A Narrows Escape!

Ed and I hiked the Narrows in Zion National Park today. It is a hike entirely in a river canyon carved by the Virgin River. It is almost entirely in water (cold water)!

We were a little trepidacious at first, wondering how our feet would handle the cold, but after a while they became numb to the pain!

It was amazing walking in the middle of the river with the sheer canyon walls on both sides of us!

We made a few friends along the way, indluding chipmunk who was hoping in vain for a piece of our granola bar,

and a very fat rock squirrel, who looked like he had convinced some tourists to share their lunch with him!

The bad news was, Ed bumped his wrist on a rock and the pin came out of his watch, which caused the watch to fall into the current!

The good news was, a nice man coming through the rocks behind us, dug around at the base of the rocks and fished it out! It works perfectly!

After our Narrows hike we also stopped at Weeping Rock and several other scenic spots in the park.

Everywhere in the park is scenic! It has been 25 years since we were here, and we had seen so little last time.

We had lunch at the Zion Lodge, where it all came full circle. We had fun reminiscing about Thanksgiving in 1992 or 1993 when we joined my family for a festive Holiday dinner at the Lodge. Ed, sadly, spent it in the parking lot, nursing a kidney stone. We finished eating and rushed him to the hospital in St. George right afterwards.

The meal today was much more pleasant!

My favorite flower of the day was the Sacred Datura, a poisonous trumpet shaped flower occasionally used as a hallucinogen. Ed could have used a little of that on the way to the hospital in 1992!

Anasazi Steakhouse with Joan

Ed and I drove to St. George today, and were pleased to get some more out of summer! The temperature is in the 80's here!

We met my sister Joan at the Anasazi Steakhouse for dinner! We were glad we followed her recommendation!

They bring out your steak on a really hot lava rock, and you just let it sizzle as long as you want! I loved it, as I like my meat a little well done!

Because we wanted the full experience, we ordered the almond joy fondue dessert, as well! I was glad my stomach was finally recovered from my ordeal on Tuesday, and I was able to truly savor a great meal!

It was also fun catching up with Joan, who has a very interesting life!

I hate Colonoscopies!

The one good thing that came out of my routine colonoscopy was breakfast in bed by Ed. I got home by 9:00 a.m. yesterday, and was starving, but feeling terrible. Ed was very sweet to me.

Three days later, I'm still having stomach problems. I'll have to be dying before I ever go through that again!

Snow in Alpine

We had snow in Alpine yesterday! It didn't last long at our elevation, but left a lovely dusting on the mountains!

We started our walk today with light jackets, but the warm sun made us wish we had dressed cooler by the end of our walk.

It looks like fall has come to the Bush house. We're okay with autumn, but sorry to see summer go, as we enjoyed it so much!

Halloween's Coming!

We were talking to Mabel about Halloween, and she started singing a song called "Halloween's Coming" that she must have learned in daycare, because none of us knew it!

We had fun getting out some Halloween trappings to show the girls.

Mabel loved it all, and even tolerated grandpa teasing her with the giant spider!

She enjoyed trying on some costumes, and looked adorable as a clown. Too bad clowns have fallen on hard times these days!

She especially liked the clown with the face mask. Now, that is scary!

Star Trek Discovery

We got all decked out for the first episode of CBS's new Star Trek Discovery! Brittany helped us get in the mood by finding Star Trek foods we could make! Ed cooked Klingon gladst out of wood fungus mushrooms. I made faux Klingon gagh out of spaghetti and red beets. We had some Romulan ale to chase it all down.

It wasn't the most attractive meal, but was remarkably tasty!

Brittany made Bjoran hasperat, cellular peptide cupcakes with mint frosting (a scene from Data's dream) as well as brought donut triblbles!

Then we all settled in for the long-awaited Star Trek return to TV!

CBS showed the first episode on the air, but wants us to pay for CBS all-access to watch the next episodes! We're pretty annoyed with them, but might have to cave in, as episode 1 finished on a cliff hanger, and we have to know what happened! We are Trekkies, after all!

Oh, Mai, Pillow Talk!

Saturday we went to a Vietnamese restaurant with the Nuttalls. We all loved it, including Mabel!

Ellis and Marti knew the owner of the restaurant, who comped us some delicious sweet rice for dessert, as well!

We had the Vietnamese Salad bowl with 5 spice chicken--very good!

Clementine didn't eat, but had lots of fun playing with grandpa after dinner!

We dropped the kids off and went to the show at the Hale Theater in Orem. They were showing Pillow Talk, which had lots of laughs and some very talented actors! Thanks to Marti and Ellis for inviting us and getting us out of the house!

Chokecherry Jam Band at the Alpine Cove Ward Party

The Alpine Slow jam was asked (ok, we volunteered) to play for our ward party Friday night. It was the first gig for the "Chokecherry Jam Band."

We were excited to have 8 people in the band (Janet not pictured). We had guitars, bass, banjo, mandolin, ukuleles, fiddles, cello, harmonicas, penny whistle and a cajon!

Playing were Ed, Ken, Evertt, Judy, Barbara, Katie Marie and Cherie and Janet.

It was 45 degrees out, but happily, did not rain! We played (and sang):

Scotland the Brave

The Red-Haired Boy

Sally Gardens

Soldier's Joy

The Eighth of January

Amazing Grace

Cotton Fields

Country Roads

Will the Circle Be Unbroken 

We also had two girls in the ward sing solos. Hazel put us to shame with her rendition of Heart of Gold. She sang and played the guitar as well as the harmonica. 

It was a great first gig for the band, and we're hoping to have many more fun experiences together over the years!

Visiting C.C.A Christensen's painting

Barbara and I and mom went to the Springville art museum on Friday to see the original print of "Weighing the Baby." It was painted by our many times great grandfather, Carl, Christen Anton Christensen.

We first heard about the painting because it was on the cover of a book we read called "A House Full of Females." This picture was done by CCA for his good friend and ex-missionary companion upon the birth of one of his children. The first wife is in the foreground helping the midwife weight the baby, while another wife is recovering in the bed. They husband is peeking in the door.

While we were at the Art Museum we took time to see the beautiful quilts on display. It was amazing to see so much talent in one place. This was just one room of many! You can see why quilts rightly belong in an art museum!

We stopped for a great lunch at the Trolley Restaurant. It is amazing how much fun you can have in a small town like Springville!

Sort of Fun

Bonnie and I sorted clothes for a Relief Society Service Project on Thursday. Our ward has been donated a lot of t-shirts, hoodies and coats for men, women and children. They are all new and were ordered for a project that never got much headway, so the owner decided to donate them to charity.

We counted sizes and styles and marked them in boxes. The next step is to identify charities that can use them. I don't know how many charities want hundreds of items of clothes with the same picture on them, but we'll find out!

Diamond Fork, Hobble Creek and Will

Ed and I took a drive along the Diamond Fork Road (off US 89), and back into Springville via Hobble Creek Canyon.

We were looking for fall colors, and found a few of them, but it looks like we were several weeks too early!

We saw some turkey buzzards and some cows. The cows were the only ones slow enough to get their pictures taken!

We were glad we took the truck, as a good section of the trail (about 45 minutes worth) was unpaved!

There were some very pretty views, but I was too nervous on the narrow and winding road to really appreciate it! Ed drove slowly and cautiously, which made me very happy!

Afterwards, we popped into our lawyer, Brian's office to sign our new Utah wills. The next time I drive a narrow, treacherous road, I'll be able to rest easier, knowing our temporal affairs are in order!

Literary Sojourn 2017

Suzanne and Susan and I went for a morning hike before Sojourn today. We were happy it stopped raining, although we did come home with really muddy shoes!

We came down the mountain past the new Outlaw Alpine Mountain Coaster. Next year we're coming up early enough to ride it!

We had time for more shopping and lunch downtown before the Sojourn. Kenna and I had the street tacos!

The Sojourn authors spoke in the Strings Pavilion in Steamboat. It was nice having assigned seats, especially since ours were close to the bathroom!

We also were close to the exit for High Tea, and got first in line for food!

We were happy with our finger sandwiches, fruit and dessert. And we especially enjoyed sitting outside and eating in the sun!

We enjoyed four of the five authors who spoke. Our favorite author was Amor Towles who wrote A Gentleman in Moscow and Rules of Civility. 

In the evening we went out to a "cook your own steak" restaurant downtown. Either the meat was tender and delicious or I'm a great steak cooker!

I was so grateful that Kenna and Jana and Suzanne were able to join me at Sojourn this year or I wouldn't have been able to go! We had a great bunch of authors, and it's always fun coming to Steamboat Springs to hang out with friends!

Hopefully, some of the original Bookies will be able to join us again next year!