Anniversary pt. 3

We drove over to Bryce Canyon National Park before driving home. We only had a little time to spend here. Bryce in near and dear to my heart as well. Mom and Dad both grew up in the tiny communities of Tropic and Cannonville. Mom worked at Bryce Canyon for several summers and shared many stories with us growing up. I spent many summers here, before our family permanently moved to Cannonville in 1976. I also worked at Ruby's Inn for several summers supporting myself through college. 

 Sometimes there are just no words to describe the incredible creations that our Father in Heaven provided for his children to enjoy. This earth is truly a masterpiece in which I think we oftentimes fail to give gratitude for.

 What a wonderful and enjoyable trip we had together. Love you, my eternal companion!

 We're a little older and grayer than we once were. The muscles ache a little more easily but together we are making this journey and what a wonderful journey it is.

Happy Anniversary!

Anniversary pt. 2

The second day we decided to go to Zion's National Park. This is my most favorite National Park but then I am a little prejudice. Dad was a Ranger here for several summers before he began working on his masters degree. We also visited it many times through the years as a family. Dad loved Zion's and had many wonderful experiences while working as a ranger.  He shared his love for this beautiful canyon with his family.

 We came in from the East gate and our first sighting were these long horn sheep.

This canyon is absolutely amazing.

 36 years ago, Joseph and I hiked to Angels landing a few weeks before he left on his mission to Portugal. Joseph wanted to make the hike on this trip, so along I went. We're not as young as we once were.

 Beautiful formations!

 Spectacular scenery! and many switch backs to climb.

 Then...this almost vertical climb right up that ridge line!?!?!

I didn't remember it being that long and narrow.

 Going up I just focused on the trail and held on dearly to those chains.

 There were many people on the trail, so we would have to stop and let groups go by. I couldn't believe so many were hiking this, after all it is October.

 Incredible views when we made it to the top.

 We actually made it!

 It was a hard climb to the top, but I was so busy focusing on the trail I didn't look at how skinny the trail was.

 Going down that's all you can see, is both sides of the trail straight down.

 We noticed under this part of the trail that it is kind of missing something.

 This is the home our family lived in when I was little during the summer months when dad worked as a ranger. This is in the Grotto area. 

View from Weeping rock.

We were sore and tired but what an amazing day we had together. 

We have been married 33 years and so much has happened in that time. I wouldn't choose anyone else to share this mortal existence with.

Anniversary pt. 1

This year for our anniversary we weren't sure what we wanted to do. We decided to go south and enjoy Southern Utah. We stayed at Cedar Breaks Lodge in Brian Head which was really nice. We spent our first afternoon at Cedar Breaks. It was a little chilly but a pleasant day.

 We took the alpine loop trail that led to this pond.

 We then drove over Cedar mountain to Cedar City. The colors were just spectacular. This is looking down toward Zion.

 The colors were just brilliant. We haven't been to Cedar Mountain in the fall in many years. This drive alone was worth the trip for us.

We stopped and visited with Joseph's dad and then the three of us went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Had a really nice visit with his dad as he shared stories from his youth with us.

Wind storms

This year we have had two huge wind storms that have done damage. The first one was the first of May. I was flying home from Missouri after watching the grandkids when this one hit. 

 Joseph was on his way to church when he saw this tree down and asked the people if they needed help. He went home and got his chain saw. Brother Syndergaard showed up with his as well.

 Part of the tree had landed on the truck so Joseph went home and got this big jack that he bought to have on hand in emergency's. It was perfect.

 He was able to put it under the branch and lift it up off the truck so they could pull it out.

 Then the middle of September another major storm hit, this time a tornado touched down just north of us in Washington Terrace. I could see the storm coming and it looked nasty. I quickly got the chickens in their coop and got back in the house when it hit. I have never seen anything like this storm and we have had many windstorms through the years. The garage door was rattling something awful so I locked the door between the garage and the house just in case the  garage door blew out.  I was taking a picture of the trees to send to the kids when I thought it is really stupid to stand at the window, you don't know what could come flying into it. I stepped away and looked out the back yard came back to the front and this is the sight that met my eyes.

 One of our maple trees had snapped.  I couldn't believe it.  When Joseph got home from work we started cutting it down, our neighbors the Roses came across the street to help. The power was off so they mainly used hand tools. to cut the branches up and get them off the sidewalk.

 We couldn't stand the gap that was left and Joseph wanted to get a tree before the leaves were gone because we wanted to get the right maple. Apparently we have Autumn Blaze Maple trees. They are such an incredible red in the fall.

Our neighbor Todd Ricks came over and helped Joseph plant our new tree. A lot smaller than our 20 year old trees, but hopefully it will do well.  We were fortunate that this is all we lost, several homes were lost in the tornado. In our neighborhood many trees were down, a friend lost part of their roof, some people where Joseph works had their windows blown out of their cars. Joseph said when the storm hit he was looking out the window and dirt and debris lifted straight up. He said it was a strange sight. 

Arizona in September

In September we went to Arizona to visit the DeLeeuw's. We stayed in Henderson at the Shelley's to break up the trip, then continued on our way.

 A View of Lake Mead as we head towards Arizona.

 We went to the Phoenix Zoo while there. It was still 100°.We went through a lot of water not only drinking but pouring it on ourselves to cool us.

 This is an awesome zoo with great enclosures for the animals.

 There are a lot of Road Runners here that just wander the yards, this one of course is at the zoo.

 We stayed in the shade as much as possible. 

 The Gilbert Temple is just a few minutes from the DeLeeuw's and just beautiful. We had the opportunity to have Jessica go with us one afternoon and do a bunch of sealings for Joseph's and my ancestors. It makes one cry when you feel their presence as well as their joy.

 Gorgeous fountain behind us. It was fun to see the birds cooling off in the water.

 We had a nice experience together and look forward to many more opportunities.

 We decided we needed to make at least one project, so we decided to make fall wreaths.

 We had a great week of swimming, going to the Organ stop pizza place where they have a pipe organ and play requests.  Of course we had to ask for Phantom of the Opera which the organist said is the most requested song. We enjoyed being with our grandkids.

Joseph likes to do projects for the kids when we visit, so while we were there he put up these lights and the fountain that Bill had given to Jessica for her birthday. He also built a hanging shelf above the garage door for storing their camping gear. It was a great week and came to an end way to soon.