Texas 89 Degrees and feeling wonderful!

Today was great! we went swimming and then did everything that we needed for the day. We went downtown and explored The Alamo, and the River Walk. It was a great day.

Now for more of what we did in Zions National Park.

The second day we decided to take it easy and visit the emerald pools, once again wonderful weather and wonderful views make an excellent combination. The lower pools were not crowded and the trail went right next to a waterfall coming from the middle pools. We got a ton of fun pictures in this area as the water fell into the small pool and splashed onto the rocks.

The upper pools were kind of fun, the largest waterfall fell from the rim of the canyon down onto where we were standing. I counted and it would take about 10 seconds to die if you fell from the top, probably shorter though.

We had to hurry at that point to catch the bus out of the park and back to our car because we were going to visit Grandma and Grandpa Clarke, we called them the night before and they were expecting us to come visit them and Uncle Mike.

Our bus got there a little bit before we did and we had to run the last few hundred yards to make it. Thank goodness we have been running 2-3 miles a day. the Driver thought he would be funny and close the door right before we got there, he opened them again, but he got a good laugh out of it.

Grandma and Grandpa are doing good, Grandpa has walking pneumonia, and Grandma has pneumonia and was in the hospital when we got there. We got a whole tour of the house and looked at all of the pots that Grandpa had collected though the years. Mike was very friendly with us and we had a good time joking around with him and talking about what he and Grandpa have been doing with the racing pigeons that they keep in the back, and their plans about the yard. They planted about 10 fruit trees in the back to add some shade and hopefully, some fruit here in a few years.

Mike and Grandpa also have two little ducks that they are raising to eat all the bugs and weeds. Those two duck were very afraid of us and tried to hide behind anything that they could. Also Mike and Grandpa offered to let us have as manny pigeons that we want to take with us, we declined because we didn't think that our apartment managers would like if we were keeping pigeons. I haven't told lindsey yet, but as soon as we get a house we are going to get pigeons so that they can poop all over everything for us.

Grandma is doing good, she is still more concerned about Grandpa than herself even though she is in the hospital. It was good to see her and to know that she is being taken care of. We are sure that she will make a full recovery and be back to her old self again real soon.

On the drive back we stopped by Kolob Canyon at the north end of the park and drove around and got some great shots of the sun on the mountains with storm clouds in the background. Those were some nice shots.

When we got back to Rockville I had a great Idea for dinner, I told Lindsey about it and she agreed completely. We were going to have a small barbecue in one of the parks that we had found the day before.

We drove to a general store and picked up corn on the cob, peppers, cheese, chicken, and marshmallows. Then drove to the park.

The park was great, we found a large stone grill and I started preparing the fire as lindsey prepared the corn. The fire turned out really well, we made a trench fire by piling stones on both sides of the logs and closed a third narrow end off and left only a small hole, the fourth side was open completely. We started the fire by rolling up a chunk of cardboard and pushing it in the hole and lighting it.

It took very quickly, and soon we were grilling stuffed peppers and corn on the cob. It was a wonderful dinner.

It got creepy quickly though, there was another family in the park, but they took off as soon as it went dark and we were all alone. I was honestly a little nervous. After grilling two marshmallows I looked across the fire and saw two points of light, followed quickly by another set. I stared at them for a second to make sure that I was seeing what I was seeing and made an executive decision that was quickly endorsed by the cochair. We booked it as calmly as we could to the car, turned it around and turned the brights on the wild animal that we had seen.

It was the fence, a sone wall that had a mural of broken tiles on it. That is what we had seen. but we still didn't want to be in that park all alone. So we went back to apartment and called it a day.

Also our address here in San Antonio is:

5050 Fredericksburg Road Apt #293A San Antonio TX, 78229

feel free to send care packages full of brownies and milk.

We love you guys.

Greetings From Texas!

Well Lindsey and I have made it safely to texas, as I'm sure you guessed otherwise how would we be making a post?

we are going to break out what has been going on across several posts.

Considering we were going to be living in Texas for a few months, we decided that we needed to get used to warmer weather. So back in january, we decided to spend a week or so in the Zions National Park area getting used to being a little warm and a little hot.

We found a small Bed and Breakfast online called Amber Inn and it was just perfect, right in Rockville so we didn't have to deal with all the touristy stuff of Springdale, but close enough to Zions to get there and beat the traffic.

Nida, the owner was a taller than me Lithuanian woman who had dyed her hair bright orange and loved to talk. She was fun as she showed us the room and as we payed for our stay. It was a great Bed and Breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast, she cooked us french toast with cream cheese in-between two of the slices. It was delicious, and we ate it all.

Zions was wonderful, They are about 175% of normal for water down there so everything is very green. The green of the plants against the orange and red of the rocks is a photographers paradise. it was about 75-80 degrees, so not very hot, and we came when the park was free for the week so we saved about $50 getting in and out of the park.

The first day we decided to get the hard hike out of the way so we hiked Angels Landing. While hiking we were both were suffering from lack of air as the trail switched back on itself for what seemed an unnecessarily long number of times, fortunately the views were amazing and it gave us an excuse to stop and take "Photographs", aka breaks. Those "Photographs" prepared us for what was coming up next, a thin neck of rock that connected Scout Lookout to Angels Landing itself. The hike at this part was really enjoyable, and it was comforting to know that we had around 1,000 feet of air on either side of us to cushion our fall. Some how I did not find comfort in the cushioning or the chain that we clung to.

As I lagged behind in this part of the hike, Lindsey enjoyed her time by swinging on the chain over small breaks in the trail and hopping around on the rocks like some sort of curly haired, hatted, mountain goat. After half a mile or so of galloping around on the sheer cliff walls of Angles Landing the cute curly haired Mountain Goat made it to the top, followed shortly by her handsome rugged traveling companion. The views up and down the canyon were wonderful, and they were accented nicely by the soft breeze that was blowing.

The hike down was a lot easier than the hike up, I promise. in fact it was so easy that we both held hands and kind of jogged down the whole trail. Every now and then we passed another couple that was hiking down and they saw us and decided to join in. By the end we had about 5 couples jogging down the trail with us. Fortunately for us, cute mountain goats and rugged men are very sure of foot.

Weeping rock was next and we got dripped on a lot by the water seeping from the rock. There was a sign indicating that the water was unsafe to drink from because it was full of Giardia (sp?). So we didn't drink any, even though lindsey looked thirsty.

We took a lot of photos of this part of the trail because of how wonderful it looked up canyon right next to the Giardia infested waterfall.

The hike down was hard, we were both very tired from our excursions that day and our legs were complaining just about as loud as they could. Fortunately we were done for the day and could head back to Amber Inn.

We will try to get some photos up soon. Texas is hot and humid.

When I called Aunt Debra about Keith returning to the emergency room again she told me that Grandma is in the hospital with pneumonia. Aunt Cheryl had posted that on the Clarke family site so I went to read what she had to say and saw that Uncle Mike had posted that Grandpa Clarke has been diagnosed with walking pneumonia so keep them in your prayers.

Sam's letter April 18th, 2011

Dear Family

Belated Happy Marriage Anniversary Birthday Details! (I think that covered it all....). So I did get the card, and I am grateful for y'all thinking of me on my birthday. Hopefully Josh and Morgen had a good anniversary as well.

I'm glad that the wedding went off with a hitch (Get it? No? Sigh...) and that Daniel has found his eternal companion. Funnily enough, Saturday I and my companion helped a member of the branch build a little overhang over one of his porches. It took all day, but he and his wife can no longer do all of the things that they used to when they were younger, and we're two of 5 members of the active Elder's Quorum here in Gatesville, so we're the workhorses of the branch. I am really happy that we helped them out, and that all of those years of me messing up on our own projects prepared me to serve. Remember how I could never seem to cut a straight line, or that I would cut it the wrong size? I cut everything to the exact size it needed to be, except for one, which is a miracle in my opinion.
It's amazing how the Spirit amplifies our own natural abilities. Things that I struggled to do back home, such as cutting a straight line, or envisioning the finished project, just come naturally to me now. It is really amazing. I never realized how much I truly relied on the Spirit back home, and now that I am giving credit where credit is due, my abilities have been amplified. I really want to stay close to the Spirit all throughout my life.
We have done a lot of Less Active work this week. The biggest news is that we were able to see Leoni and Andrea, the daughters of a Less Active family, come to mutual! That's the first time that they have been to a Wednesday Night Activity in a long time, and they really enjoyed it. They should be coming this week as well, and we feel that this is the first stepping stone in getting the whole family back. Also we saw Brother Merkling at church as well. He hasn't come in a long time due to health reasons, and some other things, but he actually came! It was a struggle for him, but he said that he knew he needed to be there. He plans on coming more and more as his health gets better, and we are going to keep in contact with him as he progresses.

In other news, there are a bunch of fires burning in Texas at the moment. The air has been of bad quality the past couple of days, even with the extremely strong winds that have been blowing through Gatesville. Today it is supposed to get up into the 90s and it is about 70% humidity. Here comes Texas Summer!

I did have cake for my birthday, Mom. Emily sent me a package and it had some cake mix in it. I decided to experiment with it. I tin-foiled the pan and baked it in a pan that would make it much taller. It actually turned out pretty well, but I did have to bake it for about 35-40 minutes before it set. Also on my birthday a lady in the Stake donated a bunch of her husband's old clothes and stuff to the missionaries, so after our District Meeting we went and ruffled through it. I found a sweet three-piece suit. Unfortunately, everything fit me but the pants. SO I gave it to my companion, Elder Randle, and it fits him perfectly. With the free hat that someone gave him, and that suit, he looks like one of those businessmen in the old western films.

I know that I have said that I don't want y'all putting anymore money in my account, but I could use some. I don't want to seem like a needy guy or anything, but I could use the cushion. Whatever y'all feel is appropriate would be great.


Love,
Elder Barney

So today I'm opening up the page to everyone who's been invited to post whatever they want on this site. I still need Josh and Benjamin's email address to send invites but that will happen. Please feel free to add whatever you want to share with the family.