A Beautiful Hike

Late Saturday afternoon we decided to take a hike so we headed out our back door and into the woods behind our house. We have been so lucky to have these beautiful trees behind us instead of other homes because it has allowed us privacy as well as a much better view from our back windows. As we hiked down the hill I didn't know if we were going to make it very far...I have never heard so much whining and complaining (okay, maybe there was more from the Schaeffer kids when we had to work in the garden or hike through the Redwoods with the banana slugs). But once we got to the bottom of the hill the kids seemed to enjoy themselves much more. We had a deer run through the woods pretty close to us but David, with his eagle hunting eyes, was the only one to see it; the rest of us just heard it which was cool in itself. We walked along for a little ways, enjoying the beautiful colors of the leaves and the Winters Run River. We also came across the ruins of what was once a house. Most of it had fallen down except for two walls and the oven. It was up a little hill, really close to the river, a good spot for the people who had once lived there. I could tell that Savannah and Xander were having a hard time imaging who would want to live in a house with no roof! As the sun started to go down it got a whole lot colder so we headed back home. Both Savannah and Xander told us how much fun they had had on our family hike.





On Sunday I was released from my calling as YW President. Of course my feelings are a little mixed; I will miss the girls and the leaders I served with but I feel as if a huge load has been lifted off my shoulders. It was becoming increasingly difficult to take care of all the responsibilities in my life and make sure that my kids and husband were getting quality time from me. I'm sure they'll have me serving somewhere else soon but for now I'm enjoying the relaxation of only having to worry about 3 kids, not 20 teenage girls.