Fall Equinox

Last night on the news the broadcaster announced that it was the official last day of summer. This morning it was cold outside and the weather forecast is that tonight it may freeze. The calendar and temperature may let us know it is fall, but I know it is fall when I can peaches. My friend J'Lee gave us a couple of boxes of the most beautiful peaches from her tree in her backyard. I canned 21 quarts yesterday and have about 7 more to do today. Lots of work and my sore foot throbbed all night long after standing on it all day, but what a satisfying feeling! Look at this beautiful fall picture!

A Weekend With the Boys

I got to spend last weekend with Tristan and the boys at Brian Head Ski Resort. They were on a biking trip. I enjoyed driving the truck to meet them at the bottom of the hill and seeing the beautiful scenery. They actually got me out on a hill on my bike, but it was really a narrow, rocky single trail that traversed a steep slope of the hill. Every time I hit a rock it jerked my front wheel downhill. It was scary to me and I was really slow. I was frustrated because I knew I was holding them up. Finally they took off and Tristan and I walked our bikes down the hill to the road where we rode a mile uphill back to the truck. It was 11,000 ft. elevation and it really made us huff and puff! When we arrived at the truck Tristan happened to look down in the gravel of the parking lot and found some keys. They were Parker's car keys which had fallen out of his backpack. If we hadn't accidentally found them, he would have thought he had lost them somewhere going down the mountain on his bike and who knows how he would have driven his car back to school. I credit our prayers that morning. It was a fun time! My boys have grown up to be great men and I am proud of them.

It Must Be Heaven

This has been an eventful week. We spent a few days in Salt Lake for business meetings. On Friday (September 11) we met at the Cheesecake factory where we had lunch and celebrated the birthdays of my mom, (Stella) my daughter, (Lara) and my granddaughter (Ella). Quite amazing to have so many birthdays on one day, especially on 9/11.

I also found a new (to me) store called "Smart Cookie". Oh my goodness, their sugar cookies were to die for. They were soft and had cream cheese frosting. (Notice that this description is all in the past tense..... YUM!) They have a store in Sandy and one in American Fork. Sugar cookies are my favorite cookie!

On Sunday after church, we drove up and back from Richfield to Farmington to hear our granddaughter, Emma, give her solo harp recital. She is six and has completed the first Suzuki book for harp and played all 21 songs. She looked and sounded like a little angel. It is so amazing to watch her play so well at such a young age.

Anyway, it was a wonderful and busy week. Experiences like this must be close to Heaven...family, harps and sugar cookies!

Angel's Landing

We went to Rockville this weekend for Labor Day. On Friday we hiked up Angel's Landing in Zion National Park with Parker and Chelsey. This was my fourth? trip up. I wasn't sure I would make it since I am a lot older and fatter than I used to be. It is only 2.5 miles one way, but about 2.0 of those miles are vertical miles. Tristan and I took it slow, but we did it! I had to go slower than him on the way up, but he had to go slower than me on the way down because it hurt his knee. We are a good combination. It was a fun accomplishment. But I am too old to look over the edge!

My goodness! When will this feeling of loss get better? I think that I am getting control of my emotions and then my throat chokes up and I just sob for a while. I used to think that Murphy was the kid's dog. Now I know how attached to him I was and I am having a harder time to let him go than they are. This is painful and NOT FUN.