Fishing with the Naylor Nine

It is April. Days are cold, nights are colder. What were we thinking when we promised to take the kids fishing.

First, only a few of us have rods, my rod got broken last fall, the 3 girls don't have rods...So, start with a trip to Wal-Mart. lots of explanations about what is the difference between the $60 rod and the $12 rod, and how "pink" was not a good reason for the former over the latter. Pick up some worms (mine are too precious to offer up to the fish gods). While we are spending more money than we have on fishing gear, why don't we get a few more camp chairs, some bike/skating helmets, food, and enough soda for a Hoard of Orcs (since that's what we are now) and suddenly the bill comes to $260.00. I thought we chose this because it was an inexpensive option for Spring Break.

We get every body ready in their warm clothes, and load up in two cars to drive up the canyon. As we slink up American Fork canyon after paying for our 3 day pass per car load we notice that the snow is getting deeper. At the turn off for Tibblefork it is almost 4 feet deep. then we come up over the final rise and sure enough the lake is no longer frozen, there are several people fishing and the snow runs right down near the water's edge.

We unload everything, make a run to the potty and then start down the ramp (Tibblefork is handicapped accessible) with our rolling cooler and a radio flyer wagon loaded with goodies and kiddies. We set everybody up with a bubble and a worm before realizing that we have to cast into the wind and if you really kill the cast, you can get it into 4 feet of water. At this point I am hoping the fish are coming up into the shallows for a bit of warm water but I'm not holding my breath. I set Emily up with a clear water filled bubble instead of the clip on ones that everyone else has. Pretty soon we have taken over 100 yards of the shore line, Brayden and Bella are in the water up to their knees looking at rocks, Taylor is yelling because his worm is too short, Kira is just sitting in the Mud...Why did we decide to do this again?

We spent a bit trying to get everyone's line in the water at the same time (no small feat might I add). I just cast out for the first time and hear a blood curdling scream from down the shore line. I am off like a shot running through the knee deep snow like a cheetah (with four broken legs and kidney stones) to discover that the emergency I am responding to is that fish are slimy and Emily doesn't want to touch it. Note to self: Explain why we try to be as quiet as possible while fishing. The culprit was a 13 inch rainbow trout which Emily decided not to kill while I was flailing through the snow. As soon as she got it in the water again, it got off the line and got away. I baited her hook again, and within 5 min she had a tiny 9 inch brown trout which she knocked out on a rock to make sure it did not get away while I was coming. Since it was now damaged we had to keep him, even though it was going to cost us more to heat the pan to cook him than he was going to provide in sustenance. She got 3 more to shore for a total of 5. After the first one she was able to keep though, we threw back the small ones, (at least we are learning) and ended up with 2 keepers. I had lots of bites and one pretty good one on but didn't get any to shore, Mom also had some good bites and Kira caught a fish every time she reeled in (of course that is because she had a rubber covered pink fish on the end of her line instead of bait).

We came home with our 2 fabulous fish. Emily and I cleaned them together and I fried them up in some butter and key lime seasoning (basically lemon pepper only with limes). Everyone had a piece and liked it except the 1 bone that Emily got (Sorry Em). All in all it was a great success. The kids begged us to take them again on Sunday, and we committed to go up the canyon and have a fire with some hot dogs and peep smores for family night on Monday. Guess I better start putting together a fireside talk.

Friends, I have more than I think

On FaceBook I put in a status message about a week ago:

Do any of us really know everybody on our friend list? Here is a task for you. I want all my fb friends to comment on this status about how you met me. After you comment, copy this to your status so I can do the same. You will be amazed at the results you get in 12 hours"

Cole Cooper commented on my status yesterday:

Cole wrote: "How can any forget the yellow house with the solar panels? This is funny I just looked through some old photos and saw you, Jim, Clover, Olsen, Ross, playing heavy heavy hang over at my bday party must have been 1 or 2 grade."

As I read it I thought how I had despised him for so many years because of the way that I perceived that he treated me. But as I think about it now I am disturbed to think who I was probably self deceived all of those years. I remember coming home in the 5th grade, lying on my bed and crying myself to sleep one afternoon. My dad came in and asked what was up and I told him how I had no friends and essentially how depressed I was. He asked me about the other boys in my primary class, and then about the guys in my school class. He related to me that when he was in school, there were people that knew him, that he did not even know. Whenever one of them would say "Hi Gary," he would think about how he had friends that he didn't even know he had. I remember thinking about that conversation many times in my high school years because someone knew me, that I didn't know, and how it helped me to realize I had more friends than I thought.

sustainable living = sustainable families

A return to sustainable living solves the problems now inherent in our throw away society. Once upon a time children woke up early in the morning to slop the pigs, and milk the cows, and feed the horses, et cetera. The value of these animals was ever present in their minds, because those kids new the flavor of the bacon that those pigs would make. They new the work that the horse helped them and their father do. And when the children did not do their part, they felt the hunger pangs that come from not having eggs from the chickens, or the calf that did not grow up into many meals.

Unfortunately in today's society, many of us A) do not produce things that impact our sustenance, and B) have no visibility into where those things come from and so do not value them appropriately. Our society has had so much affluence that even the poor among us do not connect our actions with our comfort and pleasure. Children today when asked where chicken comes from answer that it comes from Wal-Mart. Suddenly "chips" seem like "food" and obesity, laziness, and obstinacy ensue. When our efforts no longer are the source of our comfort, then we have no motivation to channel our efforts into positive, socially responsible endeavors; or even put forth efforts at all. In short, when we stop living sustainably, living stops bringing us happiness and we have to look for it somewhere else.

I propose that we must make a return to sustainability. We need to have gardens to remember what home grown tomatoes taste like. We need to see sun, soil, rain, and seeds become food on our tables. We need to remember how wonderful a home cooked meal is (and I am not talking papa murpheys take and bake pizza.) our children need to participate in these pursuits and take pride in "their pumpkins" or the huge zucchini that makes that fabulous bread. We need to connect with the source of our bounty, that we may give true thanks for all that we are blessed with.

The girls

A few weeks ago we got a call from DCFS asking us if we were interested in taking a sibling group of 3. Of course the answer was "No Way!!!" but then they sent us a picture (meanies!) A few days later we got a glorious report from their current foster mom. It was obvious that this was a biased account of their lives, but we were drawn in hook line and sinker. They just look like our kids!

on Friday the 18th we drove out to their current foster home. They were super cute, and asked lots of questions like "Can I have a cell phone?", "How many dogs do you have?", "Do you fly on planes?", "What are the rules in your house?", et cetera. It was fun but awkward at the same time. We sat on the couch, they sat on bar stools across the room. It was almost like that dating game, where you ask questions to each of the contestants..."Contestant number 2, what grade are you in?" After a couple of hours (much longer than we expected) and seeing their rooms (I am guessing they are not usually that clean, we will see). We departed.

Then Saturday we met them all at boondocks for the annual Heart Gallery activity. We played mini golf with 9 of us (Never let a ninesome out on the course, NEVER!!!) We played video games and won lots of tickets. We lost people only 3 or 4 times :-). We drove the go carts. It was really fun. and we got to see how the girls reacted in a more real situation, where we all had to compromise.

Today they came to live with us. We got them settled in their rooms. It does not seem like that big of an adjustment, but we will see over the coming weeks.

I have to say that this is not the path that I expected for my life. It is good that someone who knows more than me is driving, because I would not have gotten here on my own.

Fishing the Weber river.

We went up to the cabin last night and stayed over. It was the typical comedy of errors. First we got up there late, with Taylor puking his guts out on the way up. We get up there an the key is gone so I have to get up on the deck and lift Brayden up to put his hand through the deadbolt hole (which has no deadbolt in it), he was a trooper and got it unlocked for us. We set up the hammocks up stairs and everyone was out like a light. The next morning I realized that we did not have any bisquick so I ran down into town and got some so we could cook sausage and pancakes on the open fire. By the time I got back everyone else was there and so we made breakfast with everyone else smelling and watching.

By noon we had to head out and we decided to throw a few lines in the water so I set up 3 hooks with chartreuse bubbles and worm hooks. We threw lines in the fast moving water on the far side of the stream and caught a little brook pretty quick, Tay reeled that one in. Then I cast out to the same spot for him and about 30 seconds later he was reeling in his own fish. I threw Brayden's rod in the same spot and he caught one right away.

A few casts later we didn't have any hooks left on our rods so we hiked back up to the car and headed home. It was a great day!

Granddady day 2

What a huge difference a night of sleep makes. Everyone was chipper this morning they were fishing early and swimming in the lake.

We took it easy around camp until about 10 when we set out on a day hike to fish hatchery lake. At about a mile the kids were pooped again but we found fish hatchery lake. I tried a fly and a spinner bait with no luck at all but then Tyler waded out into the lake a bit and started catching fish on A worm and a bubble. Zack caught on Tyler's rod. And have the incredible caught two all by himself. Matt caught 3 and had 2 more on the line. I finally gave in and put on a worm. I caught 5 fish in 5 casts. Wow it was fun. Then the wind picked up and things slowed down a little. We could see the thunder heads rolling in so I helped Zack fillet two of his fish and we cooked them up right there on the shore. They were awesome. Matt even loved it.

Just as we started cleaning the remaining fish it started to rain so we maid short work of their guts and then hurried back to camp. By the time we got to camp it was sunny again so we took a little siesta. Oh it was wonderful. The boys went swimming again and found a raft. It was tons of fun. Then we jut putted around camp for the rest of the night.

We had a brief fireside and read 3 Nephi 11 and Moroni 10. Talking about the importance of the book of Mormon and it's promise

Off to bed and there was this incredible thunderstorm. I recorded a little of it and maybe I can attach some to this post

Granddady day 1

What a tough day. The hike that took Matt and I only 2 hours took us over 4. Big learning experience. Heavy packs and kids do not go together. Matt did awesome once we got his sleeping bag off. Need to find a much lighter one for him. He was an absolute trooper. One of the boys Dillan was stopping to rest ever few hundred yards his pack does not have any kind of a waist belt and so all of the weight in his pack was on his shoulders. He also brought a bunch more food and a big survival book. Finally his sleeping bag is a giant -20 bag way overkill. Bryce and I actually took most of his stuff off his pack and then he still struggled getting up over the pass so I carried his pack up the latn climb to hades pass and from there almost to Granddady lake. Zack did not eat and did not drink enough so he had a spot of heat exhaustion coupled with a little bit of altitude sickness.

Tyler caught a cut throat in Granddady lake while they wired for us to get there. But only one hit in about an hour while they ate lunch. We then pushed on to Mohawk lake to a chorus of. "are we there yet" and "how much further?"

Finally we reached the lake and it was magnificent. With our packs off everyone had a bit of new life and camp was set up quickly. All 4 boys in their hammocks and the other three leaders in tents. I set up my big tarp as a mess/gear tarp for everyone.

Paul sawed logs for a few hours and the res of us tried some fishing and swimming. The boys lit the fire with their fire steels and it was a riot to see how much fun they had doing it. Dinner was light but tasty after the long day.

Zack with his altitude sickness ended up in with Paul and Bryce in the tent. Matt got scared of the noises in the night and also ended up in the tent.

I decided to take a short hike over to Marcel lake whit looked like about half a mile but it was over the forest floor, not on a trail. After half an hour I was pooped and although the GPS said I should be seeing the lake it was not there so I slowly started back. I was impressed how well I did with sense of direction every time I checked I was headed the right way which was surprising over the hills and valleys of the basin.

We finished up the day with the story of Enos and talked a lot about conversion and missionary work.

No fish, long hike, it was a rough day. Haven said it was " hard but fun too."