President Nelson's 100th Birthday gift

 Russell M. Nelson 

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I am soon approaching my 100th birthday. One of the places where the Savior used the number 100 in the scriptures was the parable of the lost sheep. Though 99 of his flock were safely by his side, the shepherd went in search of the 1 who was lost.

At age 99, I have no need of physical gifts. But one spiritual offering that would brighten my life is for each of us to reach out to “the one” in our lives who may be feeling lost or alone.

Over the coming months I invite you to consider prayerfully: who do you know who may be discouraged? Who might you need to reconcile with or ask for forgiveness? Has one name been on your mind lately, though you haven’t quite known why? As you bring these questions to the Lord, He will inspire you to know how you can reach out and lift one who needs help.

What a beautiful example the Savior has shown us – that through each of us ministering to just one within our reach, we can spread the love of Jesus Christ throughout the world. #99plus1

Today in between general conference sessions they had a segment about President Nelson. It reminded me of something I wanted to record. He invited us to reach out to "the one" in our lives who may be feeling lost or alone. I remember thinking about how I could do that and not immediately thinking of anyone in particular that I could do this for. Later, however, I found someone. A lady who has been doing an amazing job on pedicures for me was basically put out of business when the place she rented in a mall was closed for renovations of the whole mall. She couldn't find a new place to locate her business. They closed down and her brother, her transportation, and son and parents moved back to CA. She didn't want to move because her daughter loves her school here. She moved a couple of her pedicure chairs into her apartment and is trying to make a go of it there for now. She texted me to let me know she was doing business at home again. I went to her and got the great pedicure I always get. I wondered how she was going to make it. Then after a bit I decided I could post about her on my FB page and also just text friends about her and how great a job she does for a great price. I had people message me if they wanted her contact info. It has turned out very well with lots of people asking me for her info and then going to her. I just had another friend tell me she had gone to her and loved her great work. Anna texted to to tell me thank you for sending so many people to her! I am so happy to hear that she got some new, hopefully returning, customers this way. I'm so glad I could help her just a little. It wasn't much effort on my part, but it's making some difference for her.

Leaf Looking 2024

I can love it over and over every year!  I never get tired of looking at the glorious colors of Fall leaves!  We even go to the same place to look at them.  Tradition!  Today was especially nice because of the clouds and even some sprinkles.  We stopped in and picked up Bean in Cedar City and then headed up the mountain.  We went through Cedar Breaks first and then turned right and went down that road.  We stopped and walked by a little stream we love, and then continued on and stopped off by the big lava beds for a little snack.  After that we went back via Duck Creek and stopped off for a walk at Aspen Mirror Lake.  It's always a favorite spot.  We saw a cool eagle nest along the way.  After that we went back via Navajo Lake road and then over to Brian Head and down to Parowan where we stopped in at the Dairy Freeze for great shakes and onion rings.  Really good!  Then we headed back down to Cedar City to drop Bean off and head home.  It was a really nice day with him and he seemed to be doing very well. Happy Fall!  

Paul and I went to Pine Valley yesterday and found a few leaves changing there.  It was just a little early for that elevation, but still so peaceful with the campgrounds closed for the year and the gates locked.  We just walked the paved to trail to the end and then walked part of the old Canal Trail back to the car.   Then we went to a beautiful reception with a sit down dinner and then to the Banff film festival for an evening of adventure films.  It was a wonderful day!

A little more leaf looking included a Friday walk and Picnic in Pine Valley.  The gate is closed because they are doing some paving so we walked clear up the trail to the end and had a little picnic at that top campsite.  Along the way there is an old apple tree.  We saw an apple way up high on it and were able to harvest it with a stick.  After we cut out the bird peck, it turned out to be a really good apple to add to our picnic.  On Saturday we went up on Cedar Mountain again to a Single Adult dinner at Wood's Ranch.  Paul cooked up some great DO potatoes to go with the bishop's sloppy joes.  It was cool and nice up there and the leaves were so pretty.  Didn't get many pics in either place.  

 More Fall fun.  Hiked the little Brookside Trail to Baker Lake.  The leaves haven't changed much yet, but it was still so pretty.  We stopped at Veyo Pie on the way there and got chicken pot pies and pie slices and took them to Pine Valley.  We had a nice picnic of the chicken pot pies there and decided to take the pie slices home to eat with ice cream.  It was good to get out and see the pretty stuff.  Someone put tape on the open range cattle signs to make them into Oreo Cows like the ones at Pine Valley are. Funny!

We got our bikes out and went to Pine Valley for a Fall ride today.  We also added in a little hike.  The leaves had finally turned up there and it was beautiful.  The uphill part of the ride was a huffing and puffing event since it's been forever since we've ridden.  We did the return ride on the Santa Clara River paved trail and it was a downhill ride and so very nice!  It was cool and peaceful and beautiful.  

Beaver Campout

We had a great campout!  It's later than we probably would go camping up at Beaver because it's getting pretty cold now with Fall in the air.  But, since we have our little camp trailer and can be inside if we need to and stay warm, we went.  It was wonderful because almost no one was up there camping, except in our favorite spot, at Round Flat.  We went just a little down the road to another favorite spot which was great.  There were no 4-wheelers screaming around.  It was in the low 50's during the day.  We got there and got set up just in time to make a delicious dinner and ate it inside because it was getting pretty cold.  It's so nice to have the option of cooking inside.  We had clam chowder and grilled cheese sandwiches and fruit.  Later we had hot chocolate and a cherry turnover for dessert.  We played some games, listened to a book and hit the sack.  

In the morning we lazed in bed some until the sun was full up and then we drove up the mountain to see if we could see any of the mountain goats.  We hiked around a little and then a lot to look for them.  We saw some picas in the rocks.  It was a sunny but windy day, but with coats on we did just fine and had a great hike...but saw no goats.  We hiked to within a mile of Delano peak looking.  We had no water with us, so decided not to go all the way to the peak this time.  By that time it was time to head back and get the stew cooking.  It turned out really well and it was early enough that we ate dinner outside with the sun shining on our backs.  It felt so good and was so peaceful and quiet and beautiful.  

After dinner went down and took a walk to the dam and around LeBaron Lake.  That day we had seen a crew clearing the edges of the road with a cool remote controlled wood chipper machine.  We had seen lots of evidence of their work all along the road up.  They left lots of great wood all cut to size for people to pick up.  We saw people loading it up along our drive back to camp and put several pieces in to take home for firewood this winter.  Our dinner was again, so delicious.  We had the stew and yummy bread and fruit and then hot chocolate and the rest of the cherry turnovers for dessert.  We played games and went to bed.  

In the morning stayed in bed until the sun was up and then went for a walk and saw some deer.  In the night we had heard some coyotes yipping and early in the morning heard some elk bugling.  We didn't see any unfortunately.  We came back and got things packed up.  Then we drove down to Cedar and took Bean to lunch and then we went up and saw the new Visitor's Center at Cedar Breaks.  It's very nice.  Then it was time to head home and put it away.  At least it was only 96 at home.  Pretty hot after our mid 50's respite.  There were leaves just starting to turn up in the mountains.  Fall is on it's way and we are looking forward to the cooler weather coming.  

A date with Torin

We had a fun date with Torin last week.  Ferf had some things to do and asked if he could spend the evening with us.  Glad she did.  We started out with dinner at The Crackerbarrel.  They have a little peg game at the tables that you can play while waiting for dinner.  Paul played first to remind Torin how it was done.  It's really hard to play until you can get rid of any more of the pegs than three.  Torin tired several times and got three and then one time six, which was very frustrating to  him.  Then he really put his mind to it and got it down to two and thought more and got it down to one a couple of times.  I've certainly never gotten it down to one.  We were so impressed with the way he really put his mind to it.  He was pretty excited to think that he had done it.  Dinner came and was really good.  Then we decided to go miniature golfing.  It was lots of fun as well.  Just a little night, but one that helped build some good relations with Torin.  He's going through a lot, just like all of Ferf's kids are right now.  Anything that we can do to help out is a blessing for us to be able to do.  

Clara Baptism & Bean bday trip

 We combined two things to make for a great weekend up north.  Bean had wanted to go on a trip for his birthday and go someplace fun, so we decided to combine it with the trip up for Clara's baptism.  It worked out great.  We left Thursday after school, stopped in Fillmore for dinner and got to Jay and Brynn's  in good time for some visiting that evening.  It was so fun to see all of them.  Friday morning we took Bean and went to Hogle Zoo for the morning.  We pretty well saw everything by about 1:30.  It's not a big zoo, but it was fun to see what there was there.  Then we went to Macaroni Grill for a delicious lunch.  And then we drove down and went to the Aquarium. It was so great.  We really enjoyed all of the amazing things to see there.  We got done in time to get back to Jay and Brynn's for dinner and helping get ready for the baptism on Saturday morning.  Clara was so excited and the girls were all being so attentive to her.  She was the only one being baptized from her ward and it went pretty quickly.  Lots of Brynn's family have moved away and her folks are on a mission, so the numbers weren't to big.  Some people watched it on Zoom.  It was nice that Bean felt good to stand in the confirmation circle.  We came back for a delicious lunch afterwards and then drove down to Lehi for an amazing violin concert that Clara and Madi were participating in.  It was really great.  Then we said our goodbyes and headed home.  We got home at a decent time and were back to the hot country again.  It was a great little trip and so nice to visit with Jay, Brynn and the girls!  Congratulations Clara!  We are so happy for you!

We gave Clara scriptures for her baptism.  Also included some really cool scripture/picture cards for her to use to look up scriptures on what we can do to prepare for baptism and becoming a member of the church.  Brynn sent a text/picture of her enjoying looking them up during church.  So glad she liked them.  I thought they were a great way to get her into her new scriptures and it worked!

Labor Day Pine Valley picnic

 We were few in number, but it was still a good time in the beautiful, cool and peaceful Pine Valley.  We reserved a picnic area and it was away from the crowd and so nice.  4 of the Randalls, 4 of the Smiths and Ferf and Torin joined us.  We enjoyed a great picnic and played games and visited.  It was just a relaxing day in cooler weather.  The little boys had a great time playing in the stream.  Everyone brought something for the meal and we had s'mores for dessert.  Now it feels like Fall is on the way.  

Back to School 2024-25

 We got started on Monday, August 12th, and are going for half days all of this week.  We have 18 kids to begin the year and they look pretty cute.  Evelyn is full of ideas for fun.  At the end of the first day she did not want to leave.  She thought she would be eating lunch at school and was not happy to leave without having eaten the lunch her mom had packed for her.  Finally her mom got her headed out the door, but she still didn't have a happy face about it.  (Her mom was late picking her up too.)  On day two Lyla didn't like the fact that she had to share blocks with other people even though she wanted to use them all to build a high tower.  She finally ended up sulking under a table.  Evelyn went over and kindly said that she sometimes went under a table when she was sad too.  She invited Lyla to come and sit by her and that did the trick and brought her out from under the table and back to the rug.  Way to be nice, Evelyn!  So we are back at it for another year.  We are going to have some extra help for a while on Tuesdays and Thursdays with some college students coming in to help for several weeks I think.  That will be nice.  Happy back to school!

Here's my school picture for the 2024-25 school year.   And below is a picture of our Staheli Farm field trip and our Kindergarten Alphabet Fashion Show program.

Another Halloween!  

August Birthdays - Bean, Tavin and Torin & funerals and fires

 This was number 36 for Bean, 23 for Tavin and 10 for Torin.  With all of the things going on we got together with Torin first and took him out to buy some books he wanted for his birthday present and then went out for ice cream.  They were Big single cones and he could hardly eat it all!  It was a fun evening with him and we were glad to get to spend a little time with  him .  He's a good little guy amidst the trials that are going on in his life.  Tavin came down for his birthday and to celebrate with Torin, but we never got to see him because of conflicting church schedules.  But we got his present over to Ferf beforehand and he sent us a sweet thank you note.  Love both of these guys.

For Bean's birthday we picked him up from his place in Cedar and he spent the weekend with us.  We took a beautiful drive up to see the new Visitor's Center at Cedar Breaks.  It closed early, so we didn't get to go in unfortunately.  Then we drove over Kolob mountain and went to dinner at Tiki (his choice) and had a nice evening together.  Saturday morning we went miniature golfing and had a good time before it got too hot.  Then we took a picnic snack up to Pine Valley and took a walk up there in the cool of the afternoon.  We spent a nice evening.  I got sick in the night, so Bean and I stayed home from church and watched it together at home.  G'ma came to dinner and Bean opened his presents then and we had a nice dinner and then took him back up to Cedar.  Bean is a dear young man who has had many difficult times in his life, but has kept going.  We are proud of him for his sticking with it through the thick and thin of it.  Oh how I wish his burdens could be healed, but we wait upon the Lord.  

Other August events:  We went to the cutest play that Sarai was in up in Cedar City.  She belongs to a children's musical theater group and they put on a SpongeBob play.  She was part of the chorus/dancer group.  It was a huge cast and very well done.  We loved seeing her be a part of it, but got no pictures unfortunately.  

We also attended the funeral of Paul's Aunt Sheree Lewis and took James and Anna Lou with us to it over in Taylor Arizona.  Also that weekend we attended the funeral of a longtime friend/neighbor, Steve Lewis.  Our kids grew up together in 3rd Ward.  Both of these people had wonderful families that will miss them greatly.  Both funerals were very nice.  

Another August happening was when early one morning during a thunder/lightening storm our neighbor's tall Cyprus tree was struck by lightening.  We were just deciding whether to go on our morning walk when a there was a LOUD thunder clap very close by.  When we looked out the front door the neighbor's tree was bursting into flames!  It was very crazy!  It took the firemen a while to knock the fire down.  

Last Campout before back to school - Cedar Mountain

 We love our little trailer more all the time!  We decided to do one more campout before I go back to school on Monday.  Cedar Mountain was our destination and we had a wonderful campout.  We left Thursday after getting work done in the morning and getting ready.  We found a great campsite just as it was about to start an afternoon mountain rainstorm.  We were snug and dry in our little trailer!  It was so nice to enjoy the storm without being in a tent in the mud.  We took a nap, played games and cooked a great dinner all inside.  We had pork chops, gravy and potatoes and some salad.  Later we had hot chocolate and donut/cinnamon roll to dunk in it.  It had stopped raining.  I had sort of a hard night with some leftover colposcopy issues to deal with, but thankfully it wasn't raining.

Friday morning we got up to a beautiful morning crisp and cool and the air so clean from the rain. We decided to hike down to Stud Flat along the trail to Ashdown Gorge.  It was so beautiful...and steep.  But we made it the 3.5 miles down and then back up!  We only saw one guy running down on our way back out.  Then we looked at the new Cedar Breaks Visitor's Center that's almost ready to open and visited the temporary one. After that we went over and hiked the short Bristle Cone Pine trail and then drove to the Navajo Lake overlook.  On our way back to our trailer it started to rain.  Another one of those afternoon mountain storms that happen this time of year.  And we were again, snug and dry in our trailer for another nap, games, listening to a book and making another great dinner.  We had clam chowder, grilled cheese sandwiches, cantaloupe and some not good lemon pie.  We didn't eat much of that, so we had toast and hot chocolate later.  We took a drive after dinner and explored some new roads that we could use to get to this spot in a better way.  

Saturday morning we got up and drove over to hike the Twisted Forest Trail.  It is very steep, but so amazing.  We got to the top and enjoyed the beautiful views and then hiked a different way down that wasn't so steep.  We also hiked through a forest of bristlecone pines and then to down a wash to see the end where the water came over the edge from the top.  It was a very beautiful and interesting side hike.  Then it was time to pack up and head out.  We got everything stowed and went down to Cedar City and had a nice lunch with Bean at the Pizza Factory and ran some errands with him.  Then it was time to head home.  Such a great campout and such a great way to camp in the rain and still enjoy you time! 

 

Camping fun in Boulder and the Kaibab!

 What a great camping trip we had...very spur of the moment.  Paul finished a job on Tuesday morning and came home and said we could go camping for a few days if I wanted to.  So, we put it together and went.  We started out over by Boulder Utah.  I had been wanting to check out some campgrounds over that way for a possible Family Camp site and thought we might camp at one, but we got there pretty late and after eating Subway in Escalante we decided to just look for a good camp spot along the way.  We found a dirt road turn off across from the Chriss Lake hike trailhead and found a great spot down that way.  It was among the aspens and you can't beat that.  We took an evening walk further down that road and found a beautiful stream, played some banana grams and then it was time to call it a day.

The next morning we decided to hike to Chriss Lake.  It was a great, pretty uppity hike and rangers had just cleared it of lots of brush, so that made it even better.  It was a very beautiful hike and the lake had funny ducks on it.  It was about 4 miles.  On our way down we saw 2 groups of forest rangers going up to do more work on the trail.  I was crossing a stream that came out of it on the way out and fell off a log that moved, but thankfully I just got bruised a bit, but nothing more.  

After that, we decided to go and check out those campgrounds.  They were nice, but not what we need for Family Camp.  Good to know.  Along the way we stopped in at the Wildcat Visitor's Center.  We talked to the host and he said we were lucky because the "humming bird people were there."  They were a group of college students (I think) that were there studying humming birds.  They had set up feeders with nets over them around the little picnic area.  The birds would go in there to eat and then they would catch them in little net bags.  They would take them out and do all kinds of measurements on the them.  They were banding some and some that they caught that day had been banded as much at 14 years ago!  The bands were so tiny that to see the numbers on them you had to use a jeweler's glass.  They would measure them some and then stick the birds little beaks into a feeder on the table so they could drink and help relieve some of their stress.  When they had finished all their measurement recording, they asked if we wanted to release them.  Paul and I both got to hold one in our hand and then they flew away.  It was so cool and amazing!

After that we drove back over the mountain to the Hole In the Rock road and drove out to see the Devil's Garden rock formations.  We had seen them years ago and I have been wanting to revisit it.  It was really hot this time of year, but we got to see all all of them.  Really outstanding!

Next we made what was probably a bad choice for how late and how hot it was.  We decided to go further down the road to the trailhead for Dry Fork Narrows and Peek-a-boo and Spooky Gulch.  We took the gradual decent into Dry Fork Narrows and hiked through that for about 1.5 miles.  Then we came out into a wash and went over to see if we wanted to go into the loop trail for the other two.  The entrance to Peek-a-boo was more of a climb/scramble than we wanted to do, so we walked down to see if we could go in the other end at Spooky.  It was SO hot and further and we wanted to go, so we headed back to the Dry Fork Narrows to get back to the truck and go.  I probably would have been ok without the part where we walked over to find Spooky Gulch.  I just got so hot and pretty soon I started feeling sick to my stomach.  I was pretty good in the shade, but needed to stop and rest in some shade here and there.  Then we got out of the narrows and into the full sun and my legs just couldn't go.  I rested and finally after a hill we got to where we could see the truck, but I just had to sit down under a tree in the shade after puking up all the water I had been drinking.  Paul went on to the truck and to get cold water and Triscuits for me. I got cooled down in the shade of a tree and then met him halfway back.  I just kind of hit a wall I guess.  Too much sun and not enough food.  We hadn't eaten that day, but had plenty of water.  I started feeling better as soon as I got cooler and had some salty crackers and cold water in me.  We drove back to Escalante and got some cold pop to go with our crackers and then I really felt much better.  I felt dumb being such a wimp, but I really just was out of gas.  After that we drove home via a favorite campsite, Blue Spruce, and over Hell's Backbone.  We made a great dinner of Super Nachos at our little camp.  We both tried the outdoor shower on our little trailer and it felt pretty good after our hot day out.  Then we played some games and hit the sack.  

The next morning we packed up and drove back down to Escalante and went through the visitor's center for the Grand Escalante National Monument.  We watched the movie and saw the displays.  It's a good place.  Then we were going to drive home, but decided that we would camp another night over at the Kaibab Forest near Jacob Lake.  We just enjoyed the drive and when we got to Jacob Lake we got cookies to have for desert that night and drove out into the dirt roads to find a camp spot.  We finally found a great site and got everything set up.  It was beautiful in a different way here, still high, but not so high as by Boulder and lots more Ponderosa than Aspen trees.  We took a walk for 3 miles up the road to see what was past the log that had fallen across it.  It was so nice. We found some really cool rocks with fossils in them along the way. Then we got back to camp and made another dinner of Super Nachos. (That's what we had since we hadn't planned on staying out that long.)  We were hungry, and it tasted great, and we had the cookies too!  Then we went for a drive down the road.  We had found a way around the log on our walk.  When we got back we played games for a while and then went to bed. 

In the morning we decided to drive over to Lee's Ferry to see if there were any peaches ready to pick in the orchard before we headed home.  There weren't any, but we did get to talk to some guys doing restoration stonework on the old house at Lonely Dell Ranch there.  Then we went down to see the Colorado River and then it was time to get back on the road with one more stop for cookies as we went back by Jacob Lake.  We saw some amazing and varied scenery all along the way on our trip and had such a good time getting to know our little camp trailer better and liking it even more.  We had great, out by ourselves, camp spots both times.  It was a wonderful end of school break camping trip!  

 We also saw this interesting place along the way over by Cannonville.  A very expensive way to camp.