WAY Behind

We have been BUSY!

Having a blast.

But everywhere we go, there is no signal.

And by the time we get back to our hotel,

we just fall into bed.

So... let’s see.

Day 2.

We got up, went to “Maverick” (gas station)
for fuel for the Jeep and breakfast burritos.
And then hit the highway to Yellowstone.



We stopped at another gas station midway
and they had this yummy looking Huckleberry
Honey, jams, candy, etc.
But I was afraid it wouldn’t make the trip
in our suitcases, so I took a picture to order
online later if I want.
Meanwhile, I bought a little tube of
Huckleberry lip balm.
It’s great, but smells really sweet and
every time I put it on, Kyle gets hungry.
LoL.

On to the park.

It was wonderful to be able to just show
Rod’s lifetime membership card and his ID
and get right in!

We spent the day showing Rod all the cool
sights and sounds of the South loop.

Gibbons Falls...

Sapphire Pool

We even got to Old Faithful just in time to see it go off.

It was crowded, so my picture is terrible...

but in June I took a million pictures and this time

I just focused my attention on enjoying the scenery.

WAAY less pictures this time.

We left the park around dusk and headed to our hotel.

We stayed in the same Days Inn Kyle and I stayed

in last time - and there is a good little pizza place

just up the street, so we ordered a large Hawaiian

and walked over to pick it up.

Ate it in our room and BED!

**************************************

DAY THREE

Another day at Yellowstone.

We got up, there was a free “grab and go”

breakfast brown bag from the hotel.

It was a REALLY pathetic burrito.

We went to Nez Perce where we know there

is a herd of bison that hangs out. 

Rod wanted to get some better pictures.

He got some really good ones!

And then we decided we were HUNGRY,

so we actually left the park again and headed

back into town to the little restaurant 

next to the hotel and ordered breakfast.

In honor of Grandma Hanna, I took a 

picture with the “guy” in the lobby.

And then we headed WAY up north to Mammoth.

It wasn’t anything like what we were expecting,

but pretty. We climbed a gazillion stairs.

And saw some beautiful formations.

And then headed back down south to the 

“Grand Canyon of Yellowstone”.

It’s beautiful!

And huge!

We saw lots more bison, some herds of elk,

even a random bison walking down the 

middle of the road!

And then it was time to head back to Logan.

We stopped at Crushers again for a quick bite

and then hit the highway.

Poor Kyle.

He does all the driving for us and it was a 

LATE night.

We were all exhausted by the time we got there!

*********************************

DAY FOUR

Up.

Breakfast. 

(Burritos from Maverick again...)

And headed back to Tony Grove to do some hiking.

We headed to White Pine Lake...

which is 3.9 miles (one way!)

We used our nifty walking sticks!

It was SO beautiful!

There was a sword in a stone!!!

We MADE it!!!!
It was a LONG hike - 2 miles up hill and 2 miles down hill.
It was worth it!!!

So beautiful.

And Kyle’s happy place.

And then it was 2 miles UP and 2 miles down again.

Rod and I were pretty much done by the time we 

got to the end of the hike.

But it’s such a good feeling to know we made it!!!

And to celebrate we went to Texas Roadhouse

steak since we’ve eaten a LOT of carbs lately!

It was DELICIOUS!

And then Kyle drove us south to our hotel for the night.

A Ramada Inn on N. Temple.

Which turned out to be a crack house.

So we cancelled THAT reservation and found a 

brand new LaQuinta in South Jordan.

I’m sitting on the bed watching the “new”

Jumanji movie - Rod is snoring on the other bed.

Kyle only ate half his dinner and took the rest

with him for “second dinner” so he went to his

room to eat and go to bed.

And I’m heading there now too.

And we are all caught up!

Day 1 Vacation

We FINALLY made it to Salt Lake!

It was a long night...

But we had fun wandering around in the morning and

took some pictures.

Rod got a free piece of chocolate from this little shop.

He said it was really good!

(But SUPER expensive...)

BYE Las Vegas!!!

The flight was short and sweet.

We each got a short nap and the skies

were nice and clear so we saw lots

of mountains on the way.

Once we landed, we grabbed our luggage,

happy it followed our switch in flights.

And then off to the rental car place.

Avis was SWAMPED!

I guess everybody used Priceline... lol.

Took about an hour standing in line,

but once we got to the desk,

everything went well and we had the

keys to this week’s rental.

Turned out to be a Jeep Compass.

Don’t buy one. LOL.

It’s small,under powered and has

a TINY gas tank.

But we are happy to have a vehicle.

Sondra had to head into her office,

but we were able to stop by the house

and visit with Greg and Matt.

And forgot to take pictures AGAIN!

Sheesh!

Happy to see they didn’t have much damage

from the giant wind storm on Tuesday.

Then back into the Jeep and up to Logan.

We went straight to Tony Grove.

It was a beautiful afternoon!

We hiked around the bottom lake.

There were BIG rocks and “the goat”had to

climb to the top. His “happy place”!

I’m practicing selfies...

This is me after 24 hours wearing a mask and

flying across the country, and sleeping on the floor...

Grin.

I forgot to pack a hat, but we had some bandanas

as make-shift masks in case we needed them.

Made a good ear warmer...

There was SNOW!

So naturally Kyle had to make a snowball.

And chuck it at his Dad.

Hahahahahahahaha

Nearly got in his pocket!

It’s a really nice little hike!

We were chatting about all the people who come

and have picnics for FHE, dates, and of course

the ones who come to take their engagement photos.

No sooner did we say that, than we went around

a corner and there was a photographer and

a cute little wedding couple in full regalia.

Hahahahaha!!

Somebody else made snowmen.

They were mostly melted, but we had

to take a picture to immortalize them...

And then back into our Jeep and down the

mountain and back to Logan.

Decided to stop by the Temple on the way.

It was open! So we parked and walked

around the grounds for a bit.

The grounds are so glorious.

Lots of gorgeous flowers.

Small groups of people enjoying the evening.

And then the sprinklers came on. 

Haha.

Disney WISHES they had as good.

The Church gardeners are amazing!

Mom... what is this?

I’m thinking a kind of mum...?

They used Dinosaur Kale, Parsley and even carrots!

And in another bed they used a billion little strawberry

plants for the cover crop.

Brilliant!

Then, to WalMart to look for a hat for me and some

car snacks for the trip to Yellowstone.

Then to another store for a hat (since Walmart had none)

and then to the hotel to check in.

We ordered dinner online from Olive Garden and then

Kyle and I picked it up while Rod took a little nap.

After dinner Kyle headed to his room and Rod

and I headed to bed.

END OF DAY 1.

Not a Vacation - It’s an ADVENTURE!

 It’s been an adventure already!

We spent the morning getting packed,

feeding the animals, and getting ready

to leave on our grand vacation.

Left in PLENTY of time, 

but when we got to the airport,

Long-term parking was CLOSED!

We had to drive a gazillion miles around

the airport to get to the south parking.

And it looked like it would take forever

to park, wait for the little bus, and ride

back to the airport.

So we bit the bullet and parked inside.

It will be a bit pricey, but whatever.

Got into the airport, did the new self-check in

thing they are doing now,

checked our bags and headed to security.

NO LINE and whipped right through!

Took longer to put the stuff in the buckets.

I “sparked” on my right arm and the 

top of my head... weird! LOL.

But she was really nice.

Off to our gate where we waited for a bit,

and then realized we were going to be hungry

before our plane landed in Las Vegas in 4.5 hours...

so we got a couple of sub sandwiches

(and Kyle got a pretzel)

and then boarded the plane.

They announced they were going to try to

HURRY and load the plane because there

was lightning in the area.

Florida is NUTS about lightning.

Unfortunately we didn’t beat the storm.

We were supposed to take off at 3:40.

Rod finally got off and bought himself

a pretzel and tried to find out more information...

Kyle followed the radar on his phone.

Thankfully the plane was only 2/3 full.

It rained. It lightning-ed. It thundered.

The plane rocked.

And then it quit.

And we took off.

2.5 hours late.

We missed our connecting flight out of Vegas

by exactly an hour.

Which meant spending the night in the airport.

We’ve done it before... but we were all younger then.

Sleeping on the floor and in chairs

ain’t the party it was when the boys

were little and raced wheelchairs in the

empty Dallas airport many years ago.

Mostly it was COLD.

But about 2:00 we wandered around the

airport and found a gate that was actually

about 10 degrees warmer.

Masks are, of course, mandatory, and warm.

Hahahahaha.

It is now 8 am.

We board in one hour.

We’ve had a $5 bottle of water and

a couple of solid gold breakfast sandwiches.

Should’ve played the many slot machines

to afford the food.... lol!

Looking forward to getting to Salt Lake!

(And out of this airport...)

And having lunch we don’t have to

mortgage the farm for.

But despite being sore, cold, tired,

we are having fun!

It’s an ADVENTURE!!!! 

Houston, We Have HOOPS!

All the cool kids have hoops.

And I guess we are cool now too...

'cuz

WE HAVE HOOPS!!!

Rod took this picture from our roof.

Those are cattle panels they bent in half

and secured with T-posts into the beds.

There are cucumbers planted (and coming up) in

the far two beds. 

There WILL be beans planted in the nearer two beds.

The plan is that they will vine their way up

the hoops, covering the top and heading back

down the other side - where they will meet

the plants from the other bed.

The fruit dangles down from the wire

making it A) easier to pick

B) SUPER cool and fun to walk through.

I might need to hang a wind chime

on one of them just because...

We set the drip irrigation to come on at 4am

this morning and water for 4 hours.

It is now 99 degrees outside.

3:00 in the afternoon.

And the dirt is still damp!

WAY TO GO DRIPPIES!

Nope, I'm not excited by the garden AT ALL.

Happy Labor Day!

Happy Labor Day!

The guys are "on vacation" which means they

are WORKING HARD.

They have been putting in the drip irrigation

system into our garden yesterday and today.

It's quite a process... much more work that I thought!

Each bed gets a main hose 

along with a shut-off valve so we can

water or not water a bed,

depending on what's in it.

And of course they need the brown

drip-line as well.

And we have a LOT of beds!

Looking marvelous, isn't it???

Meanwhile, I've been tucked away in

the back of the house in the ZoomRoom

doing typing for the Town and watching

gardening YouTubes.

But it's 5:00 now and I'm DONE.

(I'm not really, but I'm quitting for the day...)

I made a nice big pasta salad this morning

we had that for lunch today.

And pulled some ground beef out to thaw.

I think I'm going to make burgers.

Kyle isn't a huge fan of burgers...

but I REALLY want to taste our beef.

Last night we made fajitas with out own

flank steak and it was AMAZING!

Happy Labor Day to all!

Tomorrow the guys have a busy day (again)

and I'm working at the Town.

And then Wednesday we start our

ACTUAL VACATION!

UTAH - here we COME!

Life Has Been Crazy!

It seems like I've been going non-stop!

And then I compare what I am doing to

what Rod is doing and realize I'm a pansy.

But I'm still feeling like I'm going non-stop!

(grin)

Friday Kyle borrowed Linda's dump truck and

brought us home a load of dirt.

This one is 10 yards.

But on Saturday morning he had a side job

using his Cat - Rod had to work a mandatory

Saturday so that left me to drive the dump truck.

And I didn't die.

It was actually FUN! 

There was a big ol' pile of dirt that Travis' previous guy 

didn't move for some reason...

So he needed to spread that, and then clean up the

stumps and concrete chunks etc the other guy left.

We took one load to the house

and when we got back I sat in the shade of the truck

and listened to our Stake Relief Society Conference

that was on Zoom. They didn't have anything to look

at besides their faces though, so I just listened.

They had some really good talks and then finished

up by assigning each line of "As Sisters in Zion" to

a couple of sisters to get on and share a brief testimony of.

It was probably the best part!

Anyhow.

When he was done, I drove the dump truck home and

he headed to his next (of 3) job - taking down an 

outdoor kitchen at a house someone is moving in to.

However, disaster struck.

One of his hydraulic hoses burst and he was dead in the water.

Rod had just gotten off work by then

(I was moving dirt in the garden)

and between the two of them they were able to 

limp it onto the trailer.

Just barely.

What you see right there is an amazing mechanic.

Pulling an ox out of the mire.

They wrapped all the hoses with white fabric

(I knew there was a reason I kept all his old garments!)

so they could identify which was was leaking...

It took HOURS.

First Rod had to clean the entire thing because

everything was COVERED in hydraulic fluid,

then they had to wrap everything,

then they had to start it up and turn it off real quick

and see if they could figure it out.

Slowly unwrapping and try to read if it was

overspray or the actual leak.

Luckily Rod was there to help - it was definitely

a two man job.

But they got it identified.

Meanwhile, I was in the house, cooking.

I made a big pot of red lentil stew,

an instant pot full of lasagna casserole

and another instant pot full of cowboy grub.

Got them all into individual freezer serving

things and into the freezer for lunches for 

the next week or so.

I leave them out to come closer to room temp

before I put them in the freezer and 

FORGOT about the 6 servings of cowboy grub.

So when I got up Monday morning, I fed

those to the dogs.

Darn it.

And then I made another batch.

It's safely in the freezer.

Grin.

Rod and I both take them for lunches.

And sometimes eat one for dinner!

Especially when I'm teaching...

Monday Kyle went to the dealer and ordered all

new hoses (might as well replace them all... this is

the 2nd one to go...) and I'm actually heading over

in a couple of minutes to pick them up.

Then we spent the rest of the day building new

raised beds and moving that giant pile of dirt

into them and planting the starts.

That's all that is left of that giant pile!

From the back of the garden, looking toward the house...

the long bed along the fence I'm putting pepper starts in

this afternoon and then later, around October we will

plant a gazillion peas along the fence.

There are four rows of four 4'x8' beds.

The beds closest to the barn are all planted in tomato and

pepper starts. 

And my okra.

On the middle row if you squint you can see

MORE tomatoes and peppers.

The 2 boxes along the back 

are planted in zucchini and yellow squash

with stakes to hold them up. Then we are

putting in some hog panels and hooping them

over and planing cucumbers.

The next 2 boxes are going to be beans in one

and ... beets? Something... in the other with

another hoop covered in pole beans.

The front 2 beds are going to be carrots,

broccoli, kohlrabi, and ... something else

I can't remember.

We have a map all drawn up, but when Kyle

left for the ranch on Monday he did something

with it and I can't find it now.

Anyhow,

Monday night I taught my class

(and missed the family Zoom! Sad face!!!)

Tuesday morning I got up and did my chores,

watered the garden, tried to plant the peppers

but they were too wet and wouldn't come out

of their little holes...

so I went to work.

Worked until 4:30 and then ran to WalMart

because the dogs were TOTALLY out of food. 

And then home again to teach another Zoom.

This morning I kind of slept in a bit,

and then out to do the animals and garden.

Back in to make breakfast,

clean the kitchen,

mow the yard(s),

then my boss called and we talked about

some MORE new stuff we are doing,

then this morning's class instructor called

totally LOST about the new stuff so I had

to walk her through.

And since I was in the ZoomRoom in front of

my computer I did a quick blog.

And now I'm going to change my clothes

and head to the Cat dealer to get Kyle's parts.

And back to Walmart because I just put my

finger through a weak spot in my shorts.

Time for new ones I guess... lol.

And my sunglasses fell apart over the weekend.

So I need new ones of those as well.

And I lost my "teaching" glasses (I like my

red framed ones best - they look best on camera)

so I'm going to grab another pair 

for "just in case".

(They're just cheap cheaters...)

So that's my day.

I'm not teaching again until Friday night.

But I'm working at the town again tomorrow.

So I'm making the most of this, my "day off".

(I'm teaching again Saturday night...)

And that's all the news that's fit to print!

So I'll leave you with some of Kyle's flowers.