Happy Birthday #37 Train Ride Bean!

 When we asked Bean what he'd like for his birthday, he said he'd like to ride the train from Durango to Silverton.  The official name is the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.  We put it off for a little while to be able to enjoy the Fall leaves.  We took that ride on Saturday, September 27th.  We picked up Bean in Cedar and drove over to Aztec to stay with Ross and Lerlyn on Friday.  Along the way we stopped in Green River for lunch at Arby's and then stopped in Durango for dinner at a BBQ place we like there.  Then we headed down to spend the night with in Aztec.  Ross and Lerlyn had decided they wanted to come along so we all got up and went to Durango to start the train ride at 9 am on the steam train.  It was a beautiful ride with so much amazing scenery to enjoy along the way and the Fall leaves were definitely part of that beauty.   We got there about 12:30 and went over to eat lunch and then hung out in Silverton enjoying the town scenery until it was time to leave at 2:45.  We didn't ride the train back.  We took a really nice bus instead which was a good thing.  It got rainy on the way down and it would have been hard to enjoy the scenery from the train in that weather, and we took a different route on the road, so we saw different scenery.  All of it was great! We spent Saturday night in Aztec and then got on our way Sunday morning.  We were able to listen to the Sunday School podcasts pretty much all the way home, so that was our church for this day.  We stopped in Page to eat our picnic lunch at a park and stopped at the Dam to use their bathrooms.  We had quite a bit of rain on the way home which we were pretty happy to have. We enjoyed more beautiful leaves on the way home especially coming over Cedar Mountain.  We dropped Bean off in Cedar and then drove the rest of the way home.  It was a great, quick trip!  Happy Birthday Bean!  We love you!  Happy #37!

Rodeo, Mini Golf and Fall!

 The morning started with the rodeo parade.  We got to see lots of fun things and also Zade and Trigg marching with their school band!  We had fun watching it with Beacher and the kids and her mom and brother.  Pretty fun!  The kids gathered up LOTS of candy!

Next we went mini golfing with Bean at Fiesta Fun.  It was lots of fun...and amazingly I won and even got one hole in one! After that we went to see new stores at a new shopping mall and ended up trying J. Dawg's for lunch and Duck Donuts for dessert.  Both really tasty.  Then we headed home for a nap and then I took Bean home to Cedar.  We went via some leaf looking up on Cedar Mountain!  It was so beautiful up there!  It turned out to be a really nice day.  

September birthdays - Juge #44 & Lou Anne #50,

 

Just these two have birthdays in September.  We got together with Juge on the Saturday and enjoyed crepes at Park Place.  She was getting ready for a backpacking outing with her family later that day, so we couldn't be long, but it was yummy! Happy Birthday Juge!  We love you!  The next Sunday we had a family dinner at Juge's and celebrated with Lou and a little more with Juge.  Happy Birthday you two.  We love you!  Happy 50th Lou Anne!  

Merry Christmas...at last! Helicopter ride!!!

The kids gave us a gift certificate for a helicopter ride for Christmas!  We wanted to wait until the best time to use it.  We thought about it earlier, but there were fires going and it was too smoky to see anything.  Now seemed like a great time! It was really fun to see things from that vantage point.  We did most of the tour over Canaan Mountain/Water Canyon area just outside of Zion.  They cannot fly in the Zion Park footprint airspace.  We saw the place where they used to do the mail drop over the cliff and also the notch where they dropped lumber down. We flew over Canaan Arch too. There were 7 of us (3 couples and one pilot) in the helicopter.  It was pretty tight, but good.  One girl got a little queasy with some of the turns, but I hadn't had any breakfast and that was probably a good thing.  It ended up being about 30 minutes long - 55 miles.  What an adventure!!!  Thanks to everyone for such a fun adventure gift! 

Afterwards, since we were up that way, we went to Zion and walked the Pa'rus trail.  It was really crowded up there, but we finally found a parking spot.  It was wonderful weather for it and so pretty.  Then we drove to Cedar City and had lunch with Bean and drove up to see Yankee Meadow Reservoir.  It's way low this year, very sad.  

A little more fun with Bean

 We had a nice weekly visit with Bean and enjoyed a beautiful car ride and lunch with him.  We drove over Cedar Mountain and then on around and back through Zion.  We stopped in at Mt. Carmel Junction and had lunch there at the Thunderbird restaurant.  It was really good.  Zion was grand as always and Cedar Mountain is beautiful as well.  It was a nice afternoon with him after spending time with Juge earlier for her birthday.  

Labor Day weekend fun!

We finally decided we'd go camping over in the Kaibab. We wanted to go somewhere cooler! We got an early start on Friday morning.  Since we had time, we decided to stop and visit the Pipe Springs National Monument on the way there.  We spent quite a good time there seeing the film, doing the visitor center things and then walking around the fort and grounds.  We even did a half mile loop trial.  It was amazing to see how people could make a life in such a desert location because of the little spring that's still flowing today.  There was controversy between the original inhabitants (native Americans), the pioneers and then the US Government. In the end, the government settled it.  The Kaibab tribe is still a part of the management and lives in the area today.  It was and interesting and enjoyable activity to start our week end.  

We arrived at the Kaibab/Jacob Lake Inn about 3:00 and had a great snack that included some of their cookies.  Then we found a campsite pretty nearby and got things set up and took a nap.  Then we drove over to Lee's Ferry/Lonely Dell Ranch to see if any of the fruit was ripe.  Neither apples nor pears were ripe unfortunately, but it was a pretty drive.  When we got back we had a great dinner at Jacob Lake.  After that we drove as far as they allowed toward the Grand Canyon.  Many roads are blocked off.  We only got as far as the Country Store/Camp ground.  Then it was time to head back to get to bed.  In the morning we took our walk and enjoyed the cool, cloudy weather.  It was so beautiful.  Then we went to breakfast at Jacob Lake.  It was pretty slow, but also pretty good.  They were actually very crowded with lots of firefighters and other people (some bow hunters) staying there.  Then we went back to camp to take pills/brush teeth and get ready for the day.  We decided to drive to the view points since you couldn't see the canyon other than that.  It was a beautiful forest drive.  We saw some wildlife along the way - deer, birds, lots of chipmunks playing chicken in the road, wild turkeys, and 7 Kaibab squirrels that were nearly impossible to photograph!  We were excited to see that many...more than any other times we've been there.  It had been raining over there and was still cloudy, so it was cool.  There had been another fire going at the time of the one that burned the lodge, etc. You could see it's devastating effects as you were coming up the hill onto the plateau with miles of trees burned along the road and then on  over the hill and down the road toward the Vermillion Cliffs.  It was so sad to see so much destruction of beautiful forest.  But, we were glad about there still being a lot left, thank goodness.  It was a wonderful, cool, relaxing campout!  

We finished up the fun with a Lava Point picnic and beautiful Kolob Terrace Road drive with Bean on Monday afternoon.  The weather was fine with beautiful clouds.  Our picnic was tasty and we enjoyed the drive through the woods.  

New carpet!

 It looks so nice and clean!  Yippee!  

 

Yesterday we had a fun time taking Bean to lunch at Duck Creek.  We went to a little place called Aunt Sue's Chalet.  The food was good and the travel to and from over the mountain was beautiful as always.  It was a good time!  We also stopped in at the Cedar Breaks Visitor Center.  It's always a lovely spot.  

Brandin' Iron dinner and Forsyth Trail walk

 The kids gave us a gift card to the Brandin' Iron steakhouse in Pine Valley.  We tried to go earlier in the summer, but that just happened to be the day that the big fire started up there and they called to say they were closed.  Now they are open again and we had a wonderful meal on Friday night!  Afterwards we drove around some seeing more of the fire destruction and then went over to the Forsyth Trail and took a walk.  We only went up about a mile because it kept threatening to rain (it rained hard while we were eating dinner) and because it was going to get dark.  But in that mile we saw lots of different levels of the fire damage.  It was very burned near the trailhead, but when we got up a mile there was quite a bit of green left, especially along the stream.  And there was a beautiful rainbow glowing across the valley at the first of the walk too.  It was nice and cool because of the rain.  The burned part got kind of creepy feeling as it got dark.  It felt like a Halloween forest of black tree skeletons.  But, the sunset came and made it pretty again.  I'm glad to see that some things weren't as badly damaged as I thought they had.  There are hints of green coming up in many places.  It will be a long time for the trees to come back, but until then there will at least be some green.  

Back to school for 2025!

 I'm back to school again...probably for the last time.  I'm probably turning my job over to someone else in October, but till then, I'll try to be useful.  We have 18 so far this year and as always, some of them are going to be challenging, but they are all very cute and excited for school.