cc: file, Grandma Hafen via Tony Hafen, Pauline Nelson via mail, Sara and Des Penny, Claude and Katherine Warner, and Lloyd and Luana Warner.
"Welcome Bridget. Hope something I write proves useful for you. For the rest of you, Bridget has started college at Bryn Mawr near Philadelphia. Uncle Des tells me Bryn Mawr is Welsch for a large hill and there is no hill to be seen. Bridget, it will be nice to hear from you every once in a while, and maybe you can tell us all about what you are learning up there. With your permission I will pass on comments, like I do from Paul and Roice and others who are spatially separated and electronically tied.
This was my second Labor Day to spend with the Adolph and Nellie Hafen Family Reunion in Pinto, Utah. Roice drove up from Los Angeles to go to the reunion with me. When we went to Porter's Nursing Home to pick Mom, the head nurse said, 'Where is Pinto?' I said 'On the way to Enterprise.' She said, 'Where's that?' I said 'Past Veyo.' She responded, 'I know where Veyo is.' I was suprised. I thought everyone knew where Enterprise is. Then as we drove to Pinto I took the wrong turn and went to Grassy Flat instead of Grass Valley. Roice didn't say anything, and he still gave me a bad time. When I finally got us on the right road and said it is not that much further along, someone asked 'How much further is it?' And I confidently said 'It is just a couple of more miles, and you need to remember I took the wrong turn back by Pine Valley.' Roice said, 'I wasn't going to mention it, but since you brought it up.' Oh well! Guess I need to admit you kids do know how far from perfect I am.
Since Roice and I are the only ones of our immediate family who have been to Pinto, I will strive to describe it a little. I don't know the origin of the name. However, Melanie wil remember when we went to Aberdeen with Johnny Pinto from Veneazuela, I asked him the origin of his name. He said 'It is Spanish.' He thought it had to do with something to do with being spotted, like a Pinto horse or a Pinto bean. Those of the Hafen family I asked did not know the origin of the name. However, they agreed with me that it is close to the trail that Father Escalante took when he made the first European exploration of Southern Utah. Maybe the name dates back to when he and his party came through this part of the world back in the 1700's. Uncle Arlo Hafen said he thought the name came from some wild Pinto horses which were in the area. Whatever the origin of the name, Pinto is beautiful. A desert with a lot of sagebrush and weeds, and still beautiful.
To get here (I am writing this on the porch of the Moss Cabin), you drive south out of St. George towards Enterprise. The road goes along where they have built a running trail for the St. George Marathon, which is the first Saturday of October every year. Both Roice and I were really impressed with the running trail which parallels the highway all the way past Snow's Canyon. Do you all remember when we went to Snow's Canyon, and the boys were climbing on the Jurrasic Navajo sandstone ridges? The sand was aeolean in origin (big old sand dunes like the Saraha Desert today), and the patterns are the same as you find in sand dunes today. In Ben's latest Pseudo-Thoughtlet (http://www.walden3d.com/ptl), he referred to this process of sand dune deposition. He reported how as we sat in the car and watched the rain build up and drizzle down the windsheld in pulses, I pointed out how this is the same way sand falls off the leading lip of a sand dune. Snow's Canyon is one of the most beautiful places in the world. I know because I have scouted the four-corners of earth. I do recognize this is the geologist in me talking. As we went a little further, I pointed to a volcano and said, 'Roice, do you remember climbing that volcano?' He said, 'No way, it's to little. That's too little, when we climbed the volcano it was so big.' I couldn't stop laughing. It is really interesting how our perspective changes as we grow taller.
As we drove through Diamond Valley, I talked to Roice about the land speculator who seeded some of the volcanic tubes in the area with small diamonds, and then sold the land for a big profit. Greed seems to be too consistent of a historical theme. Then we came to Dammeron Valley, and I talked about Roland Lee, and how much I enjoy his water colors. Roice said 'This would sure be a nice place to live. It is really beautiful when you go someplace and there is just a single house light on the horizon.' A little further on we came to Veyo. I explained to Roice about the mineral springs, and the swimming pool where scout groups and Sunday School classes often came to when I was in my youth. He didn't remember ever going there, and yet I seem to remember taking all of us there to swim once. I told him about the hot sulpher springs over by Hurricane. The smell, and yet after swimming there I remember feeling realy good. All of the memories and fun times of the past seemed to flood my memory. It really is wonderful to have had an opportunity to live and love, and even to have lost and to have endured a little.
When we got to Central, we turned to the East on the road to Pine Valley. Surely you all remember the two Paul and Helen Hafen family reunios we had at Pine Valley. Just before we got to Pine Valley, there was a road to the north going to Grassy Flat, which I turned on. When we got to the end of the road and I realized I had made the wrong turn, I asked Mom to describe how to get to Pinto. She said 'You drive out of St. George past Veyo, go to Central, drive up to Pine Valley, look at all of the old houses and kick yourself for not having been smart enough to buy one of them when you could afford it.' Aunt Sara and I laughed to ourselves. As we drove down off of the mountain, we had a beautiful view of Pine Valley, the famous old L.D.S. Pine Valley Chapel, all with heavy rain clouds off to the left (north east). When we got back on the road to Pine Valley, it was only another quarter of a mile and there was a sign pointing north which read 'Pinto 12 miles.' It was an interesting 12 mile drive, to say the least. It rained, the roads were very slick, the road seemed very steep, and Mom and Aunt Sara were very nervous. Roice didn't seem to mind. And we made it. As we arrived at Pinto, the rain stopped.
The main event we came out for seemed to be the meal. The Hafen's definitly know how to put on a feast. Mom had me pick up a couple of chocolate cakes for our contribution. Roice was not that suprised at how many people were here. Earlier in the morning we had crashed a Leavitt reunion, where the Governor, Mike Leavitt, and the Apostle from St. George, Jeffrey Holland, spoke. There was about 1,500 people in the audience. Mike said that just before he was elected his Grandpa pulled him to his bedside and said, 'All you have to do is get all of the people you are related to in Utah to vote for you and you'll be elected for sure.' The Western States Leavitt Association dedicated a statue in the park in Santa Clara to Sarah Sturtevant Leavitt, who was born 200 years ago this year. We missed the story of her life. In the introduction, Dixie Leavitt quoted an observor of early pioneer life who said, 'The Mormen men are strong and the Mormon women are incredible.' There are 4 Leavitt families among the 148 families listed in the Adolph and Nelllie Hafen Family Directory passed out by my Mom's Uncle Arlo at the dinner. Elder Holland mentioned how he would not have been able to attend if the Governor had not given him a plane ride down. Eariler in the morning he had dedicated a replica of the famous Pine Valley Chapel at the Heritage Park by the This is The Place Monument in Salt Lake. Roice and I missed the last of the Leavitt program because it was time to go and pick up Mom. We didn't miss the dinner at the Hafen Reunion though.
I think Mom had a good time. Even though the 12 mile bumpy ride on the dirt road, in addition to the rest of the drive back to St. George made for quite long day in both space and time. After dropping of Mom and the Nursing Home van, Sara took off for Cedar, and Roice and I stopped to see Grandma Hafen, went to Larson's to have another malt (we ate some lunch there, and Roice had a chocolate and banana malt [yuck]), and then we drove back to Cedar.
This morning I slept in until 9:00 Houston time. What a luxury. Of course, we had stayed up until 1:00 Cedar time watching Roice and Brian finish a game of chess. I teased Uncle Des that the reason we were watching the game so intently was because our egos were tied up in which of our kids won. It was a stalemate. Roice finally got up at 9:30 AM Cedar time. Brian wanted to go with us back to Pinto and the Hafen Family Reunion. Aunt Sara and I think he misses Bridget and just wanted to be with Roice. Brian said, 'When are we leaving?' I said, 'In one minute.' He turned on the stop clock on his watch and muttered 'I doubt it.' He was right. It took us two minutes to get in the car and head out.
This time we drove into Pinto from the road between Cear and Enterprise. It has been several years since I have been out to this side of Cedar, and I could not believe how much change there has been. I pointed out Iron Springs, where Bengt Nelson and his new wife Ellyn Johnson spent their first married winter in a dugout in the side of a stream channel. I recalled hearing how they would walk into Cedar every Sunday, carrying their shoes so they wouldn't get worn out. And there was the story we included in the play 'Swedish Roots' about how an indian came into the dugout and threatened Ellyn's life if she didn't give him food. She knew they would not live if she did, and so she refused and the indian left them alone. I believe this was just before the Mountain Meadow Massacre, and might have been part of the reason there was fear of the indians. I've wondered if Bengt was involved in that tragedy. Neither Roice nor Brian were very impressed with the Iron Mines (obviously not geologists). They were too busy reading Calvin & Hobbs. It was a shorter drive to Pinto this way, and still there is a lot of dirt road before you reach the cabins. Pinto is isolated.
We got to the Moss cabin about 10:50 AM. Uncle George and Aunt Lily May Snow were parked just in front of us. Brian and Roice and I sat in the car for a while. Then Roice and Brian went in back of the house and played horse. Roice beat. The sacrament meeting was different than I remembered last year. Last year there was a reading from the diary of William Atkins. This year it was mostly a testimony meeting. I was really touched. Starting with the song, 'We Thank Thee, Oh God, For A Prophet,' and the words:
to the sacrament song, 'Come Follow Me' and the words:
to one of the Moss Familys singing as a family 'I believe there are angels among us' to another Moss Family Couple singing a song about the savior to the testimonies, I found the meeting very touching. The whole experience reminded me of my song, 'I Once Saw A Family':
After sacrament I sat out on the pourch and wrote most of the above. Then Brian and Roice and I went over to the other cabin and ate and talked. I gave out packets from Prime Words which Melanie made for me this summer to Aunt Ethel, Aunt Lily May and Uncle George, Susan Staheli (Aunt Lily May's daughter and a relative by marriage to Todd Staheli), Aunt Melba, Uncle Arlo, and Bob Moss. I hope they enjoy them, just as I hope these paintings become or are meaningful to each of you kids. I have hung Sara's painting up at my office, and I have Melanie's over the fireplace. Melanie has Paul's painting until he gets home, and I realized, sometime during this trip, that you kids could rotate the pictures around so they don't become so boring. Brian and Roice both slept back to St. George.
I woke them up and drove them through Snow's Canyon. What a beautiful place. It does seem smaller than I remember it, and maybe my perspective has changed. On the way back to pick up Mom to go to dinner we drove through Santa Clara. I pointed out the Post Office and the old house. We tried to find the park where the statue is, and didn't. There was a tent building, which was a double dome auditorium, just like the last project Roice had been working on at ASI. He was suprised and yet not suprised. We took Mom to Tony Roma's for dinner. Brian definitly likes ribs. He was in them up to his elbows and from ear to ear. What was amazing was there was not one drop of sauce on his white shirt. Mom was very tired.
We rented Titanic to show Grandma Hafen (.../1998/97??.html). Roice left his keys in Cedar. We ended up only showing Grandma the very beginning of Titanic. She pointed out she does not have as many wrinkles as that lady. She told Roice and Brian about how she got her mission call, and compared her suprise to her surprise about what I had written when I saw Titanic. It was good to see both Mom and Grandma. I will come back out for Thanksgiving, since the court decreed I am not to be with my progeny this year at Thanksgiving. We were too late getting back to Cedar for me to send out my Thoughtlet last night. I got up at 4:15 Utah time, shaved, showered, packed, and left for Salt lake about 5:00. I got to the airport at 8:30, and worked on finishing this up there and on the plane ride to Houston.
All in all it was a very good week. There is a lot of work to do to get ready for the SEG Convention (Society of Exploration Geophysicists). Monday and Tuesday were spent tieing together stuff relative to the demonstrations. Rob came over to Family Home Evening, and didn't go to Seminary this week. Wednesday through Friday I was in Albequerque working on the demonstrations. The weekend I have written about. Tonight Sara came over for Family Home Evening, and she is interested in learning to play the guitar. It was a wonderful evening. As far as work goes, I do find the things we are doing very exciting. I am optimistic it is going to have a big positive impact on the world. This excites me, specifically because you kids are part of the world, because your children will be part of the world, and because I believe the things we are doing at work will help make the world a better place for you and yours. Like Rick Hafen said when he was conducting the Hafen Testimony Meeting: 'We are drinking from wells we have not dug.' I'm glad I have the opportunity to help dig new wells, which I believe can help nourish future generations, even yours and your children's."