June Is Bustin' Out All Over

As the family begins to gather for annual summer fun, the rhythm of life begins to change. Maren and family have come while Gavin travels to France for Honeywell. Meagan and the kids have gone to Hawaii, so we have Phillip in our midst for a bit. There have been movies, dining, and the kids have done a fair amount of swimming.  Graham and Chelsea came to stay for a day or two while Chelsea gets settled for summer teaching at BYU. Me, I have continued my morning walks, and Kris and I met with the Hansen cousins in SLC for breakfast.

 Bombay House with the gang to celebrate...

 Emily's new job

Delicious as ever

Blessings on Auntie Em

 I do love Scottish thistle

 The Young's car being towed to Ray's

 B'bye

 Maren and Kris watching it go

 Off to the flicker pictures

 Some of the gang at the theater

 Supper at La Capizza

 Joined by the NY Gibbs kids

 Branching out onto the Shoreline Trail for my walk

 The trail provides a nice view of Squaw Peak

 The Colvers hosted a wienie roast

 Fun kids

 This bird plagued my walk for weeks

 Fun with hair

 Another new incursion into the north Shoreline Trial

 Provides a little different perspective of the canyon

 Cousin Kreg taking a photo with his iPad

 Cousins' breakfast (that's me in the mirror)

 Cam, Kris, and Millie

Rock Canyon looking fine this morning before sunup

The Hastings cousins arrive day after tomorrow and the excitement is building. More adventures to follow, but that's all for now.

OXO

D.

Manti-La Sal with Uncle

Uncle Stephen was kind enough to invite me along on an ATV adventure in the Manti-La Sal Mountains above Mayfield, Utah with him and mythical J. Wayne Francis. The day was beautiful and the outing was extremely enjoyable. We had a small cock up early on when we lost J. Wayne, but our mad tracking skills led us up the Beaver Creek Trail where we eventually found him. We had a great return route planned, but lingering winter snow and fallen trees on trails, made us return to base by the way we had come. That, however, is always fine because, from the other direction, everything has a completely different perspective. Up on top the land flattens out and seems to go on forever as it sweeps away in every direction. The high altitude, at about 10,000 feet, meant that it was cool on a day that hit near 100 in the valleys below.

 DAT and SKT on the move

 False start up the road without J. Wayne

 Headed up the Beaver Creek Trail looking for J. Wayne

 Wild flowers galore

Mary's Nipple was in our view most of the day

 Up into the aspens

 Where the aspens meet the pines

 Back on track towards the top where we encountered J. Wayne

 By Woods Lake we had reconnected

 Reconsidering the route

 This beautiful canyon was supposed to be our route down

 You can't tell from the photo, but this trail over 

the cliff (see above) was almost straight down

 Because of fallen trees, we had to turn around at this creek and head 

back up: Uncle's new rig made the steep climb without a hitch

 At the top, the world spreads out forever

 Dickie does his thing

 The lake whose name I can't discover

 Our last chance to take our chosen route back down 

ended in a field of snow

 Island Lake from the summit

 These Manti-La Sal Mountains remind me of Cedar Breaks less the red

 The same trail down, but from the other direction was great

An unexpected field of color we almost missed

Uncle in his new rig

What a treat for old guys! Going to the tops of the mountains without hiking is wonderful. That's all for now.

OXO

D.

May Turns to June 2015

Nothing terribly earth-shaking has happened over the last few days, but we have watched the Widtsoe Building on BYU campus come down. The new life sciences building has taken its place and the spot where it stood will become a landscaped area. Morning walks have been a delight with beautiful flowers, wonderful mountain and valley views, and spectacular skies. We had Connor with us for a few days while he recuperated from surgery to fix a messed up nose. The June "Group" get together was breakfast at a local diner, the girlies went to girls camp, and Maren's family arrived from Arizona to spend a few weeks. One of the most exciting things for me was making plans for our visit to Rod and Vic in Florida when they finish their mission in September. We have plane tickets, Disney World tickets, and hotel reservations: I'm excited.

 The Widtsoe Building looking like war-torn Beirut 

 These are beautiful weeds

 The east side still has a bit of order at this point

A sweet little bunch of posies

 Still clinging to a crown of snow

 Checking out of the Happiness Hotel

 One skinny bay left

 These guys help me with SNAP lanyards

 Taking down the last bit one bite at a time

 One last little nub

 Dinner with Annie and Opa at 5 Star 

 I love these mountains

 We had a gully washer

 Annie's car stood firm against the torrent

Wild rye in the early morning sun

 Going, going, gone

 Cascading flowers

 These pretty little suckers smell like gardenias

 Excellent friends (V&J had already departed)

 Ready for Florida

 The Youngs are in town

 Sunrise over Mount Nebo

 Clouds over Timp

 An intense sunset last night

If I were just a tiny bit more primitive, this would be my god

That's all a bit disjointed, but it is what it is, and that's all for now.

OXO

D.