24 June 2012 - Jessica in Utah

We're still getting adjusted to life on Eastern time, but it's coming.  Joanne went to Young Women's on Wednesday night.  One of the former members of the Young Women's presidency is going to have her first baby soon, so they made her a diaper cake.

I was sitting at work one day and I got a message on my phone. This picture was attached.

Jessica got to go to the Logan Temple, and then visited my old stomping ground at Utah State University.

She also hiked to Timpanogos Cave with Aunt Jennifer.

Seems she's been having a lot of fun without us, but we're looking forward to having her home.

17 June 2012 - Utah, Week Two

Week two of the Utah trip started off at Sand Hollow State Park near St. George.  The kids decided that despite the 72 degree lake water, they wanted it even warmer and so they started to dig a hot tub.

It was sunny and warm (hot) every day, so we spent plenty of time enjoying Uncle Darin's boat.

Mike brought his trailer and Grammie and Grandpa brought their motor home so just camped right there at the edge of the lake.  They also brought their 4-wheelers so we could ride on the sand dunes.

It took a while, but the kiddos eventually had a nice, muddy hot tub.

After several days at the lake, we were sunburned and dried out, and it was time for a break.  We spent Father's Day weekend at Angie and Darin's house in St. George.  Unfortunately Tiffany and Brian hadn't quite made it back from their vacation in California in time to be in our Father's Day family picture.

That afternoon, we headed back to Salt Lake.  We left by way of Snow Canyon, another old rock climbing and rappelling haunt of mine.  The girls and I climbed up to the Pioneer Names site in the canyon.  I've left this photo a little larger in file size, so that if you click on it and look in the arch behind and above us, you might be able to see the names written in wagon axle grease by several Mormon pioneers as they entered the St. George valley in the 1800s.

After two weeks of non-stop, and sometimes tiring fun, it was time to come home to Pennsylvania.  For most of us anyway.  Jessica stayed for her turn for a 12 year old summer week with Grandma, while the rest of us took a red-eye flight back to PA.  We were very grateful for the time and means we had to spend time in Utah, and look forward to getting Jessica back soon.

10 June 2012 - Utah, Week One

This week we were very blessed to be able to spend some time with Joanne's family in Utah.  On our first day, Joanne's mom, who is a missionary tour guide at the Conference Center, gave us a tour.  This picture is on the roof of the Conference Center, looking south toward the temple.

Here is Joanne's mom with the girls in front of one of the roof fountains.

The next day, Grampa Phil took us rappelling in American Fork Canyon.  I love this canyon because I spent many hours here in high school climbing and rappelling.  This is Jessica on her first descent.  It was about 90 feet.

Here is Emily's rappel.  Phil was a great teacher for the first timers.

By the time Madeline got to the bottom the first time, she was sobbing and terrified.  I asked her how it was and she said "That was horrible", even though she had done an excellent job.  She snuggled with mommy for a couple minutes, had a drink, and before we knew it, she was back up on top again, ready for another turn.

The day after that, Grampa Phil took us water skiing on Utah Lake.  It was a sunny and warm day, and we had a blast.  This is Jessica making her first attempt at water skiing.  This is a skill our family will still need to work on.

Hanging on Grampa Phil's boat with Uncle Colby.

We were grateful for a rest over the weekend, and attended church with Joanne's mom, and with Karl and his family who came into town late Saturday night from Delaware.  On Monday we went rappelling again in American Fork Canyon.  Karl had made arrangements for us to stay with him in at the Marriott Mountainside Resort in Park City.  So after rappelling, we took the Alpine Loop to Cascade Springs to return to Park City.  On the way over the pass, we drove past a marshy area where a bull moose was hanging out having dinner.

On Tuesday, we went out on Grampa Phil's boat again, this time on Deer Creek.

Uncle Karl and I even took a turn riding the tube.

Wednesday was busy in Park City.  Here are two of the girls on the Alpine Slide.

Jessica and cousin Jake climbing the wall in Park City.

The first week of the trip was non-stop fun, and very tiring.  The girls had decided that Utah must be the greatest place on earth, because when you go there, all you do is play, all day, every day.  And we weren't done yet.

3 June 2012 - Farm Work

We finally got a chance to get out and work on the farm for a bit this week.  Farmer Dave was transplanting his tomatoes.  We dug dozens of holes.

Then we moved dozens of tomato plants or various varieties into the holes.  It took us a few hours to get them in.

Madeline loves the idea of keeping the dog under control when we go to the farm.  She feels like that's a good "job" for her to do.  I approached her to take this picture and the dog jumped up and barked at me, I think because she thought I was a threat to Madeline.

We had one young man (Taylor) from our ward graduate from Seminary on Sunday.  He'll be off to BYU in the fall, and then a mission next year.  He's an excellent young man and I hate to lose my first assistant in the priest's quorum, but time hurries on.  It rained hard outside all during Seminary graduation, and when we came out of the stake center, there was a rainbow over it.  Apparently the Greentree water tower has gold in it.

Before leaving for our trip to Utah, Joanne got the crafty bug again, and spent several hours working on a new quilt.  She got this top done, but had to wait to finish the rest until we got back home.

27 May 2012 - Jerry & Danae's Kitchen

For Memorial Day weekend, we went out to New Jersey and helped Jerry and Danae work on their kitchen remodel.  This is about how it looked when we got there.

We first worked on sanding the drywall and then painted.  On Saturday, Jeremy joined us and we laid the tile.

Sunday was at least a little bit of a day of rest while the tile dried and hardened, but we did get some cabinet work done.  Monday was Memorial Day, so the kids got to go to a parade while we continued to do cabinets.  I was happier doing cabinets.

We had to leave to come back to PA because the kids were still in school, but we did end up getting all 17 cabinets places and we added the under-cabinet microwave before we had to leave.  We only had to re-hang one cabinet.

I hear the kitchen looks even better now -- we'll have to look forward to going back on Labor Day when the baby is blessed to see the finished product.