Neffs Canyon hike

My day started with some yard work; weeding and trimming. After that I found myself on a trail with Joe, climbing into the mountains. This has been our second hike of the season. The weather is finally allowing some outdoor activities.
We were in the Neffs Canyon area above Olympus Cove. It was steeper than I had expected and even tougher on the side trail we explored (that's code for going the wrong way). I estimate that we hiked for a good solid four hours (maybe a bit more). I don't know exactly how far we actually went, but I do know that I only sat down three times. Believe me, I'm sitting down now.
We received two separate reports of Rattle snakes on the trail. Fortunately we never saw any ourselves. One guy said the rattler he saw was shaking it's rattles at him. I stayed very alert after that.


Below is one of the streams we crossed. There were lots of places where water ran over the trail. This one took some fancy footwork from rock to rock.
This next picture was were we came to the end of the line. There was not only water crossing the trail from the left, but pouring directly down the trail in front of us. This is where we had to turn back.

This was a place along the trail that water seemed to be pouring down, right through the trees.

This was just a shady and pretty area.

This is near the bottom of the trail. You can see the city off in the distance.

This is also near the bottom of the trail. It's both the beginning and the end of it, depending on how you look at it.
This is the view from the trail head. It's starts above a really nice neighborhood; Such lucky people.

Yard Work

It must be memorial weekend. Today turned into a major yard work day. We made two trips to the Garden store. They got over $300. out of us this year. We spent 6 hours pulling weeds, trimming over grown bushes, fertilizing the ground, digging holes, planting, cutting back sod that was creeping over edging, sweeping, hosing; you name it. We totally filled our trash can and then filled some garbage bags.
You can't begin to know from these pictures how much work we did today. The new plants are still babies, so it will be awhile before they fill in and before all the pretty blooms will show. It's going to be attractive.


See that tall plant in the corner. It's our new bamboo tree. We haven't finished pushing back the sod in this corner yet.

This flower bed is out front. It's going to be very colorful once the plants grow up.

Brad and Staceys new baby

This evening I went to my brothers home. He and his cute wife Stacey have a new baby girl. She's so tiny and sweet. I got to hold her.
I was impressed with all the work they've done on their home. It's really charming.

Knitted baby blanket

I was asked to post a picture of my baby blanket when I was done knitting. Here it is. Don't ask me how long it took; I lost track. Let just say it took a pretty long time. Since it's double sided, it has about 11, 600 stitches. No that's not a typo.
I really should have pressed it a bit before taking a picture, but oh well; who really cares. I'm just glad to be done. I'll press it later.

Here it is spread out on my table. This blanket is really getting the star treatment. I just want a record of it before I give it away.


Here's a super close up shot. I have to admit, the row's are tight and straight. I've come a long way in my basic skills. I even learned a new way to bind off the work. This way leaves a very clean edge. It makes me want to go back and fix all my rag tag endings on my first projects. I guess that's how we learn though.

I consider myself an intermediate knitter now. I'll be able to say I'm advanced after I master patterns and texture. I'm ready to do that with my next project.
Oh yes, there will be more; just let me take a little break first.
This blanket is for my new baby niece; Brad and Stacy's baby. They don't know about it and they don't see my Blogs because they don't use a computer. At least that's my understanding.
I'll get it to them one of these day's.

Mothers Day and other stuff

Hi everyone,
I drove my oldest daughter and my grand daughters to the airport this morning. They've gone back to Phoenix. It was so nice to have them here for a week. We kept very busy the whole time.
I didn't always have my camera on hand, but I did get a few pictures of some of our activities. Fortunately, Susan got pictures of the things I missed, so watch for her updates.
This first picture is of Emma taking a nap. That's probably something only a mommie or grandma can fully appreciate.

This next one is of Becca playing in my den.



One of the things we did was go to the children's museum. We spent about two hours there. I think one of Becca's favorite things at the museum were these balls. Bigger kids were sending balls down some shoots and they would pop out of these holes down below. Becca was trying to put the balls back into the holes.
It was at least something down at her level and she could hang onto the side of this ball bin. She has just barely started to walk without falling right away or hanging onto everything.

Before going into the museum we braved the crowds to see David Archuleta from American Idol. Susan has been following his progress and was excited to see him. We were just 10 or 15 feet away from him. Goodness, there were a lot of people!



Here is our boy about to blow out some birthday candles. He's 23 years old! I really can't believe it. I wish these kids would stop aging, because I'm certainly not getting any older and it's going to be really awkward when they're all older than me!



My boy was born the day before mothers day. Twenty three years ago I was in the hospital with my new baby boy. These days he kicks me out of the kitchen on mothers day. He rolls up his sleeves and gets in on the cooking. He's such a nice guy.

Here's the whole gang; stirring and chopping. I was finally allowed to help during the cleanup stage.

I received a large bouquet of flowers. They always seem like a frivolous expense, but I do admit that I like them a lot.
I'm posting a picture, so that others can enjoy them too.

Family visit

Hello to my family and friends. Our daughter and grand daughters are here for a whole week. It's so nice to have them here.
Yesterday we had some mother daughter time down at our favorite garden. We strolled and had a picnic.
Today both of my girls and our grand daughters went up to Salt Lake City to spend a nice afternoon with my parents. It's amazing to see four generations together. It's so good to have family.
Tomorrow if the weather continues as nice as it is now, we'll drive down to the Orem area to share a quick picnic in a park with our son. He has to work and go to classes, but we want to include him as much as possible while his sister is here.
I'll post a new blog in a few days to update you on our continuing activities.

I'll have all of my children together on Mothers Day. I'm so lucky.