Numb from the July heat!

July is so hot and after working in the heat all day I am too numb metally and physically to do anything. I am finally trying to catch up all that has been going on. I stayed in the air conditioned house almost all day today. Guy and I only worked until 11 a.m. Sadie is home sick with a sinus infection so I stayed home with her this weekend while Guy went to Duck Creek to clean windows in some cooler weather and of course get a good 10 hour ride in on the mountian.

We are leaving Monday to work in San Diego next week. The kids are excited to play at the beach all day. They make a headquarters at a friend's house while we work. They are within two blocks of Belmont Park (an amusement park), Mission Bay and Pacific Beach. They have a great time and enjoy San Diego. It has become and annual trip each summer. I will definately post pics when we get home.

Taylor has been very busy this summer. The weekend after he got home from EFY he went to Snow College with the youth in our ward for Youth Conference. He enjoyed that a lot. He played soccer in the Utah Summer Games and the next week he went back to BYU for basketball camp with two of his friends. I think he was home for one week and then headed back up to Ogden with another friend while Sadie and I went to Girl's Camp for five days.

On Father's Day Taylor was on his way to basketball camp and Sadie went to Phoenix with a friend. Guy and I were in Lake Powell for the weekend. It was a perfect weekend to be at the lake. The weather was warm but not too hot. The water was refreshing and there was no wind.

Our first day we tied the boat up on this tree (below) and hiked 8 miles up West Canyon. This is a beautiful canyon with some swimming in tight slot canyon areas. There are towering walls closer to the top of the canyon. They are spectacular. We hiked nearly 8 hours. It was beautiful.

West Canyon narrow section. The walls are short here. Swimming section just around this corner. The water was cold but somewhat refreshing in the heat. The photos do not do this canyon justice. It's a must see.
Rainbow Bridge. I like this photo because the sun washes out Navajo Mtn. in the background. The foreground is the lake and the towering walls. It makes the bridge look so small in all of the landscape as you are approaching it. It's just a different perspective...
The water and the weather were perfect. Here we are coming out of Cathedral Canyon on our way home. We went up the San Juan River this trip, just a few miles. It is a beautiful area that I had never seen before. Each area seems to have it's own unique look to it. The San Juan seemed to have steep walls and the river is narrow compared to the Colorado, duh! We were going to go back to Lake Powell with the family for the 4th of July, but we couldn't take being in the heat all day with no respit at night. We will try again later in the summer when the nights start to cool down some.

July 4, 2008

Navajo Lake Taylor paddling around Navajo Lake.
Grant and Sadie got bored in the boat. The water is very shallow on this end of the lake. It isn't too cold either because it is so shallow. They walked and swam back to the shore.

Grant, Taylor and Sadie went on a bike ride with me on the Navajo Lake Loop. It was a warm morning. Sadie doesn't particularly like to ride her bike on dirt trails with me. It made me happy that she went with us for a while. Grant took Sadie back to camp after three miles. So, they rode a total of six miles. I was very proud of her. Grant is an awesome brother. He is patient and encouraging. I appreciated him for taking care of Sadie so Taylor and I could keep riding. Taylor and I finished the loop around the Lake. We rode a total of 13 miles. I enjoyed riding with Taylor. He is fun and tries hard. He did a great job. The last climb is not easy and we were both tired and hot. I had a flat tire on the last climb and he was very patient while I wrenched on my bike. After riding today, everyone was pooped. The trailer was very quiet for several hours!Around the camp fire...silly games and funny faces.

Girls Camp 2008

Bloomington Beehive Babies

Hayley, McKenzie and Sadie. It's tradition to have our 1st year girl's wear their babie bibs and binkies througout camp.
Sadie, Shelby, Hayley, and the gang hiking down the "C" overlook trail. I am the stake camp hiking coordinator this year. I had a great time with Sadie at camp. She even enjoyed the hiking, only because here friends were there too!
Whittling......She is also a great fire starter, even without matches!

work hard, play hard, rider harder