What Happened to Fall?

Yesterday while we were out planting a couple of trees, I kept telling Ken that we went right from summer to winter. He told me I was wrong - that we had had about two weeks of fall and it was still fall. Ok - so here's a couple of pictures I took a few minutes ago. Try to tell me it's fall! We are already up to 9 inches of snow and it's still covering the sidewalk as fast as Ken is shoveling. He's about to go out and hook up the plow to the tractor (and we all know how bad he'll feel about that...)

The dogs absolutely love the snow - but when you only have 6 inches of legs, it's hard to motate through 9 inches of snow.

I just went out and shook all the trees since they were starting to bend from the weight of the snow. One of the trees we planted yesterday was laying flat on the ground - who would've guessed?

For effect, I have to add a picture that I took 3 days ago of Bandit getting a bath from Izzy. Pretty sure we weren't anticipating this kind of weather for the weekend.

Conference Weekend

Today starts General Conference - and so far the talks have been so good. I usually don't stay in and listen on Saturday because there is so much to do outside. This morning we had a big wind and rain storm so it became an inside day instead. The only bummer part of the rain is that we had hay in the field that was going to be baled yesterday but since it rained a bit on Thursday night, it was too wet to bale and is now sitting out in a wet, muddy field that will take forever to dry out.

This morning also marked the beginning of the duck(?) hunt and the slough was brimming with hunters counting the minutes until they could start shooting. If you stood outside for a few minutes, it sounded like a war zone. (It died down a bit once it started to pour.) Even the horses were stirred up by all the noise.

Drew and Amber moved to their new house on Wednesday. It's amazing how fast you can unload one house and load up another with just a few people. All of Amber's family was there to help them move but all of the Campbell's had to work or had class so I as a lone helper. I can't wait to see how its all come together now that they've had a few days to get settled.

Last thought of the day - on Sunday the kids all came over for dinner (except Carson who was still in Texas) and Drew brought over his Wii. Well, the kids tried to teach me to play Mario Kart - tried being the key word here. We spent more time laughing than racing - and it got so bad that I would just stop in the middle of the game because I was laughing so hard at my pathetic offering. I did better at the batting contest we all participated in and maybe even a bit better at bowling. I have never played before so it was my maiden voyage. Amber blew us all out of the water during the batting competition - way to go girl! I think we might have to invest in a Wii for family night (and give me an opportunity to practice and avoid any future embarrassments).

Girl's Weekend Out

Along the way of the Trail of Angels hike.

From the top of the Trail of Angels hike.

Carlos took this picture of us at the bottom of the 'chains in the rocks'.

From the bottom looking up at where we had just been - and I made it up that high???

Brynn went up into the narrows and took this picture.

When Brynn found out that Carson was going to be sent to Texas to help restore power after Hurricane Ike, she decided it was time to take a chick trip. Ken was in Alabama so we started to devise a plan.

We talked about going to San Diego to see Grandma and Grandpa Miller, but that was pretty hard to pull off on such short notice. So, we ended up heading south instead to celebrate my birthday.

We left after she got out of school on Friday afternoon and got to Cedar City about 11:30. Not a lot of rest that night - I swear the guy in the room above us must have weighed a gazillion pounds and I'm not entirely sure he ever went to bed - you could hear every move he made.

The next morning we headed to Zion's National Park. The last time I was there was when I was about 8 years old - that was back in the days when you could drive all the way through the park. I don't remember a lot, but I do remember the tunnel. Now you take a tram through the park - kind of a nice thing so you can look at the sights, not the road.

Brynn's friend Jason had recommended a couple of hikes to go on and naturally Brynn wanted to take one of the toughest ones. I think the one we took first was called Trail of Angels - and by the time she got to the top, she was pretty close to heaven. At least the views were heavenly. I might as well have run the Top of Utah marathon (which was the original plan for the weekend) for as much as a challenge as it was for me. I made it almost all the way to the top - but made the mistake of looking down after the first set of chains. A note about those chains - I understood Brynn to say that the chains would be on the outside of the trail and the rocks on the inside - but, oh no..... the chains were hooked to the rocks and nothing else between you and the edge of the rocks. With about 1/4 mile to go, I decided I had gone as far as I could and found a nice rock to plant myself on while Brynn went on. (I promptly spent the next hour watching people get to the top of the first set of chains, look at what was ahead, and turn around and head back down.) One guy went flying up the mountain as sure footed as could be, but he scared me to death. Imagine my surprise when he came back down the mountain with Brynn. What a great guy! Carlos was the epitime of kindness to everyone he came across. He hiked down the mountain with us, telling us about his family who was still in San Diego, his new job, his hiking adventure and he told us that he was attending his first Sacrament Meeting the next day. (I was kind of relieved that it wasn't Fast Sunday!)

After a bit more hiking we decided it was ice cream time and found a spot on the huge lawn area by the lodge and gobbled down smoothies. We decided it would be a fun family trip to bring everyone down for a couple of days - there is something that everyone could do.

Our last adventure was for Brynn to hike up the narrows for a bit. I had gone about as far as my right foot was going to let me (thank goodness for the shot in the my foot or I might have had to bag hiking all together) so she took off by herself again. (Sorry sis, I did the best I could and I know its a bummer to hike by yourself.)

That evening we headed to St. George to see Les Miserables at Tuachan amphitheatre. If you have never been there - it's a fabulous facility and they did a great job with the play. Our personal favorite moment of the play was during a town scene where the duck wouldn't cooperate and had to be taken off the stage, the pig dragged it's owner off stage when the war began, the goat didn't necesarily want to be there but at least the draft horse cooperated.

What a fun weekend and one we will remember for a long time.