Down From the Mountain

We love our mountain location here in Alpine. I've been walking every morning and enjoying not only the view down in the valley, but the beautiful dessert plants along the trail. The light green plants are especially pretty. Is it sage?

We went down from the mountain to see our financial adviser today and decided to try out Rumbi Grill before we went back up. It was fresh and healthly-ish Hawaiian food. (I had a salad.) It was also delicious.

We also stopped at a shoe store and couldn't resist buying Mabel a pair of shoes. When she starts walking she's going to need them to go outside! She was a little worried about them, but didn't put up a fuss!

Trish Comes to Alpine

We had our first visitor from Maryland yesterday--Trish Gadberry! We were so happy to see a friend from back home! She is really out here waiting for her grandbaby to be born, but since the baby is dawdling, she had time to see our new house.

We enjoyed showing her the house and yard and then, the city of Alpine. We were lucky it was Monday, because we were able to stop at the truck roundup for dinner.

The weather has been great for being outdoors, and it made Utah look like a great place to live! Come see us in January and see how we feel about it!

Biking the Provo Parkway Trail

We joined Brittany and John for a bike ride this afternoon. It was Mabel's first time in her new bike trailer. She was pretty interested in it, despite a somewhat bumpy ride!

We followed the Provo River Parkway from Brittany and John's house to Utah Lake. It was an easy five mile ride, following the river and mostly shaded with tall trees.

Ed has been nursing a bruised heel and John has a sprained ankle, so it was nice we found an activity that wasn't too painful for them!

All that exercise made Mabel thirsty. She was glad we brought water bottles!

It was fun to see Utah Lake still had wildlife in it, despite the low water levels. The 3 inches of rain expected in the summer never materialized. Less than an inch fell, and the water levels were dramatically low. It still looks lovely, framed by the mountains on all sides!

Dinner and a Movie

Ed and I went to our first movie since moving yesterday. The unfortunate timing of the release of Star Trek Beyond coincided with our big move, and it took us 5 weeks to make it to the theater! It was worth the wait, however, and lived up to Ed's expectations!

Afterwards I made a Greek lemon chicken with rice soup in my new electric pressure cooker. It turned out delicious despite the fact that the appliance never pressurized! I think I'll be sending this one back to get one that works properly!

We had bought this to replace (and upgrade) our rice cooker, which like many other things, died after the move!

On a happy note, I finished and mailed my moving damage claims forms! We are not optimistic!

Back Yard Beauties

The landscapers have been here this week, weeding and trimming. It seems strange that it is the end of August and we just had our spring yard cleanup done. Everything looks so much better, and we're happy to be enjoying the new, cleaned up view from our back patio!

We celebrated by having a steak BBQ on our new grill. Ed successfully installed the kit to convert it from propane to gas and connected it to the gas pipe on the patio. He found out that gas cooks a lot hotter than propane! Nevertheless, we thoroughly enjoyed the first steaks we've eaten since we moved!

Goodbye Crystal

Crystal stuck around this morning long enough to help Ed on the great dulcimer project of 2016. Aunt Verlene gave her a mountain dulcimer kit that she got from someone in her painters group. It looked like it had been sitting in someone's attic for several decades. They thought it would be a fun joint project, but Crystal left it here in Ed's hands.

Maybe Aunt Verlene can paint some pretty decorations on it after it is finished!

Unfortunately, Crystal had to go back to work in Colorado, so left to drive home this afternoon! We're going to miss her and her decorating and remodeling advice! It was fun having her here!

Now I have to buckle down and finish filling out my moving claims forms!

Goodbye, Mabel!

Today's highlight was Crystal's last visit to see Mabel before she leaves for Colorado. Mabel was in rare form, acting cute and talking baby talk the whole evening!

In the morning Ed went out with Coda and me to explore the trails above our house. He hasn't got out much because of a tendon problem in his leg, which is slowly healing. It was nice to show him some of the places I've discovered.

Crystal and I did a little dulcimer jamming, her on the mountain dulcimer and me on the hammered dulcimer.

And, to finish off a fun day, we played a little Mormon bridge at Brittany and John's house. It's always a party when Crystal is here! We're going to miss her when she goes home!

Fun with Crystal

Crystal and I wandered the trails in Lambert park yesterday morning,but decided to go off road for a shortcut home. We were both lucky to not slide down the ravine on our backsides!

Crystal spent the day as Daddy's little helper. They put together our new BBQ, which was no small feat!

Ed has been working on training Coda to stay within the boundaries of our new invisible fence. We thought she was doing great, till the batteries stopped working and she seemed to forget she couldn't follow us into the street! 

We were happy Crystal was here on Alpine Food truck roundup day. It gave Ed a chance to finally get the piece of pizza he's been hankering for all week. They have a giant wood fire in this truck. Does that sound safe?

We spent the evening in South Jordan. Crystal wanted to see Aunt Barbara's beautiful new house. We ended up walking over to her cousin Eli's house, where we had the best cookies ever from Ruby Snap, and a cozy visit by their firepit. It makes me excited that fall is just around the corner!

Mabel's Birthday

Guess who turned one year old today? Mabel! We threw a party for her to celebrate!

I got to wear my pretty new muu muu (thanks, June!) for the occasion!

We had lots of guests, including Grandma Brady, who posed with four generations of Brady/Bush/Nuttall girls!

It was a good thing Crystal was here to help with the decorating and the party planing. We went with Hawaiin pulled pork and lots of fruit. The leis added a little color!

Mabel was very impressed with the candle on her cake. She also loved the sugar in it! It was her first taste of sugar, and she loved it so much she ate an entire slice!

She also loved the presents, especially climbing over the pile of boxes! Crystal had crocheted another keepsake for her, this cute little lamby!

What a fun day for us! I suppose Mabel won't remember it, but she can look at the pictures later!

Last Swim of Summer

We met Brittany, John and Mabel for the last swim of the summer yesterday.

The Provo Rec center has a several great pools. Crystal, Ed and I enjoyed going down the water slides. They were very scary!

We thought Mabel would like the shallow water, but she kept crawling out of it to explore! There was a lot going on there!

Afterwards we went out for pupusas and Mexican food! John is training Mabel up right, giving her a little hot sauce with every bite!

Crystal is Here

Crystal drove to Utah for Mabel's birthday this week. We were happy to show her our new house and great hiking trails. Coda also was happy to see her! We're hoping she will like it enough to move into the basement. 

Jenny Oaks Baker Concert with the Nortons

Chuck and Renee got tickets for us to go to the Jenny Oaks Baker concert at the Madsen Recital hall at BYU last night. We went to dinner first, and remembered why we like them so much. It wasn't just because we were young married couples thrown together in the Hawthorne Ward in California. It was because they are really fun and interesting people! We're so glad we live in the same state with them again!

We also enjoyed Jenny Oaks Baker, especially because her children played with her! They were phenomenal! I especially loved the 11 year old cellist. They reminded me of the Bush family band, except they were REALLY good!

The concert was a welcome break for me after two days of weeding. The landscaping in our new house is beautiful. However, some serious work is required to keep it that way!

Life Elevated

We were successful in getting licence plates for all three cars yesterday! They have a pretty picture of arches and say: "Life elevated" on the bottom. Ed says he still feels like he's on vacation and will return to Maryland soon.

The DMV line was short and painless. Afterwards we came home and weeded our poor neglected yard. That was not quite as painless! We're going to get some professional help, but we thought we should pull out a few egregious weeds before they took over the entire house!

Alpine Days

Ed wasn't feeling well yesterday, so I went down the mountain to the Alpine Days parade by myself to check it out! It was amazingly nice for a small town parade!

They had a stage coach with 6 matching horses!

And the Lone Peak Marching band played!

They had some fancy floats with beauty queens from the surrounding communities.

And they even had some nice entries from small groups. This one was sponsored by our ward Primary! I was glad I wasn't Primary president here!

They had a lot of food booths and vendors. After I checked it all out I stopped and bought Navajo tacos and took them back up the mountain for Ed and my lunches! I gave the whole event such a rave review that Ed is excited to be a part of it next year!

Alpine Rodeo

Ed and I went with Brittany, John and Mabel to the Alpine Rodeo last night. It was just a mile from our house, so we walked over.

It was fun watching the mutton busting before the event started. I remembered my grandpa letting me ride a sheep in Fairview, Utah when I was about that age!

The most exciting event was the bronco busting. Nobody in their right mind should practice this sport!

At the intermission they had a "Cash Cow" where they let any kids in attendance chase a couple of calves with money taped to them!

Mabel was very good even though it was way past her bedtime! She can't wait till she's big enough to ride a sheep!

New Driver's Licenses

Ed and I are now licensed to drive in the state of Utah! We went up to the DMV in Draper and were amazed at what a pleasant experience it was! The lines were short and we were done in about an hour. It was slowed down by the fact that we had to take the written test. Fortunately, they give you a manual, and it is open book!

Ed got a perfect score!

We went out to celebrate and I noticed my middle name was spelled wrong!

Oh, well, I called this morning, and they fixed it for me quickly over the phone! My permanent licence will arrive spelled "Lynn," not "Lunn!"

Finding Balthazar

If it weren't for Judy Krieger, Ed and I would have stayed home today and worked on the house. However, she encouraged us to come up to Salt Lake City and spend some time at the Family History Library where she is serving a mission. We also had the added thrill of eating lunch in the cafeteria at the church office building!

We were so excited to find Ed's great grandfather's birth record in the town of Odernheim, Hesse, Germany. We have been looking for him for years, but were only able to make the connection after Ed had his DNA sample taken at Ancestry, and he connected with a fourth cousin who had more information!

I couldn't believe Ed was able to find this record. If you enlarge the file, you see that number 9 at the bottom of the page is Balthazar Haring, born 3 March 1830 to Gabriel Haring and Anna Maria Mueller! You had to really know what you were looking for!

In addition, I took my first morning hike with Coda this morning. I'm no longer able to get my step count just working around the house!

In the evening we worked on the garage, putting up shelves and making a workbench for Ed. Happily, we can now park three cars in it now!