Porcupine Rim

John nick  named this trail "Angels Landing on a bike."  If you've ever hiked Angels Landing in Zion NP you'll get the picture.  It was scary in places because of the cliff exposure.  It was very difficult for me and my ability but I loved it and especially loved being with John.

 

 

We're alive so it was a success.

One more Moab post to come.

Moab with my bud

John and I took off on a last minute trip to Moab for his Spring break.  Dan couldn't come because of work and the risk mountain biking would be to his shoulder. 

First we rode the Slick Rock Trail.

The next sequence is of John riding up a hill on the trail and then waiting, as he often did, for me to catch up.

The trail was too technical for me but I still had a great time.  John was very patient and waited. 

More to come...

Temples

A fortress in the rising storm

I love this building.  Today in General Conference Pres. Monson talked about temples.  He said that 85% of the membership of the church lives with in 200 miles of a temple.  Amazing. 

I am so happy for my friends in Ft. Collins Colorado.  Yesterday they announced that a temple will be built there.  I lived there when the Denver Temple was built.  (In fact I was in that temple when I went into labor with Tom hehehehe.)  It was an hour and a half drive.  We were so happy and felt so blessed to have one in Denver.  Now, all my Ft. Collins friends get one of their very own.  

Blessings.  Blessings.

Junior Prom

I'm so glad I have my baby in the house.  He keeps me young.  I was 35 when  he was born and most of my friends my age had children that were all in school.  John has been a blessing in my life and has kept me young.  He's growing and will be out of the house before I know it so  I'm trying to enjoy every minute with him. 

Last night was Junior Prom.  He chose a white tux.  I have no idea where he got the confidence to wear it.  He didn't get it from me.

The group had dinner at the Lesters house.

 After the dance they came to our house to play games.  One of the games was a white elephant exchange.  He wanted some ideas for a gift so I asked my face book friends.  One of the ideas, from my daughter Mindy, was to give an 8X10 framed photo, signed, of himself.  He loved that idea.  Below is the photo he found, printed, signed and framed.  I giggle every time I think of him giving it as a white elephant.

I love having John in my house.

Winter Playland

Because I had to work today I didn't get to snow shoe with my fun  hiking friends.  When I got home in the after noon it was still a beautiful day.  I decided to go cross country skiing even though I'd have to go alone and I had never gone alone before.  It didn't take long, going up Green Canyon, before I realized I wasn't alone.

These are the groomed ski tracks I followed.

This cute group was going to the Yurt to spend the night.  They were with the group Common Ground that helps disabled people enjoy the out doors.

I snapped this picture as the lady zipped by on her skis.

A lot of the skiers had dogs.

I'd never seen this before-snow bikes.  They looked so much fun!

Good by, snow bikes.

I took this picture after I did a spread eagle fall flat on my face trying to avoid hitting these people, my neighbors, as we were on the same tracks.  I picked myself up, swallowed my pride and took their picture.  The camera lens was fogged up as a result of my fall.

I thought I was going to be alone but there were a lot of people ( and I didn't photograph half of them) enjoying the winter playland in Green Canyon.

Tree cutting adventure

One of our family Christmas traditions is to cut our Christmas trees after Thanksgiving.  This year was probably the best year yet.  We had the whole family.  The weather was good.  We had a ton of snow which made it beautiful plus more fun because we all needed snow shoes.  Great day!

My sweet Karen and her Papa

One tree down, 4 to go.

 

 

 

Gracie looked like a little pink snow girl.

 

 

 

 

Second tree found for Jim's family.

Mindy's family found a nice tree for their new house.

 

 

  Jake, a big Utah fan, wore his Utah hat, as he cut the tree, for good luck in the UofU/BYU game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mark, Jenn and Chi Chi chose a little tree.

 

Hahaha, Mark could carry his tree with one hand.

 

Tom and Megan are on a mission to find the best tree.   

 

They are ready with saw in hand.

 

It took two to carry their very first Christmas tree off the mountain.

Dan and John carry our tree to the truck.

 

Success!  Five trees for our family plus one for the grandparents and one for a friend.

Taking a Family Portrait

We've been trying for months to get this group of 14 together for a family pic.  It's been nearly impossible.  Finally, we found a day.  Last Saturday, November 20, was it.  I watched the forecast as the day approached and it didn't look good.  I had some out door settings but no inside settings for the picture.  I didn't know what to do.  If we canceled it may take another 6 months before we could get together again and Mindy's little pouch is growing (yes, that is an announcement) so we needed to do it ASAP.  On Saturday morning, as Mindy and Jake were driving up from Bountiful, it started to rain.  Oh well, we had our day and we went with it.

As we were getting ready it was lightly raining.

We used my son, Mark, as our photographer.  Hooray for camera timers.   He used the towel to protect the camera from the rain.  The singing Snowman in front of the camera was used to get the grandchildren's attention with marginal success.

This one looks pretty good, except, look at the babies.  Hahahaha.  Mark thinks he can fix them with photo shop.

Once again, this is good of everyone EXCEPT THE BABIES!  Oh well, photo shop.

As an after thought we did some family groups.  I love these.

Dan and Nan

Mark and Jenn

Mindy,  Jake and Cash

Sarah, Jim and Gracie

Megan and Tom

This is not the final pic but I love it.  Cash and Gracie had had it and Karen and John had fun trying to keep them happy.

This family pic will be up to date for 7 months, until Mindy has her baby in June.  Then, we'll try again.