Life Is the Stories You Can Tell
  • Life is the Stories You Can Tell
  • Sing His Praises
  • My Creed
  • Books I Love
  • Christmas Letters

The Master Plan

10/25/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
The 2015 Havasupai trip went as planned….eventually…...    Though we did not do everything we planned, everything we did was planned, sometimes months ahead, sometimes weeks ahead, sometimes a day ahead and sometimes (all too often) just moments ahead but everything was planned.   “Let me tell you the plan,” I found myself saying repeatedly, “so that I can tell you in a few moments how the plan has changed.”     Everything proceeded according to The Master Plan; we just were not sure, sometimes until the very last moment, just what that Master Plan was.
 
From the beginning, planning for the 2015 Havasupai trip was challenging.   The list of challenges included (but was not limited to):
  • The daughter of the dad who volunteered to pull the trailer that would transport all the backpacks broke her ankle which pulled the daughter, the dad, and the trailer off the participant list.     
  • Results of background checks from four parents required a reallocation of resources.
  • A last minute suggestion to include a tour of the Hoover Dam resulted in a flurry of faxes and a schedule rearrangement.
  • A student whose name was not on the passenger list showed up for the backpack check
  • A death in the Rose family the day before we left created questions about their participation
  • Questions about whether Sam (science teacher and trip co-founder) was in or out  (out)
  • Questions about whether Amie (principal, OPA) was in or out (in)
By Sunday evening all challenges had been addressed.   Monday morning  (10/19/2015) 75 of us (52 students, 23 adults)met at OPA at 5:00 a.m. and headed south.
 
To aid the drivers of the cars in our 15 vehicle caravan I created an 8 page guide that outlined the plan for the week and included detailed MapQuest instructions to all of our destinations.   The plan called for a group gathering in the parking lot of the Hacienda Hotel and Casino, just south of Boulder, NV.      The Hacienda no longer exists.    Thankfully the parking lot still exists—it is now adjacent to the Hoover Dam Lodge—and, eventually, all the cars found their way there.
 
We caravanned to Hoover Dam where a dam guide gave us a dam talk about the dam construction, the dam water, and the dam operations.  (Dam jokes never get old!)   After seeing a dam movie (really, dam jokes never get old!), we took a dam elevator (okay, maybe they do get old…..) down 530 feet into the edifice’s innards where we saw a tube, 30 foot in diameter, that can carry 90,000 gallons of water/second to the turbine and a room, 660 yards long, that housed 8 of the dam’s 17 generators.    Amazing.
 
Also amazing, though it was an altogether different kind of amazement, were our sleeping accommodations that night.  The printed plan called for a campout on North Kingman High School’s football field.    It was the last time we referred to the printed plan.    Recent rains had turned the football field into a marsh and the current forecast indicated a continuation of marsh-making weather.     The revised plan called for a sleepover in North Kingman High School gym, girls inside the three point line of one basket, boys inside the three point line of the other.     It is truly amazing how much a gym echoes when even one person turns over during the night.    Also amazing was how bright the overhead, emergency light was (that could not be turned off….).    We were warm and dry and INCREDIBLY grateful for the generosity of Amie’s Kingman friends who allowed to us to use the gym, the bathrooms, and (the second night) the showers however the number of people who could honestly say they got a great night’s sleep was not amazingly large.
 
Tuesday’s weather forecast was not amazingly positive.   Internet weather sites predicted 60-80% chance of rain and posted severe weather/flash flood warnings.     Even the most optimistic among us could not justify a trip into the Canyon that morning.   [We held fast to our hopes that the weather would clear on the morrow……]    Time for another change in plans…...
 
A 4:00 a.m. call to my darling sister (who lives in Las Vegas) helped us decide to spend the day hiking to Mt. Charleston’s Raintree, a 3,000 year old pinon pine living 10,200 feet above sea level.   The six mile hike gave us an unplanned encounter with an alpine area, some super scenery and healthy, heavy breathing; we felt the burn in our buttocks and the wind in our faces.
 
Eager to ease the angst about not being able to enter Havasupai as planned and planning to use the money we would have spent on campground fees for Havasupai had we been able to enter, we planned dinner Las Vegas style.   “We’ll eat at the buffet at Hoover Dam Lodge,” we told everyone.  “Meet us there.”
 
A buffet dinner must not have been in the Master Plan.   We learned, after arriving there, that there is no buffet at Hoover Dam Lodge.   “We got rid of the buffet two years ago,” we were told.   So we ate in their café, all 75 of us.    Accustomed to feeding 5-10 people on a typical Tuesday night, we stretched their resources.   Bus boys morphed into waiters and wine glasses were converted to sundae cups.   We were patient, they were ingenious, and it was all good.
 
It was another night in the gym for the girls.   Hoping that halving the number of bodies would half the noise, we sent the boys to the wrestling room.    It was hot and stinky (wrestling rooms are like that….)  night for them but it wasn’t as noisy.     
 
Havasupai was a do-or-die decision the next morning and, unanimously, we decided to kill it.   The fact was 100% humidity in the canyon and the forecast 60% for rain showers.  Even more condemning were the temperatures—predicted highs in the mid 50’s and lows in the high 30’s.    No one was prepared for those kinds of temperatures, hypothermia would be a real threat, and we really did not want our names to be in the headlines of the local paper.
 
So……….plans changed again.    Seventy-four of us headed to Gold Strike Hot Springs; one (Amie) of us headed to Valley of Fire State Park.   Things went as planned for 74 of us; things did not go as planned for Amie.
 
The 4  mile Gold Strike Hot Springs Trail (8 miles round trip) took us to two rock cliffs, three pools, and one river; cool, hot, and cold!   The cliffs were cool.  Too steep to climb, too tall to jump, their “class 3 scrambling” slowed but did not stop us.    We had enough people to create our own ladder, which we did.   The pools were hot, ranging from 120 degrees F to 85.   And the Colorado River, only miles from exiting the dam, was cold.   We soaked in the pools after sunning on the trail and shivered in the sun after swimming in the Colorado.  
 
We planned to have a good time on the hike, which we did.  Amie planned to secure camping spots for us in Valley of Fire, which she did not.    Camping sites there are first come, first serve.   Amie arrived early, found 8 adjoining sites, paid the $20 camping fee (cash only, $160 total) for each spot, and set two cases of Gatorade on each picnic table.   She spent the morning chasing RV’s from the sites she had secured.    Later in the afternoon an uptight park person unequivocally informed Amie that she was not playing by the rules.   Bodies must be in the sites to secure them; Gatorade would not work.    The facts that Amie had paid for the sites and that 75 bodies were on their way were irrelevant.  “In fact,” Amie was informed, “I could fine you $75 per site for trying to reserve them illegally.”    The irate official kept the money and the Gatorade and sent Amie packing.   Amie is not a timid lady, not even close, but this ranger was not to be intimidated.     Apparently sleeping in Valley of Fire was not in the Master Plan…..
 
It was about 6 p.m.  when we learned that our first camping option for the night was down and that we would have to punt.   Fortunately Lake Mead Recreation Area was within field goal distance, so to speak, and had available group sites.    We set up tents there and planned to stay two nights.     “What are we doing tomorrow?” kids and parents asked.   Good question!    We were not sure what the Master Plan had in store at that point.
 
How about a hike along the Historic Railroad Trail (3.7 miles, 5 tunnels, along the railroad bed used to transport the materials used to build the dam)?  Fabulous!  A stroll across the Mike O’Callagahan/Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge overlooking Hoover Dam?   Amazing!     And an afternoon swimming in Lake Mead at Boulder Beach?  Fantastic!   The hike was flat and fast, the view from the bridge big and bold, the swim in the lake fun and fresh, and the fact that we did not have to figure out where we were going to sleep that night, absolutely awesome.
 
The next morning we broke camp and drove to Echo Bay where we planned to camp and, amazing but true, we set up camp there as planned.   Our plan’s next phase was to find a trail in Valley of Fire.   “How long is the hike?” students asked.   “About four miles,” we told them, hoping the Park had a four mile trail.
 
The map at the Park’s entrance indicated that Prospect Trail was 4.5 miles long and branched off the White Dome trail.   We chose it and, 15 vehicles strong, drove to the White Dome trailhead.     Not unsurprisingly, the map at White Dome did not show the Prospect Trail.     Hiking Prospect Trail must have been in the Master Plan though because, against the odds, we found it even though it was not on the map.   The trail was not marked or maintained but it was marvelous.   We traversed stream beds, squeezed through slot canyons and scrambled over sandstone to arrive at an incredible vista, overlooking reams of ridges of rigid rock.  (Say that fast!)   The view was truly stunning and I was truly stunned that, once again, we’d happened upon a fabulous activity option.    Three cheers for the Master Plan!
 
That night, our final night, several students asked what time we’d be leaving in the morning.   “That depends,” I told them.   “I am taking bribes.  Some people want to leave quite early and some want to stay and hang out.   What I decide depends on who gives me the best bribes.”     Two sets of girls brought me six sets of cakes, accompanied by the request that we leave early.    “I will be singing at 5:00 a.m.,” I announced at the evening’s awards assembly.
 
And I did.  (Truth be known, I would have sung early regardless…..)    At 5:00 a.m., local time, horribly loud and very off key, I screeched “In the leafy treetops…..”   Up we got and on the road, Ogden bound.
 
It was a great trip.  Really.    Though it had all the makings of an epic disaster, it was a truly great trip.    To the best of my knowledge, everyone enjoyed themselves.   “It was a great trip,” the parents said.   “It was a great trip,” the students said.   “I want to come and do this exact same trip with my husband,” a teacher said. 
 
Clearly there was a Master Plan.   Just as clearly, we were not the Master Planners; most of our plans had be changed, some of them several times.   And all of the changes worked out well.   So, who was the Master Planner? 
 
I choose to believe it was the Master, a kind and loving Friend who kept us out of the headlines and bonus-ed us with a wonderful experience. “It was a great trip,” I say, “Thank you.” 

Picture
Camping, eating, sleeping in the gym
Picture
Picture
Picture
The Raintree Hike, Mt. Charleston
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
1 Comment

Pigpen, Cougars, and Hislops

10/18/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
Rise and shout, the Cougars are out!!   The Hislops were out too.  And the really, REALLY cool thing is that the Cougars and the Hislops were out at the same time in the same place.  There were 57,612 people in Lavell Edwards Stadium Friday and we were 6 of them.    OH MY LANDS!!!  What a night!!!!

Remember the Peanut’s cartoon character Pigpen?   A cloud of dust accompanied him everywhere and everyone who entered his circle was encompassed by it.  If you got close to Pigpen, you were going to get dirty.  Period.     Jeanna Nielson is a lot like Pigpen in that she carries a cloud of love around with her wherever she goes and everyone who enters her circle is encompassed by it.  If you get close to Jeanna, you are going to get loved.  Period.

So what does “Pigpen” have to do with rising Cougars and shouting Hislops?    We got close to Jeanna and, HOLY COW, did we feel the love!!!

Knowing of Miles’ passion for football, Jeanna connected us with her very generous daughter who gave us tickets to Friday night’s BYU vs Cincinnati football game…and not just any tickets either.    We were seated in the lower bowl, only 24 rows up.   We could see the player’s faces!     And not just tickets either—also a parking pass right next to the stadium and wristbands that allowed us into “The Tent”.

As big as many hotel ballrooms, The Tent offered entrants unlimited access to appetizers, salads, main dishes and desserts.   The menu included (but was not limited to): asiago cheese covered asparagus spears, coconut shrimp, mango/strawberry Asian salad, baby back ribs, roast beast, pulled pork sandwiches, pineapple grilled chicken, a fresh fruit salad (that included blueberries!),  freshly baked biscuits, specialty drinks, hot fudge sundaes, German chocolate cake, raspberry torte, apple pie, various pastries, a white chocolate fountain, and bananas, strawberries, marshmallows, cinnamon bears, and waffles on sticks  with bins of  chocolate and caramel to dip them in.    And that’s not all!  In the stadium, under each seat, was an insulated goodie bag containing two bottles of chilled water, a double size Snickers bar, and a spoon.   (Why the spoon?)

At half time we returned to The Tent where the feast continued:  nachos, giant pretzels, hot dogs, corn dogs, the entire array of desserts offered previously plus some, and kettle corn.   I munched happily (VERY happily) on the kettle corn, not even bothering to explore the other options.   Popcorn ranks very close to fresh blueberries on my list of ABSOLUTE FAVORITE THINGS.    Cooper covered his face (and filled his belly) with chocolate (again) and Miles had a double helping of nachos.    Sara sampled new desserts and Grace kept saying, “How does one convince one’s self that there is still room in the tummy?”      

Soon after returning to the stadium we learned the reason for the spoons.   BYU worker-bees, dressed in crisp white shirts, lined the aisles and gave us individual, half-pint containers of ice cream.   Ice cream!!  Unbelievable!  And amazing!

The game was amazing too.

The first half was dismal; Cincinnati walked all over us.  We could not get through their defensive line and their offensive line cut right through us.  At the end of the first quarter they had 205 total offensive yards to our 19 and the score was 10-0 in their favor.  Painful.

After the pain comes the glory, right?   Not always but, in BYU football, quite often.   In classic BYU style the Cougars, trailing 24-17 entering the fourth quarter, ended up winning 38-24.   We watched Cincinnati fade like frost in front of the sun as BYU burned through their defense, fired down the field and stepped across the goal line again and again and again.



Fun stats:
* BYU held Cincinnati, ranked the nation’s 5th best offense, to just 341 total offensive yards, more than 100 yards less than its previous season low of 446 yards.
* Before playing BYU, Cincinnati had only allowed 6 QB sacks the entire season.   BYU sacked their QB 8 times.

There were many game highlights.   We had some highlights of our own.  

They do a “Player Walk” before each home game where the BYU football players walk from their bus down the sidewalk and into LaVell Edwards Stadium.   Supportive fans line the sides and cheer.  Many people hold out their hands and many players “high five” the held-out hands.   “I got to touch Mitch Matthew’s hand!” Miles said again and again and again.

In The Tent Grace was reluctant to try the specialty drinks, fearing that they contained alcohol.    At BYU!!!  When she learned that they don’t even sell caffeinated drinks on campus she decided that she wants to attend BYU.  “Now that is my kind of environment,” she said.

During the pre-game feast BYU cheerleaders meandered through The Tent.    Miles said something about taking a photo with them but when Lance said, “Let’s go” he lost his nerve.   When Lance reminded him of a conversation they’d had earlier in the week about not letting shyness steal opportunities he found the nerve again.   They got a cute shot with a couple cute cheerleaders.  Later one of the cheerleaders with whom he’d posed sought his eyes with hers and gave him a personal wave.

Cooper loved the dipping chocolate and it showed.   He had chocolate almost literally from ear to ear.   Sara loved the special feeling she got when attendants in “fancy white shirts” handed her ice cream in the stadium and she really, REALLY loved getting the large tube of foot cream the NuSkin represented gifted her as she exited The Tent.

Thanks to a little help from our friends, we all wore BYU blue.   As Lance put donned a BYU shirt for perhaps the first time in his life he said, “I may lose my inheritance for doing this.”    He may not have loved wearing a BYU shirt but he did love seeing Miles’ eyes dance as he watched the game.

I loved standing and singing the BYU fight song—“Rise and shout the Cougars are out”—again and again and again in the fourth quarter.   Being in the stadium as BYU pulled out another classic come-from-behind win was electric.  Being there with my family was even better.    Being in the stadium, sharing with my family, AND being pampered in an out-of-our-world way was the best.  

Thank you, Jeanna and Company, for what was, in Miles’ words “the best day of my life.”  Feel the LOVE!

Love,
Teresa

P.S.  If Lance is, indeed, dis-inherited, will you adopt us?


 

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
1 Comment

Life is a Race

10/11/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
Life has been compared to a race by many (the Apostle Paul—2 Timothy 4:7, 1 Corinthians 9:24—among others).  Life certainly has race-like aspects:  definite start and end point, periods of pushing through pain, occasionally wondering “Why am I here?”, appreciating those who support, knowing that ultimately it is up to you.     Lately the strongest parallel between racing and life is that life races by.    HOLY COW!   Is it October already?
 
Chick has been on his mission a year.    A year.     WOW!  I know where he is (Marysville/Tulalip Indian Reservation, WA) but I can’t really say where the time as gone.
 
Chick started his LDS mission a year ago; Lance started his life mission 50 years ago.    On September 28th (his fiftieth birthday) there were several signs of his aging, including (but not limited to):  hair that is salt and pepper (still more pepper than salt, according to him), a chest that has fallen a bit into his drawers, a hairline that has not receded as much as most of his brothers-in-law, a short term memory that keeps getting PR’s, increased patience and long suffering (wives and daughters give that gift), and banners on the house and the school that announced the event last Monday.
 
First quarter at Ogden Prep will be over this Friday; a fourth of the school year gone.   And we—about 60 students, a double handful of parents, a single handful of teachers, and I—leave for Havasupai next Monday.   The quarter has snuck away from me and the trip has snuck up on me.
 
There was nothing sneaky about Driver’s Ed; it was blatantly obnoxious.  Grace and Tanah completed the classroom portion Thursday.  No more arriving at school before 6:30 a.m.  (Unlike Seminary, tardies were not optional because the doors locked at 6:30 a.m.  and more than 2 absences meant they had to repeat the course.)  I must say, the weeks of early morning drop-offs at Roy High seemed to last forever—definitely more of an endurance race than a sprint.
 
The girls, all three of our daughters, certainly seem to sprint from activity to activity.   Grace’s cross country season ended Friday.   Sara was awarded a letter in tennis at a banquet Tuesday.   Tanah performed in a choir concert Monday.    Saturday Sara spent her day at Lagoon and Grace played her last soccer game of the fall season.   Tanah spent Friday night as a volunteer Spider Lady at a local corn maze.  Last week Sara was a defensive lineman in the Powder Puff game,  Tanah, dressed as Queen Agravaine (“Once Upon a Mattress), rode a horse in the Homecoming Parade, and Grace and Sara went “stag” together to the Homecoming Dance.  Tanah, accompanied by Caleb, also attended the Homecoming Dance.
 
Miles recorded the fastest mile time in the 6th grade Friday (6:45.01).    It wasn’t a sprint but he did lap all the walkers and several joggers.
 
Sprinting or running a long distance, supporters are priceless.     I spend a lot of time racing to and fro (figuratively and literally) at Ogden Preparatory Academy.   Recently an email from Amie, my boss, boosted my race.  The message said, “Teresa,  Suzy is very concerned about you, which in turn concerns me.  I do not want you to feel unsupported.  Please let me know how you are.” 
 
WOW.  I am fine, I really am, but the email brought tears to my eyes.  It felt so nice to have someone proactively looking after me.   I look after students, children, a husband (he is 50, you know!), friends, neighbors, members of the ward, etc… and it was so, SO nice to have someone looking after me.    I was touched by Amie’s message and seriously surprised at how much it meant to me.
 
Thank you, Amie, for looking after me.   Truthfully, there are a lot of people looking after me.    Just yesterday Tanah sent me to bed while she did dishes and made dinner,  Rita brought me dog food (for Zorro, actually) and Jeanna and Chris gifted me football tickets and a treasured chance to chat.    Thank you to all of you.
 
By default, we are all racers.   May we be supporters as well.  

Teresa


Picture
Picture
Birthday "Boy"
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Above: Beauty Salon Below: Beauties
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Not all linemen are this cute!!!
Picture
1 Comment

    Author

    Teresa Hislop
    thislop@msn.com

    Archives

    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    September 2012
    August 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.