Mothers' Day at Cove Fort

Happy Mothers’ Day to all of you back home.   Because Church is early I did not get my typical breakfast in bed, but that is OK.  Last night we celebrated the special day at Cove Fort by having a social that was planned and put on by the Elders.  It was a nice event with all of the sisters just being waited on.  The men ended the evening by presenting all of us with long-stemmed red roses and chocolate just prior to serenading us.   

Probably the best tour that I had all week was last Sunday.  There was a mom traveling with her three sons and her two twin sisters.  The brothers were about my age all recently retired or soon to be.  Mom could walk but they had her in a wheelchair and the “boys” took turns pushing the chair.  I loved some of their comments in regards to that – “I’ve always wanted to push you around” and “I’ve always wanted to take you to the barn” – all said with love and affection.  They were all members of the church but the oldest son had “found science” and given up on his testimony.  The brothers got along so well and enjoyed each others’ company that it made it very fun to be hanging out with them.  I just hope my boys/children can be this good of friends as they grow older.  The family was not in a hurry at all and so I had lots of time to answer their questions and share information about the fort.  It was two hours later that I finally said goodbye to them. 

We had a surprise visit on Monday from John and Carol Wright.  What a treat!  We had a late shift so we were there working on the internet in our casual clothes when a couple of the missionaries came in and mentioned that someone was in the fort who had been looking for us.  Not wanting to miss someone else, I sprinted down to the fort to find them.  John and Carol were half-way through the fort, but I was able to take over the tour and take them through the north side.  It was so good to see someone from home.  They seem to be “first” kind of people.  When we first moved to Clovis thirty-one years ago, they were the first people in the ward to invite us over for dinner and now they are the first from the ward to pay us a visit.  It was nice to chat and the visit was over way too soon.

Things were slow during the week, so one day we even approached one vehicle as it was slowly crawling past the fort. They were taking pictures of the front and we were able to entice them to come in.  The next thing you know we may have to stand on the road flipping an arrow and dancing around to get people to stop on the slower days.  They say things should pick up once school is out in a couple of weeks.  We did have a Shelby car club stop by the fort this week.  They added a bit of excitement to the day and it made for a good photo op with all of the cars lined up in the parking lot. 

We learned to play Kings in the Corner this week from one of the missionary couples, the Hemmerts, that came over for dinner.  It was fun to cook for someone other than ourselves and to have something to do in the evening.  I’ve been busy at night working on going through marriage records from Illinois looking for my dad’s family and typing up notes about Cove Fort.  So far, I haven’t run out of things to do.

Jared and Clara win the prize for being the first of our children to send us a written letter through snail mail since we have been at the fort.  It is really nice to get mail.   

We went on our first bike ride this week up behind the picnic area.  The Christensens loaned us their bikes so we could go explore a bit.  Stephen did alright, but I was envisioning exploring the dirt roads for a couple of hours.  We were back within 45 minutes.  I guess we will just build up to the longer experience.

 

P-day found us in St. George.  We were able to take in a temple session and also take care of our basic errands.  Friday we spent most of the day exploring Zions’ National Park.  We followed the Wrights’ idea and hiked up to the Emerald Pools. I was a little surprised that Stephen agreed to climbing all the way to the upper pool but glad that he did since it was my favorite. The pools were not too full but still nice to see.  We tried to find Menu Falls but were unsuccessful so it will give us another reason to come back in the future.  The coloring of the cliffs was spectacular.  If any of you are planning a trip there and need a good place to eat, be sure to check out Blondie’s Diner just outside the park in Springdale.