Kristen and Jessica's Visit

Last week Kristen (on the right) and her roommate Jessica (on the left) came down from Rexburg to visit us at the dunes. Their trip down was an adventure. Kristen's poor car kept overheating like every ten miles once they got past beaver so it took them alot longer to get here then they planned. I actually went and picked them up in panquitch so some psycho truck driver didn't eat them or something. Anyhoo...they finally got here. I took em out to the dunes to play. Dad and I took them out to the dinosaur tracks. And then the next day Mom drove us to the Grand Canyon (which neither of them had been to yet) We had them close their eyes until we got to the edge of it. I'm just kidding, we had them open their eyes on this cool outlook in the hotel. They really enjoyed it. And I really enjoyed having Kristen down here. (awwww, i know) Anyhoo...as a p.s. i just got two jobs here in Kanab that I'm gonna start soon. One is a waiter (any tips keith) and the other is a photographer. We'll see how they go.

Pictures and stuff

Sarah was disappointed with my last post because I didn't put any pictures in, so I thought I'd slip a few in after the fact. First is a picture of Leroy, Todd's new love. 1979 Mercury Monarch. Looks better on the outside than on the inside, but not bad for a first car.

In contrast, here's a picture of my Uncle Doug's first car - a 1933 Graham Blue Streak. His was only 17 years old when he got it. But his has had quite a bit more restoration work than Leroy has had. I remember as a little kid going to Grandma's house in Bear Lake and playing in an on this old car that was parked out in the weather and rusting away. The difference from those days to the current edition is amazing.

Then we have pictures of Grandma, Keith, Rachelle, and Todd.

And finally, a picture of all my remaining aunts and uncles. The row is getting pretty small. Left to right are Aunt Alaire, Aunt Jean, Aunt Lillian, Grandma, Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Doug.

We also received a copy of the Hartonian (family newsletter) that is published every 2 years at reunion time. We only got 1 hard copy, but they had a bunch of CDs with it on and I got one for each of the kids, and will try and get them to you when I can. It has reports on what everyone (or almost everyone) in the family is doing now as well as some family history notes, genealogy and good stuff like that.

Well, gotta go look at the Delta website about baggage restrictions for our trip to Alabama. Only a week and a half away! Who's excited? Love you guys. Let us know what's going on. Dad

Clocks and white polka dots.

wow. i just took the time to click on the one item on Bryce's wishlist... i have to say, of all the weird things i've heard people ask for for birthdays or Christmas, that could very be the most ridiculous of them all.

congratulations, big brother. you're like nine years old.

♥

Calling For Wish Lists...Including Mine

Mom here--

Sarah had a REALLY good idea a while ago when she suggested that everyone submit their own 'wish list' on the side panel of the blog--I am usually drawing a blank on birthday/Christmas gift ideas, so I am no help when you kids call me to ask for ideas!! With a few birthdays still ahead of us (ahem...) some of us (including myself) need to give the rest of the fam some gift giving hints to make it easier for everyone. Jennifer promised to show me how to add my list to the others, so you should see that soon. Boys--we REALLY need your help on this since you are harder to buy for and we would like to get you something you would enjoy. Also, I suggest that if you do decide to fufill someone's 'wish', you might want to email everyone else just in case there might be duplications (though Kimberly says she would be THRILLED with five giftcards from Barnes & Noble!)

Here's my Sand Dunes update--

We have had quite a few visitors over the past few days! Grandma Anderson, Aunt Lillian and Aunt Cheryl stopped on their way back to California following the Hart reunion in Logan. Grant Hart and his family (11 all together) were here overnight last night, on a mini-vacation to southern Utah. Today, Todd's girlfriend Kristen and her roommate Jessica arrived for a few days visit in coral pink sand country. I'm going to take them down to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon after work tomorrow since I have the annual pass--the girls are excited to see it. Kimberly was here on Sunday and Monday, so she was able to see all of the visitors except for Todd's guests.

Since the last big storm, we have had several smaller, less intense storms but it has been a relief to get any rain at all. It hasn't been quite as hot as it had previously been; I just came back from my walk around the campground and it is quite pleasant in the evening seeing the cliffs in the glow of the setting sun and the tempurature is just right!!

I am looking forward to having the family here at Thanksgiving--as far as I know, it should be a full house! Yea!! All for now,

XOXO

Mom

Hart Reunion notes

Dad here. I had a really good weekend going to Idaho and Salt Lake. I went up Wednesday afternoon and stayed with Keith and Rachelle and spent Thursday running around Salt Lake getting new uniform stuff and other errands. They had a concert to go to, so I got to stay with Molly Thursday evening. Friday morning I headed up to Rexburg to get Todd. He finished his last class, cleaned and checked out of his apartment, went and saw Kristen one more time, put a down payment on a car, and we headed for Logan. Yes, I said car. He's going to buy a blue 1979 Mercury Monarch 2-door (named LeRoy). We didn't have time to get it registered and insured on this trip, so we'll have to try and get it done when we take Kimberly up in September. We spent Friday night at Uncle Doug's house in Logan along with Grandma, Aunt Lillian and Cheryl. The Hart reunion the next day was a lot of fun. I got to see some cousins I haven't seen for decades (gulp!) and just had a good time catching up with everyone else who came. Saturday evening we drove back down to Salt Lake and spent another night with Keith and Rachelle (thanks a bunch!) Todd got a toothache that kept him up all night so we ended up heading for home pretty early on Sunday morning. Lots of miles, but lots of fun, too. Sorry I haven' got any pictures on this post - I'm using another computer and have no photos on this one. Maybe next time. Dad

Family Togetherness

Dad came up for a quick visit this weekend to get Todd and we all got a chance to go the the Hart family reunion. It was a lot of fun to see some people I haven't seen in a very long time and meet some family members I didn't know I had. We had a great time - saw a movie, Rachelle bought a bike in Logan, and Molly got some bonding time with dad. Later.

the Burg

Here's a few more photos from our visit with Todd this week. I really wish we could make it down to Salt Lake for the Hart reunion, but frankly, if work hadn't paid for this last trip we wouldn't have gone on that one either. I hate that gas prices dictate where we can and cannot go. >:/

Back in L-town

Dena and I are spending the week in Lumberton with her family. We left Huntsvegas at 9pm on Friday after Dena left work late and finally arrived in NC at about 7am (eastern time). After sleeping for 4 hours or so we went up to Raleigh to visit with some friends on their day off, then back down to Lumberton later that night. Now we're just sitting around and relaxing.

Most of you probably haven't been back here in a few years, so I thought I'd drive by and snap a picture of the old homestead to show you. I also stopped by that old barber shop up the road and got a haircut.

Busy Weekend

Dad here.

Been a busy weekend here at Coral Pink. On Saturday, we had pretty good flash flood come through the area. We got about 1.4 inches of rain in about 2 hours (most of it in about 30 minutes) and enough hail to make the ground white. I was out on the dunes in the Jeep when it started. We have only had .06" of rain since March 23, so things have been pretty dry. The sand is really soft and hard to get around on. So there I sat and we started getting (to quote Forrest Gump) "big, old FAT rain", that was making pretty good craters in the sand. So I headed back to the park as it got harder and harder and then the hail started and I wondered if my poor cracked windshield was going to hold up. By the time I got back it was pouring and starting to run off, so Brian and I went to look at the wash just south of the house, and by the time we got there, it was running like you see in the picture above. After watching for a bit, we headed back to the park, only to find water and mud running over the road between the houses and the visitor center and getting worse all the time. I had Brian (our new ranger) stay there to stop traffic on that side, while I walked around on our service road where the flood wasn't quite so bad yet, to get on the other side of the blockage and stop traffic there. By the time I got around, a semi truck pulling a grader had tried to get through and gotten stuck. They ended up having to unload the old broken down grader and use it to clear part of the road and then pull the semi through. Then the county road guys showed up and gave us the really bad news. Our western boundary kind of zig zags back and forth just along the road, and right at the point where the washover was, the boundary actually crosses the road and crosses back about 30-40 yards further on. Apparently, a judge somewhere has prohibited the county from doing any road maintenance on federal land, so they have interpreted that to mean that they could clear the sand on the state park land, but couldn't touch the 30-40 yard section in the middle. So there we sat with 2-3 feet of mud on our road and no one willing to clear it off. (see the third picture) The county wouldn't, and the BLM wouldn't/couldn't, so we ended up having our region crew come over on Monday and finish the job. What worries me is if they don't get this resolved before winter, who is going to plow the snow off our roads? The county will do the state sections, but not the bulk of the road. Hopefully it won't come to that and someone somewhere will figure out how dumb the whole thing is before it gets any uglier.

Oh yeah. We also had a lightning strike on a tree out in the dunes that we've been trying to put out. It is at the base of one of the big Ponderosa Pines, and there is about a foot of pine cones, pine needles and various burnables mixed in with the sand, and the fire just kind of smolders under the surface and is a real pain to try and put out with the limited water we are able to haul out there in the Jeep.

So it's been a lot of fun this weekend. But I'm looking forward to my trip to Idaho and the Hart reunion. You guys be good and let us know what's going on with all of you. Love, Dad

Jeffnerrrrrr...

mama told me to post a blog to let everyone know that i got my wisdom teeth out on Friday. we actually had to go to an oral surgeon, because the bottom two were severely impacted. i even got my first IV, and a certificate to prove it! go me. =] well i guess to save time... go read my personal blog. it's in a little more detail, if you're interested.

♥--J

Dad here. Reports and plans

Well, things are almost back to normal around here. Mom and Jennifer got home last night after their trip to NM. My 4th of July was pretty uneventful. Things here at the park were pretty slow for a holiday weekend (which is a good thing - I hate excitement on the job. We've already had 2 fatalities this year.). Between the heat and the gas prices I think we're starting to see an effect on the park visitation. I did go to St. George on the 4th, but didn't even stay for the fireworks. Just dinner and a stop at Wal-Mart and back home again. Woohoo!
In a couple of weeks, I'm planning on going up to Rexburg to pick up Todd from school on the 18th. And on the 19th is the Hart Family Reunion in Logan, so we'll stop in there on the way back down. Grandma, Aunt Lillian and Cheryl are coming out for the reunion and are planning to stay a couple of days with us on their way home (probably the 20th-22nd). By the way, you guys are all invited to the reunion in Logan. They only have them every other year now.
So there's that to look forward to and not too long after that, Mom and I get to go back east to visit Bryce and Dena. Really looking forward to that, too. So it should be a fun summer. Thanks to all of you for your posts and comments. This is a lot of fun. Dad

Make your plans now.

Ok everybody, get ready for some earth shattering news. We've booked our tickets so Dena and I will be visiting for Thanksgiving and I expect everybody within 2 days drive to be there. We're really looking forward to that flight home from Vegas at 8AM. Hopefully we can make it there in time for that. We're really looking forward to it, so don't ruin it for us by not showing up.

-Bryce

A little update

I haven't written anything in a while, so I thought I would say hello to everyone. Rachelle and I are doing well although the heat is really starting to get to us. We had a wonderful time with Rachelle's mother, grandmother, and great aunt this past week. We spent plenty of time working our way around Salt Lake, visiting the Arts Festival, checking out as many restaurants as possible, and prying Molly's jaws off innocent and unsuspecting appendages. Speaking of our little ray of sunshine, I was looking at some pictures the other day and got a little emotional - our baby is all grown up.

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. Love you and miss you all.

What did you do on the 4th of July?

Happy 4th of July!! Here in New Mexico, Jennifer and I celebrated Independence Day by enjoying a cook-out at Casa de Campo with 18 other friends and family. Terry, Tricia and her entire family, (minus Jordan who is at BYU) are here, plus we were joined by three couples who live in the canyon and some friends of the Cox's who used to live behind them in Auburndale. As usual, we have been cooking for two days and the meal was consumed in twenty minutes--but we have yummy left-overs to enjoy for several days to come! Mommer's neighbors were impressed by the 'spread' and asked if she had to prepared it all--"No, my daughters did all the work!"

Aunt Terry worked her magic at setting the 'atmosphere' for the holiday by gathering some wildflowers and unusual items around the house to decorate with. I made the watermelon bowl for the fruit salad--it was supposed to have stars and stripes on the side, but it was hard to tell.


In addition to the main dishes of hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken breast and grilled pork tenderloin we had three cold salads, Popper's baked beans, green beans, deviled eggs, the fruit salad, chips, and three kinds of dessert!

After the teenagers got finished eating, they were anxious to ride the ATVs, so off they went down the mountain. They hadn't been gone 10 minutes when it started to rain--then if poured!! I kept expecting those kids to come back right away, but they kept riding up and down until the sun came out again and they were done with their fun! They didn't get as muddy as I have seen some of you kids get in the past, but Chris still made them wash off with the hose before they could come inside. Jennifer doesn't like riding the four-wheelers any more (too many bad experiences), so she didn't get soaked like the rest of the kids.

Uncle Chris had talked about driving over to Taos to take their friends to see the gorge and then find someplace to watch fireworks, but none of the kids cared about seeing fireworks and it was getting too late to have good light for seeing the gorge, so that has been postponed until tomorrow. Instead, they talked Popper into setting up the zipline! Jennifer went down twice--once videoing the 'trip' with her own camera; our efforts to download said video may or may not be successful, so if we have to make another installment in another blog, she will.

Anyway, that has been our Fourth of July celebration here at Montoya's Casa de Campo! We hope you had enjoyable holiday, wherever you may be.

XOXO
Mom

I bought a Datsun!

No really, I did. See?

It even has a little license plate!

Isn't it cute?! I went to D.I. today and found it among the toys. Remember that crusty old brown one that Dad used to drive in Auburndale? Todd and the girls might not remember, but I sure do. It always smelled of KFC and car grease, and the back seat was always full of empty Mountain Dew bottles. Talk about a beater. No offense, Dad, but that car was gross. You probably knew that. :) Looking at this little car makes me think of that little car, and I have to smile.

Aaahh, memories...

Another REALLY Good Day!!!

So yesterday had a couple very eventful...ummm...events take place. First off, the photographic society I'm in had it's last photo contest for the semester and the theme was "summer fun". I thought it would be pretty funny if I submitted a picture of a snowman or something. Anyhoo...what they do is have some of the art department faculty vote on their favorites and the top three are picked. Well, your's truly got second place. I did it with this picture of Kristin (my girlfriend).
And then the members of the society vote for their favorite two. My other picture of Kristin won first place in the society choice. Here it is.
So I was pretty excited about that and then later on that night my ultimate frisbee team, the Commodores, played in the championship game. It was pretty rough because we were playing on the stadium field that's alot bigger then what we usually play on and the field is astro turf so it kinda hurts when you dive. Also our team only had one sub for the guys so we only got to rest for like a minute or two before we had to get back on the field and run our guts out. Well, in case you were interested, we won the game 8-6!! I was so freakin stoked because I've never been a part of a winning team. It feels pretty good. We got our picture taken to go on the wall and championship t-shirts. We ended up being undefeated for the whole season. Maybe the Patriots could take a few notes.