Almost a week in heaven!

Last week I took the family down to Duck Creek in southern Utah. It was the best. We met Lisa's family there and spent almost a week riding four wheelers, fishing, hiking and sightseeing. That is some beautiful country and we didn't do half of that is available to do there. It was a lot of fun to see everyone there. I do not get to see Lisa's family as much. She gets to go to Mesa and Prescott and spend a month with them every year in Arizona. I really like Lisa's family and enjoy their company. Unlike the last trip into the outdoors this one was smooth sailing. If anyone is looking for a fun trip this one is a high recommendation from me.

One of the places that we went was Cascade falls. Here are some pictures. Instead of posting the whole trip, which would be a huge post, I will do it in sections. Enjoy.

This is the family at a look out point near cascade falls. You can't really see the vastness of the overlook but it was breathtaking.

Kenneth and I went out on a small ledge at cascade falls the stream comes out of the mountain on Kenneths Right. It was really neat and the view from where we were was awesome.

The water you see to my right comes from a lake about 700 feet above and probably 5 miles away. It flows underground to this point and then shoots out of the side of the mountain. The water was cold and deliciouses. You see me Lisa and Troy standing here. The hike in was beautiful.

Bad Luck

I have the worst luck. I have decided that the odds are against me and that no matter what I can never take up gambling. I took the whole family camping on June 6th and 7th. We went to a place called Payson Lakes. It is a nice little place up in the pines with great trout fishing in the 3 lakes you find up there. I took the boys up last the first part of May and we had a blast.

I took work off on Friday the 6th and we went up to enjoy a fun trip. Friday went good. It was a little cold in the evening but that was about it. We went fishing and just about everyone caught fish. Adam caught the most and Troy caught the smallest one. It was all a lot of fun. That evening we had fish tinfoil dinners and pizza. All in a days camping.

Here is the unlucky part. There was a 30% chance of rain in the forecast. I thought to myself. 30% chance of scattered showers is in my favor. Whenever I want rain and it is 30% chance it never happens. On Saturday morning we woke up to an inch an a half of snow! How is it that I get snow in June. I know that is not officialy summer but come on, give me a break! Well it started to let up so I finaly crawled out of my sleeping and started to break camp. Lisa and the little kids jumped in the car and turned on the heater. About the time I got it all cleaned up and in the trailer, the snow had stopped and I could see that the clouds to the west were breaking up. I suggested that we go fishing since it was clearing up but Lisa was having none of that. We got home to a nice hot sunny day.

We went camping last year and had a similar experience at Flaming George. Both places are beautiful but the weather did not cooperate. We had a downpour and ended up packing up and going home. These last two family experiences have made Lisa swear she will never go camping again. I have decided that either I am unlucky or Lisa is bad luck.


Adam and Kenneth breaking camp with me.




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This is the camp site and then we have Lisa, Krislyn and Troy curled up and cozy. Notice who is still happy.

Can we have some consideration please!

Here is my vent. At the first of the year I started working out in the mornings before work. My health was going south and it was either take pills and insulin everyday or start working out. I love lifting weights so I took that option. The problem is that I already go to work at 5:30 in the morning. This means that now I have to leave around 4:20am. So the alarm clock accosts me at 4:03am. I do the :03 just so I can get a few extra minutes of sleep. It has been great for my health and I will probably write something on that another day.

My irritation is with people who do not have any consideration for their neighbors. My biggest problem right now with the teachings of Jesus is that whole love your neighbor thing. I go to bed at 9:00pm and it is amazing how many dogs seem to start in about that time. It reminds me of the barking chain in 101 Dalmatians. The only difference is that I don't see all the owners trying to stop them. Then there is that rouge person who seems to think that he can call at any given time as long as it is not 10:00. He will remain un-named but his initials are Aaron Talmage Ball. (Aaron works out with me and wakes up at the same time) I think I will back my dune buggy up to their front door at 4:00am ring the door bell, then when they open the door I will rev the engine at them. (It has no muffler.) I guess the other option is to just get really good earplugs and take the phone off the hook. That whole what would Jesus do gets me every time.

A little bit of catch up.

I got to thinking and realized that I have set up this blog and sent the link to lots of people that I have not seen in a while and decided maybe I should catch up on some of the "Whats been going on." Lisa and I now live in Utah in a little place called Eagle Mountain. It is waaaaayyyyy out there. We are about 20 minutes from the freeway however they are putting in a Walmart about 10 minutes from the house. I work for 3M in tech support. No I do not answer calls about using sticky notes or sand paper. 3M has a software that groups and calculates Medicare reimbursement formulas for hospitals. I really like the work and it has been a good experience.

We have rounded the family out at 7. There is of course me and Lisa and then in order of age Kenneth, Adam, Daniel, Troy, and Krislyn. I'm sure you can guess which one is spoiled. They are all doing great and living up to their parents expectation. Lisa is running a preschool now that all but one of the kids are at school. It keeps her busy. Enjoy some of the pictures.


Lisa Made us all dress up on the Sunday of general conference and take this picture 2 years ago. The boys were not happy about that.













This is a picture that we took last year. It was a lot of fun and there were no ties to put on!



Me and my latest dune buggy I built along with a trip the family took to the Grand Canyon without me. (Yes I have still never been to see the Grand Canyon.)