Happy Pioneer Day - Celebrating a Rich Heritage

Members of a Wagon Train along the Mormon Trail

In 1847, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (nicknamed "The Mormons") arrived in the Salt Lake Valley and settled.  July 24 is a state holiday in Utah (Pioneer Day) and is celebrated annually with many Days of '47 events including a parade, marathon run, fireworks, etc.  I have always loved stories of these stalwart people who sacrificed much for their beliefs.  In honor of Pioneer Day this year, I thought I would honor a few of these fine individuals who through bloodline or marriage, have a treasured spot on my family tree.

Jefferson Hunt was a captain with the Mormon Battalion.  As Mormons left Illinois in 1846 and journeyed through Iowa, the U.S. government asked men to enlist and travel south to participate in the Mexican-American war. Many men signed up to go despite the fact that the same U.S. government had not supported them while they lost property and were driven from their homes.  Jefferson's family didn't want to be separated from him, so they went along.  Several women accompanied the group and cooked and did washing for the company.  It was an arduous journey from Iowa to San Diego, California.  Jefferson Hunt was the captain of Company A, and two of his sons served under him.  His son Marshall, at age 17, was one of the youngest members of the Mormon Battalion.

Jefferson Hunt

Charity Arms was born in Sutton, Vermont. She married Joshua Everts and together they moved from the US to Canada to homestead.  She and Joshua became members for the LDS church and relocated to Illinois.  Charity suffered many trials in her life, including losing many children and her husband, Joshua, who died in an accident in Illinois.  She married John Thomas Prows.  He became disaffected with the LDS church, and left her before her journey westward.  Charity managed to assemble the supplies she would need to travel to Utah with young children, and made the journey in 1849.  Charity married again, this time to William Lewis, a Welsh immigrant.  They had two children, one of whom lived to adulthood.  Later, she and William parted ways, and Charity settled in Oak City, Utah.  From Canada to Oak City, and everywhere in between, Charity suffered many hardships, however she never wavered in her faith, and was devoted to her family.  Her life story is one of courage in the face of many challenges.

Memorial for Charity Arms Everts in Oak City, Utah

Lastly, Daniel Wood was a captain of 50 in an early Mormon wagon train.  He settled in Utah in an area now known as Woods Cross.  He was born in 1800 in New York, and died at the age of 92 in Utah.  He built buildings, organized musical groups, educated his children, and served in church assignments.  He had a large family, and remained faithful to his religious beliefs.  When he and his family were driven from their home in Missouri and were traveling to Illinois in horrible weather, Daniel sought a place for his family to take shelter.  He inquired about renting a vacant house. The man he spoke to asked if he were a Mormon.  Despite the danger of identifying himself with the LDS church in that moment, Daniel said yes, he was Mormon.  He did not hesitate.  The man allowed him to use the house because of his honesty.

Daniel Wood

I am grateful to have a wonderful heritage, and I celebrate my ancestors who traveled from England, Denmark, and Prussia so I could be here today.  I am especially grateful to those who recorded their histories so their stories are preserved for me and my children.

Who is on your family tree?

Navigating Life With A Broken Ankle

I recently broke my ankle (fibula fracture) on a beautiful beach on Maui.  Yes, it was the dreaded vacation injury.  I would love to tell you I had a spectacular surfing accident, or something equally glamorous, but I just slipped at a tide pool on some wet rocks, and my right ankle bent behind me and I felt that ominous POP!

My foot swelled up and had a lot of bruising.

If you are dealing with a broken ankle, here are some tips I have picked up along the way.

Contact your insurance carrier.  We did not do this first, but did contact our carrier shortly after I had treatment.  If you are injured on vacation, you may need to pay your bills up front, and then submit the receipts for reimbursement.  Your insurance company may have an agreement with a particular doctor or facility where you are traveling, so it is a good idea to contact them if you want your treatment covered. My insurance carrier was able to help me find an orthopedic surgeon and get an appointment so I could be seen right after returning home.

If you break your ankle on vacation as I did, seek medical attention immediately.  Rather than going to an emergency room, I was able to get x-rays and a diagnosis at Doctors On Call on Maui.  They sent me on my way with a boot, crutches, and instructions to keep my weight off my foot.  Crutches are a necessary evil, and I found my skills on them were extremely rusty. To salvage our vacation,  I rented a wheelchair from "Wild Wheeled Wentals" on Maui and highly recommend their services.  They delivered the wheelchair to me, and picked it up from our hotel after we left the island.

My wheels on Maui

Ask your hotel if you can have different accommodations.  Ours moved me from a second floor room accessible only by stairs to a ground-floor room with a handicapped accessible bathroom.  This was a huge help on our trip.

Contact your airlines.  The doctor wrote me a "prescription" for extra leg-room for our flight home.  United Airlines had a "disability desk" and was able to move our entire family to a row with more leg room for our flight home at no charge.  They also arranged for me to be transported through airports and security by wheelchair, and had attendants waiting at the jetway every time I de-planed.  We did have to make these arrangements more than 48 hours before departure, so the earlier you contact your carrier, the better.  Note: if going through airport security in a wheelchair, you will be subjected to the dreaded TSA screening.  They should give t-shirts after, indicating you survived!

Icing and elevating my broken ankle.

There is no substitute for elevation.  Elevate your injured ankle above your waist as much as possible, and ice it when you can.  Ice melts pretty quickly on Maui, but we did our best.  Expect your ankle to swell quite a bit while flying.  Elevating it as much as you can at home will help the swelling diminish.

My x-ray two weeks after surgery.

My particular injury created ankle instability that could best be rectified by surgery.  My fibula now has a plate and 5 screws.  After surgery I was in a splint for 2 weeks, and now have a neon-green cast.  After the cast I will have a boot and crutches.  Plan on several weeks of No Weight Bearing (NWB).  This is inconvenient to say the least, but there are accessories that can help.  My doctor gave me the proper forms to get a temporary tag from the DMV that allows me to park in handicapped parking spaces. Your DMV will probably have forms online that you can print and have your doctor sign if he does not offer you this service.  My doctor's office also called in a "prescription" for me to rent a knee-scooter from a home health service.  This makes it possible for me to get out and about a bit, and makes life easier around the house.  I can now prepare my own food, for example, because I can stand on my good leg with the knee of my injured leg on the scooter and keep my hands free.

Borrow other useful equipment as much as you can.  If you can borrow crutches, a shower chair, a toilet extension seat, an ice machine, or anything else to help you through your healing process, do it.  If not, consider buying or renting items that may make your life easier.  Ask around...you might be surprised how many people you know who have had a knee replacement or foot injury, and they may have supplies you could use. You will find your muscles get stronger, and using the crutches, scooter, and getting up and down from a seated position on one leg will get easier. It is still a lot of work!

A shower stool is a huge help!

Follow your doctor's instructions.  After my surgery, I was told to keep my ankle elevated the first three to four days.  I was told to get up only for meals and to use the bathroom.  This is a great time to catch up on movies or tv shows you may have missed, or tackle some books you have been meaning to read.  Also, after surgery, I found I slept a lot the first few days.  It is ok to rest and give your body time to heal.  Once you are able to get up and around more, continue to elevate the ankle a few times a day whenever possible.

A toilet extender with handles can also be a big help.

Although my doctor said taping a plastic bag around my leg for showering should work fine, I was given some cast covers made by Curad that have been wonderful.  Think of a giant "Christmas stocking" bag that fits over your cast and fits tightly around your leg below the knee.  These have kept my leg nice and dry while showering.

I keep a stool in my bathroom to sit on while brushing my teeth, applying make-up, etc.

Accept help.  I am practicing saying "yes" to people who have offered to help me with meals, cleaning, driving children around, and more.  I am fortunate enough to have capable family members in my home who can do most of these things for me, but have appreciated help from family, friends, and neighbors as well.

Watch for a progress report when I am "weight-bearing" and starting physical therapy!

Gymnastics and Other Life Skills

Aly Raisman

I don't agree with the philosophy that "everything I needed to know I learned in kindergarten."  However, I have learned that skills I acquired years ago and never thought I would use again come in handy in unexpected moments.  Let me give you an example.

When I was in a junior high PE class, I had to complete a unit on gymnastics.  Every girl in the class had to "test" on a combination of  bars, floor, vault, or balance beam. Now, my grades were really important to me, and I wanted to be successful in this class, but it became clear early on that I possessed neither the gymnastics experience nor the physical gifts necessary to succeed on the different apparatus.  My upper body strength wasn't good enough for bars.  Vault was a joke.  That left me beam and floor.  I had some rudimentary tumbling skills (I could do a cartwheel, a somersault, a backbend, etc.) and I had decent balance, but my hopes of an "A" grade in this class were fading fast.  The beam routine I thought I could master involved simple steps, one "leap" where my front foot and back foot traded places, simple turns, etc.  One skill on the list was a "knee scale."  I had no idea what that was.  So, summoning all my 8th grade courage, I asked my gym teacher how to do a knee scale.  When her verbal explanation failed to make sense to me, she offered to demonstrate it.  Placing one knee and lower leg on the beam, she raised her other leg straight out behind her, and attempted to lift her arms off the beam.  She immediately lost her balance, and made a comment to me like "you get the idea," and that was the end of my gymnastics instruction.  However, a light bulb went off in my head.  If I could master a knee scale, maybe I could pull a decent grade in PE after all!  On test day, I balanced on the beam in a knee scale, arms outstretched, and completed the rest of my beam skills.  A gymnast I am not, but the PE teacher gave me an "A" for being able to do something she couldn't!

Girl demonstrating a knee scale.  I had to do one lifting my arms off the beam.

Fast forward MANY years later.  I have never needed a knee scale as a life skill until now.  I broke my ankle a couple weeks ago, and am zipping around my home on a knee scooter.  The position of my leg on the scooter is similar to that of my leg on the beam in a knee scale.  When I get out of the shower and am drying off, I find the ability to balance on a knee on the scooter to be quite useful.  Who knew I would be doing a variation of a knee scale in adulthood?  (Now, I am not sure balancing on a knee scooter is a recommended usage, but there are times when it comes in handy.  I recommend locking the brake if you do this at home.)

Man using a knee scooter.

What are some skills you acquired in childhood that have been surprisingly useful to you as an adult?

Hiking the Emerald Pools at Zion National Park

We took a couple of days over spring break and headed south to warmer temperatures and Zion National Park.  I had not been to Zion in many years, and I was looking forward to re-acquainting myself with this wonderful park.  The shuttle system was up and running as the park geared up for peak tourist season, and so we parked at the base of the canyon, hopped a shuttle, and headed into Zion.

 

Shuttle at Zion National Park

The shuttles run frequently and stop at every major point up the canyon.  Drivers narrate your journey and point out vistas, geology, climbers, and wildlife along the way.  We did have to wait in a line to catch our first shuttle, but the line moved quickly.  I was skeptical of using the shuttles, but they were pretty convenient, and I can see why they are the only efficient way to handle the volume of visitors to Zion National Park. 

Zion Lodge

For the Emerald Pools hike, we got off the shuttle at the Zion Lodge stop.  The trailhead is across the street from the lodge, and is clearly marked.  At the lodge, you can pick up small necessities that you forgot before beginning your hike, like sunscreen or sunglasses. Zion National Park does not sell bottled water, however, you may purchase a reusable bottle and fill it with spring water at the lodge.  We made sure our bottles were full before beginning our hike.

Sign directing visitors to the trailhead.

We crossed a bridge over the Virgin river at the beginning of the hike.  The hike to the Lower Pool is pretty easy, and many families were on the trail as we set out.

View of the Virgin river

Once you cross the footbridge, turn right and follow the paved trail to the lower pool.  The trail to the first pool is paved, and the elevation gain is under 70 feet.  The first pool is just over half a mile away.  When we arrived, we were a bit disappointed in the muddy color of the pool.  I am not sure if these pools are a different color at another time of year, but in April, the description of "emerald" seemed a misnomer.

Not very "emerald" lower pool.

Water falls over the canyon wall from the middle pool to the lower pool and it is very beautiful.  It also provides a cooling mist.  Be careful on the trail here, as the pavement can be wet and slick.

Water cascading to the lower pool.

We decided to hike to all of the pools on this trail, and continued on up the trail.  Once arriving at the Middle Pools, we found if you take the time to wander up around the pools, you get a better view.  The trail here is not particularly well-marked, but there were so many people, it was easy to tell which way to go.

The Middle Pool of the Emerald Pools.

The trail to the Upper Pools is marked as "moderate" in the park newspaper.  Since I was still recovering from cancer treatments, I wasn't up to much of a challenge, but I decided to give this hike a try.  Unlike the Lower Pool trail, this trail is not paved, and has more of an ascent, but it is not long, and I managed it just fine.

Me and my son on the trail to the Upper Pool

We passed through a very short slot on the way to the Upper Pool.  I wouldn 't really call it a slot "canyon", but it was still fun to walk through it on our hike.

Upper Pools at Zion National Park

During rainy weather, I am sure these pools can fill up quite a bit.  The pool next to the canyon wall in the background of the photo is wider and deeper than the small pool in the foreground.  There was a good-sized crowd here, but there were plenty of boulders around for kids to climb on.  Many people found a spot to sit and just enjoy the scenery or have a snack.  This was a very enjoyable hike.

Water running down the canyon wall to the Upper Pool.

It was pleasantly warm during our hike, and we carried water and snacks with us.  The one drawback of not having your car in the canyon for the day is having to plan what you will need and carry it with you so you don't have to take the shuttle all the way back to your car.  However, with a little forethought and the help of the park map, you can easily plan your day.  Food is available at the Zion Lodge, and water and bathrooms are available at several of the shuttle stops.  Once we finished our hike, we bought ice cream cones at the lodge, then hopped back on the shuttle and continued up the canyon.  Stay tuned for more about our visit to Zion National Park!

For more on Zion National Park and this hike, check out the park website here.

National Poetry Month - Langston Hughes

"Unburdened" - 24" x 32" oil by Greg Newbold

Shearing Time

It must be nice to be a sheep

With nothing to do but graze and sleep.

But when it's time the wool to shear,

That poor old sheep bleats, "Oh, dear!"

--Langston Hughes

It is springtime, shearing time, and National Poetry Month.  What better way to celebrate than with this great little poem by Langston Hughes, a truly talented American poet!

For more on Langston Hughes, click here.

Thanks to Greg Newbold for permission to use the image of his amazing painting, "Unburdened."

For more about the creation of this painting, visit Greg's blog here.