Duck Lake/Island Lake

About a week before Labor Day Weekend, we decided to go on a backpacking trip up in the Uintas at the request of Rachel.  We quickly planned and gathered our gear and were ready to leave Saturday morning.  Friday afternoon Rachel ended up in the dentist office with a tooth ache.  It looked like she would need a root canal (which she got this morning) but there wasn't an abscess... yet.  The dentist prescribed antibiotics and pain killers and we headed up to the Uintas as planned on Saturday morning.

The Crystal Lake trail head parking lot was packed to overflowing and there were people everywhere.  That wasn't a good sign since I was looking to get away from all the people.  It turned out to be great though.  Most were day hikers and only went to the first lake.  We kept going past about 4 or 5 lakes to Duck Lake where there were only a couple of other people.  It was about 3 1/2 miles and we had a great camp site.

The next day we left camp set up and hiked about 1 1/2 miles to Island Lake.  It was really pretty and it had some big cliffs that are well-known for jumping off of into the lake.  It was really cold and windy though so we passed on the cliff jumping.  Maybe we'll come back in the middle of the summer when it's warmer.

The funniest thing about our trip was the herd of cattle that seemed to be roaming around Duck Lake.  They mostly left us alone but the first morning they all gathered around our camp site.  They mooed very loudly and seemed to want to join us.  We finally had to herd them away so they wouldn't actually walk on our tents.  Hahaha

We enjoyed the campfire and the hikes.  We did lots of rock skipping and rock throwing into the lake which is always fun.  David has a nice hammock to sleep in so he was comfortable (for the first time in a long time on a hike).  We didn't hike out the same way we went in so we got to see some different scenery.  Overall, it was a great weekend trip and I loved the solitude of being up and away from people.  I also enjoyed the pine forest shower as we hiked.  Did you know that is a real thing?  Walking through a pine forest greatly relieves stress and anxiety and they call it a pine forest shower or pine forest bathing.

Hope you enjoy the slide show.

Photo slideshow made with Smilebox

Crater Lake Vacation

I have lots to blog about our vacation a few weeks ago to Crater Lake and other places in Oregon.  But, I am finding myself to be very busy and may not get to it for a little bit.  Rachel, on the other hand, photographed, filmed and produced a whole video about the trip before we even arrived back home.  Way to go Rachel!  I am posting her video today and then I will add details to the trip as time allows.  :-)

I tried to load the video directly in but it is too big (says a little message that keeps popping up).  So, here is the link if you want to take a look.

Powell Trip to Crater Lake 2016

Back To School

Wow!!  Summer is over already.  Rachel moved into her apartment on Sunday and started college at UVU on Monday.  My baby is all grown up.  I miss her already.

Rebecca and Adam started today.  Adam had an orientation day yesterday but today is the official first day.  Rebecca started 10th grade at Corner Canyon HS and Adam started 6th grade at Draper Park MS.

Welcome to the Family!!!

We are so excited to welcome Jared and Tori's new little baby into the family.  He was born this morning, August 7, 2016, at 7:00 am.  He weighed 8 lbs. 8 ozs. and his name is Beckett Adams Powell.  He is so, so cute and he and Tori are both doing well (Jared is too :-)

 Boston meeting his little brother!

Such a Cute Family!!

And a very proud Grandpa (or Pops as we call him)

The Rest of July

Rachel is spending most of her summer at Rita's Ice earning money for school.  And we get to enjoy the yummy treats (especially when she brings something home after work).  :-)

 Adam is on a new soccer team... APEX and is loving it.  Several of his friends are on it which means we get to carpool so I'm loving it too.  They took first place in the Impact United Tournament!!!

David's company had a family party at Boondocks Fun center so we had a good time thanks to InMoment.  

We spent a week up in Park City enjoying the cool mountain air.  David and Rachel still had to work some but we were able to have a few full days with everyone.  We played tennis, rode bikes, went hiking, swam a lot, played games and fed some ducks.

One day during our Park City week, we headed to Provo to go to Aaron's wedding.  He got married in the Provo City Center Temple and I was so glad we could be there.

Gaylene, Terry, Roger, Mom, Curtis

  

Jared, Tori and Boston moved into their apartment in Provo.  Boston loves his new little bed and will be sharing his room with his new little brother.  How Fun!!!

Rebecca, Adam, Ace and I headed up to Tibble Fork Reservoir for a nice swim on a hot summer day... but, Tibble Fork is CLOSED!  They are reconstructing the whole dam.  So the Ranger lady suggested we go up further to Silver Lake.  She said that it is a really pretty lake.  When we arrived, we were hugely disappointed because it was super low and very muddy like it had just gotten low.  I asked around and found out from some of the other people that it had been full up to the tree line the week before and they didn't know why it was drained.  (I wonder if the Ranger knew it had been drained???)  We were a little disappointed and didn't stay long.  Ace played in the water/mud so he was a mess and had to have a bath when he got home.  I guess we'll need to find another dog friendly lake.

We did have some beautiful views though.

We got to go to a Real Soccer Game with fireworks afterwards thanks to InMoment.

And, we went target shooting on the west side of Utah Lake.

David went to Toronto on a business trip and while he was there he went on a skywalk outside the top of the CN Tower pictured below.  Yikes!!  He said it was really awesome which is saying a lot since he's afraid of heights.

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July!!  Neighborhood breakfast and parade, swimming in the afternoon with friends, family BBQ in the evening, and then a fireworks extravaganza with the whole neighborhood.  Rachel, David and Adam collected donations from all the neighbors and then went to Wyoming to get the fireworks (they are much cheaper there).  Then we had the greatest fireworks show ever!!!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!

Summer is Almost Over!!

I can't believe that summer is almost over and I haven't posted anything about it.  It's been a pretty regular summer... hot days, yard work, chores, movies, scouts, etc.  I don't take as many pictures as I used to since it seems I like to be the one playing and not taking the pictures.  I found a few that David took and a few I took on my phone.  Here are a some glimpses of our summer.

David and I took Adam to a shooting range for the first time.  When David found out that he had shot at Scout Camp, he said, "It's time to take Adam shooting".  David is really good at teaching the kids about the guns and all the safety rules.  It's a serious matter and Adam took it seriously.  He has a new appreciation for the power of a firearm and he's also a pretty good shot.

 Boston helping Rebecca make little pizzas.

 Boston at the pool.  We sure loved having Jared, Tori and Boston live with us for a month.  Things are rather quiet around here now that they've moved into their apartment in Provo.  We miss them.

 Josh went on a few trips to Mississippi for work and got to visit his Aunt Julie and their family.

David and I went to a baseball game on a warm summer evening and had a great time cheering on the Bees.  They lost but it was still a fun.