Dave and Jan spent many hours during the summer of 2020, with their move to Utah, developing the landscaping of their property. And they waited for weeks for local vendors to come through on arrangements they had made for a unique piece of furniture as well as fencing and a sprinkler system and the installation of a sod lawn in the back yard. But all their waiting has paid off and they are settled in their house and pleased with the finished product.

The last piece of furniture to arrive was an interesting unit for their “mud room” – the laundry room which is entered from the garage where, during winter months, cold-weather garments can be removed and muddy shoes either removed or cleaned up. The furniture piece was constructed by a vendor in the mountains east of Cedar City, using logs and finished wood from the Quaking Aspen trees which are so common in the area.

Landscaping the back yard first involved working to level the slope by adding tons of fill dirt and top soil and garden soil.

Plans were made for a back lawn using a border of red edging bricks, but the fencing contractor started on his project before the lawn arrived.

The installation of the fence got underway shortly before Dave and Jan traveled to Arizona and California for visits with friends and family and Dave’s participation (on Zoom) in the annual meeting of the UIM board.

When Dave and Jan got back from their trip they were happy to find that  the fencing and the sprinkler system and back lawn had been completed.  So they were able to finish up most of the landscaping they wanted for this year with the addition of a border around the lawn for shrubs and flowers where the sprinkler system will do the watering, the addition of red rock to cover soil which will get muddy in wet weather, and the planting of a number of fruit and shade trees around the border of the back yard.

Since they finished the work they intended to have done until the spring season comes around, with more flowering plants to be added, the Lord has added a few changes of His own – which Dave and Jan find pretty cool!

Quite a bit has changed in Dave and Jan’s lives in the last six months, and they are thankful to the Lord on Thanksgiving Day of the unusual year which 2020 has been for the changes they are enjoying after their return to “high country” following the thirty five years which they spent in Arizona and Southern California.

Dave and Jan enjoyed a visit to Huron, South Dakota where their daughter Alissa, her husband Dr. Andrew Crandall (pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Huron), and their four boys have lived for the past ten years or more. The four grandsons are keeping their parents busy – as young boys do! They are growing normally – all attending the same school (James Valley Christian School).

At ten years of age Levi, the oldest, is showing some interest in sports.  We watched several football games together, and he took his interest to the park where he played catch with a football with his father.

Levi’s younger brother, Elijah (8), was wearing the facial markings of a football player as well, but he was busy playing on playground equipment patterned after a rocket in the city park.

Silas, who had just turned 6, enjoyed playing with a new toy drone (along with his brothers) which he received as a birthday present from his grandparents.

And Ephraim, the youngest of the brothers (4), decided to clarify his vision with the addition of some glasses belonging to Mr. Potato Head!

Among several meals enjoyed with the family was the Sunday evening meal featuring eggs (with cheese) and pancakes which Andrew and Alissa worked together to prepare in the family’s kitchen.

The two-and-a-half day drive each way took Dave and Jan through many miles of interesting scenery – through miles of colorful and interesting rock formations in Utah, over the Rocky Mountains to Denver in Colorado, and through the Sand Hills of northwestern Nebraska.  On the drive home they stopped to view the interesting geology of the Badlands National Park in Southwest South Dakota.  Both the sharply eroded buttes and pinnacles and the herds of long-horned sheep were very interesting to observe.

How nice to have the time and resources and freedom – in spite of the many inconveniences of the Covid-19 Pandemic – to enjoy the blessings of family as well as the amazing beauty and variety of our nation!

Dave and Jan headed east past Bryce Canyon National Park to visit Mossy Cave and Kodachrome Basin State Park. Arriving at Mossy Cave they found the parking lot blocked off because of road work in the area. But there was plenty to see at Kodachrome Basin State Park, so a side trip to Mossy Cave would have kept them from exploring the park as fully as they wished.

Kodachrome Basin is filled with fascinating and colorful geological features.  The red rock walls and cliffs are already beautiful in and of themselves.

And park facilities are well-planned and well-maintained – including restroom facilities (with showers) and picnic and camp grounds.

The half-mile Kodachrome Nature Trail provides excellent views of some of the spectacular scenery in the park.

The park’s most famous geological features, seventy towering sandstone chimneys called Hoodoos, are red and multi-colored rock columns which rise from six to one hundred seventy feet in height above the valley floor or from the sandstone cliffs.

A hike up Angel’s Palace Trail provided expansive views of the basin below, as well as additional Hoodoos.

 A park poster stated that Kodachrome Basin State Park is one of the world’s best locations for spectacular views of the night skies – good reason for a future camping stay at the park with its views of not only fascinating geology on earth but the amazing universe above our planet.  As the psalmist put it (Psalm 8:1):  “O LORD, our Lord,  How majestic is Your name in all the earth, Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!”