Penny Stove

Bryan was looking at ways in which he might be able to make his pack lighter when he goes backpacking through the wilderness. He stumbled across the "penny stove". Dan and Bryan decided to construct this little gem and see if they could make it work. The supply list included:

• 2 pop cans
• one penny
• a few tools
• ...and some rubbing alcohol

The construction phase. Warning: The techniques seen below are NOT recommended, but do provide a certain level of entertainment.

Drum Roll....Did it work???



Yes, "man make fire".

Brigham City Temple

My hometown, Brigham City, is being blessed with a temple! It should be completed by about this time next year. I forgot to include pictures of the Temple from a trip we took in July. So, better late than never.

Brigham City has a "Peach Days" celebration every fall for the harvest of peaches. The peach blossom was incorporated onto the temple.

Also, I forgot to include on that trip that we visited Tom at the "old" court house where he works. He took us to the very top of the building, into the clock/bell tower.

I really like that last picture of Bryan and Luke and wanted to make sure I had it documented somewhere! Thanks Tom for taking us!

Utah Trip

My brother, Dan, and his family that live in Virgina were visiting Utah last week, so we made our way west for a visit. We decided to make the 8 hour drive this time. We had not driven to Utah since last Thanksgiving when I-80 closed because of a snowstorm and we were stuck in beautiful Evanston for a night with our 2 1/2 month old baby. Summer time is a much better time to make the drive. For the most part, the drive went really well.

There were many happenings while we visited family in Utah. Bryan decided to go on a backpacking trip with Tom and Paul in the Uintahs. I think that Bryan was the most excited about this trip. I should let him out of the house more often. :) Tom and Paul endured the hike and lived to tell about it, which was comical, as always.

Paul has a very generous heart and packed an entire sack of potatoes up to their campsite to share.

Puts a new spin on packing the essentials. :)

While Bryan was out exploring,  I was having a great time at home with the family on our own adventures. Luke had lots of fun playing with cousins and receiving oodles of attention. On Saturday, Ben and Mindi took us boating. I loved it!!  It seems that Colorado doesn't have very many lakes/reservoirs and so boating is a little more difficult to come by. We busted out the tube and even the 1980's slalom ski. By some small miracle I was able to get up on the ski, maybe it was due to the taunting of my nephew that I wouldn't be able to get up and I needed to prove I was still cool and young. :) Granted, I could be barely walk the next day, but it felt great to be out on the water again.

It was great to be able to see everyone that we could! Here are a few more shots of the fam...

 

Colorado Camping: Round Two!

 I have been horrible about keeping our blog up-to-date (just take a gander at the header). Slowly, but surely I will catch up! The beginning of the month, we went camping with the Cramer Family up Guanella Pass. We lucked out and found a great camp site nestled in the trees with a river/creek running through it. The trip was complete with hot dogs, smores, a toasty fire and two very dirty little boys that were in heaven.

Charlie lead the way, crawling like his buddy Luke. He would even glance back and make sure that his pal was coming along okay, such a good friend!

Luke decided that since we wouldn't give him the axe to cut up the wood that he would take matters into his own hands...

I know, bad parenting moment (I have quite a few of these)  ...   I thought of the slivers, dirt, etc. but it all ended well, the proof is below.

We had a great time! It helped that Luke slept much better this go around.

Thanks Cramers for coming---we look forward to next year!!!

Douglas County Fair

A few weeks ago, we went to the Douglas County Fair. There were many sights, sounds and smells to take in while we were there (some good, some not so good).

We started with the animals.



Keep an eye on those piggies!

Wait, which piggies???

Next came the fair food.  A turkey leg for Bryan and Luke.

A bag of cotton candy for me.

 We skipped the rodeo and carnival rides this year due to the weather and attention span of our child, but hopefully we can catch those next year!