Umping is over for the season, youth conference and the YM super activity are history and so is my calling in the YM organization in our ward. It's been a busy summer thus far, but I anticipate a slowing through the dog days of August. A welcome slowing, and a re commitment to regular posting. It's just not right that summer race by.


This weekend, our family is headed to Carpinteria State Beach, situated between Ventura and Santa Barbara on the coast in California, my home state. I've been vacationing at this beach since I was a kid with my parents and grandparents keeping an eye on me and cousins tormenting me. We've now come full circle; my mother will be celebrating her 82nd birthday in September and will show for a few days. All my kids except Katie, who is big with child, Laurel (out of jail and in a great environment, but that's another post) and Joe who is serving on "da rez" in Northern Arizona will be there. I'll have ten grandkids beaching it under the watchful eyes of their parents.

The place is a tide pool of memories for me: exploring the "bamboo jungle" with my grandmother, sitting with our heads only feet from the track under the trestle as a big freight train passed over, exploring spooky abandoned buildings with my brother, hanging out on and under the decrepit pier, trying to reach the milky way on the old swings, and later, futile attempts to lure cute girls to our evening bonfire on the beach. And those are just for starters. We almost always come home with a memorable family story for that year which will be told and retold. We hope to add to the treasure this year.