HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA - STILL BROKEN BUT BEAUTIFUL

By the end of June, we began worrying about what July might bring.....BUT...July, as always, brought thoughts and gratitude for our beautiful country - a land of the free and the brave. In today's world, our country is a little fractured from the effects of the ongoing pandemic as well as the protests and riots. Even still, the United States of America is the greatest country in the world. We remembered that as we listened to President Trump's freedom message given at the base of Mt. Rushmore, on July 3. We are a blessed land with a great future ahead of us, he said. He received many standing ovations as he outlined the great accomplishments of the presidents represented on Mount Rushmore, as well as all that Americans have contributed to the world. We kept saying throughout his whole speech that we hoped the silent majority of Americans felt the same way as the audience present at the monument.

Picture taken from out deck on July 3. This fireworks display
was set off in the Red Ledges development.

We celebrated the 4th, at home, enjoying tri-trip sandwiches with Deon and Gary and Casey and her family. After visiting for a while, we all jumped in our cars and went to Provo to watch the fireworks extravaganza there. They shot off fireworks from three different location around Provo and Orem all coordinated to music played on KSL radio. They said there would not be a bad seat in all of Utah Valley. We thoroughly enjoyed the display and appreciated the efforts put forth to help us celebrate our country's birthday with fireworks. So many cities, mostly run by Democratic mayors, canceled their usual firework displays because of Coronavirus concerns. (It was OK for large crowds to gather to protest and riot but not to watch fireworks, interesting.) Utah Valley communities shot them off in the three different places to prevent large crowd gatherings in any one place. We were at the field in front of the Provo temple. We had a wonderful view of the fireworks, with lots of room for all of us to social distance, and enjoyed this traditional show of patriotism. 

One sad thing that happened around the 4th of July, though, was the attacks on our granddaughter, Maggie, when she posted this darling drawing of her patriotic dog. For some reason, that drawing drew major criticism from some of her followers, so much so, that she had to block her Instagram account from any comments. She also posted the drawing on Facebook and talked about the awful remarks she had received on Instagram. We commented on how much we loved her drawing and her show of patriotism. Later, we tried to find her post to show to someone but couldn't. It seems Facebook took it down for some strange reason. It is getting pretty scary when one can't even express a love for our country without being criticized.

The pandemic is still going strong with many states experiencing large jumps in cases, including Utah. Our governor has advised all of us to wear masks and social distance when in public places. We are thrilled that most of the grocery stores have now required masks. Many people feel it's an infringement on their rights but we look at it as a way to protect others, especially the elderly (like Paul and I) and the vulnerable. We look at it as being patriotic.

July has also brought protests that have turned into riots in many large cities. It started out as a demand for police reform, then morphed into social justice demands from Black Lives Matter. Now, we are seeing Antifa, an anti America/Capitalism group, storming our cities, tearing down statutes, and attacking Federal buildings. Portland has seen riots for this whole month. The Democratic leaders of these cities and states won't do anything to stop them claiming, as does the media, that they are peaceful demonstrations. The videos that have surfaced do not align with that scenario. Our country is on the brink of not being a free America any longer if this is allowed to happen and if the Democrats get into power this November. A scary time we are living in. We just have to put faith and trust in the Lord who knows the end from the beginning.

On a brighter side, July 1 brought a miracle - after being on the market for only 5 days, Mom and Dad's home in Bakersfield sold for $1000 less than asking price. Sam and Kathy have worked so hard to get the home ready to sell and it looked beautiful. They had held garage sales in order to sell the furniture and other usable items. They were able to get rid of most everything that way. The timing of all this has been miraculous. Sam and Kathy got into their home in Utah by the middle of July, giving them time to get settled before going back to get Mom. The Bakersfield home should close on August 7. That is when they will sign the papers and pick up Mom to bring her to Utah for a new adventure. Truly this is all a blessing from Heavenly Father in gratitude for all Sam and Kathy have done for Mom and Dad over the years. 




In connection with the sell of Mom's home, Sam and Kathy have had to distribute items from the home to family members. When we went to see Sam and Kathy's new home they loaded us up with several boxes of books and pictures. They then came up to see Deon and Gary's new home and dropped off another couple of boxes. The most priceless items in these boxes were Mom and Dad's patriarchal blessings. All these wonderful items I have been receiving will somehow be incorporated into a scrapbook. Once that is done, we hope to  have all the Richards siblings come to our home and distribute the items to whomever wants them.Hopefully that can be done easily, without too much disagreement.



Because we needed to get away on a little trip, the Fullers and ourselves planned a six day trip to follow the Oregon/Mormon trails through Wyoming and Nebraska and them detour up to Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. We left Friday, the 10th, and returned Thursday, the 16th. Our first stop was Fort Bridger, Wyoming, a place important to both the Mormon pioneers and the westward movement, later becoming a military base in the Western frontier. 

Fort Bridger was not only a way station for travelers, it was a pony express stop along the trail.

The school room

The Jail

The remains of the stone wall the Mormons built around the fort
during the time them owned it.

The  fort commander's home

A replica of the original fort

Gary trying his had at pulling a handcart

A must stop along our trail was Farson's Mercantile, the home of the Big Cone. We stopped there at Ryan's suggestion and order a baby cone. It consisted of 2 huge scoops (at least a pint) of the most delicious ice cream we've ever tasted.  A welcomed stop along the way to South Pass and Rock Creek Hollow.  

South Pass was only a monument showing the significance of explorers finding this pass for the continued Western movement. It was a much easier way to get to the west then the route Lewis and Clark found. It opened the way for the expansion to the West. 

Rock Creek Hollow was where the Willie handcart company hunkered down in a snowstorm, awaiting rescuers for Salt Lake. Many people of the company died here and were buried in a mass grave. 

The names of those who died at Rock Creek Hollow

The grave site where those who died were buried.

 After spending the night in Landen, Wyoming, we continued our journey only to be interrupted by a cattle drive along the highway. It was at the beautiful Red Canyon where we pulled over to let the cattle pass through.....only in Wyoming.  When we got started on the road again, we traveled to site of the 6th crossing of the Sweetwater river along the Mormon trail. This monument honors the many women who toiled along the Mormon trail.

Red Canyon

The Sweetwater River

The next stop was Martin's Cove and Devil's Gate. Martin's Cove was where the Martin handcart company was rescued and where many died also due to extreme cold and lack of food. 

An actual part of the Mormon/Oregon trail near Martin's Cove

Devil's Gate

At Martin's Cove

Our last two stops, for our second day, were Independence Rock and Guernsey Ruts. Independence Rock was a well known landmark along the trails. Here many who passed by climbed the rock and carved their names in the granite. The rock is described as the 'Register of the Desert.' Guernsey Ruts shows the actual wagon ruts worn down from all the wagons passing this way. The geography of the area dictated that practically every wagon that went west crossed this ridge at exactly the same place...hence the wearing down of the rock to create these ruts.

We could see many people climbing this rock to check out the names carved in the granite.

The ruts - some as deep as 5 feet.

We spent the night just outside of Scott's Bluff, Nebraska. In the morning, we headed straight for Scott's Bluff monument. These bluffs served as another landmark on the Oregon/California trails. We were able to drive to the top of the bluff and look out at the beautiful vistas there.

The actual Oregon trail passed through these bluffs

Chimney Rock was our next stop. Actually, we just drove by it to get a picture as the visitor center was closed due to COVID. (We found that to be the case at most of the landmarks at which we stopped.) Chimney Rock was another well known landmark along the trails.

After a quick stop at Carhenge, a replica a Stonehenge made out of cars, we proceeded onto Custer State Park in South Dakota. We drove through the park and saw many buffalo along the wild life scenic drive.

The crazy horse monument was a disappointment, so much so that we only drove to the gate and turned around. Paul and I had visited it 50 years earlier and it had hardly changed. The park wanted $30 a car to get a closer look and we decided it wasn't worth it so we drove onto our hotel just outside of Keystone, South Dakota and Mt. Rushmore.

The Crazy Horse monument - 
One barely make out the eventual Indian
riding a horse.

That evening, we had dinner in Keystone and then went to Mt. Rushmore to look at that monument, listen to the patriotic ceremony, and see the lighting of the faces. We loved being there when a narrative of liberty was given before we all stood for the playing of the national anthem. We were proud of our American heritage and our fight for freedom. It was brought into focus so much more due to the many people who are trying criticize our history as being racist. Our whole country was founded on the idea of freedom. Too many people are judging our founding fathers by today's standards instead of the standards of their times.

The monument as the sun was going down

The lights beginning to come on as seen from the walkway of the flags

The next day we returned to Custer State Park to drive the Needle's Eye scenic loop. We were so glad we did. It was a beautiful drive with granite pinnacles everywhere. The crowning point of the drive was the Needle's eye formation and the drive through a one way granite tunnel.

After lunch we drove to Badlands National Park with a stop along the way at Wall's Drug. It is a drug store that,at one time, advertised free ice water to travelers to try and get more customers to stop. It worked, as it is now a must stop, though too crowed to buy anything.

Badlands was gorgeous....a complete change in scenery from what we saw in Custer State Park. Badlands is like being on a different planet with its unique land formations. We took the scenic loop road to see it all.

We took two day to get home. We drove through Deadwood, an historic town where Wild Bill Hikcock and Calamity Jane are said to have hung out and are buried there. After that we drove to Devil's Tower monument - the first site to be designated at a national monument.

Devil's Tower

The town of Deadwood

We spent the last night in Casper, Wyoming before heading home. Deon and Gary needed to get home early that day to sign the final papers for their new home. We were so glad we made this trip. We loved all we saw and gained a much greater appreciation for our pioneer ancestors. We also gained a renewed hope for America as we felt the deep patriotism of the people of this area. We love seeing this car with its flag flying.

The next few days were spent helping Deon and Gary move into their new home exactly one month from the day they arrived from California. Quite a miracle for that to happen so quickly and for them to have found such a beautiful home, to boot. 

When we returned, we also welcome Ryan and Aubrey here. They arrived Friday evening, the 17th, in time for Aubrey to go down to Provo Saturday morning to take the ACT test. She had already taken it once but wanted to see if she could improve her score of 30. She wanted to beat her Dad's score which was also 30. We were grateful they decided to stay through the weekend so we could enjoy their company a little longer.




Some other happenings of the month included Paul cutting down three trees on the front slope. They were diseased and shedding branches and leaves continually. By cutting them down and replacing three trees with one, the area in much more open and you can now see the front of our home from the street. 

It's beet harvesting month and we had a beautiful yield. It's been hard finding neighbors who like them but luckily Gary loves them as do Kailee and MIndi. We have given several away but still have many in our refrigerator. They last quite a long time so that's good.



The last thing we did this month was watch Todd and Kailee's girls so they could celebrated their wedding anniversary. They brought Aria and Avery up on Tuesday night and picked them up the next morning. I fixed a sourdough waffle breakfast for everyone before they took the girls home. Aria and Avery loved going to Dairy Keen and watching a movie in the theater but going to sleep was another story. I had to rock Avery to sleep and Todd and Kailee had to stay on the phone with Aria till she fell asleep. Needless to say, they were tired the next morning. We were glad we could help Todd and Kailee get away for a little time together. They went golfing and had dinner at Ruth Chris in Park City where they stayed in a hotel for the night.

Heber experienced its first fire for the season. It was sparked by someone target practicing and burned several acres over in the Daniel area of our valley. Luckily no homes were lost. 





Some pictures taken this month which show the beauty of our little valley at sunset.

Before leaving this month, I just have to post a few funny memes about our current situation.......

And then there's the new norm for wedding receptions during this pandemic - drive thru!!!! Congratulate the bride and groom from your car and grab refreshments as you leave. It took us one and a half hours to get up to see the bride and groom mainly because they were serving hamburger, fries and shakes for refreshments. That took a little longer than expected to serve everyone as they drove through. Interesting times we are living through.

And then there is Aria and Avery.........