October 2010

My granddaughters are so fun to have around. Deb got these outfits for them to wear. With Eric now too old to trick-or-treat any fun with Halloween will be with Siena and Cara this year.

Powell Trip 2010

Another year and another Lake Powell Trip over the UEA weekend. This year Debbie and I had Angie join us along with Eric and his friend Sam Hicken. The weather was great and the water still warm (71 degrees). We camped below Gregory Butte near our campsite last year on a nice sandy beach. The winds were calm and the moonlit night was just right. The second day after a morning ski we boated up West Canyon until we could go no farther. Getting from the boat to the head of the canyon was difficult requiring us to swim and wade through nasty debris for about 50 yards. Our efforts were rewarded with a beautiful hike up the narrow canyon. It had running water in it from springs up canyon. We hiked for about an hour up into a beautiful slot section full of clear cold water. The swim in this section was really neat and cold! No photos of this because I didn't carry the camera up with me. We arrived home on Saturday quite late as we stayed on the lake until dark. We missed the other members of our family and hope they can join us in future trips.

Cheyenne

We just returned from a trip to Cheyenne, Wyoming. We visited with Nick and his family. They were gracious hosts and fed us and let us stay with them. Nick and I were able to sneak a mountain bike ride in on Saturday at a state park near his home. The ride was on fun single track through the pines and aspens on a beautiful autumn day. We caught glimpses of the nearby climbing area called Veudawoo. It looks like a place I would like to go back and visit and do some climbing. Nick and Emily have a beautiful home and it was fun to visit with their kids. Eric and I were able to go with Nick to the priesthood session of general conference. We walked into the stake center and immediately found ourselves surrounded by other fathers and sons listening to conference in SLC. Everything was familiar to us. As usual the talks were great. The primary reason for our visit to Cheyenne was to see Rebecca's college soccer team play. They played two games during the weekend. The local college called Laramie County Community College and Northern Idaho College on the neutral field. Becca's team lost one game and tied the other. We could only briefly interact with Becca until the games were done, then we had some personal time with her. She looks great and seems to be having a good time at college in spite of the hard schedule of soccer and school and travel. The drive home was long but unremarkable. It was good to get home to St. George but when we left it was still summer and when we got home it was rainy and fall temps had arrived.