Moab Day One

*picture heavy post ahead*

We decided to take a little trip to Moab this weekend

to try out Frank's new wheels.

I'll start out with the quote of the day:

"Well, I only hit one tree today!"

We went to Arches National Park

and did some off-roading using a book of trails that Frank got.

The trails we did this first day were:

Tower Arch and Eye of the Whale Arch
(I think the roads have other names but I can't remember them right now)

We did a bit of driving around the park first.

Wow, that place is amazing!

Then we headed out onto our "off road" trail.

It started out as basically a sandy road

but soon we turned and saw

a steep hill made up of rocks, boulders and a bit of dirt.

I would never, in my right mind, call it a road.

That was the beginning of our first off road experience.

And it was fun!

And beautiful.

And at times a little nerve wracking.

And as Frank was pointing out some gorgeous scene in the distance

he did, indeed, hit a tree.

A smallish tree.

and he sort of side swiped it more than rammed right into it...

(that's because I yelled)

First scratch-we got that over with.

In the middle of our trek

we got out and hiked to the Tower Arch.

We had a great time hiking all around

getting sort of lost

climbing over boulders

and into crevices

Me taking a picture of Frank taking my picture

A very small crevice! too small it turned out...

until we did eventually arrive at the arch.

We made it to the Arch!

Frank trying to get a good shot

From inside the arch

We were quite tired at the end of the day.

Before we left,

 we went into the visitors center to look around

and when we sat down to see their little 15 minute movie about the arches..

we both fell asleep!

So we decided to call it a day at that point!

However once we got back to Green River, where our hotel was,
we decided to go out on a short, easy trip to see
the Crystal Geyser.

It's supposed to be kind of cool,
and easy to find.

Of course we started out at dusk
and it was soon very dark.

We drove on some surprisingly rough roads
and...
never found it!

Frank was beside himself and didn't want to give up.

We did enjoy some AMAZING stars out there in the middle of no where.

No camera...so no pictures.
But it definitely made me want to go back out in the boonies to
enjoy those stars again sometime.

It was a nice end to the day
(other than the frustration Frank felt for never finding the geyser, that is)

Peach Crisp and Pumpkin Carving

As you know,

I've been posting a lot about all the peaches I've been eating, freezing and canning.

I would wax poetic to my family about how I couldn't wait to make peach crisp.

About a week ago, I got a text from my brother saying something like this

(I can't find the actual text, darn it...so I'm paraphrasing)

I would definitely like to partake of some of the peach crisp you've been talking about making.

When should be come over for some of that?

So we set up a date for peach crisp and pumpkin carving!

*side story*
when I told Carter that family was coming over he said
"cool! what are we doing?"
"carving pumpkins"
(picture this next sentence said with an upbeat, perky sort of voice)
"Oh! I hate carving pumpkins!"
hahaha
*end side story*

My parents were also invited, but they forgot to come.
Too many social engagements for one night.
And my Dad turned off his cell phone...
so we spent the evening repeatedly calling them and wondering if they were ok.
They were.
Dion went over afterwards to make sure and sent me a picture to prove that they were fine.
None of the texts from Dion are on my phone anymore...no idea why.
So that picture is unavailable.
But, really, they are fine!


Ok I guess that was TWO side stories.

We had stew and bread
and
Peach Crisp for dessert
(with ice cream of course)
It was my first time making peach crisp from frozen peaches
so it was kinda runny.
but still tasty.

Then we carved.

I tried to go all designery
(yes, I made that word up)
and used a drill to make a simple pattern on mine.

Frank also decided to use the drill
and ended up with the 4x4 design I have already shared previously.
There is also some fancy scrollwork on the back.

We had some traditional pumpkins
We had one chicken pumpkin
A BYU pumpkin

Even the babies had a good time

Isabelle with a cold nose

Isabelle with Grandpa

Kaylee happily sucking on Nevin's finger inside the warm house!

It was good fun!

He's obsessed

A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

My husband got a jeep.

He's obsessed with "four wheeling" now.

We carved pumpkins.

This is his:

He's obsessed.

Fall in Utah

It is officially fall

and I really love fall!

(when I can get over the fact that fall precedes winter)

So, this last weekend

Frank and I decided to go for a ride in the canyon to see the fall foliage.

It was beautiful.

There is lots of yellow and some nice orange

and the combination of the evergreens and the mountains (grays and browns)

 along with the fall colors

is really quite lovely.

But

(you knew there was a "but")

I can't help but compare it to fall in New England.

And I'm sorry...

there is just no comparison.

I try not to compare.

I try to appreciate the beauty that is here for me to enjoy.

It was a beautiful ride.

But the people here just go GAGA over the AMAZING foliage.

They don't know what they are missing

so I guess that's good.

But I know.

And I miss Fall in New England.

But since I don't have access to fall in New England anymore

(and, no, pictures on the internet do not count)

I will go out,

drive in the canyon,

and appreciate the beauty that is

Fall in Utah

No longer a visitor

Back in the day,

when I used to occasionally visit Utah,

I could be heard exclaiming

"My hair is so great here!"

Because when I would visit from my more muggy home

my hair would transform in the Utah dryness.

Frizz would go away

Natural curl would calm down

I would blow dry and find myself with silky, soft, straight hair.

Now

I live here.

And guess what?

It's super dry here.

I now have this straw-like, splitting stuff all over my head.

My hair only likes to visit Utah.

An Oregon Surprise!

We spent the weekend in Pacific City, Oregon

celebrating Frank's Aunt Judy.

It was a surprise party for her 70th birthday!

The goal was for as many family members as possible to come to the beach and surprise her

and celebrate with her.

One of the perks of living closer now

is that we can go for just a weekend

and it feels ok.

Before, the flights themselves ate up two whole days

so there was no way to really do a weekend trip.

So when Trina called us about the idea we immediately said yes.

I'm so glad we went.

It was wonderful in every way.

Weather-perfect

Family-lots!

Food-delicious and made by someone else

Sand-soft and gorgeous

We played cards

We played volleyball on the beach 

(we were awful but it was super fun)

We ate delicious meals made by Trina

There was a lot of chatting while sitting out on the deck

We went sledding on the sandy dunes

We climbed the huge sand dune nearby
(no pictures of the sand dune? You'll have to trust me.  It was huge)

On the last evening, we climbed partway up the dune to watch the sunset.

Walks on the beach

Our view of the sunset was gorgeous!

And every evening there would be a bunch of folks standing not the deck trying to capture it just perfectly.

We had a fire on the beach and toasted s'mores

Of course we had a party with cake and presents for Aunt Judy!

On the last day, a dead sea lion washed up on shore not far from our house

It looked like it had been bitten by a shark.

Of course we all had to go down and look at it.

But William, Frank's sister's son, said he wished he could have a tooth out of that sea lion.

Frank, being Frank, got into that idea and told him to go find some pliers and a hammer!

Which he did.

And off they went to extract a tooth.

all I can say is..

ew

I love that Frank's family is so close-knit.

We had cousins from as far away as Florida there.

As well as a strong contingent from Indiana.

Old friends came.

And all the sisters were together.

I loved everything about this weekend.