Sunday, May 29, 2011

Samantha

Tonight my niece, Samantha, was Baptised by her dad (my brother).


Here she is:



Chocolate cake and cheese cake for dessert:




My brother is the one on the left (white shirt and blue tie):




My brother and Mom:




The proud mom:





Mom/Grandma was so proud of her family tonight:




Brad is a good daddy:

Thanks for inviting us!

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Hidden Valley Park and Trails

It's the beginning of Memorial weekend. If the weather holds, we are planning a great outing for Monday. For today (Saturday) we played a little too.
There's a great park on Wasatch Blvd. which is very close to our home. From this park there is access into two canyons.
We went into the Southern canyon first. The clouds were low hanging at first, but it cleared right up and was quite sunny.


We found a bridge:




This whole canyon is surprisingly green:







We really didn't get very far up this canyon, because a waterfall was sending a heavy load of water onto the trail and our way was blocked.
We came out of the canyon and got on a section of Bonneville Shoreline trail and crossed to the Northern canyon.
We walked up a fire road until we came to this trail sign:





This trail went up, up, up. We came to our first lookout point:




Looking at treetops:




A valley view (somewhere along the way):




After our walk we sat in this Gazebo and had Peanut butter sandwiches, chips and apples.
During lunch I heard a coyote:



I hope the weather is good on Memorial Day, because the pictures from that hike will be quite interesting!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Aaron is 26

Today I did four hours of yard work. Joe pitched in by cutting down a very dead shrub which left a big stump.


Aaron came home this afternoon so we could do a little birthday party for him. He actually turned 26 on May 10, but we waited until today to celebrate with him. While dinner was cooking, he started digging out the stump. This was his own idea. We really didn't ask him to be our slave.


He worked hard:



It became entertaining to watch him. He's determined that this stump is 'HIS' and he'll get it out if it takes all summer. It probably will:




His dad helped with dinner (total shock). He made some kind of spicy chicken wraps.
His sister Sarah made salad and home fries.
Finally there was the birthday cake and Ice Cream. Sarah made German Chocolate Cake from scratch and her dad used our Kitchen aid attachment to make some Cinnamon Ice Cream.


Aarons main gift was an Alton Brown Cookbook.
I cleaned up the kitchen since I didn't do food prep this time around.
Happy Birthday Aaron. You're a great guy.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Farmington Creek Trail


Tomorrow is Mothers Day and all I wanted was a nice walk. I got my wish.
I've already been given two dozen roses too.

Since the high altitude locations still have snow, we went to Farmington Creek Trail.

We could always hear this big stream below us:




Water crossed the trail. I kept my feet dry getting across, but on the way back I got one foot wet. It was so hot outside that I was all dried out in no time:




Farmington and the Great Salt Lake:





At the top of the trail we got to see this 40 foot waterfall:





Above the waterfall we stopped for lunch:




Wildflowers:


Video of the waterfall:



On the way home we drove through the DQ in Bountiful for chocolate dipped Ice Cream cones. I can't believe it's 80 degrees today. Winter is ending at last!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Spring Break

Sarah is on Spring Break. She gets three weeks away from school. She still has work, but her schedule is lighter for the moment.

The good part for me, besides having the car around more, is having a walking buddy.

She gave me permission to take pictures of the back of her head:



Taking a break:




Our local reservoir is more like a mud flat right now. There were some fairly tame Geese walking around:




It's sunny and warm. Buds are on the trees and my lawn is a deep emerald green.