July 24th...celebrating with the Borrowmans

We started the day by attending breakfast at the Stake center.  The Borrowmans went to their annual family breakfast.

I liked this car that was parked at the breakfast.  I also liked the pancakes, eggs and bacon!

Then it was off to Zion Park for some hiking.  We decided on Hidden Canyon.  I think it was about a 3 miler.  It is listed as a strenuous hike, but 4-year-old Koen just took off with no problem. Ferf had to keep telling him to slow down and stay with her!  It wasn't even too crowded.  Guess that strenuous label scares people off!

Our lunch spot - the squirrel joined us for lunch.  There was no getting rid of him.  I finally succumbed and gave him a few cashews.  Sorry!

After the hike and riding the shuttle back to get the car, we drove through the park and over to Orderville to check out Red Hollow Slot Canyon.  It was a cute, but very muddy little slot.  We had some challenges going over a couple of choke stones.  Sadly, it ended with too soon with a 25 foot climb up to the next section.  It was fun while it lasted!  

Tavin had quite the wild ride when his feet slipped out from underneath him and he bounced all the way down this little side canyon on his seater!  

After the hikes we drove home over the mountain and got to enjoy a very fierce rainstorm for a little while.  We also needed ice cream cones in Cedar to keep us from starving.  Then we stopped in at Costco and got 12 hot dogs and took them to Nisson Park.  After the consumption, we washed off the mud and some people needed to get a little more washing via a water fight.  Ryan joined us after he got off work. Finally, despite Koen's instant sadness attack, we did have to call it a day.  (It had been the "best day of his life" and the hot dogs were the "best meal he ever had".)  Thanks for joining us and making it a fun day Borrowmans!  We were then pleasantly surprised to find the Lillywhites at our house. Brenden wanted to swing.  Eliza wasn't too sure about it at first, but then she got right into it and was smiling from ear to ear!  Happy July 24th.  Thank you Pioneers for coming and making this area habitable.  We are truly blessed by your sacrifices.  

He (they) did it!

So proud of Moss and Christie! Even with all the junk they have been going through the last little while, it still got done!  Congratulations...way to go!  Awesome!  I hope you had some kind of celebration!

Ellie #7 and Kaibab ramblings

Last week included two highlights.  The first one was Ellie's 7th birthday.  Paul, Bean, Supe and I got to join them for dinner.  Ellie's request was hamburgers, homemade French fries, a veggie tray and another amazing cake, of course.  This year's masterpiece was a playground complete with moving swings.  It was so fun to get together and celebrate sweet Ellie.  Can't believe she's 7 already!  Thanks for letting us join the fun.  Happy Birthday Ellie!  We love you.  

Another highlight was a little trip over to the Kaibab on Saturday.  We went out #22 from Fredonia and came back via Jacob's Lake. We were checking out some possible routes for next year's Trek.  It was so beautiful over there because it had been raining and everything was so unexpectedly green.  We drove several possible routes and even ran into a group just finishing up a Trek.  We went out to some of the Grand Canyon Vista points too.  We took our bikes along and rode out and back to Fence Point and just a little bit of the Rainbow Rim Trail.  It was only about 6.5 miles, but it was either very down or very up and at that altitude, the up part really made oldies like us breath!  We ate our lunch at Monument point.  As always, we stopped in at Jacob's Lake on the way home for a little treat!

Happy #27 Supe!

Those that could gathered on Sunday evening (a day late) to wish Supe a happy #27!  Brenden did an amazing job of counting out and placing all 27 candles on the brownies...and then he even helped blow all those things out! A case of Izzies, a new climbing bag and some cash toward a new phone came with our good wishes. Happy Birthday Supe!  We love you and hope the coming year will bring lots of good things your way!  (Sorry for the blurry shots. I am just about to throw my camera away and get a new one.  It is very inconsistent and  makes me crazy.)

Denny & Sandee, Mom & Montana Stone

It was a great and busy week!  Denny and Sandee and their kids Ariel, William and Christian made time to stop by and visit with us on their way to a skating event the boys were participating in.  It was so nice to visit over dinner and for a little while at the house.  Too bad we don't live closer. It would be a lot of fun to go to some of the events they participate in and just to be able to get to know everyone a lot better.  I don't think I could keep up with all of these kids at my age!  Denny and Sandee are amazing parents!

Next on the agenda was a very quick trip to Montana (near Bozeman) for a load of stone.  Another chance to combine business and fun.  We got to stop by and eat lunch with Mom and Marilynne in Salt Lake which was too quick, but really nice.  

The only thing that could have been better was if we had one more day to spend.  Didn't even get many pictures because it is too hard to shoot very good ones as you are driving by.  We did drive through Teton and Yellowstone Parks.  That is a scenery overload for sure!  We were so blessed to find both of our campsites just as we needed to even when we had no clue where we were going to stay.  

Our first campsite just this side of Wayan, Idaho, Snake River and the Tetons hiding in the clouds.

Beautiful stone buildings at the place we bought stone, our campsite and load, and Tetons from the back. Loved the miles and miles of green, rolling hills of farmland along the way.  

Happy 4th of July and more!

Started a great 4th of July at the church with the annual program/flag raising/breakfast at 7 am.  I loved that the Cub Scouts did the flag ceremony this year!  After that Paul and I got our gear together and headed for the cool beauty of Ashdown Gorge.  I think this is one of the most beautiful hikes around. (The road construction to fix the slide area pretty much ruined the approach unfortunately.  Wish they would redo some kind of trail, but it is still doing a lot of sliding.  You just have to pick your way through the mess.  The rest of the hike makes it worth it.) We did about 11 miles round trip up and back from the bottom end.  I love the top of this hike too.  It was a perfect temperature - about 85 degrees.  You spend most of this hike in the stream and it was so nice and cool.  The wildflowers were blooming and everything was green!  It even rained a little on us in the afternoon.  I hated to turn around and head back down to the heat. 

Flanagan's Arch, Tom's Head (in one picture you can actually see the face), and a giant boulder.

One of the many beautiful waterfalls

Lake Creek and Rattlesnake Creek empty into Ashdown Gorge.  This is Lake Creek.  

This is Rattlesnake Creek.

Just had to get in and cool off in this one on the way out!

Beautiful flowers and butterflies.

The Borrowmans invited us over for a yummy dinner that evening!  It was fun to hang out, visit and eat!  

After that the Smiths and assorted others came to the house for root beer floats and  then we made the hike up the hill for a great view of the fireworks!  It was a really full day of celebrating!  So thankful for this  country where I have the freedom  go where I want when I want with who I want and to be safe while doing it.  

None of our men wanted to come back to work until Monday, so we took off too.  Friday we had some home repairs to take care of most of the day.  After that we threw our camping gear together and headed up to Brian Head and had a great camp.  We got a little worried when it started raining and hailing just as we turned off to get to our camp spot, but it got done in a hurry and we didn't have to get wet setting up.  Ended up being a dry night.

In the morning we did some little hikes at Cedar Breaks enjoying the amazing scenery and the Wildflower Festival.  Again it was so nice and cool.  Even got a little cold while sitting around eating our lunch beside the trail.  It's been a great few days!

Took the picture of the dog through the windshield coming down the canyon on the way home.  He seemed very content in his motorcycle dog bed seat!  

We finished off the weekend with a great family feast-of-the-fast-over at the Borrowmans house.  I surprised everyone by NOT bringing a camera...thus no pictures.  We had great food, fun visiting and played headbands.  Thanks to Brynnli's broad hints to me, I didn't do too badly.  Love all of you guys.  Thanks for a great evening!