More Summer fun!

( Read this in the most adventurous voice you can muster)

With only our wits and a few sticks to defend ourselves, our small band of safarians embarked upon a trip into the wilderness. We braved searing heat, raging rapids, sheer rock faces on both sides, dangerous undercurrents, towering waterfalls, hungry, ferocious animals staring down at us from the cliffs above with their beady little eyes! Indeed it was a treacherous journey, but we knew that the conditions were just right for this type of expedition. So we made the necessary preparations and set out on our voyage. . . .

(Dramatic pause)

Yes, our intention was to... (gasp!) Float the canal!

Aaah! Defend yourselves from the wild beasts!

Those ferocious animals are saying, "Just you wait... You may have escaped this time, but we will get you next time!"

Of course many of the most perilous aspects of our trek that were described at the beginning could not be captured on film because they were so dangerous, but trust me - we feared for our very lives throughout most of our passage through that uncharted territory!!

~Keep checking in for more adventures!~

Summertime!

Here are a couple great shots of Callie going to town on a ginormous hunk of watermelon tonight. VERY cute, in my opinion...

Food! Glorious food!

While Deb was out pitting a "chair of Bowlies" on the steps, I went out to the garden to grab these loverly things. It's amazing how fast they grow! That is an 18 inch ruler, by the way. We didn't get the garden planted until the middle of May!!

In fact, this before pic was taken on May 8 when I had just began to redefine and refurbish the plot. We didn't actually plant until later than that because of weather and I started school and stuff.

This is July 9th... Our zuchini plants are waist-high, our tallest corn is head high and has the flowers starting to come out. One stalk has three ears starting on it already. There are tomatoes in there somewhere that are just out of control too. we've got a few pepper plants mingled in between that are doing great, and onions galore! I found those three Zukes lurking, with even more on the way! We decided we are going to let this guy grow to see how big it will get though.We'll keep you updated on it's progress!

Will you post your photos?

Those of you who were able to come to the wedding, will you please email your pictures to us or post them up here? We're still waiting to get ours from the photographer and we're dying to see how it all turned out from another perspective than our own (which was very busy and barely had time to take very much in). Thank you,
Zach & Deb

Our first Camping trip

We went on our first camp out from yesterday till this afternoon. It was so much fun! This morning we went on a hike just to see where the trail went. It lead us around mant interesting turns and bends, always ascending higher and higher. We didn't run into any ferocious beasts while we were up there, except this menacing butterfly. It even has wiskers by it's "nose" !

We saw a couple more like these below!

And here are some samples of the flora we passed along the way too. This plue and purple one is Penstemon.

This is a wild Delphinium, just like the cultured ones we had at the wedding.

And here's a close-up view of the flower to show all the fine details of it

Columbine; white ones and yellow ones...

Paintbrush

I don't know what this little white one is, but it was so dainty and cute I had to take a picture of it. The breeze was blowing enough that it wouldn't stay still!!! Grrr!

These guys were much more vivid in real life...

Here are a few pictures of our surroundings

A little catching up

I was a little preoccupied the entire last weekend to get any pictures of the wedding, so I'm depending on you all who were there to put some up until we get ours from the photographer. Here are a few I did get.

I am a genius!

I've had this plant that has been giving me grief for years. It's a Ponytail palm and it has these long grass-like leaves that hang down way past the bottom of it's pot so anywhere it gets put, like on a table for example, theres these twisty things that go everywhere and they are in the way. I can't bear to cut them off because it has taken so many years for them to grow that long and that's part of the uniqueness of the plant!!

The other day as I was cleaning my apartment in preparation to move, I saw my tall floor lamp that we won't be needing in Deb's place and then lightning just struck my brain. I knew that it was destined to become the perfect plant stand for the palm! It needed just a little Johnson tweaking to make it work, but i knew I could do it. I disassembled the lightbulb/switch assembly and removed the cord. Then I unscrewed the tall post part and removed the center section to make it shorter and put it back together. I attached the saucer to the stand itself with the existing washer and nut, put the pot onto it's saucer and it was good to go!

I added some rubber cement to he area on and around the nut to keep water from leaking when the plant gets a drink. I also thought it was cool how the shape of the ball on the stand is a reflection of the shape of the trunk of the palm. This whole thing was meant to be. . . . .

Hair day

Today Deb went to a friend's to get her hair done , kind of a pre-style thing before the wedding. She gave Callie a quick trim too, since it has never been cut.













While Debbie was having her turn, Callie and I went for a walkabout. We chased some ducks, went to the playground and had fun for a couple hours.

This last one is probably my favorite one of the day. It was very candid. I had to hold the camera out over the water, so I couldn't even see exactly where it was aimed. Then I called her name, pushed the button and it worked out!

161

That's how much I weighed in at today. After being at a static 145 for the past however many years, I've finally started to put on the poundage. All of you who have said I need some meat on my bones can thank (blame) Debbie for this.

Also I have an update on my job at the Sprinkler store. I finally started back there about two and a half weeks ago. This year they have me working on an on-call basis under contract, which means I'll only go in when they have plans for me to draw. I'm not happy about that because it has been raining all week and no one thinks about doing sprnklers when its pouring down, so they haven't called me in. grrr... I'm also not happy because I know that it is their easy way out of having to pay unemployment or have me on their taxes or anything. They are quite weasel-ly that way

So soon!?!?

Less than three weeks until Zach and I get married. Wow!!

We are so looking forward to those of you who will be able to come celebrate with us; and I'm looking forward to meeting all of you, if not on our wedding weekend, then at a family reunion or otherwise.

I truly feel like I'm the luckiest girl ever - Zach has affected so much positive change in my life, and I hope that we will both perpetually experience positive change and a growing love for life and for each other.

Peaches Galore!

After a non-productive year last year, my peach tree is going to favor us with a bountiful harvest in a coupe months. This is only one branch, but the whole thing is covered with nearly the same ratio of peachlets per branch. I took this last night.

Pretty in Pink

Here are a few pictures of Callie all ready for church today

Life Elevated

Deb and I decided that we would go hiking today to commemorate the kickoff of Summer. There are several canyons that go up into the mountains from here which neither of us have ever been to, so we said, "Let's go!" The first one we went to explore is called Blacksmith Fork Canyon, down near the south end of the valley. We were specifically looking for trails we could hike on, but the scenery itself is often worth driving up these winding roads.

About 15 miles into this canyon we had had enough of following sluggish RV's with their caustic diesel exhust so we turned around and started back down. About halfway back we parked at an empty campsite by the river to have a snack and fresh air. Upon closer inspection ofthe site when we got out, we found that the fire had not been put out properly. there was absolutely no trace of anyone still occupying the place so we proceeded to separate the wood and stir up the coals to put it out. We found a plastic bottle nearby and used it to get water from the river to dump on the fire. throughout our trips back and forth we found out that the careless campers had also left a lot of firewood there too!. Since there was no one there to claim it and we had done our environmental duty to protect the whole forest from going ablaze, we claimed the firewood as our own and loaded it in the car.

With our new low-rider car, we proceeded down the rest of the canyon road. We went to the next available canyon looking for adventure and Providence Canyon was the right candidate. Four miles in, we stopped at suitable place on the side of the gravel road. We parked the car, got out and started going up the side of the mountain. There was no clear trail , just a thin, dry creekbed/gulch thing going up so we followed that as best we could. It was quite steep and the rocks were loose and treacherous, but we were feeling adventurous and happy from our acquisition of the carful of firewood so we pressed on. Our goal was an outcropping of rock about halfway up the side of the mountain.

Practically hugging the side of the hill as we ascended, I got a good close up view of the rocks as

I climbed. At first glance they looked like average gray, run-of-the-mill-rocks... until I noticed something imbedded in one of them. Then I noticed TONS of little things imbedded in these rocks! If you'll notice the little light grey thing at the bottom left of the rock, that is what caught my attention.

This is what was on the other side of the same rock! You can see all the fossilized remains of many of the sea creatures and plants that inhabited the sea floor of the ancient Lake Bonneville that covered Utah and much of the Great Basin area al those eons ago. We collected several more specimens just like this, some with even more stuff fossilized into the rocks.

We got back in plenty of time to make it to our ward's traditional Memorial day FHE BBQ. We even donated some of our firewood to the cause. Fun Fun!

Moving

Over the past little while I've been slowly bringing things over to Deb's house from mine. The other day I dug up my tent that has been sitting under some stuff outside for the past year and a half. It has been in it's bag; but I had figured that it would be all mildew-y, rotten and falling apart from sitting through two winters, two autumns, two springs and a blistering hot summer. I assumed the elements had done their worst, especially if any moisture had been trapped in there for vso long. I didn't have any hope as I pulled it out of the bag, which wasn't waterproof- water resistant, but not waterproof...

To my great surprise and pleasure as I began to unroll it the shiny maroon top material revealed itself to be in perfect shape and good as new! YAY! There are a few tiny little spots of mildew that will have to be scrubbed out, but all in all it will be ready to go as soon as we want to go camping this summer. I'm so excited!

May 22

Anyone who is familiar with my history knows that today is signifigant. This day today is especially signifigant because starting now I will have spent more of my life with my disability than without it. I'd say I've come pretty far since then.