18 October 2015 - Fall Break

This week we had Fall Break, so we took a little family trip. First stop: Arches National Park.

Stairway to Heaven (actually to Delicate Arch).

A successful hike!

A Family shot in front of the arch.

Emily at the entrance to The Devil's Garden.

Landscape Arch in The Devil's Garden.

A view of the Windows and La Sal Mountains in the distance.

This is probably my favorite arch in the whole park. This is Double Arch (aptly named). You can climb right up underneath it and look out to the north and to the south, and it feels like you can see forever.

After our day hiking around Arches, we were dirty and tired. We went to the Moab Brewing Company for dinner (super-yum) and then on down to Monticello, UT where I had reserved a room for the night. The Monticello Temple was right behind our hotel.

We headed east into Colorado the next morning. We stopped for gas at a Sinclair gas station and the girls immediately fell in love with this dinosaur.

Next stop: Mesa Verde National Park.

We got the bikes out and did a six mile loop around Long House mesa.

On the way, we found a friend, a 4-5 foot bull snake.

And another friend, a hairy tarantula.

Joanne and the girls went down into a kiva at Spruce Tree House.

Toward the end of the day, we took a tour of Balcony House. This is one of two long ladders bolted to the face of the cliff that you use to access the cliff dwelling. A little scary, but super-cool.

A view looking back from the Balcony House toward the access ladder. There were about 50 people on our tour.

This is the way out of balcony house. You climb another long ladder, then use steps carved into the sandstone to climb up out. Gratefully, there are chains and a little fence to protect you as you come up.

This is a view of Cliff Palace, the largest pueblo in Mesa Verde. There are a few pueblos that are better preserved than Cliff Palace, but this one is definitely the biggest and most ornate. Joanne and I had taken a tour of this site the last time we were at Mesa Verde about 15 years ago or so, but this time it was closed for major renovation and repair, so we couldn't go, just look.

Madeline stuck my phone up to one of the observation telescopes and snapped this pic. I was impressed with how well it turned out.

After a day hiking and biking around Mesa Verde, we drove north into the San Juan Mountains to the remote ski town of Telluride. Telluride is an old mining town that turned into a destination ski resort, sort of like Park City, though Telluride has definitely retained much more of its Old West flavor, at least in its old Main Street area.

The town runs one of the ski gondolas year round, and during this time of year, it is free to ride. This is a view from the gondola looking back down toward the old town.

We took our bikes on the gondola and did some trails around the ski area. The peaks behind are over 13,000 feet.

Madeline loved the gondola ride with her bike.

This is us biking down Main Street trying to find a good restaurant for lunch.

After lunch, we headed back to Utah. Telluride is a six hour drive from Orem, so we got home about 8 PM Saturday night.

House update: We have a handrail!

and kitchen cabinets!

and some of our exterior, though there's obviously more work left to go to finish the exterior.

11 October 2015 - Florida Conference

This week I had my annual conference. This year it was held in Clearwater Beach, FL. Joanne was able to come with me. We'd never been there before, but found it to be very nice. Although most of the time I was at the conference, we did have time on Wednesday to do a little touring. We went snorkeling at Egmont Key, an island about 20 minutes by boat from St. Petersburg. There were millions of shells all along the beach.

Egmont Key was a military installation before World War II. This is Joanne in front of the lighthouse, which still operates today. The island was very cool, and the snorkeling (around a fort that has been flooded and surrounded by water) was not bad either. Joanne saw a ray and a small shark, and there were lots of fish to swim with. I saw a very large crab.

On the island, Joanne shot this footage of a tortoise we found, attacking grass.

Back on the mainland, we enjoyed seafood lunch while watching this pelican enjoy his seafood lunch.

Here's me on top of Fort DeSoto, just across from Egmont Key.

4 October 2015 - Conference Weekend

On Friday night, Karl was in town from Philadelphia. We attended a Manaus Mission reunion with President and Sister Francesconi who were in town for conference and temple president training. To my right is Michael Cleverly, Karl's companion from the MTC. The three of us were roommates at BYU when we came home from our missions.

After the mission reunion, we went to the BYU football game against Connecticut.

Emily had another cross country meet. The season is winding down. She has had steady progress all season, lowering her time almost every meet.

House update: drywall is going in, mud and tape has started. They're working on the exterior as well.

Last week at the UVU street fair, Madeline got a goldfish. We bought a bowl for him and named him Clyde, but he died within just a couple of days. We felt bad that Madeline's fish didn't make it, so we decided to get her a little better fish and see if we could do a better job the second time around. This is BlueClyde, a half moon Betta. So far, so good.

Madeline's school had a fun day fair on Friday. It was a big deal. Madeline liked the ropes course most of all.

She got a goldfish tattoo, maybe in memory of Clyde, maybe just because it was cute.

27 September 2015 - Street Fair

The girls found this minion costume on the internet and wanted to make it for Adrienne. Emily crocheted most of it herself.

On Wednesday, the girls did chocolate dipping for a Young Women's activity.

On Saturday, UVU had a street fair. There were lots of booths and all kinds of fun stuff. The Green Man Group showed up to serenade us with drums.

Madeline made a rocket and they had an air compressor launch pad. Her rocket flew well.