Gilgal Sculpture Garden

Today we ventured off to find the Gilgal Sculpture Garden. I hadn't ever heard of this place until today when I found this site that features fun things to do. Not sure how we chose this place, but it looked interesting enough and something different for the boys than the usual park or playground. Best thing about the garden - it was free.

Nestled near Trolley Square, we enjoyed the garden to ourselves, literally. Well that was until the dreadlock guy and his belly dancer girlfriend found us.
I downloaded a scavenger hunt list for the boys which kept us entertained for quite a while. We actually had to leave because it started raining, and I took the umbrellas out of the car the last time I cleaned it.

The garden was created by Thomas Battersby Child, Jr.(1888-1963) in his back yard. Mr. Child was a masonry contractor and Bishop of the historic 10th Salt Lake LDS Ward. I would love to go again after having taken the time to learn more about the sculptures in the interactive online tour.




A few of the items we marked off the scavenger hunt list included the following:

The word Gilgal in stone


Never heard of the word Gilgal before?
"The name Gilgal refers to a Biblical location meaning "circle of standing stones" where Joshua ordered the Israelites to place twelve stones as a memorial. Gilgal is also the name of a city and a valley in The Book Of Mormon."

The words Count Your Many Blessings

I happened upon this gem and snapped a photo. There are several quotes, scriptures, and hymns carved in stone covering the garden. Lots to think about and ponder.

It wasn't until later when Ethan read the list of items to look for that I realized it was on our list. I just find myself needing to be reminded lately that I have much to be grateful for. This was a timely reminder for me and something I know I wasn't a coincident.

A spinx - Joseph Smith style?


Brick Pants and the 10th ward church building
Self portrait of Child with the church building where he served as bishop.


A Stack of Books
The boys thought it would be funny to pretend they were holding these books.


If only they realized how soon homework will be upon them. Heaven help me -- I know Ethan will feel like his homework is as much of a burden as actually having to lift these stone books.

This was just something I found that intrigued me and I wanted to take it home with me and reflect upon it some more.


As we drove downtown, I saw an advertisement for gourmet doughnuts. I'm sure I blew my points out of the water with this treat. Good thing we all shared.



Grasshopper and Cookies-n-Cream Doughnuts

We went to the playground and tried to work off the doughnuts. I'm sitting here hours later and still feel them. Might have to go let Jillian whip me back into shape.

Guess what made my day?

The road is getting laid with asphalt! After thinking it was going to finally happen on Tuesday, I was told it would happen on Thursday. Yesterday I was all prepared with my building permit papers in hand and drove out to see the beautiful road and turn in the paper work. We drove out to an empty subdivision and no work done on the road. Tomorrow I told. I was getting tired of hearing about things getting pushed backed, again. I stopped on the side of the road and cried. And to be truthful, we stopped at McDonalds on the way home, and I bought the boys ice cream.

Fast forward to today. I had a text message from my S&MIL telling me they were working on the road. The best was the message from my FIL telling me they had finished our drive way.

I had to drive out AGAIN to see the progress. When we got there the paver wasn't working and a handful of workers were sitting under a tree in the shade. The dump trucks had left to refill with asphalt. By the time we walked down to check out our driveway and visited Grandma for a bit, the trucks were back with new loads - and they just kept coming -- truck after truck. Each one went by and I had to think, how much money is each one of these worth? We went back up and watched the trucks unload their trailers into the hopper and lay that black asphalt down. It was beautiful!!





Of course Monday has to be a holiday. I'll have to wait until Tuesday to submit the building permit papers. I'm hoping to have a hole dug, maybe even some framing complete, before my parents leave for their mission to South Africa. A girl can dream!

A before pic:



Well, here's my new AFTER:

07/11

How about celebrated 7/11 with a hike up to the boys favorite spot - Donut Fall - and then topping it off with a Slurpee, (also know as a "Special Drink") free just today as it was 7/11.

I forgot Alex's backpack, so I made the kid walk about 1/2 of the way himself. It was great PT for him up until he fell and came down pretty hard and hit his nose. Needless to say, I looked like one rugged hiker with blood stains across my shirt.

The funny part of today's hike was Alex and the hydration packs. He couldn't get enough of that water. First he started with Ethan's water. When Ethan wanted a drink, he had to pry Alex off. Before we knew it, he was drinking off of Aaron's. I finally had to wear Aaron's pack myself and put Alex up on my shoulder's so he could drink and we could keep walking.







Due to all the snow and the wet spring, we weren't able to get very close to the falls this time. The boys were a bit disappointed and were trying to find someway to cross the river. It was quite pretty with all the extra white water falling down the mountain side.

Tonight we went out to Grandpa Gull's potato weeding party and dug in the dirt till the sun went down. I had to take some pics of the new culvert for Mark. He hasn't seen it yet as he's been one busy man at work lately. No finished road yet...it has taken a long time. We are told that the asphalt will be done by July 21. Crossing my fingers.





My layout is all messed up, but it's late, and I really don't want to take the time to figure out the HTML right now....