Kayaking the Colorado...a little bit

 Year's ago we took Anna Lou on a little rafting trip from Glen Canyon Dam down to Lee's Ferry and back.  It was really fun and so pretty.  A few years ago I heard about a backhaul service that will take you from Lee's Ferry to the dam and then drop you and your kayaks off to go back down.  And I've wanted to do it ever since.  So we planned a little trip to do it!  

Paul, Bean and I left on Thursday morning and went over to take Bean to see the North Rim.  He was too young to remember the last time he had gone.  It's always a treat! And we saw buffalo!  That doesn't happen very often.  In the late afternoon we drove over to check in at Cliff Dweller's Lodge for the night.  In the evening we had a great dinner at their diner.  We even tried avocado pie for the first time...it was really good!  Afterwards Paul and I went over to check out the spot we'd leave from in the morning.  We also walked back to the pioneer Lonely Dell Ranch and got to pick free apricots from the orchard there.  So tasty!  And we went over to look at the river from Rainbow Bridge.  

In the morning we met our backhaul ride at the dock and they loaded up our kayaks (we rented theirs) and took us up the river to a drop off spot just below the dam.  On the way up the captain gave us a little tour and pointed out desert bighorn sheep and wild horses and other cool things.  Then we got in our kayaks and got on our way!  It was SO beautiful!  The water was about 54 degrees that day and it felt good to get in or get splashed some to cool off.  We stopped off to see the petroglyphs.  We saw the people on top at Horseshoe Bend looking down at us and we spotted several herons along the way.  There were springs coming out of the rocks along the way too.  We found a spot with some cottonwood trees to eat our lunch under.  And we paddled on.  We had pretty much smooth going except for a few riffles here and there and wakes from boats of other kayakers being hauled up or fishermen.  One guy pulled out a nice fish just as we were paddling by.  The wind came up quite a bit just before we got back and made for harder work, but it was still great.  We were tired and ready to be done when we got done.  We did about 15 miles in 5 hours...started about 10 am and got done about 3 pm.  

We went to Jacob Lake to spend the night and had a fantastic dinner and wonderful, cool forest walk that evening.  In the morning Paul and I took another beautiful forest walk and then got Bean and had a great breakfast!  We drove over to see a historic forest ranger cabin and then headed home!  It was such a great little 3-day vacation!!!

Barker Lake-Escalante exploring

 This post is a little out of order.  At the end of May we took a drive over check out the site we had reserved for Family Camp 2022...and it was too small.  But, in the process, we saw a lot of beautiful scenery and learned about a camping area that we haven't done much in.  So, even though we went again the next day to try again to find a Family Camp site, it was worth the driving.  

Browse-Sequoia Campout + Cedar Mountain

 At last, we went on the first campout of the year!  We tried a few times earlier, but windy conditions put the kibosh on it every time.  So we were so happy when we drove up to the Lone Sequoia campsite and found it empty...just waiting for us!  Lynne gave me a new tent at the end of school, so we tried it out!  And Paul made such good DO food for us.  We had wonderful beef stew and biscuits and little apple pies for dinner and then biscuits and gravy and mandarin oranges for breakfast.  Came home full and fatter.  It was perfect weather, few bugs and almost no other people seen.  We slept in a little even.  And then we decided in the morning, spur of the moment, to pick up some lunch food in Cedar and then go driving around in new places looking for possible family camp spots.  It was so beautiful and green with aspens just leafing out and dandelions every where!  We pretty much made a day of it and had such a beautiful, relaxing time!  

Memorial Day Fun!

 After the fun of Derek and Kelli's wedding, we had the Memorial Day weekend to enjoy together!  We reserved a  group site at Pine Valley on Monday and spent the day up there in the beautiful forest and cooler weather.  We all brought our own picnic lunch and something to share.  It was so much fun and so relaxing!  We had Sunday dinner at Moss and Christie's the day before.  It was good to spend time with the fam!  And we celebrated Madi's June 1st birthday a little early!  

Derek marries Kelli Elizabeth Savage!!!

 On Saturday, May 29th, 2022, Derek and Kelli Elizabeth Savage were married in Cedar City, Utah!  We hope this is the beginning of a long and loving life for them and for their kids.  Kelli's kids do not live with her at this point.  She has a daughter on a mission and 3 sons.  I think the youngest is 17 and lives with his dad.  We have enjoyed getting to know Kelli.  She's very good to Derek's kids and I hope that will be a blessing to all of them.  It's a big step to take and they took their time.  I hope it is a wonderful thing for everyone!  We are excited to welcome her into the family!  She has come to some family parties and it has been fun to have her there!  (Kaebri and Kelli's daughter were "there" in cardboard cutout style!  They sent them dresses to match the bride's maids so they could match!)

Kennis does herself proud!!!

 Kennis works so hard, as well as being really smart.  She enrolled in an accelerated learning program a few years ago and it made it so she was taking college classes concurrently during high school.  And it made it so she actually graduated with her Associates degree from Dixie State University before she graduated from Pine View High School.  So now she has a 2 year-degree already behind her.  That's pretty amazing.  She was taking some of the same classes her mom is taking to get into the nursing program.  And they both got A's!  She decided she did not want to walk for the Associates degree, but she did for the High School graduation.  She can be proud of her hard work and great success!  We certainly are proud of her and hope she will be able to use this head start to a good advantage.  Way to go Kennis!!!

Another year of Kindergarten is over (2021-2022)

I think I can say that this was the best year ever!  Most of our class were kids whose parents had requested that they be in this class and 6 were kids that were the last ones of families that we had most of their siblings in our class too.  Most of them came from very supportive families and that made our work so much easier.  They were the top of the top academically and just such nice kids too.  It was a great year!  And a much needed break year after a very hard class last year. I really needed a break  because I was doing chemo during this year too.  This year was also a great one because we changed to all-day kindergarten!!!  It made such a difference in learning, stress levels, and good times with everyone.  

 

 

Some of their writing was so funny.  This is actually great writing for a kindergartner too!  

A little bit of April birthday and a lot of Baptism! Essie! Christie & Noah too!

 We just took Essie's birthday present up to give her when we went up to go to her baptism on Saturday, May 7, 2022.  It was such a fun thing to go and be part of this wonderful day with her and for me, it was the first time seeing their brand new house!  So exciting!  Essie's a sweetie and we are so happy to see her take this step toward her heavenly home.   It was also great for me to see the beautiful fireplace that Paul and Bean build in this new house!  It was just a great time all the way around!  

Earlier in April, Christie celebrated #34 and then Noah had put his birthday off to celebrate in April too.  #13 actually took place last year, but he wanted to wait for a special present to be available before he actually celebrated.  We celebrated Noah's at a family dinner.  

May Birthdays!

 Unfortunately I don't have a birthday picture of Kaebri.  She is the first of the May Smith birthdays, but this one was taken pretty close to her birthday!  Sounded like she had a happy #20 in the mission field.

 

 

Next came Trigg (10) and Zade (14).  Trigg is way into yo-yo's right now, so Derek pointed me to the perfect one for him.  And Zade was needing a next book in a series - another good tip from Derek.  These are awesome kids and they seem to be doing well after having been through some tough times.  Love them all lots.  

First hike in a long time!

 Paul and I took a really nice hike yesterday up the Browse road.  It was the perfect weather - not too hot and mountain breezes keeping us cool on the sunny day.  We ended up doing about 6 miles.  We went up a new section of trail that has never been accessible before - The Wet Sandy trail.  We just hiked up it for about 20 minutes after lunch.  We had heard there was a big boulder down in the road from the forest service, but never did find it.  Maybe they had already taken care of it.  But we had such a nice out in the forest with no one else day.  The streams were cold and we soaked our feet in one and sat by one to eat our lunch.  We found some new good camp spots too.  We were pretty tired by the end, but it was good to get out!  There were so many pretty flowers along the way!

We came across this sign in what had looked like a good camping spot along the Wet Sandy Trail.  Guess not!  We skedaddled out of there!