July 24th...celebrating with the Borrowmans

We started the day by attending breakfast at the Stake center.  The Borrowmans went to their annual family breakfast.

I liked this car that was parked at the breakfast.  I also liked the pancakes, eggs and bacon!

Then it was off to Zion Park for some hiking.  We decided on Hidden Canyon.  I think it was about a 3 miler.  It is listed as a strenuous hike, but 4-year-old Koen just took off with no problem. Ferf had to keep telling him to slow down and stay with her!  It wasn't even too crowded.  Guess that strenuous label scares people off!

Our lunch spot - the squirrel joined us for lunch.  There was no getting rid of him.  I finally succumbed and gave him a few cashews.  Sorry!

After the hike and riding the shuttle back to get the car, we drove through the park and over to Orderville to check out Red Hollow Slot Canyon.  It was a cute, but very muddy little slot.  We had some challenges going over a couple of choke stones.  Sadly, it ended with too soon with a 25 foot climb up to the next section.  It was fun while it lasted!  

Tavin had quite the wild ride when his feet slipped out from underneath him and he bounced all the way down this little side canyon on his seater!  

After the hikes we drove home over the mountain and got to enjoy a very fierce rainstorm for a little while.  We also needed ice cream cones in Cedar to keep us from starving.  Then we stopped in at Costco and got 12 hot dogs and took them to Nisson Park.  After the consumption, we washed off the mud and some people needed to get a little more washing via a water fight.  Ryan joined us after he got off work. Finally, despite Koen's instant sadness attack, we did have to call it a day.  (It had been the "best day of his life" and the hot dogs were the "best meal he ever had".)  Thanks for joining us and making it a fun day Borrowmans!  We were then pleasantly surprised to find the Lillywhites at our house. Brenden wanted to swing.  Eliza wasn't too sure about it at first, but then she got right into it and was smiling from ear to ear!  Happy July 24th.  Thank you Pioneers for coming and making this area habitable.  We are truly blessed by your sacrifices.  

He (they) did it!

So proud of Moss and Christie! Even with all the junk they have been going through the last little while, it still got done!  Congratulations...way to go!  Awesome!  I hope you had some kind of celebration!

Ellie #7 and Kaibab ramblings

Last week included two highlights.  The first one was Ellie's 7th birthday.  Paul, Bean, Supe and I got to join them for dinner.  Ellie's request was hamburgers, homemade French fries, a veggie tray and another amazing cake, of course.  This year's masterpiece was a playground complete with moving swings.  It was so fun to get together and celebrate sweet Ellie.  Can't believe she's 7 already!  Thanks for letting us join the fun.  Happy Birthday Ellie!  We love you.  

Another highlight was a little trip over to the Kaibab on Saturday.  We went out #22 from Fredonia and came back via Jacob's Lake. We were checking out some possible routes for next year's Trek.  It was so beautiful over there because it had been raining and everything was so unexpectedly green.  We drove several possible routes and even ran into a group just finishing up a Trek.  We went out to some of the Grand Canyon Vista points too.  We took our bikes along and rode out and back to Fence Point and just a little bit of the Rainbow Rim Trail.  It was only about 6.5 miles, but it was either very down or very up and at that altitude, the up part really made oldies like us breath!  We ate our lunch at Monument point.  As always, we stopped in at Jacob's Lake on the way home for a little treat!

Happy #27 Supe!

Those that could gathered on Sunday evening (a day late) to wish Supe a happy #27!  Brenden did an amazing job of counting out and placing all 27 candles on the brownies...and then he even helped blow all those things out! A case of Izzies, a new climbing bag and some cash toward a new phone came with our good wishes. Happy Birthday Supe!  We love you and hope the coming year will bring lots of good things your way!  (Sorry for the blurry shots. I am just about to throw my camera away and get a new one.  It is very inconsistent and  makes me crazy.)

Denny & Sandee, Mom & Montana Stone

It was a great and busy week!  Denny and Sandee and their kids Ariel, William and Christian made time to stop by and visit with us on their way to a skating event the boys were participating in.  It was so nice to visit over dinner and for a little while at the house.  Too bad we don't live closer. It would be a lot of fun to go to some of the events they participate in and just to be able to get to know everyone a lot better.  I don't think I could keep up with all of these kids at my age!  Denny and Sandee are amazing parents!

Next on the agenda was a very quick trip to Montana (near Bozeman) for a load of stone.  Another chance to combine business and fun.  We got to stop by and eat lunch with Mom and Marilynne in Salt Lake which was too quick, but really nice.  

The only thing that could have been better was if we had one more day to spend.  Didn't even get many pictures because it is too hard to shoot very good ones as you are driving by.  We did drive through Teton and Yellowstone Parks.  That is a scenery overload for sure!  We were so blessed to find both of our campsites just as we needed to even when we had no clue where we were going to stay.  

Our first campsite just this side of Wayan, Idaho, Snake River and the Tetons hiding in the clouds.

Beautiful stone buildings at the place we bought stone, our campsite and load, and Tetons from the back. Loved the miles and miles of green, rolling hills of farmland along the way.  

Happy 4th of July and more!

Started a great 4th of July at the church with the annual program/flag raising/breakfast at 7 am.  I loved that the Cub Scouts did the flag ceremony this year!  After that Paul and I got our gear together and headed for the cool beauty of Ashdown Gorge.  I think this is one of the most beautiful hikes around. (The road construction to fix the slide area pretty much ruined the approach unfortunately.  Wish they would redo some kind of trail, but it is still doing a lot of sliding.  You just have to pick your way through the mess.  The rest of the hike makes it worth it.) We did about 11 miles round trip up and back from the bottom end.  I love the top of this hike too.  It was a perfect temperature - about 85 degrees.  You spend most of this hike in the stream and it was so nice and cool.  The wildflowers were blooming and everything was green!  It even rained a little on us in the afternoon.  I hated to turn around and head back down to the heat. 

Flanagan's Arch, Tom's Head (in one picture you can actually see the face), and a giant boulder.

One of the many beautiful waterfalls

Lake Creek and Rattlesnake Creek empty into Ashdown Gorge.  This is Lake Creek.  

This is Rattlesnake Creek.

Just had to get in and cool off in this one on the way out!

Beautiful flowers and butterflies.

The Borrowmans invited us over for a yummy dinner that evening!  It was fun to hang out, visit and eat!  

After that the Smiths and assorted others came to the house for root beer floats and  then we made the hike up the hill for a great view of the fireworks!  It was a really full day of celebrating!  So thankful for this  country where I have the freedom  go where I want when I want with who I want and to be safe while doing it.  

None of our men wanted to come back to work until Monday, so we took off too.  Friday we had some home repairs to take care of most of the day.  After that we threw our camping gear together and headed up to Brian Head and had a great camp.  We got a little worried when it started raining and hailing just as we turned off to get to our camp spot, but it got done in a hurry and we didn't have to get wet setting up.  Ended up being a dry night.

In the morning we did some little hikes at Cedar Breaks enjoying the amazing scenery and the Wildflower Festival.  Again it was so nice and cool.  Even got a little cold while sitting around eating our lunch beside the trail.  It's been a great few days!

Took the picture of the dog through the windshield coming down the canyon on the way home.  He seemed very content in his motorcycle dog bed seat!  

We finished off the weekend with a great family feast-of-the-fast-over at the Borrowmans house.  I surprised everyone by NOT bringing a camera...thus no pictures.  We had great food, fun visiting and played headbands.  Thanks to Brynnli's broad hints to me, I didn't do too badly.  Love all of you guys.  Thanks for a great evening!

Birthday and Ashfork - double the fun!

It was a busy week with moving Bean and Supe's stuff, visiting teaching, visiting a pack meeting and lots of cleaning.  On my actual birthday Paul and I went to dinner at Olive Garden and that very day they had started a 2 for $25 special which was great since we had a gift card for that much.  We had such good food.  After that we splurged with some of my birthday money and went to see Man of Steel.  It was such a fun evening.  Later in the week we got to take a rock trip over to Ashfork.  As always we stopped in at Jacob's Lake on the way there and back.  I love that place!  We didn't take off until almost 5 pm, so we didn't get to our favorite camp spot just this side of Williams until around midnight. In the morning we took a beautiful walk in the Ponderosa forest, breakfasted in Williams and went on to Ashfork and picked up our load. I love the scenery every time I go.  Rock trips are such a nice get away.  Once again we were able to combine business and fun stuff!  So glad Paul likes to have me along even when I do an awful lot of snoozing!  

If anyone wants to buy it, the DeSoto's Salon in Ashfork is for sale!  

Father's Day, June Birthdays, etc.

With so many father's and birthdays to celebrate in June, we decided to combine and conquer.  Last Monday evening we met in the shade beneath the Mulberry trees in front of Woodward school to celebrate Paul (Father's Day), Derek, Moss and me (birthdays).  We all brought a desert of some kind to share.  After presents and dessert, we headed over to play in the water at the Town Square.  It wasn't crowded and we all had a good time visiting and playing in the water.  My camera battery died, so I don't have many pictures of the fun...too bad.  

Weed crafted the little bike top center.  It was Paul's Father's Day present and had money that the kids had put in toward him buying a new bike clipped all over it.  

Wednesday/Thursday we headed up north to do many things - pick up Bean's stuff, visit the Weavers and Lillywhites and go to Paul's doctor appointment where he was finally able to pick up his leg brace, and pick up and drop off a dishwasher to the Randalls. It was a very productive trip!

It was cool to see the Payson and old Provo Tabernacle temples in progress, Eden and our Lego Tower, Noah riding his bike without training wheels and Sarai being silly.  Should have taken pictures at Lillywhites and Randalls - my bad.  

Saturday Paul and I took a hike up Forsythe Trail to the junction of the Blake and Gubler Trail.  We think it was about 9 miles round trip.  He was anxious to try out his leg brace.  It worked very well for him.  It was a beautiful day! 

The little be was determined to get into my pack while we were eating lunch.  Don't know what he hoped to find in there!  

Columbines in 3 colors were blooming.  The white ones looked like a fish when they were just about to open up.  Lots of other beautiful flowers were out too.  I have decided that Columbines are my favorite flower (any color) and Aspens are my favorite tree.

Silver Arrow, bike Zion, camp Brian Head - Week #3

It's been another busy week of various cleaning projects; also worked some in the community garden spot we are lucky enough to have access to.  Added fun by doing another business plus fun outing for a date.  We drove over to deliver/pick up some stone at Silver Arrow Stone in Fredonia.  It is a fascinating stone yard where they do lots of specialty cutting for us.  The owners, Roger and Larry are really cool.  I just love looking around at all the beautiful stone work they do. After that we drove on over to Zion Park and came in the East Entrance.  Love that drive through the park.  We went clear down to the Visitor's Center and then unloaded the bikes from the back of the truck and road the Pa'rus Trail to the Junction and then on up the road to the Temple of Sinawava. We ate a dinner snack by the river and then road back down.  It was about 19.4 miles and there were almost no people there.  The trail and road were cool because of cloud cover and being in the shadow of the canyon walls.  We stopped here and there to take pictures, explore and cool off some in the river.  

They have some cool equipment that they use to work the stone.  

Snapped pictures out the window on the way down the canyon.  Tunnel sequence - going in, picture out a window and coming out.  

The wall that I am leaning on is one the we replaced twice - each time they were knocked out by landslides blocking the river and causing it to get way out of its' normal channel.  

Friday afternoon we put the gear in the truck and headed up to Brian Head and went camping in one of our favorite spots up by High Mountain.  It was spectacular!  Green, flowers and magnificent scenery everywhere you looked. There were still snow patches here and there too.  Only saw a couple of four-wheelers and a Jeep pass by the whole evening after we set up camp.  Had the mountain to ourselves.  Paul cooked up a delectable dinner of chicken and vegetable BBQ stew and cornbread.  We added applesauce and had hot chocolate for dessert.  Took a beautiful walk, watched a movie and hit the sack.  It was perfect weather and no bugs.  In the morning we drove up to enjoy the view at High Mountain and then came back and had a great breakfast of hot Muesli/Greek yogurt/fruit/toast and more hot chocolate. Then we cleaned up camp and enjoyed more beautiful views driving home via Cedar Canyon and then took the road past Kolob Resevoir home.  It was what Paul wanted to do for Father's Day, and I lucked out because its what I wanted to do too...and he likes to do the cooking when we camp! 

Loved the bearded, grass growing tree and so many other flowers!

Views at High Mountain - too much early morning sun for very good pictures.

A tree with many eyes, ahh...that was good food, mountain meadow and Kolob Reservoir

Campsite and nearby views

Red Cliffs, Sand Hollow, water fun, Kolob Fingers, Crawdad Canyon - Week #2

Having another good week - got the strawberry jam made, outside windows and screens washed, silk plants cleaned, made it to the temple.  Got to have a sleep over with Kennis, Gaige and Koen while Ferf and Ryan celebrated their anniversary.  We got all of the fun we could out of our time together...they were pretty well worn out when they went home I think.  First off while we waited for Paul to get done at work we played Candy Land and they learned why their mother hates the game.  I got sent back to Mr. Mint about 3 times.  When Gaige and Kennis had won twice (they started over and caught up and passed Koen and I) we decided we had had enough already!  Then it was off to Red Cliffs for a picnic, crawdad fishing, a hike and playing in what water was left.  It was lots of fun and so pretty!  On the way home we stopped at Quail Lake and skipped rocks in the lake.  We also stopped of to go up on top of the newly refurbished tank on Skyline.  Too dark for pictures.  In the morning we made it up to feed the ducks and were excited to see some turtles and fish.  They were hungrier for our bread than the ducks.  After that we made a visit to the Town Square to cool off.  It was a lot of fun cram packed into a short time!  

Paul had to go up to New Harmony on Thursday afternoon to bid a job.  I tagged along and convinced him (it was pretty easy) to drive up the road at Kolob Fingers to see the sights.  It was a perfect evening and we found a little trail at the top - Timber Creek Overlook - and walked it.  There were such awesome views and there was no one else on the trail.  It was great!  I love it when we can combine business and fun stuff!

Saturday morning - we did more work at the stone yard.  Got another load of junk pallets - about a ton - hauled to the dump.  We got lots of other stuff done too.  I had a first.  Paul left me there to work while he was hauling a load to the recycling center.  He had me loading junk rock into the bucket on the forklift and gave me a very quick lesson in forklift driving before he left.  I got it all started and in gear, but when I pushed on the gas it just wouldn't move either forward or backward, just sat a revved.  My phone was in the truck so I couldn't call him....so I just turned it off.  When I reported my failure he showed me this button with a "P" on it - "P" is for parking break...duh. So after that I did haul my load of junk over to the junk pile and was able to follow instructions to be able to successfully dump it.  Yea!


(zip line pictures coming soon!)


Saturday afternoon we got to go up and do the zip lines at Crawdad Canyon.  Supe was there working and he and his co-worker helped us have a great ride!  It was a little scary, but so fast you didn't really have time to stress about it.  After that we went down and walked in the stream in the canyon and even met Fio and his wife where they were setting up one of their fancy dinners.  It would be fun to participate sometime...when I'm feeling very well to do.