For the 24th Parade

John, Gabe and I are thinking about going to the same parade-watching spot we went to last year. It was a shady spot, cool and pleasant during the entire parade, and there weren't a lot of people there, either. There were even port-a-potties available right there. We thought we would invite anyone who may be interested to come join us. It is at the old library on the corner of 200 East and 500 South. Bring chairs (or you can sit on the cement wall) and treats or anything else you want to. We parked in the Sweet Water building about a block to the east of the library.

Let us know!

This and That

So, we decided to go back to our picnic spot for Family Home Evening. We put together some tinfoil dinners to cook, as well as the fixin's for s'mores. We even had our lesson up there. It was a little windy down in the valley that day, but it was perfect in the canyon.
Tennyson was part of our family for the week. Madi and Arden really seemed to enjoy having her here with them this week.
Gabe blowing bubbles. He made sure we all had our own bottles to blow from.
The dinners prior to cooking--
The cooking -- they turned out perfect! We didn't even burn them! I didn't take pictures of the s'mores process, but they were good, too. However, we did have to put the chocolate in the creek to harden it up.


Here's are a few pictures from Arden's birthday--



I finally got the curtains done for the downstairs tv room and the bedroom. Now I'm working on a set for the living room. Hopefully, I'll blog them next time.

Our garden -- the corn is higher now since I took these pictures.
Corn and tomatoes --
Beans and potatoes --
First crop of beans -- DELICIOUS!


I hope all is going well with everyone else. We love reading your blogs, and we look forward to seeing everyone next week for the double celebration: Maren's #4 and, what was the other? Oh, yeah! Whitney!!!!!!!! YEA!!!!!!!!!!

Family Reunion

John finally had a whole weekend off! I think in the years since we got married, I've been to more of the Jorgensen Family Reunions than he has. But, because the 4th was on Saturday, he actually had 2 days off in a row! He was really excited to get out of town and do something fun!

We took the scenic route to Castle Dale. Fairview and Huntington Canyons were absolutely beautiful! They were so green and lush. At the top, right along the Skyline Drive road, we even found snow!


This is the view of the Fairview Valley (or whatever it is called) from the top of Skyline Drive.

Most of the flowers are gone by now, but there were a few of these yellow little ones.

Arden and Gabe at the Summit. This is at least 2400 feet higher than Soldier Summit. I think we read Soldier Summit as only 72?? feet.
Here is some of the crew at the Reunion. It was good to see Sara's pictures, too.
Brooks -- having the time of his life! It wasn't all bad, was it?
I've never seen a dutch oven this big! This was huge! John says it looks like something pulled off the bottom of a train and pounded into a dutch oven. The meat was sure good!
Gabe had a great time. All that running around gave him red cheeks, as usual.

Arden's "What do you want?" look.
Gabe had quite the audience with those bubbles! They were all lined up to see what he could do. This is just one of the groups he entertained. Such a little showman!



This shot is from the house just before we left. It had rained off and on all day, but in between storms, the sky was just as blue as it could be. Even the clouds were beautiful!

Well, there isn't a lot here, but I hope you enjoy our view of the family reunion.

Here's What We Did Today!

We decided to go on a picnic up the canyon today. A few years ago, John and I discovered a great picnic place up one of the canyons and we wanted to find it again. So, after spending the morning getting everything ready, including putting together the new table-top bbq, we set out. As we were getting gas, John asked if we had packed the salt and pepper -- no. So, I went to the grocery store while he finished up and bought s/p. Then, we took the wrong canyon -- we wanted to go up Big Cottonwood Canyon, and we ended up in Little Cottonwood Canyon. But, here is what we saw: It was really beautiful! There were several rushing rivers coming off the mountains. We tried to get a good picture, but it was so bright that it just didn't come through as well as we had hoped. The white streak is the stream and it was just crashing down the rocks.

Here we are: in the Little Cottonwood Canyon.

So, we backtracked down the mountain, and went up Big Cottonwood Canyon! And there it was. Just as we had remembered it. It is a quiet little picnic place with a stream running right through it. The only problem here was that we discovered we had forgotten the matches! So, while I went back down the canyon to 7-11, everyone else did some exploring. It was worth the extra trip! The picnic place is called Moss Ledge.

Good picture of John's foot--

Madi took pictures of the rocks and flora, like this columbine. But the only "fauna" we saw came with us. (Well, we did see a few lizards and a squirrel. But they wouldn't sit still enough to get a picture. How rude!)

These pictures of the stream are great. The water was so clear and cold! We all ended up in it in one way or another.

Here was our picnic. The stream is running right behind us. As a matter of fact, in order to get to some of the tables, you have to cross it. Both times that John and I have been here, it has been vacant except for us. A few hikers came up, but they didn't stay to eat. We think this would be a great place for a family get-together. It takes less than 1/2 hour to get there, and there is so much to explore and do.

After-dinner exploration--

Just thought we would share our adventure with everyone. We look forward to seeing everyone this weekend! So long 'til then.