Happy 4th of July and Wild Flower Festival!

Saturday was actually the 3rd of July, but it was the day to celebrate.  We started the day at the 3rd Ward Breakfast.  We were a little late and missed the patriotic goings on, but we did eat a great breakfast and enjoy visiting with ward members.  Then we headed up to Cedar Mountain to get to some cooler weather for the day.  We did the Hidden Haven hike with quite a few other people and met up with some that we knew.  One of Ferf's old high school friends took a picture of us all!  It was sweet to see Jana Adams and her husband.  After that we drove over to Yankee Meadows and found the nicest picnic spot and ate such a tasty lunch while a hungry little squirrel kept running around us trying to get over being too scared to come and get something to eat.  We left it a couple of crackers and some grapes.  Then we went up to the lake and had a great, cool time kayaking on the smooth as glass water.  We saw what beautiful scenery is left around the lake from the fire of 2017 along with fish jumping in the lake.  It was very nice and relaxing with just the two of us.  After that we took the 2nd Hand Canyon Road back to the highway and saw so much pretty scenery along the way.  Wild Flowers were blooming like crazy in some spots.  We also drove through Cedar Breaks on the way home and their Wild Flower Festival is going on.  It was so pretty that we decided to bring Grandma and Bean up for Sunday dinner the next day!  Monday we just had a restful day mostly - Paul and Bean worked in the morning and then in the afternoon Paul and I took a great nap and then drove up to Baker Lake to see if it is getting filled up.  It is more than the last time we were there.  And then we looked around at the Holmstead Ranch and drove a dirt road toward Pine Valley and back to the highway for home.  We came across some loaded apricot trees there and were able to pick some for free from a generous owner.  So tasty!  Had a good dinner and enjoyed a movie for the rest of the day!  Another nice, relaxing time.  

Homestead Crater - Merry Xmas at last!

 Paul and I both had doctor appointments up north, so we decided it would be a good time to take Bean to use his Xmas gift certificate to swim in the Homestead Crater.  We also invited James to come along.  It turned out to be a fun evening.  We ate dinner first at Cafe Rio in Heber and then had some time to drive a beautiful mountain road in Midway before out reservation for 8:30 pm came.  It was just 45 minutes of very relaxing time in the warm water pretty much just floating around.  Bean loves warm baths, so this was really his thing.  He actually said he loved it!  James enjoyed getting out and Paul and I liked experiencing it during the summer with the top open!  It was a good thing!  Neither doctor appointment came out very well, our hotel was a dive and the trunk of the car got stuck shut by Paul accidentally pushing a wrong button when trying to reset the tire light.  But when we took it to a VW dealership, they knew exactly what was wrong and it was an easy fix!  We also got to stop by and see Jay and Brynn's apartment and the cool swimming pools they get to enjoy while they live there.  And we got to give Tahlia her birthday present just a little bit early.  All in all, it was a good trip.  

 

Happy #66!

 My Birthday spanned several days and was so nice.  The night before, Paul, Me, Bean and Grandma Kurtz went to Olive Garden for dinner - her treat!  Other than the noise bothering her some, it was very nice.  I didn't know they had steak and alfredo before.  That and the delicious salad and breadsticks made for a really nice birthday dinner.  And they gave me yummy free cheesecake dessert that Paul and I ate at home when we weren't quite so full.  On the day of my birthday I went for a morning walk on the Red Hill.  Brynn called and wished me a happy birthday!  Then Lou and kids came and visited me and we ate lunch together.  It was a really nice visit!  Then later, Moss, Christie and kids stopped by and brought me a gift from them and Jay and Brynn...a golden yucca for my front planter pot and a gift card to Star Nursery for more plants for those very sunny, hot pots.  (On the Saturday after I went to buy plants and came home with the cutest quail family for my last stone shelf in the back yard.  I still have some $ left for another plant!) That night I used a gift card from Paul and got one of my favorite dinners - a Catana salad from Pizzaria Limone - one for me and Paul and some pizza for Bean!  It is so good!  Then Paul and I went to see South Pacific by the St. George Musical Theater.  It's one of my favorites since I grew up singing the songs and watching the movie.  They did a great job and we even got good seats!  Paul gave me the nicest card and gift cards to some of my favorite places to eat.  Then on Friday Ferf came bringing more yummy gift cards from the rest of the gang.  It was nice to visit with her.  And the other kids called or texted.  On Friday night we went to see a Polynesian dinner/show that was really great.  That was my Father's Day present to Paul (with a ticket for me from him for my birthday!).  It was supposed to be at the O. C. Tanner outdoor theater near Zion, but the big flash flood they had up there made a change of venue necessary - so it was here inside/outside dinner.  It was good, but not quite the amazing venue we had hoped for.  Paul also got my bike tuned up and they put new tires on it too.  And a very old friend of mine sent me a birthday card which was such a surprise.  She also sent lots of old letters from me and my mom to her!  Fun to read about old times.  Oh, I also got a free yummy little birthday bundtlet from the Bundt cake store.  That was enough birthday cake for me and it was so good!  It was a great birthday...even with no pictures.  Maybe better with no pictures! I also got to talk to Denny - day of, a nice text from Mariylnne and a call from Janet a few days late.  All so very nice!  

Family Camp 2021 - Imperial Beach CA

June 15th-19th 2021 

It was worth waiting a year for!  We had planned/paid to do it last summer, but Covid-19 changed that.  The condo saved our reservation for this year instead.  We drove down on Tuesday, June 15th to check in after 3 pm.  It was a great, very secure facility.  It had underground gated parking and keyed elevators to get up to the rooms and keyed gates to get back into the room areas from the city or the beach.  The rooms were so nice and comfortable.  I loved ours the best actually.  We got the one on the ground floor.  We all had rooms in the same building, but to get them all facing the beach, we were on 3 different levels.  We had us, Supe, Beacher, Jem and Bean in our condo.  Ferf and kids and Randalls and kids were in one on the 2nd floor.  Jay, Brynn and girls and Juge, Lance and family were together also on the 2nd floor.  Derek and kids and Brynnli were on the 3rd floor.  (Paul and I got the master bedroom and it was really nice, looking right out onto the beach.)  We had 35 of 44 possible in attendance.  (Kaebri and Tavin are on missions, Braden couldn't get off work, Ryan, and Moss/Christie and family couldn't make it.)    

The Randalls ran into a lot of car trouble with a borrowed Suburban and ended up getting there late after having to have Jay come up to Victorville and bring them and their stuff down.  They had to leave the car there - it overheated in Baker, had to be towed to Barstow to be fixed, spent the night in Barstow and left thinking it was fixed and then broke down again in Victorville.  The shop that was fixing it was closing leaving them sitting out in 100+ degree sun waiting for Jay to get there.  We remembered some really nice kids from our YSA had parents close to Victorville.  (I tried to call a nephew, but couldn't get either him or his wife on the phone.)  The dad of those kids had a big work van and came and picked them up, took them to dinner, insisted on paying for it, and then took them to his home to wait for Jay to arrive and pick them up.  They swam, visited and played with the dog while they waited and finally got to the condo about midnight on Wednesday night.  Crazy times!  

On Wednesday we could all just go to some nearby attraction we wanted to see.  The Weavers, Borrowmans and Paul, Bean and I went to the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum in San Diego.  It was so amazingly huge and interesting.  We spent pretty much all day there.  Derek and kids went to the San Diego Safari Park and had a great time.  Supe and Beacher went to Little Italy.  I think Jay and Brynn just hung out at the beach since they had left the week before and had been touring in central CA for a few days before arriving.  The Randall's missed out, but on Friday, Jay and Brynn lent them their van to go to the Midway.  When we all got back we went to the beach and played.

On Thursday morning we all got together and went to Balboa Park fitting Randalls into any extra seating in everyone's cars.  Then people just went wherever they chose since there were so many places to see there.  Paul, Bean and I decided to go to the Auto Museum which was really cool.  Afterwards we had a little time left and made a fast (too fast) job of the Air and Space Museum which was also very cool!  Then we headed back to hang out at the beach.  On this day Paul and I tried out the Boogie Boards for our first time.  It was fun, but we need more practice.  Riptides were kind of a thing at this beach, so you had to get out and go to a different area every now and again when the lifeguards said to.  

One thing Paul and I really enjoyed was taking our morning walks on the beach.  It was cool and misty in the morning and you could find some really nice shells.  Some of the others took their morning runs along the beach.  

On Friday morning you could do what you wanted and then come back to play at the beach after lunch.  Paul, Bean and I went to the Mormon Battalion Visitor's Center. (Ferf and family came later.)  It was such a fun place.  Afterwards we drove to see the San Diego Temple and walked around a little bit.  It's so pretty.  Then we went back for lunch and more family/beach time.   

We had great dinners together on W, Th, F evenings.  We ate at our condo 2 nights and then at Ferf/Randalls one night.  We could all fit in!  We had good food and a good time visiting.  We did our own breakfasts and lunches at our condos or out on the town as we chose.  And some of us did play games one evening, but mostly people were tired from long days and went to bed.  

Another attraction was the pool and hot tub.  Some fun times were had in both places!  One time we squished way too many of us into the hot tub that was really only supposed to have 6 people in at one time.  

The weather was cool.  It was better to wait until after lunch to go to the beach.  Our high temperature day was 73.  But, once you were in the water, it was fine.  If the kids got too cold, they'd go and hang out in the hot tub for a while, and then come back for more boogie boarding.  That was a really fun, popular thing.  Some people brought wet suits which was a good idea.  Derek rented one for Trigg and he stayed in the ocean boogie boarding all afternoon! 

We all owe Brynn a HUGE THANKS for making this beach camp happen.  She found and rented the condos and took care of taking our monthly payments for a long time.  Then she rearranged it after Covid goofed things up so it could still happen this year.  She did the organizing.  We just made a Costco (and a few other stores) trip after we got there to get all of the food for our joint dinners.  Then people in different condos worked together and took turns cooking the dinners.  They were good, easy to make and plentiful.  No one went hungry...as usual!  And we all worked together to get the Randalls and their stuff back home again.  The suburban is still out there as far as we know.  (It was Bryan's boss' car and he may have just sold it to the mechanic.)  

I can't think of anything that would have made it better other than not having the Randall's car break down...or if we could have just stayed another week or so!  

This picture includes all who were there except Noah.

Cedar Mountain Camping Trip

 We had such a lovely camping trip up on Cedar Mountain on Friday/Saturday.  We got our stuff together early enough to take our time.  I had all of the meal stuff pre-chopped and ready to go mostly.  We went to a different camp spot just for the fun of it.  At first it  looked like we might get rain, which would have been nice, but it blew away and left us with a nicely cool, but not cold evening/night.  We had yummy DO stew/biscuits/applesauce and later on some Great Harvest lemon/blueberry bread for dessert.  It was all delicious.  I had a sore foot from having a wart taken off, so we couldn't really hike around much, but we took an evening drive down new dirt roads to explore as well as throwing an axe a little bit. (I actually had a lucky first shot and stuck it, but not too much after that). In the morning we had a yummy DO omelet, applesauce, blueberry lemon toast, and hot chocolate/Postum for breakfast.  Then we drove more dirt roads around just enjoying the scenery and ate lunch at a table on the way down the canyon on our way back down.  We did see a fire brigade going out as we were leaving Mammoth Springs unfortunately.  Found out later that a lightening strike got a fire going up that way just as we were leaving.  It's very dry and not as cool as it would usually be up there right now.  The wild flowers were too heavy because of that too.  And some streams were already dry.  

A little bit of Heaven @ Pine Valley

 On Monday we took a chance that by afternoon the campers and picnickers would be taking off.  It worked.  The crowd had thinned enough that when we hiked our special waterfalls trail, we only heard one other bunch of people and they were on their way down.  We hiked up one way and found a new, better way to come down.  The high waters of past years had pretty much washed out the original trail we had always used.  We hiked upstream after the falls as far as we could until it became too much of a bushwhack.  Then we came back down to a favorite camp spot and ate lunch in the cool, sweet air with the breeze swishing in the trees and the stream making music in the background!  Oh how I love being able to at least hike some and see such beautiful places even though Paul's sore foot and my our out of shapeness keep us from some of the hiking we used to do.  This is one of those heavenly spots that we can still enjoy!  After we got back down we called Bean and he picked up dinner and brought it up for us to eat a picnic at the closed Visitor's Center.  Then we took an after dinner hike around the back of the campgrounds and enjoyed it all to ourselves!  Happy Memorial Day!  Thanks to all who gave to keep our country free and bless the lives of  so many others with freedom as well!