Cedar Mountain Camping Trip

 We had such a lovely camping trip up on Cedar Mountain on Friday/Saturday.  We got our stuff together early enough to take our time.  I had all of the meal stuff pre-chopped and ready to go mostly.  We went to a different camp spot just for the fun of it.  At first it  looked like we might get rain, which would have been nice, but it blew away and left us with a nicely cool, but not cold evening/night.  We had yummy DO stew/biscuits/applesauce and later on some Great Harvest lemon/blueberry bread for dessert.  It was all delicious.  I had a sore foot from having a wart taken off, so we couldn't really hike around much, but we took an evening drive down new dirt roads to explore as well as throwing an axe a little bit. (I actually had a lucky first shot and stuck it, but not too much after that). In the morning we had a yummy DO omelet, applesauce, blueberry lemon toast, and hot chocolate/Postum for breakfast.  Then we drove more dirt roads around just enjoying the scenery and ate lunch at a table on the way down the canyon on our way back down.  We did see a fire brigade going out as we were leaving Mammoth Springs unfortunately.  Found out later that a lightening strike got a fire going up that way just as we were leaving.  It's very dry and not as cool as it would usually be up there right now.  The wild flowers were too heavy because of that too.  And some streams were already dry.  

A little bit of Heaven @ Pine Valley

 On Monday we took a chance that by afternoon the campers and picnickers would be taking off.  It worked.  The crowd had thinned enough that when we hiked our special waterfalls trail, we only heard one other bunch of people and they were on their way down.  We hiked up one way and found a new, better way to come down.  The high waters of past years had pretty much washed out the original trail we had always used.  We hiked upstream after the falls as far as we could until it became too much of a bushwhack.  Then we came back down to a favorite camp spot and ate lunch in the cool, sweet air with the breeze swishing in the trees and the stream making music in the background!  Oh how I love being able to at least hike some and see such beautiful places even though Paul's sore foot and my our out of shapeness keep us from some of the hiking we used to do.  This is one of those heavenly spots that we can still enjoy!  After we got back down we called Bean and he picked up dinner and brought it up for us to eat a picnic at the closed Visitor's Center.  Then we took an after dinner hike around the back of the campgrounds and enjoyed it all to ourselves!  Happy Memorial Day!  Thanks to all who gave to keep our country free and bless the lives of  so many others with freedom as well!

 

Happy #11 Madi + cherry picking fun with cousins + family dinner fun

We have to catch birthdays with these girls in person when we can.  We were a couple of days early, but it's fun to enjoy it with them here!  It was #11 for Madi this time!  Glad we got to wish her a happy one here this time! We also gave Essie the little bit we didn't send for her bday last month to finish it off!

Christie can always find something fun to do in the area.  We went cherry picking cousin party!  We all had a good time and the cloud cover cooperated by making it a lot cooler than we expected!  Such cute grand kids we have!  

We can also add the fun we had at Family Dinner!  Ferf and Ryan brought their tiny new puppy to be cuddled by everybody!  It was great good and great to be together.  Still feeling so grateful for these good times after the Covid starvation.  And it's always fun when Jay and Brynn and family can be down for one of these occasions.  

School's out...let's hit the road!

On Wednesday we headed out through Kanab and up Cottonwood Road into the Grand Staircase-Escalante area and saw so many beautiful things.  We ate lunch at the BLM Visitor's Center in Kanab. It's a very rough dirt road, but it's worth it.  We did one little hike to what looked like a cave and was really an overhang and then hiked a little at Grosvenor Arch.  Such a wonderful day!  There was cloud cover and it made it cool.  

On Thursday Paul and I went and did a loop that included Cedar Mountain and then over to Loa and lots of other little backroads towns and then over Boulder Mountain down to Escalante and back home. We stopped at Aspen Lake on the way over Cedar Mountain and did a short hike to get some exercise.  The water is so low everywhere there. We didn't have time to stop much after that and get all of the loop done, but it was a wonderful slice of beautiful country.  We stopped by at a Subway near Bryce Canyon for dinner.  We ate lunch somewhere along the way and at a roadside picnic table I think.  We enjoyed the rocks of one area and the high mountain Aspens and Pines in another area.  It was all a slice of heaven actually!  

Kaebri's on her mission now!

 Kaebri left the airport on the last day of my school, Tuesday, May 25th.  She left so early that she slept in and almost missed it!  (Only her dad and Grandpa Smith could make it to the airport with her I think.) And she has now arrived and is with her new companion.  In the pictures you see her with her family the night before she left at a drive by open house.  And then you see her with her Home MTC companions when they finally met at the SLC airport.  And you see her with two sisters who showed her around when she got there and then with her new companion, Sister Frei!  So excited for her to get out there and get started!  

Rock trip, rocks and the Shed of Dome

 Rock trips to get rocks, and projects in the backyard.  Paul is so creative.  That means there's always something cool happening in our backyard.  On this rock trip, I got a rock of my very own - it's a 3 leveled beauty.  Just have to figure out where it's going to go in our back yard now!  

Kindergarten 2020-21

 Kindergarten is winding down. This week they will come for individual testing only and then we have only 2 days left after that. Wow, another great year a growing and learning is coming to an end. I’ve been doing this since I took the ParaPro Assessment way back in 2004! Hope I get at least a few more years. I need to be there for those upcoming siblings of former students! We just had teacher appreciation week. I am blessed to have worked with a master teacher, the same one, all of these years. She is ever improving in her teaching skills, always learning and growing herself. It has been a privilege to work with her and so many amazing parent volunteers over the years! And now...update...we are done for the year! This could possibly be my last year if cancer gets me going to chemotherapy soon.

The final fun day!

When God created Utah...

When God created Utah

He had a paintbrush in his hand.

 He molded mountains our of clay

 And hoodoos out of sand.  

He let the wind and water work to finish his design. 

 And left it there for all to see.  

His masterpiece, divine.

This was actually a post that I lifted from Facebook because it said what I think perfectly, only enlarge it to the whole earth!