This week we hosted some friends from college days, Tim and Margo Abbott and their kids, Evelyn and Phoenix. They were on their way from Oakland, CA, where Tim is the engineer for the Oakland Temple, to Duchesne, UT to visit their families. They were feeling pretty relieved and satisfied about the completion of the Oakland Temple renovation. Tim said he was definitely ready for a vacation. I can only imagine the weight of spearheading such a big venture. It was great to reconnect with them and spend time together for a few days.
Also this week we spent a couple of days at Thanksgiving Point while Ailie and Claire participated in a two-day day camp about plants and gardens at the Ashton Gardens. Max did a camp on one afternoon about music, specifically counting and rhythm. Eleanor, Callum, and I spent a lot of time being hot. :) (The venues weren't as air conditioned as I thought they would be.)
Elle's tiny horse was named Penelope.
Mark did a training/retreat day on Tuesday at BYU with this year's seminary councils from Stansbury and Grantsville. (He will be advising Stansbury's council this year.) They had great classes with some of Mark's favorite professors from years ago, did a fun picture scavenger hunt, and enjoyed JDawgs and Rockwood Creamery.
Mark sent me a picture of this original Jorge Cocco piece he saw in Provo because we both enjoy his work:
On Friday Mark had his favorite kind of work meeting—he and three coworkers climbed Deseret Peak for a faculty building day. (There were three others planning to come but they backed out when the forecast looked rainy and chilly for the day. They did get rained on pretty heavily on the way up, but the sun came out and they had a very pleasant hike down.) He got to try out an Osprey backpack that the business bought for him to use for his landscape photography. ;)
Enjoying the view along the trail:
The source of admiration. The peak in the center is South Medina Peak, the one I did in October in a little snow:
Rain over Tooele Valley (view from above the saddle). Unfortunately, it rained on him for much of the trek up to the summit, but he didn't take many pictures when he were in the rain:
The Oquirrhs:
Neil and Michael getting close to the summit:
Wild flowers were in full swing!
Neil and Michael at the summit:
Trent at the summit (he's the one that took Andrew, Ryan, Nate, and Mark canyoneering in Zion with some other coworkers—none of which came on this hike):
On one of several snow shelves. Some they didn't dare set foot on, but this one sat right on top of the trail, so they ventured:
The sun finally came out on the way down:
They took the loop route (up on the South side, down on the North). The trail circles back right below the cirque of Deseret Peak:
Still a lot of snow for the end of July (Mark has hiked it in June with no snow to be seen at all—so this was strange):
An impressive amount of evergreens for a mountain that looks so desolate from the bottom:
A rare capture:
We also cleaned a bunch this week, read some, and the kids finished watching the Avatar series again. All of the kids except Ailie have been dealing with a head cold. Callum has had some pretty rough nights as a result, but we hope he's on the up and up now.
At the park:
Callum's froggy pose (this dude goes all over a room now and can almost sit up by himself):
Callum can do the splits! (not really):
A new giant doll for the doll house (he backed himself up into this):
Imagine a baby that giant...
We hope you're doing well!
Love,
MAACMEC
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