Brian Head Campout

 We wanted to get away from being boxed in all day Saturday during the Ironman, so we went camping the night before.  We got away a little late after Paul finished up a job.  When we got there we cooked up and easy dinner of chili and quesadillas, apple sauce and pumpkin bread.  Soon after it was looking like rain, so we got our tents up and went to bed early.  It started raining after a while and it seemed like it pretty much rained gently all night long.  It made for good sleeping.  In the morning it was pretty cool, so we sipped hot chocolate while we got breakfast ready.  Just right!  After cleaning up camp, we just went driving around to see other nice places and ate lunch at Grosvenor Arch.  We changed out driving plans when it started to rain again so that we wouldn't be on the dirt road we had intended to take home.  It rained a lot, so that was a good change.  We listened to a great book along the way and it turned out to be a nice little get away!  We did have a lot of things to dry out, but it didn't take long in the heat that was here to greet us when we got home.  

Labor Day weekend fun!

 Th end of summer is nigh and this holiday weekend is not to be wasted.  We slept in...how nice!  And then we went on a 13-mile bike ride down on the trail by the river.  Seeing the river made us want to kayak in it...which we did later this afternoon.  We thought about eating late after bike ride breakfast at Cracker Barrel, but it was so crowded that we decided to come home and make our own pancake, egg, bacon and OJ breakfast.  It was so good.  Then we just took another nap.  It has felt good to take it easy between our bouts of exercise and catch up on some much needed rest.  Still don't know what we will do on the Monday part of the holiday, but hopefully it will contain elements of cool...either in the mountains or in the water!  Tomorrow some of us are getting together for dinner so grandma has the chance to visit with kids on a smaller scale basis.  So Derek and kids and Ferf are coming over for hotdogs, potato salad, watermelon, beans and pie.  Sound like Labor Day type picnic food, doesn't it? 

Monday we just took a drive and leftovers for a picnic on Cedar Mountain.  It was cool up there.  We drove a new road we had never taken, took it easy and warmed our hot dogs over Paul's little stove!  A nice relaxing day drive.  

Cancer Update

 I keep a cancer log separately from here, but I have now finished one-third of my chemo treatments!  I'm a pro...not really.  I've only done 2 of 6, but I feel much easier about it now and it has made a big difference so far as my lymph node size goes.  I can't no longer find them/feel them.  They have shrunken way down.  I haven't had any scans and probably won't till a few weeks after the last chemo in December, but I have lost about 8 lbs. along with everything else which I am absolutely loving.  It's certainly not all I need to lose, but it's the only time I've lost weight without really trying to.  So, that's another plus.  I have felt the power of prayer and blessings in this experience and it has helped so much.  I have not had any really bad reactions to either chemo thankfully; just a little bit of after nausea which pills have done a good job of taking care of.  So, I don't really have anything to complain about.  I have been able to go back to work as I had hoped.  I do wear a mask when no one else does, but I'm fine with that.  I do have to stay home the Sunday after chemo and watch church, but that's not bad since they are still broadcasting it anyway.  I went on vacation after the first chemo and then after this one we spent the day in Pine Valley hiking and walking and picnicking.  So I feel grateful and blessed and like I'm getting the care and results I need to get this into remission hopefully.  

August birthdays!!!

 Clara Lenae has the first August birthday on the 10th - and she turned gloriously 5!  Now her world will open up with the big leap forward of going off to school (kindergarten)!  Clara is always excited about new things.  This will be over-the-top wonderful for her I think!!! Happy Birthday Clara ~ we love you!

For Bean's birthday gift we took him on vacation with us to CO.  But for the day of his birthday afterwards, we took him to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and then to a movie and then came home and had his requested birthday cake - baked chocolate chip cookies with ice cream!  Happy #33 Bean!  We love you!  

Tavin is on his mission, so we just had to send him some $ and fun stuff and hope he enjoyed it.  He's rather uncommunicative, so we just hope that #20 was a great day for him on August 25th.  Here's the latest pic I can find of him.  

Torin's birthday is the last one on the 26th.  He turned 7 and we celebrated with Ferf and kids the day before so I would be able to be there. (The next day I was doing chemo.)  We put in with Ferf for a new bike.  It was good that Paul could be there to put it all together with a little help from Bean.  Torin was pretty happy to have it and went out to try it out right away!  It was a nice birthday - even if it was a little early!  (Ferf and Ryan are in the middle of divorcing right now, so we didn't get to do our regular with the Borrowman grandparents celebration. Sad, but true.)

Grand edventure date - Eliza and Trigg

 Eliza and Trigg were our dates for mini golf yesterday.  It was a little wild and crazy with not too many rules to follow - you could help that ball along in a lot of different ways if needed.  But we had fun and that's what matters.  Time in the car on the way to after treats was spent singing the family song book complete with There's a Hole in the Bucket revised to Dear Trigg and Dear Liza!  Trigg loved singing La Cucaracha because he remembers singing it with his mom.  We had to sing along to a few versions of Sea Shanty too.  We hear that school is good with them.  And Eliza gave us a little preview of a song she and a friend will be singing in church.  It's good to see them growing up and being confident in their abilities.  Hopes of the future!  

Here we go Chemo 7-29-21

Last year this is where we were…the Tetons! 

So here I am hanging out at the cancer center for my first round of chemo. This morning google showed memories of past years at this time. Crazy how things change!  I was climbing up to hard mountain peaks just 4 and 5 years ago. Now I’m climbing a 6 month “high” mountain of chemo treatments to shrink enlarged lymph nodes from this disease that’s wreaking havoc on me.  Staying as positive as possible and praying for a good, long remission after I get through this. 

Tushar Mountains by Beaver looking for the mountain goats - 4 years ago.

    

Colorado 50 miler with Family and friend of Supe’s - 5 years ago. 

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Falls Park, Smith's Mesa, Lava Point, Barney's Trail, etc.

 We had such a beautiful day out yesterday!  We kind of just went wherever we wanted along the way to driving over Cedar Mountain.  We stopped of at Falls Park to see how the water was...it was crazy, filled with silt and so high, and one of our favorite jumping in  spots now has a big tree clogging the way.  It must have washed down on the recent flash flooding.  

Next we drove up the crazy road to Smith's Mesa and over the top.  There are such amazing views from the top!

Then we drove on and over to Lava Point.  We had a great picnic lunch there...and finished just in time for a rainstorm to start.  Then we drove down the dirt road below Lava Point to where the West Rim Trail starts.  Along the way we saw a .03 mile hike (Barney's Trail) that went back up to Lava Point and decided to do that to get some exercise.  It was very uppity and beautiful.  And then on the way down, it really started raining.  It was a pretty slippery deal coming back down.  

Then the rain really started coming down and we decided it might not be such a great idea to drive over the mountain.  So we started down and pulled over and took a little nap.  Afterwards the rain seemed to have slowed down, so we decided we would drive over the mountain after all. The road was kind of a mess in some places with rocks and tree debris, but since we were in the pick up, it worked out fine and we saw so much beautiful scenery on the way. 

It rained clear down to Cedar City, but it wasn't going so hard as at first.  It was so good to have the rain coming down!  And it made everything even more beautiful.  We go home in time for dinner.  What a great day!  Oh, then that evening we took a was on the golf course to get the rest of our exercise for the day.  It was beautiful too.  We saw a red bird that was amazing!

North Rim Grandeur!

 On Saturday morning we got up and went to Cracker Barrel to enjoy our Grandma's sampler shared breakfast.  Then we came back and finished getting ready and headed to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon for the day.  We are trying to get out and enjoy lots things before I start Chemo next week and might not feel like doing much for a while (maybe 6 months) until I'm through with it and back to feeling well.  This was a wonderful day in a beautiful, cooler place!  There were flowers, especially pink Fireweed, growing everywhere!  I didn't take pictures of all that I could have, but oh, how we enjoyed them!  And there was green everywhere! And there was a little rainstorm and lots of cloud cover.  All of that together made for perfect weather.  We stopped in and got some snack and after lunch cookies at Jacob Lake on the way by of course. 

We drove out to Angel's Window and them walked down to Cape Royal to see the magnificent views!

After that we drove of to Point Imperial stopping by at Vista Encantada to eat our lunch overlooking the canyon and with a "pet" squirrel that ate our over ripe grapes and dropped curds.  

                This was not the "pet" squirrel, but another one that was willing to pose for the camera.

Next we stopped by Harvey Meadow and almost missed, but then found, "Uncle Jim" Owens cave that he lived in while he hunted over 500 cougars as game warden of the Grand Canyon in the 1900's.  He thought he was saving the deer population from the cougars.  Instead the deer population overran the area and many starved without the predators to take some out.  So they say.  

Then it was on to Bright Angel Point Trail and then to the Lodge to see Brighty the burro and the geological display.  

After that, it was time to head for home.  We stopped off at Jacob Lake for dinner and a way too big shake and cookie that we ate outside with Smokey the Bear!  

Pine Valley Picnic

 We thought we wanted to go camping, but then it was so hot we didn't even want to pack up/put away all of the gear in this heat.  So we opted to take a sub sandwich picnic dinner up to eat in the cool weather and take an evening walk along the trails.  And it was the right choice!  It was so much cooler up there.  Perfect evening!

Red Hill rockfall

We've enjoyed hiking on the Red Hill (Owen's Loop) for years now and have never seen this happen before.  The other morning after a night rain I went up for a walk and found this little rock fall in the middle of the trail by where the "holy sheep petroglyph" is.  I'm not sure if it fell that night, because it had been a few days since I was us there, but it certainly was new since the last time I'd been for a walk up there.  It was a nice walk with rain  puddles, clean rain washed air and moss that was fluorescent green from adding rain water.  Lovely walk.