Hair today...gone tomorrow!

The African hair growing project went well, but a few minutes with the hair clippers and it was over.  We are glad to have Supe back in the USA.  Africa was supposed to be a short haul hiring people over there to run the project.  When the powers that be decided it was going to go on for two or three years, it was time to say good bye and come home and get on with life.  Who knows what "edventures" are in store now.  Good luck Supe and welcome back.  (Personally, I prefer that more tailored look!)

Spring Creek turns to Autumn spectacular

Yesterday we drove up to New Harmony to get some apples and apple juice.  We decided to incorporate a hike and since everyone in the family seems to have done it but us, we chose Spring Creek.  It was a great choice.  We only saw a few other people and the leaves were spectacular.  It was pretty cool, especially in the slot canyons. We found some great camp spots...we just need time to use them before it gets too late in the year.  We went a few miles further in than it suggested and did some scrambling, but it couldn't have been better.  I sort of felt guilty just doing 7 or 8 miles.  Seemed like I was being lazy, but I got over it and thoroughly enjoyed myself.  I need to go back next summer and wade in the stream.  There was water, but not so much as I'm sure there would be earlier in the year.  Another great Saturday get out!

Shots from the backseat

Last week when we made to trip to New Mexico, we saw a lot of really pretty scenery, but really didn't have time to stop to look at it...so I just took pictures out the windows - side, back and windshield.  We did make a pit stop at Molas Pass, so those few shots are from outside the car.  It was fun to see the old stompin' grounds even if just in passing.

San Rafael Swell area

Beautiful Colorado

More beautiful Colorado - Molas Pass, etc.

Marble Canyon area cliff views,  New Mexico rock formations, our old house in Farmington is run down, but still there.

Mystery lights on the Red Hill

The other evening when Paul and I were finishing up our walk we noticed lights up on the Red Hill.  We couldn't figure out what they were.  We got out the binos and there on the hill was a glowing jack-o-lantern.  It was too late to investigate that night, but in the morning we did our walk by headlamp and found that there were actually two of them.  One was still lit up.  It looked like someone had done a pumpkin carving date up there.  This morning we checked them again and they are still there, just not glowing anymore.  Happy Halloween!  Oh, I also checked my white-backed garden spider...she is still hanging out and seems to be doing fine.  

Andrew Bryan Lillywhite - In loving memory

Last week Paul, his mom and I went over to Farmington to attend the memorial service for Brett and Savannah's sweet baby boy, Andrew.  I cannot imagine a harder thing to go through than what they have been through.  The service was perfect.  Kirt and Savannah and Brett's bishop gave inspiring and comforting words at a time when words are very hard to come by.  All of the music was sweet.  After the service they did a dove release which was a special touch.  Below is a copy of the memorial program and a quote that Kirt shared in his talk.  I don't know how people get through things like this without the Gospel.  

Rim-to-rim...what goes down must come up!

We did it...and it was easier this time, but still not easy.  A few years ago Paul and I hiked down the North Kaibab Trail and then on to the Colorado River and back up.  It was about 29 miles, and it was hard.  This time we hiked down the Bright Angel Trail to the river and then up the North Kaibab Trail.  That shortens it to about 24 miles.  A friend and co-worker if mine, Lynne Godfrey, did it with us this time.  With stops for lunch, foot soaking in the river and a creek, pit stops and breathing breaks we did the deed in about 13 hours starting at about 7 am with the sun just coming up.  The last mile my tail was dragging and when we saw a guy who said we only had 150 yards to go, I was very glad to hear it. I  felt great for all the rest of the hike. We did about the last mile and a half by headlamp.  The temperature varied from an early morning cool of around 29 to 90 out in the hottest area and then to around the low 40's when we got out.  We did most of the hike in shade which was really nice. I can only remember one sad faced person I saw on the hike - a teen aged girl hiking with her family.  The best line I heard was from an older guy who said, "When I started this morning I was only twenty years old."  Everyone, except that girl, seemed excited about the chance to be enjoying such a beautiful place even when they were tired and hiking up a steep hill, some of them with very big packs. "Happy Trails" was a nice send off from another guy. I found this perfect description of the canyon in a National Geographic article I read about the Grand Canyon.

"Above us castellated bluffs and terraces of rainbow-hued soils rose to the sky like a geological cathedral."    It is a truly magnificent place and I am thankful to have been able to experience it from top to bottom.  A few more details: We stopped in at Jacob Lake for hot chocolate, cookies and some dinner (in that order) on the way home.  We had also stopped there to buy lunch (and cookies) on the way over. We ate our lunch at a picnic spot along the road to Cape Royal Overlook.  After that we dropped the car at the North Kaibab Trailhead and caught a shuttle over to the South Rim. We were the only passengers. We stopped for a little break at Rainbow Bridge and at Cameron for a Navajo Taco dinner.  All the food was great!  We spent the night at the Maswick Lodge at the South Rim. It was a good price for very nice rooms. Paul and I took in a ranger talk that evening about the program for saving the Condors.  It was very interesting.    In the morning after eating breakfast in our rooms we just walked over to the trail head.

Angel's Window, lunch and river view at Marble Canyon.

Getting started, tunnel, sun coming up, Mile-and-a-half rest area, Paul.

Some scenery and greenery on the way out of Indian Garden Campground, reaching the river and the Silver Bridge.

Cooling off our feet in the Colorado, mule humor and coral and cabin at Phantom Ranch.

Scenery, more foot cooling and ranger house at Cottonwood Campground.

Up the trail, Supai Tunnel (last picture before dark with 1.7 miles to go), cool rock formations, autumn leaves and Roaring Springs

Would I do it again? Not that route.  I've seen the North Kaibab Trail all the way now three times and several more times just part way down and back up.  If there is another time, I would like to go down the South Kaibab and back up Bright Angel or the other way around.  Another thing that I might consider is to hike down on one of the South Rim trails and do some camping at Indian Garden or Bright Angel Campground or at the Phantom Ranch and then do some day hikes.  I'm not too keen on the Cottonwood Campground.  It's a little too hot and dry for my taste.  What do I wish I would have done differently on this hike?  I think the last mile would have been a little easier if I had done some more electrolyte replacement.  I drank some Powerade at Phantom Ranch when we stopped for lunch, but probably should have had some more before starting up that last 4 miles. 

Koen's #4 "Beefday"...a little bit late

We were out of town for the big day, so we got together with Ferf and kids on Sunday evening for a belated celebration of Koen's #4 "beefday".  Grandma was here too and Koen was pretty excited about the stack of quarters she gave him.  At first he couldn't find them wrapped up in the tissue paper and said that there was nothing in the present.  A little more hunting, with help from the sibs, netted him a cash stash!  He liked his other gifts and everyone enjoyed the funny glasses and took their turn modeling them.  Brownies and ice cream finished out the celebrating.  Happy "Beefday" Koen!  We love you!

Birthday/Blessing Day

What a nice birthday present for Jay!  He got to bless sweet little Tahlia. It was so nice to get together for both the special events.  We look forward to getting to know this little girl better.  She seems like a real sweetheart so far.  Happy blessing day Tahlia!

Thanks to Jay and Brynn for going to such a lot of work, birthday or not, to host everyone who could make it to their home for the blessing.   They cooked up a delicious meal for everyone and the cake and Juge's pies were yummy too.  Wow Jay, that's a lot of candles!  So grateful to have both of these special people in our lives!  Happy Birthday #36 Jay!

Assorted shots around the house - Madi modeling her Brave Halloween costume, Afton checking out Madi's bike, Sarai, Eden and Noah being sillies, Brady the handsome lad, Madi licking the cake batter, Madi and G'ma cheesing.  Ellie was having none of the picture taking thing.  She was too busy checking out the toys to be interrupted.

Lou and kids came up and Juge, Lance and kids were able to come over (bearing so tasty pies) to the blessing/birthday party.  Brynn's family - Judd and Becca, "Granny", and her mom and dad came too.  It was nice to see everyone.  After the festivities we went over to Juge and Lance's for the night.  It is always marvelous to see their latest remodeling project...can't believe it is the same house.  We went to church with them and got to see their Sacrament Meeting Presentation.  Eden was pro at doing her part.  Noah was not too anxious to do his part even with Lance standing by, but he sang very nicely.  Sarai was a quiet, but wild child back in the benches.  Thanks to everyone for feeding and housing us and Bean.  It was a great time!

Spider lady and beautiful skies

I have been keeping track of this spider on my walks on the Red Hill. She's a White-backed Garden Spider. The first time I took her picture I just happened upon her trying to get a picture of the white flower (Sacred Datura, Jimson Weed, Moon Flower) behind her web.  I thought it was a good trick to build the web right in front of the flower to catch bugs flying into the flower.  The flower is long gone now, but the spider seems to be doing just fine.  It's a good excuse to take a walk up there pretty often!

We've enjoyed some beautiful skies while "checking on the spider".  I really don't need much of an excuse to take a walk up there!

Confluence Park - a nice place for a walk

Paul and I didn't have time to do the training hike we had planned for Friday, so instead we checked out the new Confluence Park between LaVerkin and Toquerville.  It is named for the confluence of the Virgin River and LaVerkin and Ash Creeks.  It has several trails, some of them still in the developmental stage.  We walked the whole Confluence Trail.  It takes you to the Virgin River and then follows it along for quite a while.  There were several historic buildings along the way along with some cool lava formations. There used to be a farming operation down there as well as a hydro electric plant.  We saw some deer too. We also came across a great spot along the river with a rope swing that I would like to try out some time.  We saw some boys having a Friday night camp out along the river.  It looked like lots of fun.  They had their tent set up and a fire going and were playing in the river.  Wished I was doing the same thing!  We also did most of the LaVerkin Trail, but part of it was still to brushy to find and it got dark before we could do the whole distance of the unbrushy part. We'll have to get back out there another day. It was a fun place to check out.

We saw an old dairy barn, granary  hydro electric plant, beaver eaten trees, lava caves and that great rope swing by at the river.  Looks like quite a few fun places to play in the river down there.  

We saw this little guy too.  

Genghis Unleashed!

Genghis has spent his life harnessed to a line in our back yard. He has some serious pulling muscles from always going to the very end of his line. Well, he got too smart and just started going to the end...and then backing out of his harness by turning it wrong side out. We decided it was time for him to have a life unleashed. Now every night when Paul and I go for a walk we feel like fools calling the cat, but we usually find him yowling at the door to come in by the time we get home. Dumb cat. Why can't he just come without making fools of us? Anyway, we hope he is smart enough to stay out of trouble. For us nearly empty nesters, it's like sending our kid out into the big world!  Update - he is getting to where I can just call him loudly from the front and back doors and after a bit he shows up.  I'm sure the neighbors love this nightly howling and yowling ritual.  I do think he is totally enjoying being a free cat.  Paul saw him out back yesterday snacking on a bird he had successfully downed.  The mighty hunter free at last!

He gets pretty worn out with all of his running around, and has to take a chance to relax now and then.  

Can't wait til Saturday to camp!

Every Saturday has been booked up and will be booked up during this best time of the year to camp. We finally just decided we could week-night camp (less people is a perk too) at Pine Valley. We have a job up there that needed checking on, so Tuesday night we threw it in the car after work and headed up there. We had planned to camp in the campground, but they were all gated, so we found a nice little place just outside the fence at the Whipple Trail Head. Paul made a great DO dinner of his BBQ chicken stew with cornbread dumplings on top and we ate it in the cool, dark evening by the light of our headlamps and my little Apollo lantern. Then we enjoyed a moonlit walk and night under the stars (it was pretty chilly until we got buried in the sleeping bag). The nearly full moon was a nice addition. Got up early and had a great walk watching the sunrise and then breakfasted and broke camp. Then we checked on the job and headed home to get off to work! I love camping in the Fall - even though it's not officially Fall yet! (I was hurrying so fast to throw it in the car that I forgot the camera.  My phone was dead as usual.  Then I remembered the Ipad, so these are the best I could get with it.)

Family Dinner at Moss & Christie's

Conference changes fast Sunday dates so our October feast was early.  We had waffles deluxe.  There were so many great toppings - maple syrup, buttermilk maple syrup, homemade yogurt, strawberries, blueberries, pecans, peaches, eggs lightening rod - so many choices, such little stomach space!  But, we tried hard and were able to pack it all in.  Moss and Christie provided bacon too.  It was all so tasty.  Christie even threw in some mini pumpkin pies to whet our appetites for the upcoming Thanksgiving feast.  Thanks to all.  We missed the Borrowmans who were home throwing up from what we hear.  Not good.  Hope they get over it by Thanksgiving.  That's our next family dinner. See you then!

A Trigg monkey on the table, super heroes on the tramp, Christie cooking up the waffles, family YouTube time.