Spring peeked out

We were actually able to be outside without our jackets on.  I was in Spanish Fork and actually overheard someone say, “summer has arrived”.  I’m not jumping on that bandwagon yet, but have really enjoyed the warmer weather.  So spring looks like it may have finally found us in Cove Fort this week.

Apple tree ready to blossom

 Things were very busy last Sunday at the fort and I was able to split from Stephen and take some solo tours.  Our director, Elder Christensen, has requested that we go out as couples when we are slow and have plenty of man/woman power.  I on the other hand prefer to go out on my own, but that is just me and so far I have done what I’ve been told (as an aside, we passed a little teardrop trailer the other day on the freeway that had a sticker on it that said “I go where I’m towed” – I thought it was cute).  One of the tours I took was with a single woman who was working at the University of Arizona, at Flagstaff, and finishing her Masters of Fine Arts in Writing.  She is planning to start a historical sites blog/book this summer.  I loved taking her around because she was interested in all of the historical aspects and reasons for why the fort was built here.  When I asked if she wanted a Book of Mormon she was very quick to turn me down, but did give me her email address so that I could send her additional pictures of the outbuildings that weren’t open that day.  

The rest of the week was relatively slow with only one day with over a 100 visitors and one with only 61 and that included people just stopping to use our restrooms (they are the best between SLC and St. George – they should be with four FM couples assigned to keep them sparkling). The big excitement one morning was when a herd/flock of about 3000 sheep was driven down the road in front of the fort.  It included three "sheepboys" on horseback and several dogs.  We actually saw the same flock later in the day walking along the mountain side headed towards Richfield.

Friday the director changed our opening hours because there were some early morning visitors.  We will now be opening the fort at 8:00.  No more sleeping in for us.  Stephen and I took two tours through the fort.  The interesting thing was that they were each with a couple from foreign countries.  So maybe you don’t count Canada as a foreign country, but the other people were visiting from Liverpool, England.  I thought that we might get a referral from the Canadians but in the end we were only able to plant, and fertilize, some gospel seeds.  The Canadians just happened on the fort after stopping at the Chevron station to use their restrooms (my job this week is to walk up and check out those restrooms to make sure that they aren’t as nice as ours).  They said they had about 15 minutes, but they were with us for over an hour.  He was taking pictures of everything in the fort and in the outbuildings as well.  We even had a conversation about the “ay” part of their language – they really do say that a LOT.  The English couple had a family member tell them about the fort.  They had stopped in Las Vegas and seen the remains of the Mormon fort in the old downtown area and were showing us pictures of it.  I am definitely going to have to learn more about that fort and stop to see it the next time we drive through.

Monday we worked late, so we did some geocaching in the morning.  Someone has set out twenty geocaches on the road in front of the fort.  They weren’t very exciting but it did help my caching numbers go up.  We also went for a hike to the fort’s well water storage on a hill close to the trailer park.  You can see in some of the photos where the fire a few years ago wiped out a lot of the trees.  It was a fun walk with a little rock climbing/scrambling thrown in.   

 Thursday was P-day and so we drove into Beaver to do a little grocery shopping at the dam (just kidding).  We drove out southwest of town to Minersville.  There really isn’t anything in Minersville that we found, but at least now I don’t have to keep worrying about what I might be missing out there.  We were searching for geocaches along the way.  The one I liked the best was one I didn’t find the cache but thought that the history of it was interesting.  It was an old dance floor, down the side of the road to Minersville, where the locals would come on the weekends to party and dance.  It was rumored that the kids would be sleeping in the cars while the parents were having a good time and/or fist fighting depending on their moods.  I of course left my camera in the car and didn’t get a picture of the place but it was very nice with a stream running along the side of the dance floor.  It looked as though someone still uses it, as there were signs of a campfire and also a portable barbecue.

Manti Temple

Wednesday we had the opportunity to travel to Manti with Elder C and two other couples to do a session at the Manti Temple.  It is about 90 minutes from us.  We had been there with Stephen’s grandfather twenty-five or thirty years ago and I had forgotten the beauty of the craftsmanship of the   The temple itself is amazing – not only the seven story high spiral staircases, but the way it is laid out and the fact that they do “live” sessions there.  I went to sit down in the chapel when I noticed Stephen sitting up on the stand.  We had the opportunity to serve as the witness couple.  I’m glad that I didn’t fall down the steps going to and from the altar in one of the rooms.  It was a great experience and I can hardly wait to go back there again.

early pioneers.

 

Geoff is in the gray chasing the ball on the right

Stephen and I swapped shifts on Friday so that we could get to Provo before dark.  We had gotten permission from the mission president for us to go outside the mission boundaries to go to Samantha’s baptism.  We got to Provo in time to spend time with Cory and his family.  Stephen even got to practice his babysitting skills as he watched the kids while Cory and Suzanne went to a ward activity.  Saturday we got to go and watch Geoffrey, Cory’s second son, play in a soccer game – it was nice to be able to watch him participate since we haven’t had any grandkids around our area to go and support at games.  I’m very impressed with all of you who spend hours at your grandkids’ activities. 

Samantha and Matt Shirts prior to baptism

The highlight of our week was Samantha’s baptism.  Her folks arrived at the stake center at the same time we did.  It was interesting to see her walk across the parking lot in her little white jumpsuit looking already for her baptism.  In Utah, at least in Jenny and Cory’s wards/stakes, they meet together in the chapel and then dismiss the families one at a time for their baptism and then each family is sent to a different room for the confirmation.  Maybe it is that way in our ward/stake at home but since I haven’t gone to a baptism at home in a long time I have no idea.  Stephen was asked to give a talk on the Holy Ghost.  He stressed over that for most of the week and was glad when it was delivered.  He did fine.  Each of the children, all three of them, were asked to come up and bear their testimonies before they were baptized and then we sang their favorite Primary song.  It really was a very nice service.  It was great to see Matt exercising his priesthood authority as he held Sam’s hands and baptized her.  She was radiant when she came up out of the water.  Jenny had a great luncheon prepared for all of us.  I am always impressed with her entertaining/cooking abilities.  This was a great weekend for the Shirts since besides the baptism, they were able to go to Matt’s graduation from Weber State yesterday where he was awarded his Bachelor’s of Nursing (or it might be a BA – I’m just not certain).  

Payson Temple

Provo City

On the way home yesterday, we drove past two temples that are in the process of construction.  There were two huge cranes on either side of the Provo City Temple which are just newly placed as Cory had just recently noticed them.  It really looks like the outer walls of the temple are just floating when you drive by.  The other photo is of the Payson Temple which has been under construction for several years (according to Cory).  We took the picture as we were speeding by on the freeway but it still shows how there is nothing around it on the freeway side.

That is it for another week.  I should mention that the second original artifact that is located at the fort is the rocking chair that belonged to Adelaide Hinckley.  It was returned to the fort by President Hinckley’s children.