Songs I love: My Blessed Canyon Home

I've decided begin featuring some of the songs that mean a lot to me.  The first song I decided to do is "My Blessed Canyon Home" by Jay Richards.

During my time in Cache Children's Choir, I was able to learn this song and begin falling in love with it.  Actually to be honest, I didn't really love the song at first.  It was the choir's theme song and we sung it a ton. The adults would cry, and I always felt a little awkward.

But as I've grown up, I've really come to love it.  A lot.

This song represents so much of what I love:  family, home, beauty, music.

And now, every time I make it to the end of Sardine Canyon to my blessed valley home, this song comes into my head.

My blessed canyon home
Waits long for my return
For long now have I been away
Until my eyes behold
My blessed canyon home
My heart will never rest
For there is waiting the end of journying
The long lonely road I've known
A heart is weary and longs for my return
To my blessed canyon home

In restless youth I longed
To see the world beyond
I heard the fair horizon call
Then left I far behind
My blessed canyon home
To seek my fortune there
I wandered mountainsides green and blossoming
But never did I behold
A valley lovely and ever as fair to see
As my blessed canyon home.

There's just something about home that tugs on your heart.  And brings back memories.  And makes you want to show everyone in the whole world how wonderful it is.

My attempt to show everyone in the world how wonderful it is:

photo cred to bottom right corner :) 

Thanks for reading and appreciating with me.   I'm in love with my blessed canyon home!

Kyra+Joseph+Chicago= :)

Kyra came to visit!!!  It was SO much fun to have another person to hang out with here in Chicago.  

And, she brought Joseph!

We had a good time  :)  

We went on a walk.

This was only one of the MANY puddles Joseph insisted we stop to play in.  "Get in puddle?"
This boy LOVES to put his feet in water.

Joseph is a really smiley boy :)

We went on the Blue Line to downtown.

 Joseph discovered the pigeons.  He was in love.  

We made our way through the city and over to Millenium Park

Fun with reflections

We made our way back on the Blue Line and Joseph just passed out fast asleep.  He was one tired boy. 

Joseph loved hanging out with his uncle Derek.  This was on our way to the swimming pool.  You can bet Joseph was excited :)

(In fact, we actually went swimming twice.  The first day Kyra was here, it was pretty cloudy.  But this didn't stop Joseph from wanting to swim.  So we went out to the pool and it actually started raining!  Still, Joseph played happily through the sprinkling.  Eventually it began to pour pretty heavily and it was time to go in.  This made for a very sad Joseph.) 

We went again the next day and this time Derek got to come too :)

Matching swimsuits!

It's always really sad when you have to come in after swimming. :(

We loved having Kyra and Joseph here!  I was able to learn a couple things:

-Swimming is way more fun when you don't move past the first three steps.

-Nap time is great for two-year-olds, and even better for adults.

-Kyra makes amazing breadsticks

-Movies are better when you watch the same scene multiple times.  "Again?"  "Again?"  But seriously...Joseph had dance moves each time so it was awesome.

-To ride the bus is to have your wildest dreams come true.

-One can be entertained for hours when watching for planes. (good thing we live right by the airport!)

-Sometimes you have to be sneaky and spell certain words like P-U-D-D-L-E or G-R-A-P-E-S

 -Bedtime is a tragedy.

Thanks for everything you taught me, Kyra and Joseph!

All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and with us sing!!! Baaa-Neigh--Moo--Caw!!!

It's going to be hard not to sing my new version of Hymn 62 in Sacrament Meeting.

So, Derek and I went to the Lincoln Park Zoo.  Oh my word.  It was ridiculously fun.

It was kind of cool, because this totally happened:

Thank you, google images for saying exactly what I wanted to say.

But for real!!  I don't know if it was my prejudice towards animals as a kid or that I've just grown up more, but seriously.  Every animal blew my mind.  We saw the rhino and I just kept thinking, "This is REAL!!!"  Like, this is a real animal.  Like, not even a fake one.

Anyway.  For some reason it literally blew my mind.  

ANIMALS ARE AMAZING.  And our Heavenly Father is the most creative Being ever.  Ever.

But before the animals (I know.  You're all waiting.), we're going to show you the cute pictures from our walk to the zoo!!  This street was seriously adorable.  

Fullerton Avenue

Same day, new hair.
Voltaire, hair.  I know.

Now for the moment of pure wonder.  Guys.  Rhinos are HUGE.  

"And who's the funky looking donkey over there?""That's Sven.""Uh-huh, and who's the reindeer?""..Sven." "Oh they're bo- oh! Ok. Makes things easier for me"

Okay.  Derek totally doesn't look like a rhino.  But it seemed to fit.  Bonus Frozen quote for everybody!

Polar bear swimming!  GUYS.  IT WAS REAL.

I never got to see a giraffe in Africa, but I saw some at the zoo!!!

This guy was about the size of a buffalo.  But it's a goat. (No, I didn't look up the name of it.)   Also, I would hate to run into that on the mountain.

What kept blowing my mind is that these animals just like...COME OUT LIKE THIS!!  They're born with the stripes, the spots, it's amazing. (I'm probably about to be contradicted by some expert who tells me that these things don't come til later or something.   But oh well.)  

We tried to find a favorite bird and this guy totally won.  I even learned the name!  it's a Golden Breasted Starling.  It flew past us a couple times in the bird house and it was amazing!!  photo cred:  google images.  #ilovegoogle

Cute boy cute flamingos.

Hard to see.  But it's a gorilla.  Oh my word.  The way they move--so so so much like people.

Anyway.  That's all I'm gonna post but obviously there were tons more animals.  And it was amazing.  That is all.

Let freedom ring!!!

The 4th of July was fantastic.  We started with a ward breakfast and then headed out to the city!  We got lots of fun exploring in. :)

Cloud Gate...aka "the bean"

this is just....cute.  so handsome :)

so...touching.

I was touched by this too.

#beanselfie #photobomb

We kept wandering around the city and found this beautiful garden

And then we found the fountain of youth

We just didn't know what would happen next.

We ate dinner at Fontanos, which according to zagat has the greatest sandwich in America!  It was pretty good :)

 

So busy at Grant Park for the concert.  I love that architecture so much.

Eventually it was time to go to the Butler Field to watch the fireworks from Navy Pier.

We actually went there pretty early just in case it got super crowded.  We waited a couple hours, just hanging out on the grass and watching families play.

I made a crown while we were waiting.  Derek liked it a lot.

beautiful Chicago at night

And then, about half an hour before the fireworks were scheduled to start I had to use the bathroom soooo bad.  We debated for a while and decided this couldn't wait.  So, we rushed back through Millenium Park over to the bathroom.  Oh boy--the line was horrendous.  Women all over were trying to convince the men to let us into their bathroom (I was all for it...like seriously, I feel like they should have twice the bathroom size for women) and the whole line of us was doing the happy dance.

Somehow, I got out alive.  With clean pants. 

And then we ran.  

And we made it!!  We found a good spot, settled down, and waited.

The fireworks started!!!  We soon found out though:  the trees covered the fireworks.  

So we walked to the intersection and watched them happily standing up. :)  

We were so tired, but so happy at the end of the day.

Now a little bit about America.

Sometimes I just sit back in awe about how blessed we are to live in America.  I am protected day to day and do not have to live in fear because brave men and women are willing to leave their homes and loved ones to fight for people like me.  I have the chance to be educated, and in college I have been able to study whatever I wanted to.  Every Sunday I'm able to go to church and not only that, my church has been able to build temples to further worship God.  As I drive across America I see red rock structures and canyons, mountains, swamps, forests, deserts, farmland, lakes, rivers, and beaches.  I see big cities with skyscrapers, suburban neighborhoods, and cities that barely make it on to the map but mean everything to the people who live there.  I see people of all cultures and from all over the world, with stories that blow my mind.

I LOVE America.  I'm so grateful for the inspiration of our forefathers and for the generations of Americans who have kept this nation great.  It's not a perfect country, but it's the land I love.  

Insert fireworks here.  After a speech like that, blowing things up sounds like the right thing to do.

                    

This one involves level 4 rapids and a bear bigger than a human being.

Here's another post I wrote a long time ago.  This trip happened one of our first weeks in Chicago.  Here it is!

It's been a while since we've shared some of our Chicago adventures on here.  And it's about time. :)

Sooooo, in the last little while here's what we've done.

We went rafting in Wisconsin!  With a totally fun group of guys.  I was the only girl but oh boy it was such a blast!  We laughed so much and came back with so many memories.

Photo cred to Nam!  Awesome pictures :)  especially of that fire.

the night before the rafting we stayed in a little cabin in the woods

such a fun group!!!

just about to go!!

Derek and me :)

Highlights of that trip:
-stopping at a subway that was literally the only restaurant we could find.  They were 5 loaves of Italian from being completely out-of-bread.
-late at night still driving up there (and slap happy silly), imagining if a bat flew into our windshield and got stuck, with its teeth into the glass
-sleeping in a tiny cabin together.  four boys and one girl.  It was so fun.
-Level 4 rapids that were craazy!!  And oh so much fun.  Derek talking now:  "Kaylie losing her paddle, and us somehow retrieving it while in the rapids."
-A hilarious guide who thought Derek's name was Duncan.  Suffice it to say that we all called him Duncan the rest of the trip
-Beautiful country and a little ice cream/antique shop run by two little old ladies
-Playing soccer against the girl scouts and river guides. So fun.

Wisconsin cheese!!!  Which we actually ate none of.

But we pretended with string cheese.  On a related note, you can see I married a hottie.

Lots of farmhouses on the way

A HUGE flag we saw on our way up.  Like, look at the full sized pine trees next to it.  There was a sign in front that said "The world's tallest symbol of freedom."  Kind of like the world's largest prairie dog in Kansas.

cute little antique & ice cream shop

So that was our trip!  Other things of note:  Our family took a big step this month.  (June 18 to be exact in case we decide to get out of it--not likely though.)  WE GOT NETFLIX.

And we actually love it.  We're currently engrossed in Jim and Pam's romance, Dwight's antics, Stanley's hilarious one liners, and we're always so frustrated with Michael Scott.

Random picture but it has to go somewhere.  LOOK AT THIS BEAR WE SAW ON TOP OF A CAR!!

Also of note, Kaylie's fingers on top of the screen.  Cute.