Just another hike in paradise.

It's no secret that we love mountains and hiking. We're out of the reds and into the oranges and yellows of the fall season. Ruth has picked us trail running and has become quite a delightful hiking partner. And of course, we still love our truck.

4th of July, Balloon Festival

One of the reasons we love Provo is the fun 4th of July activities. This morning we participated in launching more than 20 hot air ballons. It was magical!

Cute kid moment

Ruth came up to me Friday night with a donut in one hand and a steak knife in the other and said, "Mom, my feet are frosted!" I looked down and saw that she had gently scraped the buttercream frosting from the top of the donut and frosted the top of her her feet! I was so surprised that all I could do was laugh and help her wash off the frosting. It took a bit of soap and scrubbing, but we did it.

Manti Pageant

Last weekend, we went with Grammy and Grandpa Carr to the Mormon Miracle Pageant, a/k/a Manti Temple Pageant.  This is the largest pageant in the Church in terms of attendance, and we enjoyed beautiful weather and the pageant.  This year, there were over 1,000 cast members, the most ever, and it was the 50th anniversary of the pageant.  They must have started it in celebration of Grammy and Grandpa's wedding there 50 years ago.

Of course, we had to go early and enjoy a dinner of smoked turkey (not pictured).  Sanpete County is a huge turkey-growing region, and pageant-goers have been enjoying their smoked turkey dinners before the show for many years.  After the dinner, we had time to listen to the talented Jenny Oaks Baker and her four children perform, then the show, then the drive home.  It made for a long night, but a great send-off for Lucy and Reuben, who are in Texas for the next several weeks.

Squaw Peak Road

We celebrated our anniversary this weekend by camping up behind Squaw Peak in a little camp site called Hope Campground. If you remember, we had a broken tent from our last campout in Granite Flat. We made a splint out of scavenged wood and duct tape that worked great and all slept happy and cozy.

Before

After

We also drove the bone-jarring, breath-taking 21-mile Squaw Peak "Road," which is a rocky path skirting along the back side of Squaw Peak, Y Mountain, Buckley Peak and Maple Peak.  

The "road" starts in Provo Canyon and ends in Hobble Creek Canyon, above Springville. It was perfect for off-road vehicles, such as 4-wheelers and gators, and possibly ox-drawn wagons hauling loads of pine for the tabernacle. Our truck barely cleared many of the boulders and deep ruts, and Wendy had to get out of the truck several times to guide us like a teamster. 

The 15 roughest miles took about 3 hours to drive, but we enjoyed (almost) every minute.  We're sure the adrenaline surges took no more than a year from Daniel's life.  Literally, a once-in-a-lifetime experience!  The world-class views are also a good reminder that people who come to Utah and think it's nothing but dry, brown landscapes are just looking at the wrong side of the mountains.  

Half way we stopped to enjoy a gorgeous hike through tall fir and aspen trees. The views were breathtaking, and we saw Y mountain from a completely different vantage point.  We looked for a B and a U on the back side, but we were unable to locate them.  It was definitely one of our favorite hikes so far, and we couldn't be happier with "Our Mountain Home So Dear." 

Four years of what we modestly believe is a perfect marriage, though it's hard to remember there was ever a time we weren't together, so we're sure it must have been more like 20.

Mexico Trip 2016

We had the opportunity to go with Daniel's parents to Mexico last week to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. It was an amazing trip filled with lots of pool time and ice-cream. My favorite part was visiting two potential Book of Mormon sites, Ek Balam and Chichen Itza. Wow! Our local tour guide was an anthropologist who put in a fun BoM twist to the history. I must say he was very convincing. We had a wonderful time.