Christmas 2017

December 2017

Another year has come and gone and I’m not exactly sure what I have to show for it. It seems like the days go by faster and half the time I can’t recall what it is I accomplished in that time. This might be a short letter….haha.

This year started out with Jesse and Justin playing basketball. It was Jesse’s last year playing high school ball. It was bittersweet. She went out with a bang though, as only Jesse can do. She ended up dislocating her jaw in an intense game against Westside. It didn’t stop her from playing though. She literally left it all on the court. Her team came away with the win and we got to go to the ER and put her back together.  One thing about ole “Bess” is, she’s a tough one. We will miss watching her play ball. Nobody can box out quite like her.

Justin had the opportunity to travel to Boise for the State tournament with the Varsity team for basketball this last March. What a great experience! The Bear Lake Bears took State in their division (2A). I was able to travel with them and capture it all on camera. The energy was electric. It was so fun watching these boys give it their all. Our school hadn’t won State in something like 25 years. Even though Justin didn’t get to play I was so glad he was there to experience that once in a lifetime event. Pretty impressive accomplishment for just being a sophomore.

State Championship trophy!

While Jesse and Justin were playing basketball during the winter months, Joe was doing what he loves and does best, skiing.  That kid lives for the slopes. When he wasn’t doing homework at Utah State he was up at Beaver Mountain skiing. He took some awesome footage of his adventures. The kid is crazy, but I love watching him. Unfortunately, his craziness caught up with him just a couple weeks into the new year. In fact, it was about a week after Jesse dislocated her jaw. He got this bright idea to do a backflip over the stairs on Old Main Hill on the Utah State campus. Just as he was pushing off to do his jump he had a binding malfunction and wrecked.  Thank goodness it wasn’t on the cement stairs! He managed to dislocate his shoulder and was out of commission for a couple weeks. Not a good thing since we had a record year for snowfall and some of the best powder days followed his accident. It wasn’t long though and he was back out on the slopes. I think he managed to ski until mid-April this year. Needless to say, he’s hoping this winter will be another epic one.

Spring came and the whole family was able to go to Moab. I was so happy Wayne got to come this time. We had a fantastic time with Michelle’s family (Wayne’s sister). Joe was even able to sneak away for the weekend and come join the fun. We spent a lot of time in Canyonlands exploring and taking in some amazing hikes. Our favorite was the hike out to Druid Arch. What an incredible hike that was. We walked across a lot of slickrock and down many dry washes. The canyon was spectacular and the arch was impressive. On the hike out, our group got separated and we managed to lose Wayne’s sister just before dark. Not a good thing since it was starting to rain…a lot! I couldn’t believe how fast the water came up. An area that was dry as a bone was a raging stream in no time. It was mind blowing! We were starting to worry about finding poor Michelle. It was very tense and scary for a couple hours, but after lots of prayers and intense searching we found her. Joe had found her downstream and up some side canyon.  She had followed some stray cairns and missed the turn on the main trail. She was very happy to see Joe because the thought of spending the night in freezing temperatures wasn’t high on her list. 

On our way to Druid Arch in Canyonlands NP

At an overlook in Canyonlands NP

Justin, me, Joe and Wayne at the base of Druid Arch

The gang having lunch along the 4x4 trail. Peek-a-boo Rock or some such thing on lone dirt road along the Green River just east of Canyonlands NP.

Jesse graduating with Honors

The end of the school year couldn’t come fast enough for Jesse. She was ready to be done with high school! I can’t believe how much she has grown up through high school, especially her Senior year. She graduated with honors and is now attending her first year at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg. She loves it! She is working toward a degree in Graphic Design.

Wayne and I kind of had our first taste of being empty nesters this summer. All three of our kids worked for the Forest Service doing fire this year. Joe was on the engine crew, Jesse was on facilities and Justin was on camp crew. If you watched the news you probably saw that the West was pretty much in flames this year.  It was hard on the forests, but nice for kids earning money for college. Joe spent time on fires in Utah, Nevada, and Wyoming. Jesse went with camp crews to Colorado, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana and managed to go on a couple fires here on the local district. In fact, she got to go on a local fire with Joe and her dad.  That was pretty cool. Not very often do you get to do that! Justin spent a lot of time in Winnemucca, Nevada and Phillipsburg, Montana on camp crew. It was a great growing experience for all of them. I think they appreciated their beds and running water a whole lot more. 

Fire fighter Joe

Even I got to go out on a fire assignment this year! I decided if I was going to get myself my dream lens for my camera I was going to have to earn some money. I got the chance to go on a fire in Montana and do the maps for the incident.  The last fire I was on was back in 2000 and I can tell you that things have definitely changed since then. It was a great learning experience for me. It was high stress and pretty intense, but I was able to get my Canon L-Class 70-200mm lens!! It was TOTALLY worth it. Would I do it again? I’m not sure.  I figure it’s kind of like giving birth… You forget after a while how painful it really was.  We’ll see if I manage to forget.  Poor Wayne though, there was a week in August where the only one home was the dog. Wayne was all by his lonesome. The rest of the family was out on fire assignment and he was stuck at home with Roscoe. I hope next year he gets to go out on assignment. It’s nice to break up the normal work routine.

This Fall we got Jesse sent off to BYU-Idaho in Rexburg. She’ll be finishing up her

Jesse and Justin at Fire School

first track mid-December. It’s been so fun to watch her grow and learn through the experiences she’s had so far. I have enjoyed her occasional FaceTime chats between classes. She’s made some great friendships with her roommates. She’s even joined an intermural basketball team thanks to one of her roommates. She asked Jesse if she wanted to play with a friend of hers and Jesse said sure. Unbeknownst to her it wasn’t just a random pick-up game it was the real deal. It was something she would have never had the courage to do on her own.  Aren’t roommates great?  Jesse has had so much fun playing… even though she got whacked in the jaw again, so we’re dealing with that once more. My poor accident-prone child.

Justin started his junior year this Fall. He played football again this season. Our poor Bears didn’t quite have the season we were hoping for. We struggled but it was still fun to watch. And I got some sweet action shots with that fancy new lens of mine!  Justin received Honorable Mention again for Offensive Line for the 5A District in Idaho.  We were proud of him. He loves football. Now we’re on the basketball. Thankfully we only have to go to one kid’s ball games this year, although I miss watching Jesse and Joe play. My back end is getting older though and I think it’s also getting a little less tolerant of bleachers!!

Justin on Offense in Declo

Joe decided to work through the Fall this year to earn some cash. He was thinking of going to school for the winter, but is still trying to decided what to do.  It’s hard being 20. I liken it to going into the library and trying to find a book to read. There are so many choices it’s hard to figure out what one you want to pick. He’s trying to decide what he wants to do still. He has an amazing talent for photography. I would love to see him capitalize on that while still working for the Forest Service or something along those lines. He loves the outdoors. If he could find a job that paid him to ski, look for antlers, scout for deer, hunt or take pictures, he’d be in heaven. In the meantime, we’re just going to hide and watch and see what happens.

The big excitement this year was the trip Jesse and I took to Europe in June. It was remarkable! We had been saving for over two years. It seemed like the day would never come. Those ten days were just like a dream. Our tour group and guide were so much fun! We flew into London and spent two days there. We saw the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, went on the Underground, visited Platform 9 ¾ and saw many double decker busses. We also had the chance to see Les Misérables at the theatre. We were able to see Stonehenge on our way to France. We were there the day after the summer solstice. Apparently, there were over 13,000 people there the day before. Crazy! It was smaller than I thought it would be. It was neat to see, but not as cool as I thought it might be. It was just a bunch of rocks in the middle of a field. Maybe I just need to find my inner Druid… It was still cool to see though.

At Stonehenge with Jesse

 Jesse and I rode a ferry across the English Channel to France. I loved France. The countryside was gorgeous and I loved the old buildings. I wish we could have spent more time touring around Normandy. I spent my birthday visiting the American D-Day Cemetery near Arromanches, Normandy. THAT was beyond words. The feeling there was so sacred. We saw the bulwarks out in the bay when we were in Arromanches. That was so cool. They’re still there after over 70 years. It was just surreal being there. And I had the best ratatouille at a restaurant there!

We went to Mont St. Michel which is a monastery on this little island. It looked like something right out of a fairytale. I think they said the monastery was built in 900 A.D.  It was crazy to behold something that old with your own eyes. We also went to castles in Chenonceaux and Versailles.  I can see why there was a French Revolution. These royal folks were over the top, especially Louis XIV. That guy was nuts. I can’t even begin to describe the ornateness or the excessiveness of wealth that was used. It was mind blowing. It’s no wonder the French people revolted, but wow, it was so amazing to see! I didn't dare mention that my family has ties back to French royalty, although really I wanted to wear one of those great big Victorian dresses complete with the powdered wig and walk around the vast halls and manicured grounds of those amazing gardens. Oh, that would be so fun!

Jesse in the monastery

Mont St. Michel Normandy, France

Jesse was a little tall for the maze at the palace

Jesse and I in Versailles

Me and Jesse under the Eiffel Tower

Our last stop before heading back to the States was Paris. We spent a couple days here seeing so many things I thought my eyes were going to bleed. The history in Europe is so vast. Jesse and I were at sensory overload after spending over a week touring northern France and England. When I saw the Eiffel Tower for the first time I couldn’t believe I was actually seeing it with my own two eyes. I never thought I’d ever see the day when I would see that landmark. It was pretty cool. Jesse and I got to go up it our last night in Paris. The view was spectacular with all the lights twinkling all around. The best part was going down all the stairs.  That was dizzying but so fun. Paris was neat to see, but I’ll take Paris, Idaho over Paris, France any day. Less rats, less people, less traffic, more cows and lots more open space!!

Needless to say, this year was crazy busy. I’m sure 2018 won’t disappoint either. I am hoping to run a couple more half marathons next year. I only did one this year. All that travelling was a bit hard on my poor old body. I ended up tearing my calf muscle mid-July which really bummed me out, but it didn’t keep me down for long. I’m back at it and am running better than I was, I think. I hope I can keep it up.  I enjoy how it makes me feel. I can tell when I haven’t run, it sucks.

Wayne and I have been enjoying watching our kids begin to fly the nest. It’s been a bit hard to adjust to the quiet, but we’re managing. I look forward to the time I get to spend with my best friend. It’s been so fun snuggling on the couch and watching a show on Netflix… just us, no interruptions. It does make those times when all the kids are home that much more precious. I love to hear the kids laugh with one another and talk about this and that. I am so thankful for the relationship that they have with each other. Family is everything. Time is a precious commodity and it seems like we just don’t ever have enough of it. This coming year I hope I can use the time that is given me to make wonderful memories with my family. Time and memories with family are the things we need to treasure. You can’t buy that. There is no price you can put on things like that. I need to do better at writing down the day to day things that happen, not just the big things. I know I could have done better as my kids were growing up, but life gets in the way, you know how that goes.  But those little things are what I love most and I think when I am old and senile (yes, it’s coming sooner than I’d like to admit) I can look back and read about those experiences and relive those precious times once again. Like I said, Family truly is everything.

I hope that this Christmas season you are able to spend time with your family and create wonderful memories. And I hope that it continues throughout the coming year. We are so blessed, there is no doubt. We have so much to be thankful for.

Merry Christmas!

From us Becks here in Ovid, Idaho:

Cheryl, Wayne, Joe, Jesse and Justin

The Becks - Hurrah Pass near Moab, Utah