A Day in the Mountains

Sue and I decided to head up the mountains on Saturday and check out the sites and sounds. We were not disappointed at all.

We started our day by heading up into Cedar Canyon. This would take us past Navajo Lake...a deep water pristine mountain lake at about 9700 feet above sea level. The overlook was spectacular.

Duck Creek village is just a short drive past Navajo Lake. Duck Creek is a great little getaway spot that has a really cool 1/4 mile long village of stores and some eateries along with a bunch of cabins. It just so happened that they had their annual Duck Creek Village Days going on. They had this huge little festival in a meadow filled with all kinds of vendors and food stalls. Sue and stopped and visited this for about an hour. The buffalo and Elk burgers were great.

Soon after we stopped at the village we headed up the road a few miles to visit Mammoth Caves. These caves are off the beaten path about 10 miles. These caves were actually in the ground. We didn't see any, but it says that these caves are filled with a lot of bats, about three species. While we didn't see the bats we did see a nice Mule deer doe on the way to the caves.

We then decided to ride over to Bryce Canyon to check out a special hike with more caves just outside of the park. The trail was called the Mossy Cave trail and it is located about 3 miles past the turnoff for the park. This was a great hike. We were rewarded with a great hike that not only included the cave, but had a great mountain stream running through it with a 30 foot waterfall. All of htis was surrounded by some great rock hoo doos.

After checking out the little tourist village just outside of the canyon we had a nice little dinner at Ruby's Inn and then headed home. Quite the long but fun day. Our thrills weren't quite over just yet. We decided to go through the East side of Zion on the way home, which we've never done before. Just before we entered the tunnel we saw a car stopped in the middle of the road just ahead of us. A large Bighron Sheep was in the road...WOW...how cool was that. He even walked right next to the car on the opposite shoulder of the road. A perfect ending to a wonderful day.

The best part of the day though was that I got a chance to spend the day with the love of my life...my sweetheart, Doesn't get much better than that.

Our travels and adventures continue......

Navajo Lake

Doe Mule Deer...check out them ears!

An entrance to one of the caves at Mammoth Cave

Yours truly

Sue was very brave

Is this girl cute or what!

Mossy Cave trailhead

Sue in Mossy Cave. This thing has icicles in it through June

This rock formation looks like a cool animal scuplture to me

This waterfall was at least 30 ft high

Western Village at Bryce

Desert Bighorn Sheep in Zion National Park

Picnic in the Mountains

Sue and I felt like getting away for a few hours in the mountains near our home. It has been extremely hot for the last couple of months...over 100 every day. It was nice to go to Pine Valley Mountain where the temperature was only 80 degrees. Seriously...it felt cool.

This was the first time we have ever taken our dog Minnie out with us. Those of you who know Minnie, know that she has only one speed....full throttle. We couldn't believe how absolutely perfect she was the entire day. No pulling on the leash (although she really is pretty good with that all time). She just laid around us while we talked, read, built a campfire, and so on. We even took her on a short hike with us and she was able to walk in and out of a little mountain stream. She had a blast.

Sue and I really did just hang out. Read a lot, had a nice picnic lunch, read some more, and did a short exploring hike. What a great day to just kick back and unwind. We both needed this so bad. it sure is great spending some quiet alone time with my best friend.

Here's some of our favorite photos from the day.

The new family portrait

I didn't do anything....this time!

A girl and her dog

I love this photo!

This girl is hot!

Do you have any idea how cold this @$#^%*^$#$ water is!

3 Years of Wedded Bliss

We are celebrating our third anniversary today. What a wonderful 3 years we've had too. I remember very clearly when we were discussing what date we should get married on. We were originally planning on getting married sometime in October but Sue thought it would be great to get married on 8-8-08. Primarily to make this date a more positive remembrance. August had not been very kind to Sue and her family. Both Sue's mom and previous husband and eternal companion, Guy, passed away on this date. I asked to her to make sure that she discussed the idea with her family so everyone was ok with the idea. The rest is history.

I am so grateful to have this sweet little lady in my life. Sue is an absolute joy and a sweetheart. She is such a great wife, mom, and grandma to her children and mine. Our life has been so full and so full of adventures. We really do have an absolutely wonderful life together. Its so great to be married to your best friend. We both love spending time together.

Each of us had very tough acts to follow as each of us have been previously married to wonderful people. We both love each others families and have integrated all of them into our lives. I think that while neither one of us has never intended to replace each other as the parent of each others kids, we have strived to accept,  love and treat  them as our own. None of us can ever have too many people that love us. I hope our spouses would be proud of us and how we are looking after each others families. We are both so blessed to have the wonderful children and grandchildren that we both have.

We strive to live life as full as we possibly can. That usually includes some great adventures, great food, great family activities, and of course, church service. Sue is the ideal Bishop's wife. She is absolutely perfect for the job. Supportive, understanding, never prying, and will do whatever she is asked to do. We both love serving in the church and especially our ward members.

We celebrated quietly this year in the comfort of our own home. I made us a yummy filet mignon and lobster tail dinner that was scrumptious. I even made homemade candied pecans for the salad and some baby red potatoes. We had a great time and just chilled and talked...a lot. What a wonderful evening.

No one knows what the future will bring, but we know that we share a very deep and special love that won't be broken. Our marriage is founded in; truth, mutual respect, affection, love, admiration, and support of one another. We know that we must not ever lose sight of the important things in life and our ultimate goal.

No matter what life will bring us as we enter our 4th year...we know that it will be an adventure. Here's to my sweetheart...may we have many more wonderful years together as we live life to the fullest in our own Zion paradise.

A Visit to the Grand Canyon

Sue and I recently visited the Grand Canyon for a day trip. We haven't been there for a little over 3 years...just before we got married. We're glad we decided to go. St. George was over 100 degrees, and while still hot, 80 degrees seemed like a nice spring day to us.

We had a chance to visit most of our favorite lookout spots and trails on the North Rim and even met a few nice tourists throughout the day. I think the predominant languages for the day were German and French, with a little East Indian thrown in for good measure.

The vast beauty of this treasure is truly breathtaking and unsurpassed. I think they really named this canyon "Grand" because it truly is "Grand". Our country has so many of these special national treasures that are scattered throughout the nation. During our travels it never ceases to amaze me of the utter vastness that it there for us to enjoy. Here's a few photos to remind everyone what they have been missing since there last visit....enjoy