Geodes and Calcite Onyx

We've been having a Rocks and Minerals Unit for homeschool, and it's just the best. Geology is one of my favorite things to learn about, and rocks in particular! I thought we had hunted for every cool kind of rock in the state during previous rock units, but we've been finding all kinds of new adventures to go on and have been out on field trips practically every weekend.

And Fall is such a beautiful time to be outside (even just out in the desert!). In September we went to the geode beds, which is one of my favorite places ever. I can't believe how young the kids were when we last went (2020). I'm always afraid this will be the time we don't find any, but happily it was not. Sam got into a vein of them and was pulling them out of the clay like…I don't know what. Like tissues out of a tissue box. One after another.

This was probably the biggest one we found, and it wasn't a typical geode. We don't dare cut it open because it's so delicate. But it has little crystal caves all around the edges of it, with different-colored minerals in them. It's so pretty!

Another side of that same one

It was really hot the day we went. Exhausting to dig in that heat. But we kept going! Even when you aren't finding anything you always feel like you're just about to. I won't subject you to ALL the cool geodes we found, but here is a quick sampling. And there are lots more to be cut open later!

In the past we've found lots of geodes like the above, with layers of that bluish chalcedony around the edges and really fine sugary quartz inside. They're really pretty.

But this time the ones we were finding were a little different, with less of the smooth outer layer and larger and less uniform crystals inside.

Here's a pretty good example of that kind

This one was small, but that perfectly formed little sprouting of crystals inside is so amazing!

I also liked the weird ones we found, like this one (and I haven't seen many with that pink color!)

And this one

I also liked this cross-section

They really are so varied in shape and color, when you see them together like this!

———

Another day we were down by the back of Mount Nebo looking for Calcite Onyx. We got lost for a little while and followed a stream up what we later realized was the wrong little canyon. I'd been there before but it was years ago and I couldn't remember at all which way we'd gone! We didn't mind too much, because it was beautiful outside, and we didn't get too far off our route. But it also allowed the most exciting thing of the day to happen, which was that Ziggy found a bone!

A cow bone, probably, all dry and bleached. He was SO SO happy about it. He kept asking how rare it was to find a bone, and wondering if anyone else in our family had ever found a bone, and speculating as to how it had come to be there. He LOVED his bone. (Still does. He wants to show it to everyone he meets.) Gus then found a bone as well, but since Ziggy was the first bone-finder he seemed to retain most of the fame and honor from it.

The stream bed had this interesting little patch of white crystals in it. Dissolved calcite, maybe, or some kind of salt? Gypsum? I don't know. It looked so much like frost!

There was a cool old collapsed cabin Zig explored a little bit (with his bone)

Here we are in the right spot at last

There is a beautiful vein of calcite running all along this outcropping. It's so pretty!

I like this one with the little hollow pocket of crystal

We decided we might as well drive the Nebo Loop while we were at it. The leaves were just starting to change color.

Some patches of aspens were really yellow already!

There was a big fire in these mountains but I can't remember how many years ago now. There were still whole patches of blackened forest, though some of the undergrowth was starting to come back. It's sad to drive by and think of how beautiful all those trees must have been before they burned! Luckily there are still many beautiful ones left.

We had, of course, stopped at the Red Barn and gotten apple cider donuts to have with our picnic.

This is it! This is all of us there are on most school days! It feels like so few, but on the other hand, for many years we didn't have all the younger babies born yet, so we've had only six students before. Just…on the other end.

We stopped to do a quick hike to the Grotto on the way down. It only takes a few minutes and it's so pretty!

Gus with his bone!

0

Hope will open your eyes

This post is part of the General Conference Odyssey. This week covers the General Women's Session of the October 2015 Conference.

I remember thinking, when I first heard President Uchtdorf's talk called "A summer with Great-Aunt Rose," how sweet his little parable was and how it was just the right thing for all the young girls listening (this session included the 8-year-olds and up, so there were even more young girls than usual). I did not particularly think it was a deep or profound talk. But it was cute and had a good message about gratitude.

So, as I re-read his talk this week, I was a little surprised how much depth it suddenly seemed to take on. This, for example:

“I imagine there were many dark and dreary days for the pioneers," Aunt Rose said. "Their life was so hard—we can’t even imagine. But in this painting, everything is bright and hopeful. This girl has a spring in her step, and she is moving forward and upward.”

It felt so touching to me reading it now, thinking of how many little and big sorrows life can have. Things which have taken me by surprise; things I didn't imagine facing or want to face—and many harder and heavier things I haven't faced myself, but have watched those I love struggle through. I thought about how frequently these days I lose the sunny perspective that previously came easily to me. But I want to be like the girl in Aunt Rose's painting. I want to move forward and upward, full of hope and joy. I want to be grateful for every day on the covenant path. And this, too, hit me harder than it did when I heard it before:

Great-Aunt Rose continued: “There is enough that doesn’t go right in life, so anyone can work themselves into a puddle of pessimism and a mess of melancholy. But I know people who, even when things don’t work out, focus on the wonders and miracles of life. These folks are the happiest people I know.”

“But,” Eva said, “you can’t just flip a switch and go from sad to happy.”

“No, perhaps not,” Aunt Rose smiled gently, “but God didn’t design us to be sad. He created us to have joy! So if we trust Him, He will help us to notice the good, bright, hopeful things of life. And sure enough, the world will become brighter. No, it doesn’t happen instantly, but honestly, how many good things do?"

I love that. It is simple, but it's not glib or shallow. I have gotten this revelation from my own prayers too, when I've struggled to find optimism or hope. I have asked why it is so easy to feel the hard and heavy things, and to let them dominate my perspective. The answer I got was simple and piercing: "The beautiful and hopeful is there too. But you have to turn your head and look."

President Uchtdorf isn't naive. I'm sure from his own life experiences he knows what he's talking about! It's not that it's easy to be hopeful when life is hard. Of course it takes effort. But it is possible, and God will help us notice those "good, bright, hopeful things of life." We just have to choose it! President Uchtdorf has Great-Aunt Rose say,

"Faith and hope will open your eyes to the happiness that is placed before you."

I like that way of describing it. Even in the hardest of times, the happiness from God is there. But will I open my eyes to it? Will I turn my head and look?

1