June 2009 in review

(Monday, August 17, 2009) It is real quiet around the house. I am sitting in the Lay-Z-Boy chair trying to feel useful while my foot is all wrapped up from my heel surgery last Wednesday. I am finding out how limited a three-legged stool is in its reach. The doctor tells me that I am not to have any weight bearing on my right foot for four (4!) weeks. Man, that is forever in my short term world. Our home teacher gave me a blessing and in it he blessed me with patience so I will be a better patient. Anyway, I got thinking of all the things we did over the summer (Louise is back at school so summer is over for us) and I will share them one month at a time.

June: The WEDDING was the big news and I have already shared some info on that so we will move on to other items.

Early in June we took a hike with Janae and Kristen and children to the fossel beds at Spring Hollow. As always, it is an adventure to see who can find the neatest fossels. Megan, as you can see, thought the dandelion parachutes were the neatest find.


I thought it would be fun to show the Fords a new part of Utah so in late June we drove to Escalante and stayed there two nights. There is a petrified forest area near the town so that made for a fun one mile hike. The boys really liked the cable TV and Cartoon Network in the evening. The adults also enjoyed the opportuity to just kick back and read and visit with no pressure to go anywhere.


Friday was the "travel to see things" day. We drove down the Hole-in-the-Rock road for about 25 miles to get to the slot canyon Peek-a-boo. The drive was fine but getting into the bottom of the canyon was a major event for those that are "height sensitive". Martin took each person across a rock face so we wouldn't loose anyone down the wall (it wasn't that bad but it was the only way move forward). Once we reached the slot canyon and found it uninviting with a large mud puddle at its entrance, we circled around to the back entrance and entered it that way. As you can see from Kristen's photo, it was rather tight in some places but it was still fun.


A number of years ago I (Martin) took Steven and Jared to this area. We went to a dionsaur track area that was awesome so I thought I would take the fam to the same area. Even though a thunderstorm was approaching, I thought I could find the tracks and get the family onto the bluff. Well, sand has been blown in and covered up much of the tracks so it wasn't worth hauling the family up another rock wall. We barely got to the car and out of the sandy road area when the storm hit. We headed for our motel but after a couple of minutes I saw clearing in the west so I turned back to Devil's Garden. I am glad I did. We had fun running around the formations (see below).

Saturday morning was Bryce Canyon time and then home. The scenes were beautiful as the sun shown across the canyon. The hike down into the bottom of the canyon was another adventure for the faint of heart but it was still interesting. It is something about switch backs and little boys that got the females in our group a bit more than apprehensive. However, we made it and made our way back to Hyde Park later that evening. It is truly worth it to make the effort to go places and do things because memories are always created.