UEA - here & there

We tried and tried to plan something major to do over UEA - my two whole days off from school.  Plan after plan just wouldn't work out. Finally we just decided to have fun doing some everyday things that we enjoy...spending time with people we love...throwing in some outdoor time in the beautiful fallish weather. It turned out to be a great time. We started the fun on Thursday with a Grand 'Edventure' with Brynnli, Tavin, Kennis and Gaige.  We had hoped to include Kaebri and Tasia too, but since we were so last minute in our planning their other grandma had already claimed them.  Our last Grand 'Edventure' to Kolob Arch was a pretty strenuous, so we decided to do several mini-hikes that were pretty tame this time.  

We started at Snow Canyon doing the little hike to Jenny's Canyon.

 Then we trekked over to Pioneer Names.

 After that we did the hike up to White Rocks.

Then it was lunch time.  We had a picnic in a shady glad below Baker Reservoir.  (We got to see the wagon train in route on our way there.)

After lunch we hiked most of the trail between Baker Reservoir and Brookside.  There were a couple of gorgeous waterfalls along the way.

On the way home we stopped for swirl cones from Arctic Circle.  The kids decided that was the perfect way to end a good day of hiking! One day of UEA well enjoyed!

Friday and Saturday we made a trip up to SLC.  While there Bean took us on a tour of the new Central Bishop's Storehouse and Deseret Transport facility.  It is a huge, amazing place.  Two stake centers could fit into one of the walk in freezers.  I don't know why anyone would want to have stake conference in a freezer, do you?  In the evening we got to go to Jay and Brynn's new house - it's the first time for me - and join them and the Weavers for Jay's third birthday get together for the week.  They treated us to a fantastic dinner.  Jay used one of his birthday presents, a stove top smoker, to cook up some soooo tasty pork.  Juge and Brynn finished up the meal with other yummy things.  Then we had a good time visiting and eating birthday pies.  It was so fun to see everyone and to see the beautiful new house too.  Madi and Sarai even liked us after a little while!   (I was too busy enjoying visiting and forgot to take very many pictures.)

The birthday candle blowing pictures are always so flattering!

On Saturday we went for a couple of little hikes - Neff  and Bell's Canyons.  We didn't have time to do all they way on either of them, but it was so pretty with the leaves turning.  There were lots of people out enjoying the beautiful day.  Thanks to all of you for spending time with us on such a last minute trip!

Family stuff - moving, eating, visting

Saturday was a busy day helping pack and move the Ferf and Ryan from Toquerville to Ivins.  It's not all done, but we made a pretty good dent in the project.  Brynnli told her Grandma B. that it's a "dream come true" to live so close to so many cousins.  They are pretty squeezed in, but with an attitude like that I guess it won't matter.

Sunday was the monthly family feed.  Moss and Christie hosted and provided very tasty creamy potato soup for the main course with the rest of us adding our part to the meal.  Weed was able to feel good enough to come as long as she could lay around some.  We were glad for that!  Derek is turning into a regular house husband helping her out until she gets past this - hopefully soon.  (We are so excited to have two more grand babies getting ready to make their appearance.) It was fun eating and visiting with everyone and especially fun to watch the the three little boys playing together.  They all got on the tramp and ran around and around screaming at the top of their lungs...very loud and boyish except for the high pitched voices.  What a good bunch we have! 

Brady and Ellie getting Ursala's autograph

On Monday Lou and Bryan came down to take Brady and Ellie to see The Little Mermaid at Tuacahn.  They loved it. (I wish my grandkids had a rich grandma who could have taken them all to see it.) Afton went to sleep and stayed with us.  She only screamed a little when she woke up and mom wasn't there to snuggle her and then went back to sleep.  It was fun to see her smiling in the day time and crawling all over the house.  Brady and Ellie had a grand time playing with our neighbor boys and the Legos.  They also were lucky that the weather turned warm enough for them to visit the Town Square and play in the water.  Afton was quick to become a fan of that.  Good times with family...they are the best!  (I snagged these pictures from Lou and Bryan - thanks for sharing guys.)

Duck Creek feast of colors

Twisty trees

We were afraid we would miss the leaves if we didn't get up to the mountains, so right after work we got in the car and drove up Cedar Canyon and on to Duck Creek.  Down lower there are still lots of greens, but up by Duck Creek Pond and Mirror Lake there is a feast of color.  It smelled delicious with the air fresh from recent rain.  It was hard to stop taking pictures.  Glad we didn't miss it.  It made for a delightful and refreshing FHE.

OK, whenever I am out in the beauties of nature this Primary song always comes to mind.  Here's my remake and some sweet videos of the original.

Whenever I hear the song of a brook, or look at a star lit sky,

Whenever I smell a cool desert rain, or a soft piney breeze brushes by,

Whenever I hike through evergreen dark, or white of the tall aspen tree,

I’m glad that I live in this beautiful world, Heavenly Father created for me.

He gave me my eyes that I might see the color that cool autumns bring,

He gave me my ears that I might hear the cadence as waterfalls sing,

He gave me my life, my mind, my heart: I thank Him reverently.

For all His creations, of which I'm a part. Yes, I know Heavenly Father loves me.

http://youtu.be/ywre1m9yu_0

ttp://youtu.be/YrO31qb8NQw

Thunder, lightening and perfect timing

Campsite views

We decided we'd better get in another camp out in the high country before it gets too cold.  We also wanted to do a little road rambling.  After work on Friday we packed up and headed for mountains near Brian Head.  Our chosen campsite was occupied, so we hurried to find another one to get settled before dark and hopefully before the rain set in since the clouds were looking very threatening.  Paul made a great dinner of Dutch oven stew and biscuits while I worked on getting the rest of camp set up.  It got dark, so we ate by lantern light...perfect food and surroundings.  The clouds were still very threatening, so we hurried and cleaned up and stowed the gear and headed for the tent to watch a movie on the laptop.  Just as we got everything squared away and were warm and dry in the tent the clouds let loose. After we finished our movie and sacked out it really started up with lightening and thunder and it even hailed some (we found ice outside the tent in the morning).

Leftover ice chunks from the hailstorm

It was so fun to just lay there and enjoy the noise and light while staying warm and dry.  It was a little hard to sleep until things quieted down some.  We made up for it by sleeping in and having breakfast in the tent.  After striking camp we went out exploring several roads we had wondered about over by Panguitch Lake area.  One of them was a real 4-wheeler challenge in our 2-wheel drive Toyota, but we satisfied our curiosity and found some nice future campsites in the process and managed not to get stuck in the mud or slide off the road. After all of our rambling we made the drive home through Zion. 

Yankee Meadows Lake from atop one of our road rambles

Bristlecone Pines on another rambling road

Piles, piles and more piles of basalt along another rambling road

It was a great day with loads of beautiful scenery.  We even had left over stew and biscuits to have for dinner when we got home!

Kolob Arch - Grand "Edventure"

It was hard, but they made it!  Since Tavin got a camelback type pack from us for his birthday, we thought we ought to take him on a hike to try it out.  Brynnli and Kennis came along too for the 14 mile hike to Kolob Arch.  We started at 8:40 am and made it out at 5 pm with breaks for snacks, lunch and some wading along the way.  (We discovered that those little black things attached the rocks in the water that look like some kind of plant are actually worms.)  It was perfect weather with cloud cover to keep us cool.  We heard some thunder a couple of times and felt a few raindrops here and there along the way.  The trail has some pretty uppity parts right at the end that really sap you when you are already tired, but with some promised cold sodas for motivation, we kept on keeping on and got out by the agreed upon time.  We had a good time wetting down in the cold water of LaVerkin Creek for the return trip.  We talked with lots of people along the way who had come long distances for the beautiful hiking in Utah.  There are some great campsites along that way that would be fun to try out some time. 

"Kolob Arch crowns Zion National Park’s lightly traveled Kolob Canyons District, which at 287.4’ across is considered the world’s second longest freestanding rock span. (The span of Landscape Arch in Arches National Park (290.1’) exceeds Kolob Arch (287.4’) by only 2.7'.) "

The trailhead

A grand vista

La Verkin Creek - a  lovely waterfall

We made it to the arch!

There were lots of little toads along the way.  This one thought Tavin was a toadstool.

More grand vista

Made it to the end!

Labor Day Weekend Fun

Supe and Bean came down and joined us at the family feast at the Smiths.  It was good food and good company.  After everyone else had gone we went over and toured Derek's classrooms and a few others at the high school.  Wow...there's some pretty cool stuff there.  Almost made me want to be back in high school!  Supe took off to Disneyland and the beach with Moss, Christie and Brenden.  Monday morning was cool and overcast, so Bean joined us and we took our walk on the Red Hill and got to see the sunrise.  They day continued cool so we decided to stay close to home for a hike out behind Santa Clara.  We hiked up some of the bike trails and then went bushwhacking over to the Gunsight rock that you always see through the Devil's Saddle on the black ridge.  It was nice with occasional sprinkles to keep us cool.  There are some spectacular views from out there.  After that we came back and Bean got ready to take off after we made our own flatbread and had some very tasty sandwiches.  It was an enjoyable respite.  Now its back to work.