Finding Joy in the Journey

On Sunday, President Monson talked about appreciating the time you have now instead of always wanting the future to arrive. He said to "find joy in the journey." He said a lot of things that made me think, but the following section especially affected me:

"If you’re still raising children, beware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled, will disappear all too soon and that you will, to your surprise, miss them profoundly. Stresses in our lives come regardless of our circumstances. We must deal with them the best we can but we should not let them get in the way of what is most important and what is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they must know how much we love them but we should never assume, we should let them know." 

He then went on to quote Harriet Beecher Stowe, who said, "the bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone."

My new resolve: Show more love and gratitude.

In an attempt to start finding joy in the journey, Greg and I took our "tiny fingerprinter" on a little trip to the Snake River. 

Yes, you read the above sign correctly. The park was named after Richard Leigh, nicknamed "Beaver Dick," a trapper who was famous on the west side of the Tetons. He was known as one of the last real mountain men. Anyway, enough with the history lesson. We grabbed a pizza and headed out to Beaver Dick for some fun by the river. Parker, as you can see below, was the first to dig in.

Yummy yummy pizza!

Parker had fun by the water, but it was tough to keep him from getting in the water!

Parker randomly climbed this wooden platform and decided to do a little dance for us. It was pretty funny. Too bad we didn't catch it on film.

We found a little park with swings and a slide. I nicknamed it "Recycled Park." You will see what I mean below. What is in Greg's hand... not sand, not bark, but rubber of some kind! It looked like a bunch of chewed up tires and this is what they used to cover the playground. It was very bouncy to walk on, but at least it didn't give anyone splinters!

Here's the other reason for my created nickname. What are those... recycled sewer pipes?

Ha ha! Parker loved them!

On our way home, we stopped at G's Dairy Delights for some ice cream. They even had cute kid-sized chairs for Parker to sit in!

Parker got up on a step stool to look at the flavors. For some reason, he didn't think to STEP back down and he fell over right after I took this picture. Poor guy. I think he was more embarrassed than anything. Still, it was a fun evening. I am definitely finding joy in the journey!