The glorious Redwoods

We traveled through barren, sizzling desert, over smoky mountains (literally -- we drove through a forest fire west of Redding, Calif.) and into the cool, dark, misty trees of the Redwood National and State Park in northwestern California!

I don't know if I've seen anything so beautiful or different in my whole life! The trees were ginormous, the forest was thick, and the spiderwebs were ... a glistening creepy.

By our second day of camping, everything had a thin film of moisture, even though the forest has not had rain since may!




The mornings were cloudy, the sun peeked out for a couple hours in the afternoons, and the clouds blew in again in the evenings. And, partly because we came from the hot dry Utah climate and partly because I'm just a wimp, I was cold the ENTIRE time! Brrrr!




The closer we got to the ocean, the thicker the fog got. We learned that the Redwood trees depend on that fog to survive.

I didn't want to leave. I was pretty sure that, on our hike through the thick damp, tick-infested forest, I spotted a vampire or two lurking about. But, maybe I was just seeing things...

And, yep, we drove through a tree!

I find the ocean so mesmerizing. It's like therapy.

Ben might need therapy after spending a week with nobody but ME!

Maybe it's just the ticks getting to him ...

Breakfast before packing up on the last day ...

Happy trails to you!

Elder Oaks

I had the opportunity to meet Elder Oaks on Friday! He spoke at the Lyman Family Reunion,which I was assigned to cover for the Mormon Times.

I had to go through Church public affairs to make sure he knew I was coming. After I contacted them, they called me back and said, "Elder Oaks is expecting you to introduce yourself to him, and he will give you a copy of his talk." I was nervous all day! But, he was EXTREMELY helpful.

He gave a very interesting talk. Here's the link to the story: Be cautious about LDS history articles, Elder Oaks said.

Mormon Times stories

I wrote two stories over the weekend:

The Pioneer Heritage Festival on Saturday.

The Ogden Stake Centennial celebration on Sunday.

Happy trails to you!

Anyone know how to put up links to other blogs?

We're dumbfounded.

We're also trying to put up a photo gallery, but can't figure out how to get our photos in the gallery.

Is it sad when all my younger sisters are more computer savvy than their eldest sister?

Perhaps Emily will be so kind as to give me a lesson in the matter someday.

Oh, well. At least I can try to talk like Edward.

This is the most recent picture of Ben and me, taken at the "Wilson family photo" last week!

Musical Maddie

This is a player piano at Ben's sister Becky's house. It is a lot of fun to be able to pump the pedals and make music. Tommy is our nephew he is on the bench next to maddie.

The Sky Is Falling

I don't know how many of you heard about the crazy weather that hit the Stapley and Wilson households this past week but it was amazing. 1/4"+ hail and rain that just wouldn't stop. The Stapley's even had some flooding in the basement. Thank goodness it didn't cause much damage. Anyway to get to the point, I was working in Fruit Heights that day when Maddie called to tell me about the weather. So I made my way out to the deck where there is quite the view of the valley, and well this is what I saw...the sky was falling.

Holy Crow!

I have three stories on the MormonTimes.com home page today!

The first one is about Marvin Perkins' interview to air on CNN.

The second is about the Odgen Stake Centennial anniversary.

The third is a book review for Glory From on High.

There is also a story (that I did not write) about a new satirical blog that I absolutely love! But, beware. If you can't handle criticism, sarcasm or satire, don't read it. It just cracks me up, though!

Hope you've got your reading glasses on!