Ashfork is still there...

...and so are the cookies at Jacob's Lake. They have a new kind - lemon raspberry. They are very tasty. We went on our usual rock trip/camp out Friday/Saturday. It was good to get out of the St. George heat! We camped out with the bow hunters outside of Flagstaff. We saw a little rain on the drive and evidence of a lot more that we missed. We got our rocks and our cookies and had a great time listening to the second book in the Hunger Games series.  It's always fun to spend time together on our rock trips. Also, I finished up my first week back to school with the kids there. We have a nice class. Of course, they are still in the "honeymoon" period, but even so, they look pretty nice.

Our camping spot - it was cool but not cold.  We kept the windows and door of the fly open to let the breeze blow through.

This is our napping spot.  Paul needed a little rest from driving on the way home, so we pulled out in the shade and he napped and I snapped a few pictures. 

10 already?!

It's hard to believe that Tavin is already 10!  He got to celebrate on the day with dinner by Ryan (some really good pizza) and cake by Ferf (also really good) and some of the extended family...and presents, of course.  It's fun to see the grand kids growing up, but it kind of makes you feel a little old.  Happy birthday Tavin.  We love you!

Wheeler Peak, Lehman Cave & Parowan Gap Petroglyphs

We got all the good we could out of our time this weekend.  Friday after I finished up helping with check-in for Webelos Day Camp Paul and I took off for Great Basin National Park.  We ate dinner in Cedar. It's quite a drive from Cedar through Minersville, Milford, Garrison and Baker (some very small towns) with lots of empty country in between. We had hoped to camp in the Wheeler Peak campground which is at 9,886 ft.  It was very nice up there at about 61 degrees around 8 pm, but it was full, so we ended up getting the last campsite and setting up in the dark at Lower Lehman Creek campground at 7,300.  It was pretty warm there, but we got some sleep and after eating and cleaning up we were at the trail head at 8 am.  The starting elevation is 10,160 there and the peak is at 13,063, the second highest in Nevada.  It's an 8.2 round trip with a gain of 2,900 ft. most of it during the last 3 miles.  It's a great trail.  It was very windy once we got above timberline until the last 400 ft. when we were on the leeward side.  There were lots of clouds blowing over the top while we were there.  We shared the honor of first ones to the top that day with a couple of varsity scouts with a lot of other people arriving soon after. It took us about 2.5 hours up and 1.5 to go down. On the way down we stopped off at Stella Lake for lunch.  We decided rather than hike over to a couple more lakes and some bristle cone pines to go back down to take a tour of the Lehman Cave.  It was an interesting tour because their were several deaf people, their dog and their interpreter with us.  The cave, of course, is very interesting as well.

 After that we checked out a few other campgrounds and then headed back home.  On the way home we saw a turn off to Parowan Gap Petroglyphs.  It was only 2.5 miles over, so we went to see them.  They are pretty amazing and it was worth the time. 

 Just so you know, you don't have to pay to get into Great Basin National park.  There was a fee to camp and you do have to pay to tour the cave.  I think we got our money's worth out of our time. 

Sweet Sarai's blessing

Since we were all in town for Grandma's do, Juge and Lance took the opportunity to make it easy on all of us and bless Sarai down here at Lance's folks house. Steve and Dorothy were gracious hosts to the whole gang from both sides for the blessing and for a delicious meal afterwards.  Sarai received a beautiful blessing from Lance with many priesthood holders there to lend their support.  Sarai is a sweetie and didn't make a peep.  

Afterwards Supe brought out all of his gifts for the family that he brought home from Africa.  The patio served as the family dressing room for trying on all the shirts...over our other clothes of course.  They are some pretty sweet shirts.  The kids all got cool necklaces and Supe brought a couple of fine hats. Then it was time for everyone to be heading home again.  We've had some great gatherings of late.  Now it's back to school and work. 

We were so busy trying on the shirts that we forgot to take pictures of the process...darn.

Grandma's birthday wish

This is the whole gang that was in attendance except Ethan Powell.  He got cut off.  Lerlyn disappeared behind Kirt in every picture unfortunately.  The next picture up has Ethan - he was where he could be seen, but several  other people disappeared behind  other heads then.  I think we did pretty good for such a big group! (Double click pictures to see them bigger.)

Saturday, August 13th, Grandma (Lillywhite) Kurtz got her birthday wish - minus just a few people.  Her 80th birthday was earlier this year in February.  She told us all that she her birthday wish was to have a whole family get together sometime during the year.  With lots of people's cooperation, we were able to make her wish come true all but for a few people.  It took quite a bit of effort for some people.  I think the Wardell's win for the longest trip.  Thanks to everyone for taking the time and spending the money to make it happen.  She was so pleased...and it was lots of fun for all of us in the process.  What a great group of people to have a chance to reconnect with.  Happy 80th Grandma!

Here are the family with Grandma shots that we took.  

Some random shots of the cousins

Family Camp 2011

There was a lot of hanging out in the hammocks

On the way to Hidden Haven

 Last year we decided to have every family take a turn being in charge of the family camp starting with Lou and Bryan for this year.  They did a great job from finding a perfect spot to having some really fun planned activities including a compass course for the kids, a family program night, and a perfect hike. The movie night was extra fun too. The weather was perfect and the food delicious.  We went to a place up by Yankee Meadows above Parowan.  Maybe next year Supe and Bean will be able to join us for a full crew.  Thanks to everyone for your effort to get there.  Let's do it again next year.  Jay and Brynn...you're up!

Just a few of the cute faces that were there - one really dirty face!

Lots of fun stuff going on here!

The honey was really cold and hard to get out, cute shirts alike from Costco, "THIS ISN'T WHAT I WANT FOR BREAKFAST!", funny little singers, etc.  More fun!