Labor Day drive over the mountain

Since we now  have our truck back and can do the dirt again we decided to take a drive over Kolob Terrace and down for Labor Day.  I'm having back trouble so I had to lay back in the seat most of the way, but it was still a beautiful drive.  The leaves aren't turning yet, but it was good to see what there was to see.  We stopped in at Centro in Cedar and used my pizza coupon for a great lunch. After that we drove down through New Harmony, Pinto and Pine Valley to finish up our dirt road fun for the day.  It was just a relaxing day for a drive.  

Bean's #38! Brians Head Peak, Bunker Creek, etc.

 Today we did some birthday celebrating with Bean for his #38.  His birthday is actually on Sunday, but you can't party too much that day, so we did it today.  We took a beautiful drive in our newly fixed pick up on Cedar Mountain.  We went on the dirt roads we hadn't been able to go on while the truck was in the shop and enjoyed a cool day on Cedar Mountain.  We ate a little brunch at Wood Ranch, we took the beautiful short hike to Aspen Mirror Lake, we drove over to Mammoth Springs and walked there too.  Then we took a new drive up Bunker Creek Road to check out some camp spots up that way.  There were some beautiful ones once we got past a lot of burned out areas.  We drove over to Cedar Breaks and then up on top of Brian Head peak to see the restoration work they had done on the old CCC structure up there.  Then we came down and went to an early birthday dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  After a little nap we made chocolate chip cookies and had them with ice cream...Bean's chosen birthday cake. Then he opened presents - lots of nice new shirts.  We hope to celebrate a little more tomorrow and then maybe a little more at a family dinner on Sunday after Stake Conference. Happy Birthday Bean! We love you dearly!

Torin birthday dinner date and golf fun!

 We took Torin out for a birthday dinner and hand golf date!  He's turning 12 next week, but will be with his dad on his birthday.  He already celebrated with his siblings last week when they could come down.  Life's crazy sometimes.  We had good "Taco Tuesday" food at Costa Vida and then headed over to the golf course.  We had a good time playing hand golf.  He had never done it before.  He has a good arm and could send that ball way down the course.  The sprinklers came on to cool it down which is always lovely this time of year.  It was a fun night.  We stopped on the way home for ice cream cones and French fries and then he opened presents back at his house with us and his mom.  Happy #12 Torin!  We love you!

And another August birthday gets celebrated...Bean's #38.  I have another post that tells the whole story, but here are the birthday pics.  Happy #38 Bean!  We love you!

Forsyth trail hike

 I read some details about this hike:  

Distance:  11-11.5 miles round-trip (out-and-back) if heading up to the crest/summit Trail junction.

Elevation Gain:  3,400 to 3,600 feet.

Difficulty:  Strenuous ("butt-kicker") due to the steady, steep incline.

We only did 6 miles of it (out-and-back) because Paul's foot isn't ready for more...and neither am I!  We got plenty of elevation gain in just the little bit we did.  I think it was about 1,400+ feet in that distance.  Paul wanted to turn around because it was hurting his foot quite a bit.  We did two hours in and got back faster than that going downhill.  I think our time was from 9:30 - 12:30.  Afterwards we had a nice picnic at the Pine Valley Heritage Center.  We were so happy to see that only about the first mile of it shows bad scars from the fire.  After that it was greening up and just had patchy spots of fire damage.  After that first mile there was water in the stream and springs all along the way.  We only saw a few other people.  I loved seeing all the different flowers blooming at different elevations along the way. We saw some that we'd never seen before.  It was a good day, but it really drained Paul.  

July Birthdays - Beacher, Jem and Supe, Kai and Ellie

We had Supe and Beacher and kids over the other night to celebrate 3 birthdays.  They are going to Oregon in July and would be gone for their birthdays, so we did them early.  Beacher will be 36, Jem 6 and Supe 40.  Kaia's birthday isn't until December, but we just let her celebrate too so she didn't feel left out.  They opened gifts and then we had dessert with some candles for the kids to blow out.  After that, we played a little mini-cornhole game that we gave to Jem and Kaia.  It was a set of two, so it worked out for it to be for both Kaia and Jem so she could get  something too.  It was a really fun evening.  We were going to celebrate Moss's Kai's birthday too, but he got sick, so we will have to catch him later. Happy Birthday!  We love you all!  

We got to wish Kai a happy birthday at our little 4th of July gathering with his family and Ferf's.  He's been really sick and hasn't been able to get better.  He's been on a few different meds and had a shot for what they thought was strep, but now they think he may have mono.  Feel so bad for the little guy.  He's so tired of being sick and having to just lay around.  Hopefully they get a real diagnosis now and he can start on a path of healing.  But, Happy Birthday Kai!  We love you and hope you enjoy your birthday presents when you're feeling better.

No birthday pics of Ellie, but she turned 20 and celebrated on her mission!  We just got to message her and sent her a card and some fun money!  Happy birthday Ellie!  We love you!  Here's what she wrote about her mission birthday:

 Happy Birthday!! What a better way to celebrate your birthday than doing missionary work??  It was Saturday and we had no luck all week long finding friends.  We didn't know what to do.  We had to take our truck back to the shop so we were biking again.  We ended up having the lesson with the guy we had met in the mountains and he was so interested. Friend number 1. After we headed out on our 30 minute bike ride to get our truck, we decided we would stop by one person on the way, she told us that she had met with missionaries before and would love to do it again!! Friend number 2. Later that day we stopped by this guy but he had a huge gate. We decided we would call him and see what would happen. He was soo Interested!! Friend number 3!! When you  "pray like everything depends on God, then work like everything depends on you" you see miracles!!  Also that day we had dinner at a members house with Napoleon and his super anti wife.  We were really worried how it would go.  It went so well and her heart was somewhat softened.  

Hiking again at last!

 It was just a little hike, about 2.5 miles, but it was great that Paul's foot is now healing enough to start doing some short ones.  We went up to Cedar Breaks because it is so much cooler up there than down in St. George.  We hiked the beautiful Alpine Pond Trail.  It is too late in the year for very many flowers to be left, but the cool green of the plants and trees was beautiful and refreshing.  We also stopped in at the Visitor's Center and then drove over by Duck Creek.  We picked up a paper about things to do in that area and found that there was a cave nearby that we had never heard of.  It wasn't too far in on a good dirt road for our car, so we went and checked out Bowers Cave.  We weren't prepared with headlamps, so we couldn't go in very much with just our phone lights, but it was fun to find this new place.  We will have to revisit when we are more prepared.  Then we drove down through Parowan and stopped in to use our gift card for a fantastic late lunch at Smokin' Joe's BBQ!  Delicious!  It ended up being a great get away from the heat day for us!

North Rim/Jacob Lake rain get away!

 We just wanted a quick, beautiful getaway!  We got a one night stay in a little cabin at Jacob Lake and spent a day at the North Rim.  And...it rained!  We got everything we had hoped for!  Beautiful walks at the Grand Canyon and at Jacob Lake, rain falling and beautiful views and fresh, rain washed air, and forests and flowers!  It was GOOD!  The day we got back we had a fun "Pie and beer - Pioneer Day" family dinner at Juge's.  We had great food and fun times playing her Pioneer Cranium game.  No pics. 

Summertime walking & riding, Liberty Village and Kayenta Art Village

 I just recently started riding my bike again!  I had it tuned up last year for my birthday, but with school starting too early for me to ride in the morning, I just never did ride.  Now I'm not going to be going back to school and I have time in the summer, anyway, so I have started riding again.  It's hard, but I'm glad to be "back in the saddle again!"

Another thing I'm getting back to with Paul is walking in the hot summer evenings at the golf course.  We were getting to where we were just watching movies in the evening or playing games.  Getting out to walk is a much better thing.  The golf course is much cooler, especially when they have the sprinklers going and you can walk through them!  I'm glad we remembered this nice evening ritual and are reviving it!  If we find golf balls, we play hand golf too!  

A couple of other places we've enjoyed are Liberty Village and the Kayenta Art Village!  Love getting out to enjoy new places!

Pine Valley Picnic and erosion

It was a last minute thing.  It looked like it was raining up in Pine Valley, so we changed our plans, grabbed our stuff and food and drove up to have a picnic.  It had rained, but was done which was good so we could eat outside at the Heritage Center.  Then we went down and got ice cream.  After that we decided to walk up the road a ways into the valley and see how they were coming on digging out the lake.  The rain from that day had been doing more erosion damage.  Until some plants start growing over on the burned areas, it just keeps on washing down and causing so much damage.  So very sad to see this beautiful place in  such bad shape.  The dam is washed out, the lake is just a place full of sludge right now that they are trying to clear out, but it keeps filling up.  Rocks keep getting washed down the hills from above.  It's going to take several years to restore it to something like it was before.  There are still a lot of trees that survived at least.  It was still a lovely picnic with the fresh rain washed air.  

illumibot evening at the Opera House...cool!

 On Tuesday, July 7, from 9 pm to 10:30 pm, outside the historic St. George Opera House is transforming into a massive, glowing canvas!  We're thrilled to welcome illumibot to town!  They will be lighting up the night with their jaw-dropping projections mapping technology.  As part of their national "illumiBeast" summer tour celebrating America's 250th anniversary, expect to see massive, mesmerizing patriotic tributes alongside breathtaking visual displays!  We went to watch this and it was really cool!  

Thank Goodness for Cedar Mountain/Lava Point

 We are so thankful that we have Cedar Mountain to get away to.  Pine Valley is pretty much on hold for the next year or more while the figure out how to put the campgrounds, picnic areas and lake/dam back together after the fire and then, even worse, the erosion it caused afterwards.  So, when we need to get away, we head for Cedar Mountain.  Today was one of those days.  After we got our morning stuff done, we picked up Bean and with a stop in Cedar for a KFC meal we drove up to 5-Mile Picnic area just out of Parowan and had a great lunch.  Paul and I did a little exploring around the site and found some sort of old stone oven. We also drove up to see Yankee Meadow Reservoir.  It's really low, but still very beautiful.  It made me want to go kayaking.  After that we drove over the mountain and enjoyed the beautiful display of meadows of purple flowers in Cedar Breaks.  We stopped there at the picnic area for our candy bar dessert.  We also stopped in at the Visitor's Center.  We saw lots of other flowers along the road, at the picnic spot and also at the Visitor's Center.  Their annual Wildflower Festival is going on right now!  After that we drove down the mountain and back home.  It was good to get to the mountains!  I kind of nodded in and out on the drive home.  

On Friday we went on another picnic...this time at Lava Point which is up by Kolob Reservoir.  It's actually a part of Zion National Park.  There's a beautiful overlook, a picnic area and a campground.  It was a nice day for it being a little cooler than here and especially in the shade where our table was. Afterwards we drove over to Kolob Lake but only as far as the road was paved since we were in our rental car.  Out truck is STILL in the shop.  Paul's foot has graduated to where he can now wear a regular shoe for part of the day.  It's making good progress, but we between the foot and the truck we are feeling like we are sort of wasting the summer away a bit with not any very exciting adventures.  I think it's time to take a trip...somewhere!   (The sunrise shot was on my morning walk on the Red Hill today!)