River Trip 2014

On Tuesday we decided to go floating down the Salt River for Tristyn's sixteenth birthday. The summer is almost over and school was starting, so that was really the last day to make the trip. After taking her to lunch and finding a life jacket for Miss Trulie, we were on our way. We piled in the cars with drinks and tubes and off we went. After airing up the tubes and walking down to the river, it was around four o'clock, perfect timing. We pretty much had the whole river to ourselves. Candi, B.J. and their boys were tied together, Mindi, Tristyn and I were together and Dave and the boys were all tied up too. B.J. had called up to see what the floating conditions were and they warned us it was running pretty slow. We spent a lot of the time skimming our butts along the rocks but the water was cool and the sun was shining and we were all together. I remember as a teenager floating with friends and church activities. One of the worst sunburns I ever had was floating down the river, I'm older and smarter now. I took my old crappy camera to take some pictures in case it got wet or fell in the river so my pictures aren't that great. Trace and Troy had a blast looking under the water for fish and they was determined to find something of value. Poor Trent was upset the whole time, in tears and had anxiety so bad. We kept asking him why he was so upset. He finally shared that he was afraid his little brother was going to drown because he kept getting off his tube and looking under the water, poor Trent. On the way up we were talking about when a boy in our ward drowned at the river. They had gone up for Family Home Evening and his shoelace got caught on some rebar at the bridge. His brothers tried desperately to save him but the river was running so fast they couldn't save him. It was a sad time for everyone in our ward. He was my son Ethan's age and it impacted all of us so much that when Kamber drowned, it brought up lots of bad memories for us. But, life goes on and we try and do everything we can to be safe and then pray nothing tragic will happen. I'm so thankful for my family. They were so kind to me getting me in and out of a tube was hard. Walking up the path to the car was hard with my bad hip and knees but Dave and B.J. were so kind to get me up and out. Today I have an appointment with my hip surgeon to see about why I'm still having such a hard time walking. I really need some inspiration or revelation on this one. Do I take a chance at another surgery in hope is will get better? Or do I just carry on the way it is using a cane and at some point being in a wheelchair? Life has a cruel way of teaching us to be humble and prayerful.