Gratitude is Happiness Doubled by Wonder

  Bonnie and I have been looking forward to a 6-day float trip on the Colorado River. We started near Moab last Monday and ended 96 miles later at the upper end of Lake Powell. During the 6 days and 5 nights, we had NO Internet access, so it was a kind of forced solitude. That was part of the attraction and blessing! For the first three days, we covered 47 miles. During this stretch, the river drops approximately one foot per mile - it is wide and calm. Then we passed the confluence with the Green River, and entered Cataract Canyon, famous for its rapids - dramatically different from the start! (More on those later.) I loved playing with the little 1-person inflatable kayaks our tour company ( Holiday River Expeditions ) made available. They are light and stable, very fun. And I could move quite a bit faster than the large rafts loaded with people, food, fresh water, and gear. One of my favorite things was to paddle over to the far side of the wide river, far from the rafts, and...

  For the past 248 days, I have shared a #GiveThanks post each day. It continues to be a joyful experience for me, and has helped my attitude and outlook in many ways. But I'm going to be without Internet access for the rest of this week, so I'll be taking a little break. I hope to check back in on Saturday evening. In the mean time, friends, please take care of yourself, of each other, and of our precious and beautiful world. See you again soon! I #GiveThanks for the blessing of an opportunity to escape, recharge, refocus, and renew. Adventure awaits!

  I took the attached photo on Timpanogos a year ago. The thought speaks more powerfully to me now than ever. How blessed we are to live in a world that includes such beauty, to steal our breath or leave us speechless! I #GiveThanks for the chance to experience, and appreciate, beauty - and to express gratitude for the Creator of all things bright and beautiful!

  Driving on the freeway today in Utah County, there was a message on one of those traffic advisory billboards that warn you of crashes or delays ahead, and sometimes just give driving advice. It said: IT'S A CAR NOT A HANDCART USE THE BLINKER Good chuckle! I was reminded that today is "Pioneer Day" in Utah, when we commemorate the arrival of the first pioneers in the valley in 1847. I was also reminded that blinkers are considered to be optional and unnecessary accessories by too many. I could ponder and discuss either of those two impressions, but I'm more inclined to honor my own pioneer ancestors, and the others of that era who laid foundations for our time and demonstrated so many qualities I admire. I have ancestors who "crossed the plains" in wagons - none from the handcart groups that I am aware of. But they suffered plenty of challenges and hardships, must more than I am used to in my life. My second-great grandmother, Lucy Simmons Groves, ...

  I confess that I LOVE the Olympics. I love the drama, the excitement and suspense, the human elements, and the accomplishments of people who are so devoted to developing and perfecting skills, many times overcoming serious obstacles in the process. To borrow a phrase from the old ABC "Wide World of Sports" program, it's "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat." But it's also the pride of the competition, of seeing individuals do their best and frequently achieve or surpass their goals. I read that NBC will broadcast and stream a total of 7,000 hours of competition events for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. SEVEN THOUSAND HOURS of events to choose from, in 339 different events, over the course of a little over two weeks!! If I watched 16 hours a day for 16 days I would see only 256 hours out of the 7000 - less than 4% of the total. I think I could almost stay glued to the TV that much if it were possible, but there are a lot of other things competing for my...

  Today I relived a memory from my youth. After a visit to the Payson Temple, we drove over to the nearby Emerald Turf Farm. Once when I was just a lad, I was there visiting my friend Mark DeHart at his dad's farm. We were out exploring and wandered into an irrigation canal, dry at the time as I recall, but a fun place for boys to explore. One of us spotted a snake - not sure if it was a water snake, garter snake, etc. - but definitely not a rattler. I thought it would be fun to pick it up, and grasped it by the end of its tail. As I lifted the snake, it took about a millisecond for him to whip his head around and sink his fangs into the fleshy area at the base of my thumb. Ouch! It took me about another millisecond to drop the snake and let it slither on its way. I don't remember how old we were at the time. But I do know we were highly trained cub scouts. EVERYONE knows that when you're bitten by a snake, you have to cut an "X" over the fang marks and then suck ...

>   When I was young, there was no Walmart, no KMart, no Target, no Costco. There was definitely no Amazon or eBay, no searching the Google marketplace. (At this point my son would say, and there was no dirt either since you are older than dirt.) It was a very different commercial world! There was not a lot of importing either, and getting foreign brands was very difficult. My maternal heritage is German. We would occasionally get treats from the "German Store" in SLC that were imported from Europe. We were fans of gummy bears LONG before they became popular - they were unknown among the typical American consumer, but the Kenison children loved them (and sometimes shared them with their friends!). "Ice Cubes" were another of our favorites - creamy smooth milk chocolate, so different from any other chocolate available, and especially better than the American stuff! We learned to look on packages for the key phrase, "Made in West Germany" - and we knew th...

  These photos were all taken during a hike today in the Uintas - four different trees in various stages of their post-life journey. I love observing nature "at work" as I hike, and this is a fascinating component of the cycle of life. A fallen tree gradually decomposes and decays, acting as host for a variety of organisms (insects, fungi, bacteria, etc.) over time, and eventually returning crucial nutrients to the soil. This process takes many years, often decades, depending on the kind of wood and the environmental conditions where the tree falls. In essence, the forest is self-nourishing through this process (and other related ones). No one needs to add artificial fertilizer to keep a forest growing strong; in normal situations, it just needs to be left alone, and it will continue to thrive. (Sometimes fires participate in this process as well, but that's another topic.) I #GiveThanks for the amazing creation we observe as we immerse ourselves in nature. "Mother ...

  There are different approaches to "experiencing the outdoors." Different times and settings require different gear and planning. In both of the attached photos, I am prepared for a couple of days of "adventure" - in different ways. I love the thrill of backpacking - knowing that I am carrying on my back everything I need to stay alive for several days - food, clothing, shelter, emergency supplies. There is a thrill to this kind of adventure that is hard to beat. I also love the new mode Bonnie and I are enjoying together in retirement. A trailer gives a kind of freedom to travel and explore at a much lower cost than airplanes and hotels, plus the opportunity to experience the countryside while getting to your destination. It's perhaps a little more comfortable for middle-aged folks who get sore after a night or two on the ground! "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven" - a time to backpack into the wilderness, and...

  Today is our anniversary, and I #GiveThanks for the blessing of a permanent and lasting companion! We've been working on this marriage thing since July 18, 1987, and we're continuing to learn how to make it work through the opportunities and challenges. It's been a fascinating and interesting transition to go from meeting on the job and working together, to dating and marriage, through the years of raising children, to separate careers, then to our shared mission time. Now we're into the first "true retirement" period as we're both home and relatively unencumbered, looking for the way to balance our individual interests and our shared priorities. The adventure continues! We've had our share of ups and down along the way - raising two wonderful children and then feeling the unmatched joy of our seven grandchildren; supporting each other in Church callings, other volunteer activities, and employment; traveling together through the country and internat...

Another on my list of favorite trees (yes, I am a casual amateur botanist ) is the quaking aspen, or "Populus tremuloides" - don't you love that Latin name, and the "trembling" species descriptor? I love the leaves that tremble and quake in every slight breeze, and the beautiful smooth white bark of the trunks. I love how the leaves turn into shining gold in the autumn. Probably because the tree grows fast, the wood is soft and not very strong. It's not good for campfires or for construction. So this is not a perfect tree - but perfection is pretty elusive in any category, isn't it? And of course there is Utah's famous Pando - said to be the largest known single organism on earth. This massive grove near Fish Lake in central Utah grows from a single root system, with tens of thousands of genetically identical trees all having sprouted from that single source that is several thousand years old. Pando is estimated to weigh something like 13,000,000 po...

  The first attached photo is how I often take pictures of children. The second is how I should more often do it! See the difference? My grandchildren are used to me taking photos of them while I'm standing above them, and they usually just ignore me. But when I got down on the ground to take these photos, they asked, "Why are you doing that??" I told them I wanted to see what the world looked like down on their level! Children live on a different "plane" of existence from adults, physically and in other ways. The world often looks a whole lot different from 2 feet than it does from 6 feet! And of course, the world looks very different from the mental and emotional perspective of a 2-year-old than from a 16-year-old, and certainly from a 64-year-old. It's healthy and helpful for us, now and then, to "change levels" - to try to see things through the eyes of children or teens, or someone from a different culture or background than we have. We learn ...

My father, Walter David Kenison, was born in July 15, 1919 - 102 years ago today. I only got to help him celebrate 7 of his 45 birthdays on this earth; how I wish there had been more! I've pondered today what it means to be a father. My Dad had very little time to make a difference in my life - to teach me lessons, pass on his wisdom, share experiences and insights. But yet, the influence of who he was and what was important to him made a significant difference to me for many years after his passing, and I believe still does. Fatherhood is not just the biological creation of a life; it's also so many aspects of defining the meaning and quality of that life. I am who I am today, partly because my father was who he was. I #GiveThanks for a noble heritage, and for the privilege of passing on a portion of that to those who come next in the ongoing progression of lives! Each of us who is privileged to play a part in one of those "trees" should live our life knowing that w...

I previously wrote about the Giant Sequoia tree growing in the park near our home in Orem, Utah. There's another tree near it, equally fascinating in a different way. This tree is sometimes called a "living fossil." Trees in the order Ginkgoales are believed to have existed since 290 million years ago, and fossils from the Ginkgo genus that are almost identical to the modern tree (see the one I own in the photos) with the distinctive fan-shaped leaves date back to the Middle Jurassic age, approximately 170 million years ago. This single species, the "Ginkgo biloba", is the only one that survives today from that ancient group. Even though Ginkgo trees were once very common based on the extensive fossil record, their distribution shrank and the tree was actually considered to be extinct in the wild, until it was rediscovered growing in two limited areas in eastern China. But it had been cultivated and preserved in southern China for centuries; it has been establis...

I love grandkids. I love mountains. Which do I love more? Easy - BOTH. I love it more when I am with grandkids in the mountains! We recently had some warranty repairs done on our trailer and wanted to test them out. We were able to persuade our son and daughter-in-law to lend us a couple of assistants for a quick overnight to the Uintas - great start to the week! And to make things better, we're looking forward to some mountain time with grandkids from the other family later this week!! I #GiveThanks for mountains. And for grandkids. And for the privilege of being an grandparent, sharing things I love with people I love!    

"Pops, what happened?" "What do you mean, Daxton?" "Well, the fire was pretty much burned out just a minute ago. Now it's burning fast again! Are you magic?" "Yes, I am! You knew that already, right son?" "No really - what happened?" "Well, remember how the logs were all spread out while we were cooking marshmallows, with hot coals in the middle?" "Yea... and then it kinda all died." "Well, when we were done with the marshmallows, I took a stick and gathered all the parts of the burnt wood and the coals that were around the pit into one place, turned them over so the parts that were less burned were in the middle - and then together, they had enough heat and fuel to burn strong again!" "Wow Pops, that is kind of magic!" "Yes, I suppose it is. But you know what - people are just like the logs of the fire." "What do you mean?" "Sometimes if we get too spread out and far...