Piute ATV Trail Rides

Gary Felter, a former, fellow-missionary friend, invited us to go 4-wheeling for a couple of days with him, his wife Suzanne, and other former, fellow-missionary friends, Morris and Sharlene Mower. We stayed two nights in Richfield. The trip was planned to take advantage of the peak of the spectacular fall foliage and beat the colder weather and storms which will be arriving shortly. Mother Nature has really been busy with her paintbrush and a palette of vivid and varying shades of red, orange, yellow, and green. WOW! We saw a deer, elk, wild turkeys and mountain goats.

Gary and Suzanne rode in their new "Screamin' Demon" Polaris RZR.

Morris and Shar had their "Silver Bullet."

I know they're hard to see, but in the little clearing near the bottom center of the picture there are three elk. One had a very nice rack. After I spotted them and stopped, I yanked off my gloves, got my camera out and snapped the picture. The big buck was out in the sunshine near the road when I first saw him. I had my little camera with poor zooming capabilities and was shooting blind with the sun in my eyes and dusty goggles. I felt fortunate to even get them in the picture. Click on picture to enlarge. It was 'raining' yellow aspen leaves.


Here is another really long shot. Look around the dark crescent shape just to the right of the highest peak. Trust me, there are lots of mountain goats there. To the naked eye they appear as little white dots. Using binoculars really helped. Click on picture to enlarge.

It seems that pictures never do justice to the breathtaking beauty of nature. Nevertheless, enjoy these fall mountain scenes and bold colored leaves:

Thanks to Gary, our expert trail ride guide for inviting us and also for keeping our goggles cleaned!

What a difference a day makes...it was about 87 degrees on Tuesday when some of these pictures were taken. We returned home Tuesday in the late afternoon. We woke up on Wednesday to rain and a rain/snow mix with temperatures in the low 30's. I had a white knuckled 111 mile drive to American Fork in the storm.

Autumn at Bear Lake

Beautiful fall day...pretty colored leaves...sunny and very warm...gorgeous blue water...calm and relaxing waters......we couldn't have asked for a more perfect day...except a few fish, perhaps.

Kokanee Salmon Run

We went up above Porcupine Dam to watch the annual Kokanee Salmon run. It is absolutely fascinating. The missionaries at Cinnamon Creek Camp had the gate open and a sign inviting the public to watch the salmon run. We timed it well as there were thousands! In some places you could reach out and touch them. Courtney is spending the night here so she went with us. Afterwards we went to Pier 49 Pizza.

The leaves are just starting to turn at Porcupine Dam.

Beautiful!

The Cradle of the Restoration

We have been accepted for volunteer service at the Church Historical Sites in Palmyra, New York during the Hill Cumorah Pageant for two weeks next July. We had decided to apply and hope things (family matters and available funds) work out so that we can go. Two other couples who served with us at Heber Valley Camp are also planning on going.

Fishing with Owen

Owen spent his last morning staying with us boating and fishing at Hyrum Dam. He was adamant that we had to stay until nine fish were caught. We hoped his dream would be realized but were worried that it might not happen. We told him the fish might not be hungry.

Learning to drive the boat

Relaxing on a bench after the strenuous work of reeling in ten (10!) fish. It tired the little four year old so much he fell asleep on the way home from the dam.

Owen knows and sings a song about a fish biting off a finger. He was really concerned about holding some fish for a picture. He finally agreed to hold these little fish because their teeth weren't very big.


That is the end of another fishy story.

Labor Day

When I was a kid my dad said that we were supposed to labor on Labor Day. Many times that is what we did...worked in and around the house and yard. Some years I picked beans. We were bused to a valley location like Smithfield or Trenton and thought it was a great deal because on Labor Day we were paid 3 cents a pound instead of the usual 2 1/2 cents. Today Labor Day is a day of recreation, the 'last hurrah' of summer. Jodi, Ty and kids came from Oklahoma so we had all 30 members of our family over to celebrate Labor Day. Some went to the Wellsville Founder's Day Parade, others made a quick trip to Bear Lake, but we all congregated at our house for what was supposed to be a fish fry. Because some weren't too excited about the menu, we had hamburgers on the grill as an option.

I really wanted to eat outside but it was quite hot and sunny. We set up the tables in the family room downstairs. What a zoo!

After eating we filled some water balloons

Water fight!

Grandpa got the hose out

Spectators

Aubrey

Jory is recovering from 4 breaks in the ankle area

Brooklyn in her bikini

My Five Daughters

Jodi, Kim, Jill, Robin & Candace

My Grandchildren

I couldn't decide which pictures were best so I included several. None of the pictures were good, but all were quite typical. We have 18 grandkids but not all were in the pictures. Two pictures have 17 of them, one was napping.

In order of birth from age 14 down to 3 1/2 months

Courtney, Riley, Hailey, Ashley, Mason, Natalie, Tanner, Jayse, Kaden, Landon, Ashlyn, Brynlee, Owen, Katelyn, Miles, (Olivia missing), Brooklyn and Aubrey