Brenden takes a walk with Grandpa and Grandma

The other evening Moss and Christie needed to make it to the temple for their monthly goal. We got to spend the evening with Brenden while they were gone. He wasn't sure about this spending time with the old folks without Mom and Dad right there too, but he didn't cry...just wasn't his usual smiley self. It has been such nice weather of late that we decided a walk was in order. We headed off to the duck pond and then down to the Town Square. Brenden thought the best part was running around in the lazy river. The water was off, but there were still enough puddles to keep him happy. One time he got a little thirsty and thought slurping water out of a puddle in one of the rocks was a good way to quench his thirst...Grandma put the kibosh on that pretty quick. Lots of people thought he was "so cute" and one lady let him pet her "puppy". On the way down we stopped off to ride the horse statues and on the way home we visited the fire truck and rang the gong. Brenden was a good sport, but he was pretty glad to find Mom and Dad back at the house at the end of our walk!

24 Hours of goodness

Friday after I got off work Paul and I headed up to Bountiful. We arrived around 6 pm and that started our 24 hours crammed full of a variety of good things. Those good things included: Seeing all the folks up that way, seeing Juge and Lance's home remodeling progress, witnessing Noah's fearless antics, getting to hear Eden's cute songs in person, seeing Jay and Brynn's babe's cache of cute things just waiting for her arrival and use, taking a tour of Bean's work, and, most important, being a part of Bean's being ordained and Elder and taking out his endowments. That was a lot to enjoy in the short time we were there, but it was all accomplished and enjoyed. Thanks are due and offered to everyone who helped make it happen - to Juge and Lance for their hospitality, to Jay and Brynn for helping Juge out with lunch, to Lou for making the trip. The only thing that could have improved it was if all of us could have enjoyed it together, but no guilt intended to those who couldn't come. It was just one of those things that couldn't be worked out. We love you all!

Grandma Poulsen comes to St. George!

We had a great time having Grandma Poulsen visit us in St. George via Janet & Tony coming down for a little family reunion the Brooks were having and bringing her along to visit and stay with us for a few days. The good times started out with a visit from Moss, Christie and Brenden. Brenden wasn't quite sure if he wanted to be friendly or not, but by their second visit he was feeding imaginary food he stirred up in a cup to Great Grandma Poulsen. Later that first evening we headed over to the Smith's for a little celebration for Zade's #2 birthday. It was just a small gathering, but we had such a good time celebrating/listening to Grandma's stories of family and days past. Zade was happy with his presents and cake and even sported some chocolate frosting between his toes! Don't ask me how it got there. (We messed up and didn't take a picture of the whole family unfortunately.) On the way home we stopped by Moss and Christie's so Grandma could see their beautiful new home. On Friday we had some time to rest and relax, go out for a Chinese lunch (one of Grandma's favorites) and get some work done on Jay & Brynn's baby's Great Grandma Poulsen/Grandma Lillywhite quilt. Ryan also dropped by to pick up Ferf's forgotten phone and it was fun to have a short visit with him. In the evening Grandma Kurtz came over for dinner and we had a nice visit with the two of them. Bean called and Grandma got a chance to visit with him. Saturday we headed to Pine Valley and got lucky enough to go on a tour of the old chapel. (Shucks - no pictures here.) We stopped in Veyo on the way up and ordered a lemon meringue pie from the pie shop there (another favorite of Grandma's) and picked it up on our way back. Paul's Aunt Kathy and her daughters surprised us with a visit upon our arrival back at the house and it was fun to chat with them for a little while. They were here for a Tuacahn show and a mom/daughter get away. Next we headed over to the Borrowman's to visit. Lou and kids were able to make it down and we just sat around visiting. Grandma enjoyed seeing the farm as well as visiting with everyone. We came home and had dinner and then got to visit with Moss, Christie and Brenden out in the yard with Brenden keeping us entertained for the evening. Sunday morning we had to kiss Grandma goodbye and send her back up to Washington with Janet and Tony via a stop in SLC where she will have a quick visit with the family up there. It was so fun to have her come. She amazes us all with her memory and all her knowledge of so many things. She makes us all feel loved and special with her wonderful way with people. We wish she lived closer, but are so thankful to Janet and Tony for the wonderful home they provide for her and how they take such good care of her. We love you Grandma. Thanks Janet and Tony!

Taylor Creek and beyond...another grand 'edventure'

At the Visitor's Center & Funny faces at the trail head



Shots along the trail

You couldn't have picked a better weather day for hiking. We (Paul, Bonnie, Brynnli, Tavin, Kaebri and Kennis) headed out after lunch to do the Taylor Creek Hike up at Kolob Fingers. Everyone came prepared with packs, water and even extra clothes. This is a great kids' hike. It's 5 miles with a total elevation gain of 450 feet. We went about a quarter of a mile further in to see a really cool waterfall. There are two cabins along the way that are fun to see and then you get to the magnificent Double Arch Alcove. We took some rest/drink/snack stops along the way. We kept having to cross the creek and on the way back we decided to count how many times with everyone picking a number. The total crossings on the way back ended up being 73 with Grandma Lillywhite choosing right on the number. Everyone got very good at rock hopping across the creek and even when we missed it wasn't bad...just cooled your feet off a little. Grandma did cool Kaebri off about up to one knee trying to hoist her onto a rock for a picture at the waterfall, but she dried off pretty well and was a good sport. Everyone did great on the hike. It was lots of fun! Thanks kids, for going hiking with the old people. We love you! Next time we'll have to find a shorter one and include some of the younger set too.

We made it to the end of the hike!
Our tired and dirty feet

"You are an Ironman" and other good times of late

Last week was a good one full of good times. On Wednesday I got to attend Tasia's Dixie College pre-school graduation. She was pretty proud of graduating and was very enthusiastic as they performed songs in a little program for their parents and others attending the big event. She even got to wear a mini cap and gown and walk through the "D" to receive her diploma. Way to go Tasia!

The next good time was attending the Kurt Bestor "Night at the Movies" concert with the Utah Symphony-a journey through the last 85 years of movie music. Using a giant screen, guest vocalists, and his usual concert repartee with the audience, Bestor traced the art of film scoring from its silent piano roots to today's exciting scores. I found a coupon for tickets and it was a very enjoyable evening.

We kept trying to think of a hike to take on Saturday, but decided to stay local to be sure and be here in the evening to attend the best time of the week...Kaebri's baptism and the birthday get together afterwards. It was a very nice baptism and made even nicer by Lenae giving one of the talks and also bearing her testimony. We are so proud of Kaebri! (It was also nice to be able to see Lou and kids for a few hours and so nice of them to make the drive down for the baptism.)

Since we didn't go for a hike on Saturday,we got lots of errands done and still had time left over to head to the Jim Jones exhibit at the St. George Art Museum. We love his paintings of the Grand Canyon and Zion Park and thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit. (Didn't much care for the downstairs watercolor exhibit.)

Then we headed down to watch the first bikers coming in at the Ironman. I wasn't that excited about the whole thing, but hearing Moss talk about all he was doing to take care of the swim part got me excited and then seeing the bikers coming in and just being at the site was really inspiring. One guy had gotten in a bike wreck and I heard that he broke his collar bone. Paul saw him get off his bike and start the running part of the race with his arm all wrapped up with ice and tape. He looked pretty bad. We went down about 10:00 that night to see some of the runners coming in. We didn't see that guy, but did hear that he finished. It was so cool seeing people coming across that finish line knowing how much work they had done to get to that point. I know how tired I feel just doing a 100 mile bike ride that takes me quite a bit of the day. I'm glad we didn't miss it. We need to volunteer to help with it next year. (Every time someone finished the guy on the loudspeaker would announce, "You are an Ironman" along with their time, name and age. We could hear this going on clear up at our house.)

Sunday evening was another good time as Paul,Grandma Kurtz and I headed out to Ferf and Ryan's to see their 4 new little goats. They are adorable. It was fun to see the all the kids at the house interacting together. Koen was so funny trying to catch the little goats wagging tails.

Today we had the bittersweet experience of attending the funeral of Bro. Jay Blake. I didn't know Bro. Blake well, but have watched the great example that he, his wife, and family have set for many years in our ward. He and his wife have raised 9 amazing kids, weathered hard times, kept a wonderful attitude and just endured the race well. They are just plain good people living the gospel. The thing he was most proud of was having had all 6 of his boys receive their Eagle Scout rank and fill missions and that all of his children have been married in the temple. It was a sweet, and inspiring funeral. I hope that when it's all said and done I can do as well as he did.

Addendum to desert blooms on the Red Hill post

Oops! Found out that the bloom I thought was Sego Lily is a close relative, but not the real thing. It is actually a Weakstem Mariposa Lily. Paul is taking the Scouts up to identify 10 native plants on Tuesday and I dug out my Plants of the Virgin Mountains book (leftover from Webelos) and we found both Sego Lilies and Mariposa Lilies in it and checked out more info on-line and found out the truth! Sorry for the misinformation. I did check with Karl Brooks about the graves of dead Indians on the Red Hill and he just laughed.

Rocking and rolling along the highway

Paul and I took a rock trip leaving on Friday after school and returning home very late Saturday evening covering around 1,000 miles in all. We needed to check on a load in Ashfork, Arizona and then headed over to Ramah, New Mexico to check on another load. It was fun just spending time together, looking at some beautiful rock (some with petroglyphs), enjoying the scenery and listening to a new Clive Cussler book. It's hard to believe that people can be so handsome/beautiful, strong, indestructible, etc. as they are in these books, but it was an enjoyable listen. Another cool thing was seeing the new bridge at Hoover Dam by Lake Mead. It is an amazing feat of engineering for sure. I don't think I would want to be on it in an earthquake no matter how well engineered it is! We had thought about camping out, but after checking the weather and seeing that it was supposed to be 27 that night, we opted out and camped at a cheap (but nice) motel in Williams instead.

Desert Blooms on the Red Hill...among the dead Indians

Saturday morning I went for a walk on the Red Hill. It was a beautiful day and the night before on a walk I had noticed lots of beautiful flowers blooming. Paul had the camera on a Scout camp out and I wanted better pictures than I could get with my phone, (not to mention how slow I am at e-mailing them to myself to download) so I finally went up this morning and took pictures of all the different kinds that are blooming right now. I especially like the Sego Lilies. They are blooming all over the place. I have never noticed so many up there before. They are a really light lavender. The ones I found on-line looked more white than what's on the hill. I don't know the names of any others I saw except for the one Indian Paintbrush that I found. Now, about the dead Indians...on Saturday I came across a couple of older women hiking around up there. Came to find out one was a guide from some local hiking place (I had seen their van parked alongside the road) and the other was a tourist being taken for a hike, and maybe just taken in somewhat. I asked whether they knew about the little geocache that's up there. They didn't so I walked along with them for a while so I could point it out. The guide was doing the guiding thing - telling about the flora and fauna, etc. At one point we came to some undercut rocks along the trail and she told the tourist that those were old Indian graves. I was just about to ask where in the world she had gotten that fact when I decided it wasn't my party, so I just stayed quiet. Now, that is my question to all of you...have you ever heard of old Indian graves up on the Red Hill, or is that just a figment of some over zealous guides imagination? I plan to ask Karl Brooks about it the next time I see him. Dead Indians or not, I love having the Red Hill as my backyard.

First night under the stars in 2010

Friday afternoon after work we got packed up and headed off up Red Mountain Trail. We hiked up a ways after the overlook into Snow Canyon and then went up and over a ridge and down into another canyon away from the trail and set up camp under a big, convenient for hanging everything on, Juniper tree. It was perfect weather. We had a dinner of ham and beans, flatbread and oranges. Mmm good. We hiked up to the top of a hill and looked out over Snow Canyon and up to Pine Valley and then down a really pretty wash. It was good hiking because it had rained recently enough that the sand was still wet in lots of places. We got back to camp just at dark and had hot chocolate, talked some on the phone to Juge and Lou, and then hit the sack. We didn't bring a tent, but did bring the airbed, so we had a comfy bed and a great view of the stars. It was pretty cool by morning, so we stayed snuggled in until the sun was up. We had warm granola and hot chocolate for breakfast...very good. We broke camp and headed out to see the slick rock, ponds and beautiful vistas. After hiking around there some and stashing our packs, we headed off to see if we could find the overlook into Hellhole (Kayenta) Canyon. Paul is pretty good with his map and compass and we actually found it enjoying some amazing scenery on the way. We had lunch there and then headed back. It was a beautiful day for hiking. We got back just in time for Paul to make it to his 4:00 stake conference meeting. It was probably about 15 miles total. It was a great first night under the stars and lots a amazing scenery!

Art Festival, Conference, Birthday, Easter, moving...all in one weekend

It was a fun, haphazard, busy, wonderful weekend. I had Friday and Monday off, thank goodness, or there's no way I could have fit all of this in. Paul had to work Friday, so I spent the day house cleaning, shopping, etc. Friday evening we walked to an Easter Concert by the Southwest Heritage Choir and a Pine View Choir at the Tabernacle. It was very nice. Jay and Brynn arrived shortly after we returned. Saturday we watched conference and in between the am and pm session we wished Christie a happy birthday and did a very quick walk through of the Art Festival. In the evening the men headed to priesthood. Weed and kids came over and we visited the Art Festival (they were closing up so we couldn't see much), walked over to feed the ducks and had dessert. After the men got back and had dessert we headed over to see Moss and Christie's new house which they were in the process of moving in to. Moss and Jay had a deep discussion which the rest of us listened in on until almost midnight. Sunday we enjoyed conference with our Easter Feast after the am session with Jay and Brynn, Moss and Christie and Grandma. More conference and then we got Jay and Brynn on their way. Monday morning Paul and I did paperwork, etc. and in the afternoon the Borrowman kiddies came over while Ferf took Koen to the doctor. We were hoping to take a hike, but the weather didn't cooperate, so we had a fun time indoors. Paul and I taught the kids how to play Pit. They did great! We also played Sorry and Guess Who? while snacking on strawberries, Cuties and carrots. It was lots of fun. Later on Paul, Christie and Moss moved some of their stuff into their new house while I played with Brenden and ate crackers. What a great week end. Oh, we also got to have Jay make us flat bread to go with Saturday dinner. It's really good. Thanks everyone for a great weekend. We are so lucky to have such a fun family to enjoy!