friday June 20th has been on my calendar for many months and was a day I was looking forward to and dreading in equal amounts. I was looking forward to running with my friends and dreading being the slowest. I was anticipating a lot of fun and camaraderie and dreading running on no sleep. I was eager to see what I could do and how far I could go and dreading the unknown. I learned that I'm not afraid of sweat, exhaustion, or hills and I learned that I can push my limit!

The Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay is a 180 mile relay race from Logan to Park City, UT. Each team has 12 runners who each run 3 different legs throughout the race. The team has 2 vans with 6 runners each and they leapfrog each other over the course to have runners at each of the 35 exchange points along the way.

It was awesome, brutal, but awesome.

I was runner #7, the first runner from our van at every major exchange point. Van #1 started at 8:20 ish in the morning in Logan and we just met them at our first exchange point in Liberty. I am a morning runner--during the school year I'm home by 7:00am ish and during the summer home by 8:00 in time for Brian to leave for work. So starting at 2:00 in the afternoon in 94 degree heat (I swear it was 100 on the road) was a new experience. Those first 4 miles were HOT! But then they were over and I only had 2 legs and 8 miles left to go!!

Our team name was Legs, Breasts, Wings and our car decorations: an enormous bra, pink wings and stuffed nylon legs complete with running shoes garnered a lot of attention along the course. It made for some fun camaraderie and funny comments along the road.

After all six of us had run we passed the "baton" back to Van #1 at Snowbasin and headed to the lodge for massages, ICE cold showers and FOOD! And then we hit the road so we could be at the next exchange point.

I started Leg #2 at East Canyon State Park at about 11:15. It was a little scary to accept the baton from Kelli and take off into the darkness with my little headlamp all by my lonesome. And then after about a mile it was awesome! Other relay cars (and much to my dismay too many runners) passed often enough that it wasn't complete solitude, and yet it was. With no i-pod and only the sound of my own breathing it was by far my favorite leg. My husband (who is the greatest) met us that night to shadow the nighttime runners. He and his friend lit the road for us with their bike lights and carried our water bottles. He was about 25 minutes to late for my run but he shadowed each of the others and let our Van just be at the next stop catnapping until they came in. Now that is true love!! After we finally passed the baton off to Van #1 at Rockport Reservoir around 4:30 am we headed in to Heber for "bed".

After a quick $2 shower (worth every penny) we crashed literally on to the wrestling mats laid out in the gym at 5:45 and had about 2 hours of sleep until we got the call that it was time to go again.

Leg #3 was the hardest for me, I started around 9:00 so it wasn't to hot yet, but I went from feeling like I had totally fresh legs the first 1/2 mile to "just keep running, just keep running" for the last 2 miles. I was exhausted! But then I got back in the car and got to cheer everyone on the rest of the race. It was incredible to watch my friends run. I knew how tired I was on my flat route and to watch them run hills and perservere was inspiring!

We crossed the finish line together 30 hours, 24 minutes and 34 seconds after our start! A third place finish for our women-sub-masters category. And we're signed up already for next year...anyone wanna run?