Eagle Eye Erik

I'll share the rest of the story -- or blog title -- a bit later. However, it sums up our past week with the Stephenson family. We had a delightful time going to Janae and Jeff's home to spend a few days with them. We always enjoy spending time with our family and since Erik and Claire still had one week of "off track" time left, why not spend some of it with them and their family!

The park near their home has a great little hill for sledding. While Megan took a nap, Louise and I went with Claire and Erik to test our endurance. No one could match flyboy Erik as he zoomed off of the jump. Actually, no one but Erik went off of the jump. Louise and I did not want to go to the InstaCare center with dislocated arms, legs, ... you get the point. However, that did not stop us from having fun on the sleds. As you can see, Louise is completely enjoying herself with the kids.

After sledding we went on a hike in the mountains south west of Daybreak with Janae, Megan and the rest of the crew. We spotted three eagles (Golden, a young Bald, and a mature Bald eagle) on the way to the trail head. Janae said they often see wild turkeys on the trail/road but not this time. Instead we were met with a lady, her two year old son, and two bouncing dogs. It was fun visiting with them -- well, with the lady, and petting her dogs.

We left for Cache Valley mid-morning on Monday (18 January 2010) and headed for Hardware Ranch up Blacksmith Fork canyon by Hyrum. We were only at about mile 3 of 17 when Erik said "there is a Bald eagle!". We missed it but he was sure he saw it in a tree by the river. Following our visit to the elk, it was still by the river so we turned around and I got proof of Eagle Eye Erik.

We had fun at Hardware Ranch. They weather was around 30F so it wasn't too cold. They had four wagons going so we did not have to wait for a ride and our driver was laid back and took his time when we were out in the 400+ elk. When Claire saw the drivers 4" long handlebar moustache, she said "look at his moustache!" It was quite impressive and made him look official.

After the ride, we went to the visitors center where they have pelts of a bunch of animals (Claire seemed to like the beaver best -- it was very soft). I couldn't get Megan to sit next to the cougar but Claire spread her wings but didn't come close to the wingspan of the golden eagle.

On Tuesday while Claire and Erik were at school with Louise, Megan and grandpa needed to shovel some snow. We stopped for a break and made a little snowman. We got to the stage where the body was made and Megan said we needed to give him a face. I got some chocolate chips and on went the face. However, when I started to shovel more snow Megan decided he didn't need a face after all and the chips went into her mouth! Janae later said Megan loves chocolate chips -- yep, she is right.

I swim with a fellow that has eleven goats and uses them for hauling his back packing supplies to the Windrivers, etc. The big guys can haul 40-60 pounds each and will eat most anything so they just tag along for the hike. He said he had just purchased two new week old goats in Cedar City so I got an OK for us to visit them at feeding time. Claire and Erik fed them a bottle and everyone was able to join them in their new home.

It was a great week. As usual, the children were a delight to be with and reflected the good upbringing they are receiving from two very good parents. We plan on doing it again during their Spring break. We thank all of our children and their many efforts to have eternal marriages and to be successful parents.