Noah is official...at last!

Had a great day on Sunday. We went up to Bountiful for Noah Lance Weaver's blessing. It was such a nice gathering for the special event. Yes, he's a little older than most babies who get blessed, but hey, isn't it great that his dad thinks things like this are important enough to wait until he's ready instead of just being ho hum about it? Juge was a wonderful hostess to everyone afterwards with a tasty meal so we wouldn't go home hungry. We also got the chance to visit with Jay and Brynn at their house on Saturday night and got to eat one of their blogworthy dinners! Thanks Jay and Brynn for letting us invite ourselves over! Also got to go to Ashfork again last week and camped out yet again. I'm trying to get in all I can before school starts up. We didn't even sleep in the tent this time. We just slept on the back of the truck under the stars. It was so nice. Well, gotta get crackin' so I can get everything done and get ready for the family camp coming up this week! (On the way home from the blessing we went the back route and got to see the Manti Temple...so lovely.)

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Week end full of good times

Wow, we had such a fun week end. Lou and Bryan invited us up for Ellie's #3 birthday on Saturday. We had been wanting to go on a real camping trip and decided to combine the two. Friday afternoon we headed up to the Tuschar mountains by Beaver. We stopped in and got curds and an ice cream cone in Beaver. We hoped to try out that new possible family camp spot we had located, but it was full of people and trailers. We went to a few other places over that way and found them full of people too. So we headed back over to our other family camp spot and it was empty and as beautiful as ever. We set up there. It was perfect overcast weather. We felt raindrops a few times, but nothing we had to jump in the tent to get away from. Paul cooked us up a delicious beef stew with garlic/cheese biscuits on top. After dinner we needed to take a walk down the road a piece the shake down some of that good food. We checked out lots of side roads as possible camp sites. As we got to one meadow we found it full of elk. Paul was able to sneak up and get a few pictures and then they got scared and one of them let out a loud bugle and they went crashing off through the woods. We decided we had better head back to camp since it was getting close to dark. Then we took a drive back down our walking route...driving is a lot faster! We saw the elk again and at another meadow we saw another herd too. We turned off the truck and listened to them crashing off through the woods and bugling to each other all the while. It was something I had never heard before and it was so cool. We saw lots of deer, some with small antlers and one with a really big rack. Then it was off to the tent for a great night's sleep. Next morning we had and easy breakfast so we could get on with the day. We decided we wanted to hike up on Mt. Delano. Delano Peak is the highest point in the Tushar Mountains of south-central Utah. The Tushars are the third-highest range in the state, after the Uinta Mountains and the La Sal Range, though Delano itself is surpassed in height by at least thirty-one other Utah peaks.

Located in the Fishlake National Forest, Delano Peak is the highest point of both Beaver and Piute counties. The mountain is named for Columbus Delano (1809–1896), Secretary of the Interior during the Grant administration. We had a map that supposedly showed a trail head location, but it wasn't to be found so we just headed up and found an old jeep trail that has been unmade by the forest service and used it as our trail up the mountain. It went about 3/4's of the way up and then we found goat trails or just headed up for the rest of the way. We were hoping we'd see some of the rocky mountain goats. About the time the jeep trail ran out we saw one lone goat. That was all we needed to spur us on to the top. When we got up to the peak we looked down the other side and there was a whole herd of goats. They are such powerful looking animals and so beautiful. At the top we also met a couple of guys from AZ. There was also a mailbox up there with a sign-in book to leave your name and comments in. We spent quite a while up there enjoying the views and then headed down. On the way we were able to see another small heard of goats and we also came upon our one lone goat that we had seen on the way up. We should have taken our telephoto lens and we could have gotten betters pics. Going down seemed harder than going up, but we made it with a lunch stop in route. Then we washed our feet in an ice cold stream, changed our clothes in a mountain outhouse and headed on to Fillmore and Ellie's b-day dinner and party. She's was so excited about her carousel cake. It was fun to see Bryan's folks and his grandma Burbank there for the party too. We had a yummy dinner of homemade chicken fingers/Alfredo noodles and salad - Ellie's choice - and then opened presents and had cake. Ellie had a good time with all her presents and dressed up in lots of her girlie presents right away. It was a fun full week end. We got home and unpacked our gear/hit the shower and headed off to bed tired, but with great memories.

I finally got to go camping!

All summer I have been wanting to go camping, and with all the busyness going on we just haven't made it. Finally, Paul needed a load of stone over in Arizona, so Monday afternoon we took off. He had to be back Tuesday evening for Scouts, so it had to be quick, but it was really nice. It wasn't a full blown camp out with all the food, but we did sleep out in a tent in the forest, so it was good. We stopped in at Jacob's Lake for dinner. We had a so tasty chicken, vegetable, fruit salad with an orange/basil/olive oil dressing. I highly recommend it. And, they had a piece of their have to have it coconut cream pie for me. It's a bad place to stay slim. Then we drove on to Flagstaff and past and out into the ponderosa forest and found a nice spot and put up our tent. It didn't look like rain, so we left the fly off the tent and could look out at all the stars. It was the perfect temperature. I slept better than I ever have camping. We got up and had breakfast on the back of the truck and then headed off to get our load of stone. We stopped again at Jacob's Lake and got a sandwich and some of their scrumptious cookies (ahhh...the lemon zuchinni ones are so good...along with all the others) and ate on the way so we'd make it home on time. We did see one bad thing on the way home. Right by the Vermillion Cliffs, before Jacob's Lake, we could see a huge plume of black smoke over the hill. When we got close we saw that somebody's giant motor home was pulled off the road and was in flames. As soon as we got phone service, we started trying to call 911, but before we were able to get through the forest service trucks headed past us going that way. We saw a bunch of other fire and police vehicles heading out there too. There was a big truck stopped there helping the people. No one seemed to have gotten hurt. Pretty awful thing to have happen and ruin your vacation.

Happy 'beefday' to Supe!

Sunday evening all the family that resides in this neck of the woods got together to celebrate (one day early) Supe's #23 birthday. Gaige has a unique way of pronouncing birthday - beefday - and he says it so cute, that it's catching on. Supe wanted brownies instead of cake. He got lots of help blowing out his candles. Presents were mostly getting ready to go away to school and be his own cook type. He did get a nice cycling jersey too. Brenden simply can't stand to hear singing other than high soprano voices, so he screamed through the birthday song. Happy beefday Supe! We love you! PS - Bean and Tavin are coming up next:o)

They made it!

Last week Paul got to go and visit one of his favorite places...the Colorado Rockies. He shared the trip with the Young Men from the ward, the YM President and a dad of one of the boys. They left on Monday morning and returned, having hiked 50 miles, late Saturday evening. They were able to do 21 miles coming out on Friday qualifying for the hiking merit badge requirement to hike 20 miles in one day. On Saturday the visited Ouray Hot Springs to soak their sore muscles and clean up a little before heading home. He says it turned out to be a great trip. He was pretty worried about a couple of the boys being able to make it, but they all did it. Bonnie enjoyed a week of catching up on needed projects, reading, going to the temple, etc. while he was gone.

This could be a great family camp spot for this year!

Paul and I went family camp site hunting for the 4th of July. We got up early and went to the bi-ward 4th of July program/breakfast and then headed out to the mountains above Beaver. There were several things we wanted to do, and it was a long day, but we got most of them that were possible done. We wanted to check out any possible camp sites along the road to Big John's Flat. The road was open, so we went up every side road along it and to the end of it. We found what looks like an excellent spot that has very good road to it. No one was there and it was so beautiful. As you head up the road to the mountains you take the turn off to Big John's Flat. About 2.4 miles down the road is a turn off to Hamilton Flat & Kay's Meadow. We went down that and found a beautiful, open, flat meadow. There's plenty of room. After that we tried to go up the road to the high mountains where went and played in the snow on another family camp in that area, but it still had the gate closed. We went back out and drove over to our last family camp site in those mountains. It's still a beautiful spot, but it was occupied for the 4th. Then we headed down the other side of the mountain and on to Marysville and headed up the road toward that old mine site that we went to with Jay and Brynn and on further. The road got really bad, so we headed back and then went up the turn off to Cottonwood Canyon. We went as far as we could and realized that we had been on that road another time...coming from Beaver and over the mountains where we had played in the snow on that other family camp. We had been wanting to find where those roads connect. We stopped because there were some trees down in the road, and knew the road was closed on the other side anyway. (It would be really fun to drive over that mountain and down to the mine for a family camp activity. The road should be open by then.) It was getting late, so we headed back up the mountain and over and down to Beaver and on home. It was cool, sprinkly, and a beautiful day! (We had a picnic at a fun spot with a log bench and table.)

A quick trip and a great visit

Last Friday we made a quick trip up to SLC to see Bonnie's mom. She is on a little break from her mission. Marilynne brought her down to her house from Washington for a few weeks. We had to hurry back home on Saturday afternoon, but it was great to get a chance to see mom and a lot closer than driving all the way up to Washington. The Sanderson's were great hosts and we also had a nice visit with them and some of their kids. Too bad we all don't live a little closer. We made a quick pit stop in Fillmore on the way home and got to see the Randalls for a few minutes. Their garden is looking good and Brady can ride his bike like a pro...with no training wheels!

Father's Day & the June birthdays!

The latest family get together was to celebrate the June birthdays and Father's Day. Unfortunately we didn't have Lance here to be a part of the June party. On Father's day we met up and had cheesecake and very chocolate brownies to celebrate all the good things happening. Derek, Moss and Bonnie all got a little older and Paul got remembered for being a great pop. Thanks to everyone for the good company and the presents!

We made it!