Heavy Laden

Our Sweet Little Peach Tree...

Mid May I forced Rick to thin the almond sized peaches to 1 or 2 every 5 inches.

1/2 Home Depot orange bucket full.

It was almost shaken to death on June 1st from extreme winds....

Another 3/4 Home Depot orange bucket full of walnut sized peaches.

Normal mid-June natural 'drop' = 1/4 Home Depot orange bucket full.

I cried.  We didn't think we would have any peaches at all!

Well, we were wrong.

Our little tree was so full the branches were laying on the ground!

One large branch even broke.

I was able to put up about 3 dozen quarts of peaches, plus share

with family and friends.

After harvest, with Rick saying "are you sure?"....
We trimmed our little tree. Hopefully, no broken branches next year.

With a nice trim.

 This is our Monster 'Early Girl' Tomato Plant.

Not many 'early' tomatoes, but an abundant fall crop. 

Enough to be able to put up 10 jars of Salsa

and 5 jars of Chili base.

Our gorgeous Rosemary plant.

I dried some rosemary last year and used it all winter. 

Awesome!
I really do feel like Martha Stewart!



Geocaching

On Labor Day Rick and I went 'Geocaching'.

Never heard of it? Well, this from the official website:

"Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. Geocaching is enjoyed by people from all age groups, with a strong sense of community and support for the environment."

We heard about it from Kathy and Tony and it has become

a very fun family activity for all of us.

One of the most beautiful Labor Days I can remember took us to

Adam's Canyon Trail in Kaysville, UT.  There are several 'caches' up the canyon.

The trail was unbelievably busy and crowded, but some of our

expeditions took us off trail and we enjoyed some quiet moments.

The GPS coordinates took us to this cache. You can see it buried in the rocks.

This is how you find them.  We also used our smartphones with an awsome geocaching app.

One of the 'caches' led us to this tree.  The heart was carved a LONG time ago.

This cache was down below the trail and we had the place all to ourselves.

Caches have log books that you sign when you find it.  Some of the caches contain

things that you can take if you want...but if you take you must give...

We usually just sign our geo-name with the initials TNLN/SL

Which translated is 'took nothing, left nothing/signed log'.

The canyon was spectacular!  At the top there is supposed to be a 40' waterfall.

We did not make it there.  We were pooped.  The online trail information

said that the trail was 3 miles roundtrip...but we think that it was incorrect.

It should be 3 miles 'one way'! 

We did spend alot of our 'hiking' waiting for people to pass.

The geocaching made the hike so fun and enjoyable.

Some of the caches are very difficult to find, or are very difficult to get to.

We enjoy the 'easy' ones.

If you'd like more info...go to http://www.geocaching.com/

Swiss Days

Swiss Days 2010

Heidi Wilcox, Denise Hillyard, Linda Rassmussen, Stacie Wheeler, Heidi Christensen, Me

Question: How much fun can 6 women have?

Answer:  LOTS!

Linda invited us to go with her to a condo in Midway, Utah and

join in the festivities of Swiss Days, September 2nd.

Thursday night we drove up and stayed up way past our bedtimes (ahem...2:00 a.m.!)

to play games, eat fun (un-nutritious) goodies and

 get to know each other better.

Then up early (yawn) at 6:30 a.m. so Linda could get to the wrapping paper booth.

Wrapping paper?

We arrived at 7:45 a.m. along with at least 1/2 the state of Utah and quickly

made our way to the WP booth, only to find about 20 people already in line!

We moved on...(moved is a relative term with that many people)

We scoped the booths and bought some stuff, ate the food (yum) and listened

to the fun music.  We heard yodelers and the Alpine Horn.

We had so much fun....

Can't wait for next year...

Trippin' #4 - Reunion

July 8-12 we had a Roland and Nelda Jensen Family Reunion.

We all traveled to Pine Valley, UT from California, Colorado,

and Utah and camped in a beautiful spot with

 tall pines and lots of huge

rocks and a wonderful little river called 'Blue Springs'.

The first night we set up camp and

 roasted hot dogs and made s'mores.

There's nothing like sitting around a campfire with loved ones!

Friday we spent the day at the beautiful Veyo pool. We swam, ate, hunted crawdads, read, visited and just had a great time together.

My sisters, Bonnie, Susie & me

After the pool we came back to camp and had a potluck dinner that

was organized by Kathy.  She provided sloppy joes and the rest of us provided

all the fixin's.  After dinner we did s'mores some more.

Saturday the guys went shooting and the girls stayed at camp and played

by the river.  Cousin Denise had also planned some fun around the camp games.

Saturday afternoon Aunt Susie organized our 'Hobo Pack' dinner.

Everyone brought their own meat and an item to put into the pack.  Yum!

Cheri and Stacy with the potatoes that Kathy & Judy cut...

Creating our 'masterpieces'

The Hobo packs cookin'

Sunday morning we attended church at the historic Pine Valley Chapel

The cousins....

Mike, Stacy, Cheri, Kathy and Adam

The time had come to say goodbye...never easy!  Until next time....

Kathy, Tony, Connor, Lauren and Cody in front of their new 'love shack'

The campsite....beautiful!

Grandpa Rick and Grandma Juju with the munchkins...

Crazy, happy family!

Bonnie & Dennis, Susie & Mike and Rick & Judy

We stayed for a few more days.

We hung around camp...reading, eating, sleeping...

on Thursday night we braved the 120 degree heat to

see 'Cats' at Tuachan theater.  It was fun...

Rick taking down the flag for the last time...so sad...

We missed Deanna & Sharry this year....just not the same.

Trippin #3 = Grandkids

Memorial Day Weekend

What a great weekend we had!  Rick & I took our 3 oldest

Grandkids and headed off for Moab, UT.  We camped at the

Moab Valley RV Resort and started a fun weekend adventure.

We loved being able to spend some quality time with the kids, bedtime

was always interesting...

 

Our first adventure was to go to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.  It's about a 3 hour drive from Moab.

Along the way we had a little excitement with Connor.

He needed to use his breathing machine and it needed electricity.

In the middle of nowhere, Grandpa got creative.

Mesa Verde was so fun.  We saw Indian dancers and we hiked to the 600 year old ruins. We even were

able to climb into a ceremonial kiva.

 

  

We spent a day exploring one of our favorite places, Arches National Park.

We climbed and hiked around Double Arch

 and looked across to Delicate Arch.

We also saw lots of our state flower, the Sego Lily...

The kids were tired and ready to go back to camp and I talked them into

one more short hike to Sand Arch.  It ended up being their favorite...

After a fun day exploring the beautiful red rocks of Arches Park we stopped at

the Indian petroglyphs on Potash Road.  So cool....

then we went back to camp and had dinner

and let the kids swim.  The camp had a giant chess board that

the kids loved!  How much fun can 5 people have?

 

After a fun weekend it was time to go home.  Always sad when you're having fun...but Mom's & Dad's were waiting for their munchkins....