As Requested...the New Pad

The front door.

View from the front door across living/dining area to far wall with fireplace.

View from front door to the right of the bar and kitchen.

View from blue couch in the above picture back across the main room.
The front door is on the right.

View of kitchen area from blue couch.

View from kitchen entrance.

Another view from kitchen entrance.

Master bedroom.

Bathroom dos.

View out sliding glass window 1.

View out sliding glass window 2.

A Hiking We Will Go

I really wanted to get one more hike in before we head out of Logan with our U-Haul loaded and our bags packed.  Luckily I had two sisters and a great friend (pretty much a sister, herself) who were willing to join me on a rather marvelous morning hike on Saturday.  We drove to Blacksmith Fork Canyon and turned up Left Hand Fork where we embarked up the mountain on the lovely Leatham Hollow Trail.  

Total distance according to Jim S in the Blue Bible: 7.4 miles

Total distance according to my pedometer: 10.21 miles

Total hiking time: ~4 hours

Total hiking buddies: 4 - Heather, Megan, Sarah and Kim

Total tissues used because of allergies and colds: half a roll of TP

Total red leaves seen along the trail: millions

Total tears shed because we were laughing too hard: numberless

These cliffs always remind me of the Salt Lake
Temple.  And those clouds you see?  Totally
and completely real!

First glimpse of Leatham Hollow Spring,
hence the name of the trail.

We hiked way above the spring.

Our lunchtime view of Hyrum and the Wellsvilles.

In a word: Glorious!

Madre. Birthday. Zoo. Mischief.

Not Exactly Roughing It

Our trip to the Vail Valley was a busy one. Perhaps the hardest part was our lodging. Here we were enjoying the Valley, gallivanting around, but when we wanted to go to retire each night we had to brave a trecherous drive 3 miles up the mountain into a sketchy neighborhood called Beaver Creek, climb 3 flights of stairs (there may or may not have been an elevator, I'm still too shaken to remember) and stay in this dump:

The tub was barely big enough to fit two people.  Ridiculous.

Who puts the flat screen next to the fireplace.  I mean really...

The only redeeming quality of this wretched kitchen was lovely cow photo..

The bed would have been okay had there not been these dumb posts on the corners.  

We had to escape our cramped quarters for a few minutes...despite the pollution.

Building on an interstate is acceptable, but on a ski run?  What were they thinking?

It's like they built 5 star hotels and golf courses randomly just to make a hard commute. 

Needless to say, Beaver Creek's tagline of "Not Exactly Roughing It" is a joke.  I can see why only 2nd home owners buy property here, who would want to live in a dump like this year round?

A Year and a Day

One year and one day ago we were oh-so happy and in love.

Today nothing's changed.

- - -

We decided to take the spread-out approach to our anniversary celebrations:

Saturday was the Cache Valley Century bike tour (aka "Half-LOTOJA" after the fact that Cache Valley was also experiencing the Top of Utah Half Marathon that day) so Gregg spent the better part of the day pedaling around the valley.  As I waited in the shade for my dishy husband to arrive, I took a minute to photograph the local wildlife:

Saturday evening we took the Storm Trooper on it's maiden voyage over the mountain to Eden, where we dined at Carlos and Harley's - recreating our first meal as a married couple (to the penny, even!) - on a delicious fajita steak salad and an enchilada plate.

On Sunday, we went to church, did some home teaching, came home to find a flat tire on the Storm Trooper, changed said flat tire in the 146.2 degree heat (that's what our thermometer said, anyway), did a little more home teaching, unwrapped our cake top so carefully preserved by Aunt Joan and stored for a year by the Elwood fam . . .

. . . and dined on the deliciousness (it was only a tiny bit dry and definitely not freezer-burned!) while playing a mean game of Scrabble on the front porch. (Gregg won by two points!)

- - -

Here's to eternity more!