October-Come and Gone

I'm going to report on the last month. Wait for it...

Sisters Reunion in Chicago 8/19-8/24

This summer all us sisters have been saving our pennies to fly out to Chicago to visit Allison and have a sisters reunion! It was a great week with a lot of feminine emotion in one place and too much tourism. But we had fun doing it! I can't give you the minute by minute run down so I'm going to do a picture overview of the trip.

On the way there we all got the exit row seats. Our plane got diverted to St. Louis because of a tornado warning but we finally touched down in Chicago on Wednesday night.
First stop was the famous Chicago deep-dish pizza at Giordano's Restaurant. We were all so tired and hungry. It was a late night. We got to our awesome hotel and crashed.
Deb and I trying to act the model.
Got up the next morning and began our touristy adventures. First stop was the Shedd Aquarium. We got to know the bus system pretty well and it made time for talking which was nice.
Some famous Chicago sights.
Yellow submarine.

After the Shedd we had lunch at the Alder Planetarium and got some pictures of the great Chicago sky line.
Next stop was the Field Museum. We experienced a tour underground, Egypt, American heritage and so many other exhibits. My favorite was a picture exhibit of the civil rights movement. It was pretty powerful.
Here is Sue, the dinosaur. She is the famous dino in "Night at the Museum."
We had dinner and then headed to the Art Institute of Chicago. We were running out of energy but we met up with Allison and she gave us our second wind. We finished the evening at Navy Pier where we rode the famous Ferris Wheel. It gave us a great night view of the city.
We stayed up late talking and crashed again. It was the end of a long day!
We got up on Friday and had breakfast. A big part of our conversation all weekend long had to do with Carol Tuttle's Energy Profiling. Here is Deborah with her color card. Doesn't she just beam!
We did the Adler Planetarium this morning and then came back and did the John Hancock tower observatory. It was yet another amazing view of the city and lake. We were glad for a clear day.
After Hancock we got our stuff from the hotel and headed down to Hyde Park. We rented our van for the weekend and Allison showed us around her old stomping grounds before we headed South to Normal/Bloomington.
We got in late and watched a movie before hitting the sack. Another exhausting day.
Got up Saturday and Allison took us for a walk up the canal near her house. Fun walk to start the day. We came home and had crepes for breakfast and lazed around the morning.
In the afternoon we went shopping for our energy "type" clothing. It was an interesting adventure together and Launna turned out to be quite the shopper!
Sunday we went to church in the AM and then Allison showed us around her new University campus. She is a college professor! It was a cool campus.
Just an artsy shot of the girls on the library steps. Just having fun with black and white.

Monday we got up and packed the car and dropped Allison off at her first day of classes. We then traveled back up to Hyde Park where we went to the Museum of Science and Industry. I really liked the U-505 exhibit of an old WWII U-Boat. We had lunch at this great Chinese restaurant and then headed back to the airport and Utah. It was a fun trip all together. Great to get out of Utah and enjoy a big city. Next time I think we'll do less touring and just more times for sisters. Maybe a cabin would do the trick. Any ideas?

Backpacking White Pine Lake

I have been wanting to go backpacking all summer long but at first it was finding the people that would want to go with me and then my shoulder happened. Well, Alex and I decided it had to happen before school started and this week was it! Mike from country dancing and Nate also joined us. Ryker came along as well and did a great job packing his own pack!

Here we are all fresh and ready to go.

At first Ryker didn't know what to do with his pack! He was moving awkwardly and slow. But about 200 yards into it he caught on and from then on out was great.
The hike is only about 3.8 miles and very easy. It was about all I could do with my shoulder however. Towards the end of the hike I could feel my shoulder/arm throbbing and I was glad to be rid of my pack. I'll just have to do the longer ones I want to do in the fall when my shoulder is completely healed.
We got to White Pine Lake around 2pm and had plenty of time to set up camp and enjoy the afternoon. The boys took to fishing and Alex and I went swimming! The water was cold but manageable. Ryker figured out that he could swim and had fun doing laps out to us in the water and then back to shore. We enjoyed the sun and just talking. Mike went for a hike up to the ridges above the lake. He said he could have kept on going higher but it was getting late.
We had foil dinners and some fish for dinner. They turned out great and the fish was great until Ryker got a lick at it and then none of us wanted much more. Ryker was dead tired a the end of the day. He had done great all day at staying close and coming when called. I think he is going to be coming with me on more hikes now that he can pack his own water, etc.

I slept okay. There were a few interruptions including Ryker gone missing. Next time I think I'll do that a little different. But the sun rose to find us ready for another day of fun. Alex and I decided to build our own raft to take us across the lake. Mike helped us gather the right sized wood and we got all the rope we had in camp to lash it together. The finished product was beautiful on shore.
Getting it into the water was another task and once it was in it floated like a buoy. But then we got on and it sunk! We could sit on it and were suspended about a foot under the water. So it worked in theory but next time we're going to need bigger logs! About the same time Nate had been fishing on the other side of the lake and found a big raft that had already been built and was floating there. He and Ryker boarded the raft and got it out into the middle of the lake where Nate enjoyed the fishing. Alex and I swam around, I fished a little with Nate and then got Ryker off the raft so he wouldn't destroy it or hurt himself between the loose logs.

We had lunch, packed up camp and got out of there right around 2pm. The first part of the hike back was switch-backs but once we got over that it was a nice walk back to the car.

It was fun to be in that beautiful wilderness and just take some time off. I'm thankful my shoulder lasted the adventure. In the fall I want to do a bigger hike with Ben. Only fun things to come!

Another RODEO-Ode to Badger

Well the Cache County Rodeo and Fair came to town at the beginning of August. Some friends and I planned a trip and I managed to convince my city slicker brothers to join me for a new experience. Their favorite part was cowboy poker where four cowboys sat at a table in the arena while they let a bull lose. The last cowboy sitting at the card table won! Fun way to start out the evening!

Our clown was pretty good and kept us laughing all night. We had one true country boy in our group and it was almost more fun to see him react to the jokes!


It was just a great night out with friends. I really love spending time with this group of quality friends. To be totally honest, the rodeo wasn't the best I've been to. No one made a qualifying time on the bulls and there were only a few really good rides on the broncs. But a rodeo's a rodeo and fun any which way!

There was one part that was pretty cool. This guy came with his show team of Percherons. He drove a team of six behind a wagon and then came out later standing on the back two. One of the team is the largest registered Percheron in the US standing at 19.2 3/4 hands at the withers. That is a big horse! It made me miss my old friend Badger from Ensign Ranch. He was a part Percheron/Shire and a great gentle giant. I remember just going back into his pen or pasture and getting him to step over to a fence so we could swing up on him and just ride him around the pasture. There was another time I was frustrated with something going on a the ranch. I went into his pen to just think and he came over and gave me a hug with his massive head! He was one of the only horses E and I could take out in the winter with three feet of snow on the ground. We would just throw a wool blanket on him and jump on and he would keep us warm and take care of us. I've been blessed to know some great horses and he was the best! So the rodeo was fun. I'm sure I'll be back next year!

Five deer, a skunk and a mouse

I feel like I end up going up to Tony Grove for one thing or the other almost every week! A few weeks ago it was for the BLAZING HOLLOW HOORAH! This was a ward activity where we got to celebrate our pioneer ancestry since it was the week of Pioneer Day. We did a service project where we got to clear a mountain biking trail and we made dutch oven dinners and did a short devotional program around the fire. The activity turned out pretty good but we were up there way too late! On the way home we almost ran into all kinds of wildlife. The worst was a skunk we almost hit! Then there were several deer and in the end it was a mouse that somehow we failed to miss! Oops!

While we were waiting for dinner to cook we did some hiking. It was fun. I probably went too high for only having one free arm but the view was beautiful and I got back down safely.

Another big highlight of my summer was Celeste and Carson Fenimore's wedding. I got to play a small role in the story of these two wonderful individuals coming together and now they are married! The ceremony in the SLC temple was beautiful and it was great to see friends and family. Sarah Murray came down from WA for the event and ended up coming home with me for the weekend after the reception was over. I was so happy for Celeste. She looked beautiful and so happy!


I'm so thankful for good friends in my life. Sarah and Celeste have been some of the best. Sarah got married in January, Celeste in July and now I'm the only one left! We'll see when that happens.

Other fun ward adventures include FHE at Brother Roundy's house in Paradise. He has this huge water slide set up to go into his pond. I wasn't going to get in because of my arm but then Matt W. got a few of us girls wet while we were in the paddle boat and at that point I figured I'd might as well go the whole way! The slide was super fun and I'm determined to go back when my arm is healed.

As soon as I went back to my Dr. and he gave me the okay, I was back on horseback. I went for a long ride one Wednesday and found the Hyrum reservoir. It was a beautiful, long ride that was very needed. The next week I took Alexandra out and it was super fun. She used to ride when she was younger and it came back pretty fast. Horses are my passion and I will always love anything to do with them but riding is so much more fun when you can do it with someone!
So, despite my shoulder, I'm still staying busy and having fun. There's no way you could keep fun from me!