Smoky September

I have a plate on our mantel in our family room that says, "Because someone we love is in Heaven, we feel Heaven in our Home". September always turns my thoughts to Heaven now since both my folks have gone there and they both celebrated their birthdays this month. Happy Heavenly Birthday Dad and Mom. 

To celebrate Dad's birthday we took the boat out to Cutler Dam and invited the Mallory's to ski for awhile and then with a short notice, we had anyone that wanted to join us from the Married Student 17th Ward(that Dale's the Bishop over)come. We had a few takers who were great skiers, and they made the most of it.

Jaxson's getting more daring on skis, and Matt's more confident as well. Kennlyn's still a little leary of getting up, and Langston and Mazin are content to go on the knee board or surfboard with Amie, or to just relax on the boat.

                               

Then we took the boat out on Labor Day and had the Mallory's, Andrew, Titan and Eloise with us.
Andrew really wanted to get out on the water before he had to head out for his job in Arkansas. He got his fill as well as the others that wanted a turn, then I tried again to get up. I popped right up this time and skied for quite awhile, crossing the wake back and forth and just enjoying it, but I still crashed when trying to drop the ski. Patience, patience.

DIBELS is in full swing, We're testing the 6th grade in four schools for a pilot monitoring deal this year. Our District has high marks in our reading scores, so somethings paying off.

While browsing on my phone I came across a volunteer opportunity to help with a Downs Syndrome Awareness Buddy Walk at the American Heritage Center on the Just Serve App. This was a program that Dale and I used to be over in the Married Student Stake until they changed the way they do it. So, I figured since I had a niece, Erin Sabey, with two cute Down Syndrome children and I knew two more couples that had a child with it I'd help out.  What a great community we live in. It was very well attended and supported. They had carnival type games, did the "Buddy Walk" where you walk with your "team", served lunch, had a raffle, and a silent auction to raise money for the organization, plus everyone got a T-shirt. I was way impressed. They were a little short on help though, so I was glad that I could help out. The Logan High Girls Soccer Team helped as well, which I thought was pretty neat.

Vance, Hope, Minnie and Sunny - Christian and Erin Sabey's cute kids

Garrett and Zandra, Jori and Luke joined our friends, Jordan and Sara Benson and their family and did the Walk for their daughter, Naomi, who has Down's Syndrome. I joined up with them for the walk and then helped with the Raffle and Silent Auction.

For my mom's birthday, I decided to volunteer to help with the Alzheimer's Awareness Walk that was held at Merlin Olsen Park in Logan, UT. There were a lot of volunteers there to help and it was way organized. I helped set up banners and  pass out t-shirts. Then I helped The Family Place with the Balloon Pop game, and helped with clean up. Two great causes that I just may help with next year. 

We had Jaxson sleep over with us and he went grouse hunting with Dale up Smithfield Canyon the morning I helped with the Alzheimer's Walk. They came home successful, and Dale cooked the grouse up for their lunch. That was Jaxson's first time hunting birds, killing it, and cooking it. 

Dale and I went to a Regional Fireside that was for Young Adults 18-35 that was held in the Spectrum on USU's campus. Elder Bednar, an apostle for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and his wife did a Question and Answer Event. Because  Dale's a Bishop in a Married Student Stake we got to go. It was pretty much packed and was a well worth event to attend. I saw a side of Elder Bednar I hadn't seen before with his wife. They're a cute, fun couple. I was glad we got to go.

With the weird weather we've been having it caused a lot of trees to get what you call Fire Blight. It's a disease that comes when flowering trees blossom. The bees spread it to other trees and it makes the leaves on the tree turn brown and then get dry and fall off. There isn't really a cure for it and we had it last year and it came back worse this year. I called the Extension Office at USU about it and also had an arborist come and check out our trees. We had four that were affected bad enough that we felt it best to just have the trees cut down, so that's what we did. All four of our flowering crabapple trees (which didn't produce the crabapples, just beautiful white blossoms in the spring) got cut down. We also had the rest of our trees cleaned up while they were here. Our yard looks kind of bare again. I guess we'll be digging holes again for trees to fill in the empty spots.

I ushered at the Eccles for the production of Oklahoma, put on by the local theatre company, Music Theater West. It was almost as good as the one the Festival Opera Company brought in awhile back. I was very impressed.

I picked up my friend, Teresa Maughan, and we drove to South Ogden where we picked up another friend, Kathy Fishburn, and then went to Bountiful and met up with Jeanette Petersen, and she drove from there to St. George. The  Golden Girls headed south for a weekend of fun in the sun. On the way down we could see the smoke and even the red glow from a fire that was burning around the Spanish Fork area. There's been fires not only in Utah, but in Idaho, Nevada, California, and Oregon as well, that have contributed to our bad air. It's been a bad summer for fires. 

We went to a couple of shows that were playing at the Tuacahn Theater. Cinderella and The Price of Egypt.

We ended up having one of our gals, Becky Olsen, not come due to some health issues. I was wanting to see if I could sell her tickets to someone needing just one and found a lady that was about to buy some at the ticket office. We gave her a deal that helped both of us out. Well, come to find out the lady I sold Becky's tickets to was the LDS Composer,  Michael McLean's wife. We had a chat with he and his wife and met their daughter, Meghan, who was going to be using the ticket. She has breast cancer and has been going through chemo treatments. She had no hair and didn't even seemed bothered by that. She has 2 children from her first marriage and 3 step children. What faith, courage, and strength she has. She was so up-beat and positive, open and easy to talk to. 

We enjoyed her company as much as we enjoyed the show. I'd seen it before with Amie, Danica, and Kennlyn in June, but it was just as good this time too. We got to sneak in a picture of the Prince and Cinderella after the show too. Aren't they charming? ;)

We stopped at Smith's and got some snacks and stayed up and talked, and talked, and talked. It was 2:30am before we decided maybe we should hit the sack. It's so easy to visit with good friends who can know all about you and still love you isn't it!?!

After breakfast at the hotel we loaded up and went to the St. George Temple and went through a session. The temple was a buzz with weddings and the grounds were so pretty.  The weather was perfect too. What a great way to spend the morning, with dear friends.

We headed back to the hotel and changed and then hit the stores to see if we could find any deals. You know how it is when women shop you have to find a deal. Well, we each found a few, but Kathy and Jeanette came away with the most. Fitting our luggage in the back of her Pilot will be a trick, but we'll make it work. 

After our spending spree, we headed back to the hotel to spruce up a bit and grabbed a bite to eat and then went back to Tuachan to see The Prince of Egypt. This time we ended up having Michael McLean sit in the seat Becky would of used and I got to sit by him. Lucky me!

He's a nice guy and is easy to talk to as well. The show was about Moses' life from birth to when he became a prophet of God, and ended after he parted the Red Sea and saved the Israelites. It was a great story and very well done. The stage even had water on it like it was the sea. They used real animals and with the red rock backdrop it was a beautiful setting for the show. We got to get a close up of some of the main characters in the show after too.

Again we stayed up and talked until early into the morning, just because we could.

It didn't seems like we'd been asleep long enough when we heard the alarm go off. With four ladies and one bathroom the one that needs the longest time to get ready gets up first. Luckily I don't take that long to get ready so I got to try and get a few more winks in before it was my turn. 

We found a church that was close by and went to Sacrament Meeting. It was the Primary Program and even though they didn't have a very big Primary those kids could sing! It was cute and the spirit was felt through their words and the songs. I so enjoy attending the Primary programs.

We went back to the hotel and changed and with some skill we made everything fit.

It was a short weekend, but it was fun. I always feel so blessed to have Teresa Maughan, Kathy Fishburn, and Jeanette Petersen around. They help me be a better person. I'm sure glad for their friendship. We've been friends since Jr. High, and even longer with Kathy living close to me as a child growing up in River Heights.

We stopped for gas in Beaver, UT and I insisted that we get our picture taken with "Chip". Oh, the memories we make.

The drive home through the canyon was beautiful with the signs of fall on the trees. I love this season of color on the hills. 

We all got home safe feeling blessed to have spent a great weekend with great friends. I found out that Dale had taken his brother-in-law, Reed McGregor, fishing over the weekend. I guess Reed hadn't been fishing for quite some time. They never caught any keepers, and Reed got pulled out into the middle of the lake by the wind but a nice guy with a boat towed him back closer to shore. They had a good time making memories as well.

I'm sharing what Nate posted on Facebook about a bike ride he too with his friend, Jeremy Koons: I departed Badwater Basin in Death Valley CA (282ft below sea level), the lowest point in the continental United States, with Jeremy Koons, in 110-120˚ temps and rode through the night and next day to the summit of White Mountain Peak (14,252ft) 212 miles away. I bonked and decided to call it about 2 miles before the summit at 25hrs when I saw the final rough steep loose rocky trail. Jeremy powered through and obtained the summit in only 23hrs for the solid FKT. Amazing effort! Big thanks to Brandon Zipp and Kimber who stayed with us the whole way in the van setting up aid stations and spraying us with ice water throuhgout the trip.

I say, great effort on Nate's part and what an amazing experience for both of them.

Nate also posted this about a run he went on in Canada -- I upped my game this weekend, completing the Whistler Alpine Meadows 110K(68 miles) in British Columbia. We started running at 4am and I finished 21hrs 2min later at 1am the next day. We enjoyed rain most of the day, snow, sloppy mud, a few bursts of sun, fog, occasional views and a whole heap of elevation (16,500ft). Overall it was a great experience and a well-organized race. 

I am in awe that he could do a 221 mile bike ride and then two weeks later do a 68 mile trail run!! I don't see how he could be walking after all that. This kid never ceases to amaze me.

He's still trying to build up his client base and working as Dr. Nate in Millcreek at Foot and Ankle Clinic with Dr. Hall.

Amie has been busy coaching soccer for Langston's team (U-7) and is making strides with them. Langston's scored and assisted and blocked shots. He just loves the game. I've been able to go watch some of them and it brings back memories of when our kids were beginners in soccer. Fun times.

Amie also co-coaches for Kennlyn and Jaxson's soccer teams. She's got a lot of patience and adds the technical skills to the team. Both teams have been doing well.

Jaxson played on an Intramural soccer team at school during lunch and ended up winning the title of soccer champs. Way to go Jaxson!

Providence hosts Sauerkraut Days and in-between soccer games they went and checked it out. They were very impressed by all the fun things they had for kids to do at no cost. A bounce house and slide, a bull riding machine, a trampoline bungee jump, and even a sweet car show. Maybe we'll have to join them next year and check our Sauerkraut Days.

Grandma Sheryl came and visited them played with them, and went to some soccer games and to their Primary Program so she could hear the kids do their parts (I went as well. She also went water skiing with us so she could see the kids in action. 

                                            

Matt was a good sport and let the kids at Heritage "cream him" because they earned around $15,000 for their Fun Run to help the school. He was smart to wear the ski goggles and I'm sure he was pretty sweet and sticky after. 

The whole family met up with some friends and went kayaking around the Benson marshes for a fun outing. It was a beautiful day and they all had a good time.

Andrew took off for work in Arkansas but after a week ended up in South Carolina helping with clean-up after Tropical Storm Florence hit the area causing some major flooding and power outages. He trimmed trees along the power lines to help clear trees that had fallen into the power lines. Some people were without power for 2 weeks and it was hot, humid and smelled terrible because of all of the standing stagnant water in the area. He even saw a dead whale that had been beached along the shoreline. Pretty sad deal.

Lindsay took the kids to Willow Park Zoo for a outing. The kids love the animals. She's also been busy getting their house put together and doing some painting. 

Nora's walking all over now, in-fact almost running! It's so cute to see her take off and go.

To celebrate Labor Day Garrett and Zandra took the kids fishing and on a hike. They never caught one, but Zandra, Luke, and Jorie loved reeling in the line, and the kids like playing in the water after the hike.

Happy Birthday Garrett! 29 looks good on you!! Zandra invited us to a tasty dinner with them to celebrate his big day. 

Jorie loves being in the kitchen and helped make the cupcakes for his cake. They were yummy too.

Jorie also got to go on her first date with Garrett. They enjoyed lunch at In & Out Burger. 

Jorie also got to go on her first pony ride when they were at the Buddy Walk at the American Heritage Center. 

For Garrett's birthday they bought him a used Baby Grand Piano from a lady in Salt Lake that had never really played it. She just used it as a piece of furniture. They got a killer deal on it and it also plays by itself. It looks beautiful in their new house. Garret's dream of having a baby grand piano has come true.

Zandra's mom (Grandma Dennis) came and watched the kids (and got her grandma fix in) while Garrett and Zandra went to Las Vegas, NV for a weekend get-away. They relaxed in the pool, and saw The Beatles Love Cirque du Solell show while there.

Garrett knows he can't have all fun, so he worked to get some loans closed on some homes for clients. Work pays off.

Danica and Jason celebrated their 1st wedding anniversary. Here's to at least 69 more great years together!

To celebrate, they spent the weekend in Park City and soaked in the beautiful mountain air.

They went on a hike and to see the Utah Salmon Run at the Causey Reservoir with Jason's cousins and mom. What a beautiful area they saw.

They also went to a Baseball game with Jason's brothers family and his mom. What, no hot dogs or popcorn? I'm sure they still had fun though.

Finally, to kick off fall, they went to the pumpkin patch and picked out a pumpkin. I can't wait to see what she turns it into.

Smoky September turned out better at the end of the month for our area. A lot of the fires got contained and the wind helped clear the air. Life is good.