The Last Week of Summer on the Alpine Loop

I had Monday off after working this past weekend. Lorrie and I decided that we didn't want to just sit around or work ourselves to death, so we decided to go on a drive up the Alpine Loop.

It was a good choice.

The weather was beautiful: cool with a little breeze. And, even better, there were hardly any people.

We stopped in a turnout so I could get some pictures of flowers, trees, leaves, and puffy clouds. While we were there in the turnout, it was so quiet, peaceful, and pleasant that we just sat in the car with the moonroof open enjoying listening to the breeze blow through the tops of the aspens and pines. We sat for quite a long time, not saying anything. We saw something moving through the brush a little to the left and in front of the car in some thick underbrush. Then we saw it: a very pretty little deer. It hadn't seen or smelled us, so I started to take pictures of it. A little while after I had gotten out of the car to get some better pictures, the deer finally noticed me. But it didn't run away at first, giving us a little more time to take pictures.

We also stopped at Cascade Springs and got some great pictures. On the way home, we stopped to get some lunch and took it to Thanksgiving Point to eat.

That was another good choice.

There were a couple butterflies flitting around a patch of flowers. The butterflies and flowers were almost the same color and the wings of the butterflieds looked like stained glass, making the whole scene even that much prettier.

Well, once again, that's all that there's time for. If you want to see the whole album, just click on this link.

You asked for it!

Some of you have asked about the comment in the previous blog about our new, little business. Well, you don't have to ask us twice!

Lorrie and some of the girls really got into scrapbooking a few years ago. In fact, Kirstie even became a distributor for Stampin' Up stuff and Anna helped her. Well, they got to liking it so much and were making such cool things, that they thought they might be able to sell some of the items on eBay or through another online channel.

So, we got together and started a little e-business called scrap-n-scribe. You can visit the Web site at http://scrapnscribe.com/, but only under ONE condition: That you don't laugh at it! We're still building the site and I'm frantically trying to learn HTML so we can do everything we want to do.

We're selling custom-made brag books, scrapbook pages, greeting cards, skin & beauty care gift sets, picture frames, and journals.

So, that's it! Hope that helps explain what we're up to.

As Summer Draws to a Close

It's been a very busy summer, full of all kinds of work. Job work, yard work, starting up a little business work, family work, Church work, school work, etc., etc., etc.

It's also been hot.

All of these excuses have added up to the fact that we haven't been to Thanksgiving Point since sometime in June.

But, despite being exhausted after yet another busy week, we finally took advantage of a Friday evening when we just couldn't do anything more and trundled down to Thanksgiving Point again. And, wow, are we glad we did. It was full of color and a nice, cool breeze was sighing through the trees and flowers.

We had both taken books to read: Lorrie had a Church book entitled "When Times Are Tough" and I had the latest (and last?) Harry Potter book. There were very few other visitors in the gardens, so could focus and relax. I know it's silly, but we like being together, quiet, and unhurried.


We know that most of you are pretty tired of us writing about and posting picutres from Thanksgiving Point. We understand and sympathize. But in our sheltered, little world, it's about the most exciting place we go. :) In fast and testimony meeting today, one of the members gave pretty much a travelogue of his motorcycle trip with his brother through Yellowstone. I whispered to Lorrie that we'll never make the mistake of giving a travelogue instead of a testimony because we never go anywhere.


So there you have it. Our most recent excuse for talking about Thanksgiving Point again. The one bit of redeeming value, however, is that we saw a really pretty hummingbird while we were there and got a few pictures of it. We hope you enjoy these pictures. If you want to see the whole album (42 pictures, I think), we'd love to share it with you. Just click on this link: View photos

Nessun Dorma

Click on the link below. And while you're watching, just think about what accomplishments and joy you might be burying under a cloak of self-consciousness or shyness.

Test of Color

Home Contest

Lorrie and I spent a couple days last week checking out homes in the new Daybreak area of South Jordan. We saw a few that we really liked and several that we didn't like very much at all.

Because we're so forgetful, we took pictures of each of the models we visited. We thought it would be fun to have you guess which two were our favorites. If you guess both homes correctly and in the right order, you will get first prize. Second prize goes to the one who guesses both homes correctly, but gets them in the wrong order. Third prize is for the one who guesses one of the homes correctly.

We don't really know what the prizes will be, but you can be sure that they're "many, large, and expensive!" And if you believe that, there'll be a special prize just for you.

Click here to see the pictures. Home Contest Pictures

July 4, 2007 vs. Independence Day

What does this day mean to you? Is it July 4, just another date on the calendar? Or is it Independence Day, a holiday unique to our nation? The one on which we commemorate the birth of the United States of America.

We hope it's the latter. It is for us.

As has become our tradition, we celebrated by going to the Saxeys' home for a big neighborhood flag ceremony, Primary parade, and breakfast.

Then, we got everyone together and went to the Sandy City parade.

Next, we had a big barbecue in the backyard, then moved into the front yard to watch the fireworks display.

It was great to be a family. It was great to be an American!

Missing Teä Already

It's been only a little over a week. We get to talk to and see her on the webcam every couple days or so. But it's not the same as having her here.

The Doggie Park

Up until April 2007, we had two sweet dogs, Snickers and Shadow. They were both female border collie mixes, Snickers being part hound of some kind and Shadow being part Labrador retriever.

Shadow had lots of health problems throughout her life, including epilepsy. In the middle of December 2006, she passed away in our backyard, nestled in Lorrie's arms. We think she must have had an aneurism or stroke.

After Shadow's passing, Snickers, shown in this picture, reverted to being a pup, even though she was several years older than Shadow. There's a doggie park near our home and, in March and April of 2007, we started taking Snickers there as often as we could. Snickers loved it. She could run around without a leash on, visit with "buddies," and get some exercise.

We loved it, too. We liked to take the grandkids with us so that they could run around a little bit and enjoy all the dogs.

In early April, we noticed a pretty big lump in Snicker's belly. She had always loved to have her tummy rubbed, but all of a sudden she started pulling away when we tried to rub it. Lorrie took her to the vet. He said that it was probably just a benign tumor on her spleen, but that he would have to go in surgically to make sure and to remove it. When he got in there, though, he discovered that it was cancerous and had spread to quite a few other places. He called Lorrie while Snickies was still anesthetized and told her what his findings were. He recommeded not waking her up because she would not have a very high quality of life from that point on.

Lorrie had to make the decision, because I was at work. Even though it was painful and certainly not what we had hoped and prayed for, she knew that it was the right thing to do. It took a lot of courage and compassion to tell the vet to just increase the anesthesia and send Snickies off to the next life.

We miss our doggies. It's especially hard for Lorrie who enjoyed their companionship throughout the day when she was the only person at home. We would love to have another dog. Both of us have always had dogs since we were born. But we know we can't have any more. It's too hard to lose them. And they're terribly expensive these days. Also, it's a hassle to line up people to take care of them when you're going to be gone for any length of time.

At least these are our rationalizations at this point in time.

Getting started with blogging

We're really new at blogging, but it seems to be "all the rage." And since we really like computers (when they're working) and digital photography, it seemed like blogging would fit into our lives super well.

If you have suggestions for things you'd like us to write about or if you have stuff you'd like to add to the blog (pictures, stories, etc.), just let us know. Of course, you can start your own blog for free here at blogspot.com. It's easy, fun, and will let you express yourself in your own way.

Well, that's it for this post. We hope that you will visit our page often and enjoy it as much as we do.