Where did September Go?

As I look at the calendar, I realize that October is almost here and I ask myself, Where Did September go and did I get anything done?"

So let's recap what's been going on around here for the past 28 days or so.

Nate started school on August 24th. (A bit early if you ask me, but nobody asked.) He has a pretty nice schedule and our expectations for a great school year are high.

Roy came home for Labor Day and he labored pretty hard. Saturday morning he cut down the huge Crabapple tree in the back yard. He also cut branches from a bush that was laying on the neighbors roof. We took rides in the car while listening to the Orioles on the radio.

After he left, I cleaned up the branches, stacked them for next years camping trips, and hauled the leaves and small branches out to the dump.

I am continuing to ride my bike most days and am enjoying that a lot.

On the 11th Michelle came up and she, Nate, and I headed to Rigby to can peaches. I should have taken pictures of our efforts, but didn't. We got 21 quarts and 14 pints. That's a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun. We did most of the hot messy stuff outside using Carma's big outdoor stove. Thanks.

On our way home, we took the long way, thru Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Jackson. Nate wasn't very happy, but he was fun anyway. This was my fifth trip thru Yellowstone this year. (Each one with a different traveler. Nate had to make the trip 3 times with me. The first was with Cheryl, Ben, & Nate. The second with Carma and Nate. The third with Allyson. The fourth with Roy, and this one with Michelle, Nate, and Tinkerbelle.)

Yesterday I drove up into the Uintas. The leaves were supposed to be at their peak this past weekend and with a snow storm coming, I wanted to make the trip, especially to see the leaves. They were beautiful, but I miss the red and orange fall colors in PA.

Nate is off for a journalism conference today and will be back tomorrow night. I am heading to Chelley's to do beef jerky today. Roy will be home Friday morning for General Conference weekend.

October will be a busy and fun month. I am especially excited for our trip to Baltimore in the middle of the month. More on that later.

More pictures from vacation

This is one of my favorites from the Bear Lake trip. I must say, our grandkids are the CUTEST.

Roy took some excellent pictures from his trip out here so I am posting some of them. On a walk to the State Park we saw 2 mama moose with their babies. Here's proof.

We got pretty close, but mama didn't seem to be too concerned about us. Thank Heavens.

Here are some random photos of everyone sitting around the condo.

Now for some great shots from our Yellowstone Trip.

Time for One More Trip

Thursday morning we prepared to head north to Cheryl's. They had a couple of little things they wanted Roy to look at, so off we headed. I love the drive to Cheryl's especially when we go through Star Valley. After having dinner with the Kimber's and playing with Ben outside, we went to Rigby Lake for an evening stroll. It was a perfect evening.

Friday morning Roy and I left Nate with Cheryl and we headed to Yellowstone. After stopping for breakfast in West Yellowstone, we went to the Park. We hiked to Morning Glory Pool and around the geyser basin. While I went into the gift shop, Roy went to the registration desk to check to see if there were any cancellations. "Yes" we got a room for the night at Old Faithful Inn.

Old Faithful Inn

Morning Glory Pool
Castle Geyser
Beehive Geyser
Grotto Geyser
Giant Geyser

We drove over to Hayden Valley to see lots of wildlife. Lots of Bison, some right next to the road. A stop at Canyon for an ice cream cone and then back to Old Faithful. (There was a lot of traffic on the road to and from Canyon and rangers directing traffic so we weren't able to take any pictures of bison, but if you don't know what a bison looks like, come up and see them at the state park.)

Our evening's plan was a hike up to Observation Point to watch Old Faithful erupt. What a wonderful view and dinner in the dining room ended the day in perfect fashion.

The best hiking partner in the world

Old Faithful erupting from Observation Point

A beautiful sunset in the most beautiful place in the world

Saturday we drove back to Rigby and after I went to Carma's for a quick visit, we headed home.

Sunday the summer really ended with a trip to airport so Roy could fly back to Florida to go back to work. Nate started school on Monday, so the summer really was over.

I have plenty to keep me busy this fall and winter. While the weather is still nice, I will ride my bike out to the state park and take care of the yards. Then I have lots of scrapbooking and journaling to do to help me remember this wonderful summer.

Bear Lake Adventure

Dave and his family, Chelley and Jon came up Saturday morning to begin the exciting long weekend at Bear Lake. We meet Cheryl, Jason, and Ben at the lake on that chilly windy Saturday afternoon ready for some lake fun.

Evan though the weather was as nice as we would have liked, everyone seemed to have a great time. There were two swimming pools with hot tubs, a great playground for the kids, old and young to enjoy, a large open area perfect for games of catch, a basketball hoop, miniature golf, which we didn't have time for, bike rentals, and the lake.

After the kids were put to bed, the Wii came out and Dave, Jason, Jon, and Nate played some fun games well into the night.

What is a trip to Bear Lake if you don't try Raspberry shakes. They were delicious. The boys went to three different places and decided that "Merlins" was the best.

Sunday we spent time at the pool and then the boys went out for ice cream and Cheryl and Summer put the little one's down for a nap and Chelley and I rented bikes for an hour. Then we all wandered down to the lake for a while.

Sunday night Chelley and Jon said good-bye, Jon had to go to work, Monday. We missed them, but were glad they could come up for a while.

Monday we all headed up to Minatonka Cave. That was an amazing place. It was well worth the time and the drive was so beautiful. We had pizza for lunch and then back to the pool and hot tub and later to the lake. The boys played catch and basketball while the little ones went to the playground. Roy and I took a nice relaxing walk around the resort while parents put kids to bed.

Before we knew it it was Tuesday morning and time to pack up. Ideal Beach Resort was a great place for a vacation and it was fun to find a place where we could all be together.

Roy, Nate, and I took the long way home through Montepelier, Cokeville, and then home. It had been a perfect vacation. Now it was time to get ready for another adventure.

Catch up Time--Vacations are Over

Whew!! Nate is back in school and I have a lot of blogging to catch up on.

The last blog I posted tells of our tales to Albuquerque. We arrived safely and left Allyson with her mom and dad on August 6 at 9:30 pm. Chelley and I checked into a hotel to get some much needed rest.

Friday, August 7 was a restful, but some what busy day. We traveled over to the New Mexico Turner home and hung out with them for a bit and did some laundry. Chelley and I drove over to Old Town while Evan took a nap and then caravaned to the "Hot Air Balloon" museum. The kids have been there enough to know everything there is to know about hot air balloon so they were our tour guides. It is an interesting place--I didn't know there was so much to know about hot air balloons.

Pat and Phil Catherall, Summer's parents met us and we all headed out to dinner at a wonderful Mexican restaurant. The food was delicious. ( I can't remember the name of the place, but I certainly want to go back.)

Chelley and I headed back to the hotel where we were staying for the rest of the weekend, hung out at the pool and waited for Roy and Nate to get in. It was good to see them; Roy hadn't been home since the 4 th of July, so I was really glad to see him and share my adventures.

Saturday was Ryan's special day. He was going to be baptized. We were glad we could all make the trip and make it safely.

Allyson gave a wonderful talk on baptism; she did a great job, better than some adults have done. I was proud of both Ryan and Allyson that fine summer afternoon.

After the baptism, we all headed back to the Turner homestead to celebrate Evan's birthday, albeit, a couple of days early.

After a brief rest we headed to Isotope Field to take in a baseball game. What fun is a beautiful Saturday evening, if you can't go to a ball game. The kids shared their knowledge of baseball with us all evening long. Way to go!! Summer and Dave, you have taught your children well.

The ballgame was a lot of fun and the Isotopes won. Sunday morning was get ready to head home day. We would liked to have stayed longer, but Dave and Summer had plans and we needed to get home to get ready for our next adventure.

Nate was with Chelley and me for the ride home. We stayed the night in Moab and went into Arches to do some hiking there, again. Nate told us that Arches is his favorite National Park.

After breakfast at the "Jail House Cafe" it was time to get home. We dropped Chelley off and made it safely home to Evanston Monday afternoon.

Tuesday, August 11, Nate registered for school, his senior year, and I started to get ready for the next weekend and our family trip to Bear Lake. I picked Roy up at the airport Friday night and we were ready for a great time.

Mesa Verde National Park & on to Albuquerque

This was the last true day of our vacation with Allyson as we would stop for the night in Albuquerque. After leaving Arches and after our stop at "Hole in the Rock" we did travel on to Cortez, CO. We got our hotel room, ate dinner, splashed in the pool, (Ma Turner was a party pooper cause I didn't get into the pool) and then finished the night with ice cream. What else could we do, Dairy Queen was across the street.

We were up early, before eight and headed for the short drive to Mesa Verde. Now I didn't know too much about this park before we got there, so I learned a lot on this day.

Our first stop after entering the park was the Park Point Overlook. You can see for hundreds of miles up there. It is the highest point in the park at 8572 feet.

We then traveled on to the Visitor Center, looked at the exhibits there and headed off on another long adventure. Let me just say that Allyson was the best traveler we could have had. She went hiking with us and didn't complain too much about our long days.

We then took the long twisty road to the Wetherill Mesa, named after the ranchers who discovered the ruins found here. We took the tram to the "Badger House" community which are a group of four ruins from different time periods.

We caught the tram again and the driver, a very knowledgeable park service employee, stopped at a couple of other sites, namely the Kodak House and the Long House.

Then back on the road to the Chapin Mesa which is the most developed area of the park. We stopped at the Chapin Mesa museum which was very informative, saw the Spruce Tree House, from a distance, Took the Mesa Top Loop, and then finished up with the Cliff palace Loop which had numerous stops and lots of dwellings built under the mountain overhangs.

It is certainly a place I want to visit again, in cooler weather, to do hiking and visit the different houses that have been found.

After leaving Mesa Verde our destination was "Four corners" where Allyson wanted to be in four states at one time. However, we forgot to stop and get some cash and the Interagency Indian Council does not take debit cards, so didn't get to stop there. So we headed south to Shiprock, Farmington, Bloomington, and Cuba, arriving in Albuquerque at 9:30 Thursday night.

And so ended Allyson's Adventure with Grandma Turner. We would have more fun times during our stay in Albuquerque, but this special time I had with Allyson and Michelle on our journey will always be a special memory for me. Thanks guys.

Arches

(What the hikers)

Wednesday was our trip to Arches. Michelle and I have been to Arches, but Allyson didn't think she had been there. Time for another adventure. We first stopped at the Visitor Center which was new since my last visit. There is so much to see at the Visitor Center you could spend all day there, but we had exploring to do.

Some of the places we stopped and hike around and to were: Balanced Rock, Double Arch, Delicate Arch Viewpoint, (Delicate Arch hike will have to wait until a cooler time of year), and the Fiery Furnace viewpoint. We also stopped at Skyline Arch for a quick picture.

After touring Arches, we stopped for a picnic lunch and then Allyson and I toured the "Hole in the Rock" which is a home chiseled into a home. Very interesting, but I don't think I could live there. (It is the ultimate tourist trap.)