Blanding Family Trip
I went on several trips with my family as I was growing up and I don’t remember a lot about any of them. We did however make a trip one year to Blanding where my Uncle Kay and Aunt Velma lived with their family. They were a most gracious host and I am sure that I played a lot with the cousins that were my age. The main thing that I remember however was when Uncle Kay took our families out to see the Indian ruins around Blanding and even into Colorado at the Mesa Verde ruins. I have only been there twice in my life but was always left with an impression of how difficult it would have been to live there. Now as I read the book of Mormon and get to the end where Moroni explains that the Lamanites were even warring with each other after they had killed all of the Nephites that they could hunt down, I realize why they moved and lived as family groups in such places of safety as Mesa Verde would offer to them where they could lock out any other warring tribes. I count my blessings often when I think about what I learned from that one trip and how I now have all of the comforts of a warm home and a soft bed and the ability to go outside and to other homes without having to climb down the ladders. I also think about the water that runs freely from my faucets without having to carry it from a nearby stream. I am truly blessed.
