Coyote Gulch

I spent four days last week hiking with some of my siblings in the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument.  Tuesday morning we hiked into Coyote Gulch.  We were graced with cloud cover which made the hike so much more enjoyable.

I'm wearing my backpack which hasn't seen any action since the early 90's.

Ruth, Joy and James are modeling the latest fashions in backcountry wear.

Clair, our intrepid guide, leads the way.

After about three miles marching through sand and then over slick rock, we reach our destination.  Yes, we were up very high.

You want me to hike down where?

Seriously, are you nuts?!  Go down there?!  Do you want me to die?! Where's the elevator?

This is a view of what we climbed down.  Yes it was completely insane.  At the end James climbed back up and retrieved my pack for the final descent and I used a rope on the way down. Thanks again, James.  Aren't little brothers great?  It reminds me of how "I didn't apologize for when I was eight and I made my younger brother have to be my personal slave."

 We had a really sweet camping spot, right underneath Jacob Hamblin's Arch.  There was also a natural spring with cool clean water just a 100 feet away.

This is the other side of the arch.

This is one of the natural amphitheaters that was carved out by the river.

Notice the people the bottom?  The sandstone walls were massive.  It reminded me of walking between the skyscrapers in Chicago, shaded almost all day.

It was breathtakingly beautiful down there.  This is a popular destination, but we went at an unpopular time and were rewarded with complete solitude.

Baby it's cold outside

It has been so cold this week. My office at work is cold, my bedroom is cold; it seems I just can't get away from the cold. This is about the time last year when we went to Disneyland and enjoyed the warm weather of southern California. Too bad we can't go this year.

We've been having high drama at work. My employee has been in a relationship with someone in another department at work and it has gone sour. Unfortunately they haven't been very mature about it and their problems have been bleeding into work life way too much.

We've been planning to take a "vacation at home" to get away from the stress of work life, but I think we may have to modify those plans. Maybe we can break it up by taking some time off and having a couple of long weekends at least.

James was visiting today from BYU Idaho. He has to get a couple of crowns on his teeth on Monday. Clair, Carrie, Bobby, and Joy came to visit. We made fish tacos and then played Bananagrams and Settlers of Catan afterwards.

We originally had planned to go night skiing, but it was just way too cold. Here's hoping that next week is warmer than this one.

Muchos tamales ricos

Tonight was our second annual Christmas tamale part with some of our homeschooling family friends.

Earlier, Wendy had 4 ski tickets for Park City that had to be used up, so James, Carrie, Bobby, and Clair went. We watched Clair's little girl, Makenna, so he could go. I didn't feel up to skiing and a big party all in the same day. So instead I cleaned up around the house a little, helped the kids with their homework, played with Saffron and Makenna, and then a took a nice long nap.

Makenna was very cute, and a cinch to babysit. She just wandered around and played with all the toys and read books. Here's a picture of James reading to her.

We took James with us to the tamale party. We got an assembly line going; someone to spread the masa on the corn husk, someone to put the filling in, and someone to tie them up. We had lots of yummy fillings too:

• Spicy pork
• Chicken with red mole
• Chicken with green mole
• Chicken with sun-dried tomatoes
• Southwest beans
• Cherry with chocolate chips
• Pumpkin pecan
• Cinnamon raisin

That's not to mention the tortilla soup, or the 4 different kind of salsas we had with chips. It was quite the fiesta of flavors! Tamales are a lot of work, so doing it together as a big group is ideal.

The kids had lots of fun, too. They ran around like creatures from "Where The Wild Things Are" for a while and then they played Lego Star Wars for a while. We were there quite late, so they kids were ready to sleep when we got home, exhausted from so much fun.

Couple of the hour

Yesterday we had had a wedding and a baby shower for Ruth and Darius. The rest of our family was finally able to meet Darius, and they weren't disappointed. We're so glad that Ruth found such a fine gentleman that takes good care of her. They are such a kind and loving pair. I absolutely can't wait for their baby; he or she is going to be über cute. I mean just look the parents!

Mom and Connie got this fabulous wedding cake that was very elegant (and tasty, too.) Darius cooked up some jambalaya and their was plenty of cornbread.

Clair made a great MC for the night. We did a quick round of Mafia and we were totally bamboozled by the chosen mafia; we had no clue. Speaking of cute babies, Makenna was completely adorable laughing loudly every time we did. Everyone is anxiously awaiting for this years rendition of the "Thanksgiving Song."

Mom hosted the ever-popular Newlywed Game where we found out that Clair has lots of holey socks, Bobby is the only guy Carrie ever gave her real phone number to, Darius likes to ride horses, and I have a diaper in the glove compartment.


My lovely wife Melinda had a good time (probably laughing at me for taking so many pictures.) I used her mom's cool new digital camera and her dad's big flash attachment. Only problem is it makes me want to get a new camera.

Michel brought 3 of her girls and Joy brought Olive, her dog. Olive is my little canine friend. My little hairy, loose-skinned, drooling buddy. We all talked about how we met our significant other. Michel didn't let me forget about the time she made Brent a chessecake to impress him and I pulled the instant mix box out of the trash. Whoa, I was such rude little punk then!


Carrie and Bobby were very gracious to host the party at their house. They have these super high-tech light switches which people kept leaning into and turning out all the lights. I would hazard a guess that their was some smooching going on during those dark episodes.

I got to meet Bobby's mom and dad; Bob and DJ (I don't know if I spelled that right?) Their first "meeting" was pretty funny - Bob and his friends drove up to DJ and her friends and honked at them and drove away. Then DJ met him later and said, "Hey that was you!"

We had a great time. It was cool to have everyone together (though we did miss James who is in China.) Ruth is going to make a great mom and we're so happy to have Darius as a part of our family. Because so many of us are far apart now, it's extra special when we do get together.

Its always fun for everyone when Grandpa comes

Friday I took the day off, so Melinda went to pick up my parents from the airport so I could sleep in a little. She left about 7:15 so I was kind of worried when my mom called me wondering where we were. Melinda must have just missed them so she went to the Park and Wait. Unfortunately, the van wouldn't start after she turned it off.

I drove out to the airport and luckily we were able to jump start it. Later I Ian and Saffy to Checker Auto to get a new battery. I undid the battery and took it in, and they checked and it was OK (it just needed charging). So I put the battery back in but Ian dropped one of the screws in the engine compartment. We couldn't find it so we went in to find a replacement screw. We tried one out but it wasn't the right size. So we were going to go back in and get another one when Saffron threw the wrench (which she insisted to hold) into the engine. I reached in to get the wrench and we found the screw! It's nice when things turn out like that!

We had a great time with my parents. The kids we're really excited to have them around. They got up early and were just waiting for them to arrive. They bought us bagels for breakfast and we sat around and chatted before they took a nap. When dad came back later from the Carrie's pain clinic, we ate bean dip with Clair and Makenna, and then went for a walk later.

Saturday dad made blueberry pancakes with us (yum!) before Connie drove them to Roy.

Sunny Saturday

Last night Melinda and I discussed what we should do today. We came to a great consensus - nothing! Nothing but laying about and reading books. That's a great plan for a Saturday in my book. It didn't hurt that it was a beautiful crisp fall day with the warm sun pouring in the front windows.

We did do a few other things though:

• Saffron helped me dig out the Cana lillies and throw some blackened tomato plants in the trash
• Ian helped me winterize the swamp cooler
• Lisette bravely did all the dishes (about 3 sink fulls)
  
• Miles helped Melinda do the shopping at Harmons
• Miles read some of Harry Potter 7 and Lisette is reading Harry Potter 6 again
• Melinda researched the K-12 homeschool program and I read some of Melinda's books

Tomorrow is Fast Sunday. Our family is doing a special fast for Clair and Stacey's baby. They found a tumor on it's spine during an ultrasound. They are all in our prayers.