A Busy Week in August

 Tuesday, August 16th, was Gayle's and my 34th anniversary.  We chose to celebrate it by enjoying family.  We went with Brit, Arleen, Adrian, Alicia, Avril, and McKel up to Tony Grove, a mountain lake high above Logan.  We had an evening picnic and proceeded to hike around the lake.

 

 McKel was impressed by the watermelon.

 Avril has become fast friends with Brit, her cousin who recently moved from Azusa, California.

 I was assigned to cut the watermelon.  Everything is a bit more work when carrying a baby.

 Gayle and our eldest, Adrian, relaxing on the wall before our adventure.

 McKel discovering a new favorite food, watermelon.

 We weren't the only ones looking forward to a picnic.  We eventually shared some of our pistachios with this friendly chipmunk.

 Avril had a blast and actually walked nearly the entire circumference of the lake on her own, hanging out with Brittney.

 Several folks were fishing, and we got to see a guy pull in a nice trout from the shore.

 Looking at the south end of the lake.  That's Alicia, Brit, me wit McKel, and Avril.

 Of course Avril insisted on sticking her hand in the water.  She wanted to go in.

 Grandparents with their youngest grandchild.

 Heading around the west side of the lake, just under the crest of the mountains, and thus in the shady zone.  This is the side with the spectacular wild flowers.  Even this late in the year, and probably because the of especially wet winter and spring, the flowers were very beautiful.

 A snippet of the view of flowers.

 Up closer.  The flowers are small, delicate, colorful, and pretty.  And there is a very wide variety of them.

 More.

 And some more.

 The next day I was able to take Avril to the ward Primary's water day at the neighborhood park.  Avril was a bit young for it, but still had lots of fun.  Here she is with Ellie and Julie, two of Alicia's recently added piano students.  They are the Stockers' grand girls from Japan who are staying here this summer.

 Avril, examining the ball we used (I helped) to put someone into the water in the dunk tank.

 Checking out what the other kids were doing, as she stands by our mode of transportation to the park, the big red wagon.

 Avril didn't quite get the whole water balloon thing.  She just wanted to squish them and play with them.  She didn't want them to break.

 I should mention also that we had a new car delivered to our house on our anniversary.  It's a Honda Odyssey van, so we can haul around more family members now that they all live in Logan.  Here are the great grandparents with Gayle in front of the new vehicle (and the color is Mocha - with gold specs).

 Jared gave me a hike with him for my Father's Day present, and we've been trying to schedule it ever since.  After several postponings, we finally did a Wind Cave hike up Logan Canyon on the 17th after he got home from work.  Fortunately we were quick hikers and made it down before it got too dark to follow the trail.  Here's Jared just as we were about to hit the trail.

 The view south, across the canyon, looking at the cliffs below the Crimson Trail, another great hike.

 Jared, en route to the Wind Caves.

 We're in the second half of August and there is still snow up above Third Dam.  This is looking south/southwest from the trail.

 Jared has lifted weights over the years and is more buff than I am.

 It was dusk, so it's a bit harder to see, but you can tell that this rock is hollow.

 And from another angle.

 Me, resting before the trek down.  It's only a 1.3 mile walk, but it goes up 900 feet in elevation, so it's not exactly a walk in the park.

 Averl with Laurel and Taggert Rapp, Amy's children (Amy is one of Alicia's friends from high school).

 

Today, the 21st, we drove our new van on its maiden voyage.  We, along with Adrian and his family and mom and dad with Robert, Tracine, and Spencer Lee,  attended the blessing of Kelly and Trish's triplets.  Robert blessed Edison and I blessed George.  Parker was blessed by Kelly's friend.  Afterward we had a nice family reunion and luncheon at Kelly and Trish's home.  Here's a group shot, minus Spencer Lee, who took the photo.

And here's just the Spencer K. Parkinson family.

August So Far

Gayle and Brit took in a movie (Tangled) at Smithfield's outdoor park venue.

Brit, kicking-back for the movie in the park.

 A shot of the movie experience.

 We recently came home to startle two small fawns in the front yard.  They scurried around the back.  Usually deer just hop the fence.  These guys were too small and got stuck in our backyard.  I eventually had to go up the back hill and open the gate.  One of them found the gate but the other I had to herd out.

 One of our favorite times: book-reading to the grand kids, especially on the front porch rocking chair in the evening, right after bath time!

Although we don't have photos, on August 6th Adrian and family accompanied Gayle and me to go to Clarkston to see the famous Martin Harris Pageant.  It was awesome and we had a great experience.  It was a scenic drive through the valley farmlands to get there too.

 Brit and family celebrated her 14th birthday at Golden Corral on August 11th, just before we headed off to the Cache County Fair.

 The great grandparents joined in.  This illustrates why you don't want to shoot photos with bright light behind the subjects!

 Alicia and Avril (wearing some of her food) enjoyed the offerings.

 Here's a view of some of the participants.

 The Golden Corral staff did their customary Birthday embarrassing exhibition for Brit.

 It was worth it because of the special dessert that came with it.

 Avril, reflecting on the merits of chocolate.

 Some people just like to broadcast what they had to eat.

 Even McKel sampled some of the food.  Here she is in one of her favorite modes of transportation.

 Nana and Avril.

 The first really fun thing at the fair was when Alicia and Avril got to ride on a real pony for the Young Ward Yound Women's fund raiser!  The horse's name was "Spike."

 We were able to escape the puppy petting without buying one (miracle).  McKel loved them.

 Adorable.

 We got to see the goats next.

 Then we went into the bunny, pigeon, and chicken building.  There were many weird varieties of all three.  Here's an example of a strange looking chicken.

 Next it was off to see the pigs.  One big hog got loose while we were in the aisle and it went running up and down the aisle with a boy chasing it to catch it.

 We looked at the sheep and even went under a big tent to watch the 4-H sheep contest as the judges deliberated and judged the various entries.

 We took a break for rest and refreshment and Brit helped Avril enjoy the canal that runs through the fairgrounds.

 Arleen and Alicia relaxed under a tree at the canal.

 The baby carrier has the benefit of causing McKel to fall asleep.

 This is how we got the two small girls around much of the fair.  At this point we were now in the cow building.

 Avril was just a little leery of getting her photo taken so close to that big old cow, but the lady said it was very friendly. 

 What would a fair be without rides?  Alicia, Avril, and Brit about to go for a spin (literally).

 Avril absolutely loved the carousel, and squealed every time she went around.

 Adrian's family hopped on the Ferris Wheel  to see the valley from above.

 And Avril got a refreshing swing.

 This was lots of fun too.

And the last ride was a cool car ride on a racetrack.  She kept her hands on the wheel the whole time.