Marsha called me last week and asked if I would like to go hiking with her.  I love hiking!  Marsha runs all the time though, so I was worried about keeping up with her.  She assured me she doesn't like to go fast though so I was good to go!

We have been having a lovely fall...exceptionally warm, so I was bummed when it rained a couple of days before we were going to go...  Which meant snow in the mountains.  The weather was supposed to be nice and warming though, so we decided to go for it. 

We decided to go up to desolation lake.  I've been to dog lake which is quite close to desolation before and remembered it being a fun hike.

We got an early start so it was kind of cool, but in just a few minutes, we had taken off our jackets. It was a really nice sunny day, and the trails had dried out to where they were just perfect to hike on.  Not dry and dusty, just damp so you wouldn't slip. 

The mountains were just breathtaking.  These pictures do not do them justice.  The colors of the quakies went from bring yellow to orange to red.  It was really beautiful.   

 We were just going along and heard some movement in the trees real close.  When we came around this tree, there was this moose right there.  We were pretty close and kind of nervous of what he would do, so I snapped a picture and we hurried on our way.

 It was so nice to have this time to just walk along and visit with Marsha.  She has always been one of my dearest friends.  She was one of the first people I met when we moved into this neighborhood.  We hit it off right away and became fast friends.  We had kids the same ages and just had the best time raising them together.  We had all kinds of adventures with our kids together....shopping ( we were awesome bargain shoppers!..would hit the sales at Mervyns and come home with some great deals!)  We'd load up KC and Kassidy and go shopping at the boutiques and they would go around collecting all the business cards  from the booths and thought that was about the best thing ever.  We spent the summers swimming at Raging waters, or just playing in the sprinklers or slip and slide in the back yard. When I was called to be Primary president, she was my first counselor.  We would take the kids up to the library at the church and spend hours making copies and fun things for primary.  We played racquetball together and went out with our husbands together. We both liked to sew and craft so we did lots of fun projects together.  We went on several vacations with their family too.  To St. George and to Zion's, Lake Powell and always went to Newport together..  We'd  have birthday parties and Halloween parties and Christmas parties.  We'd go to school functions together and church things together. Anyway, we did just about everything together, so it was pretty devastating to me the day she called me and told me they were going to move. They weren't going far...just out to Sandy, and we would see each other occasionally, and talk on the phone, but it wasn't the same.   I missed her terribly. 
We have stayed in touch over the years since she's moved, there's always, showers...(wedding and baby) and weddings, funerals and we still get together for birthday lunch with our friends, but don't get to see each other much other wise.  She is one of those people who you can talk to after not seeing them for months and be able to start up right where we left off.  We have a genuine love for each other and each other's family.

This is the little lake we hiked to.  It was beautiful, but cold for some reason around this lake.  We ate our lunch, then hiked a little bit farther to the top of this crest.  It was pretty amazing to look over the other side!  You could see clear out over the valley and into Park City.

 This was pretty cool to look down into that valley and see all these sheep. 

 We certainly have been given a magnificent world to live in...times like these, my heart is just full to over flowing with gratitude and awe at it's beauty.

Squirrel

We had a perfectly lovely day together...(trying to take our own picture we both about wet our pants)
It was a good hard hike...coming down my legs were really tired.  After we were down and rested I felt really good though.  I thought....Hey I'm in pretty good shape...I don't hurt at all!  Wait for it....about 30 hours later...then it hit me and I could hardly walk!  HA!  That's how good of shape I'm in!

Teina just sent me this picture from the reunion...How blessed I am to be a part of this wonderful family!

Love you guys!

 A few things from last week that I've been thinking about...

Love these two...they can always cheer up my day.,,,Cafe Rio doesn't hurt either.

Grateful for this guy too...woke up to find the button dolls I had been working on had all commit suicide.  seriously...who does these things?

 Went over to help with  the quilt for the festival of trees.  I haven't quilted for many many years...and it showed.  Nel is really a pro and makes the tiniest little stitches.  Mine look like I needed to put my glasses on.
They had  had the quilt on at the super Saturday so lots of different ladies worked on it.  They started out quilting the designs inside the squares  and the squares too, but realized we would never get the quilt done at that rate.  So  now  we doing just the squares. 
It was fun to visit with Jo Ann and Nel and Naomi and Chris while we quilted. 
After about 3 hours though, my fingers were hurting!  I know I know...now I get landscaping duty.

 I spent a few days last week going around to some different tile stores.  We have a lot of area to be tiled in the bathroom so this is kind of a big decision.  I don't really like to make decisions that I'm going to have to look at for the next rest of my life.  (I'm pretty sure we won't be remodeling upstairs again any time soon.)
Anyway, there are about 50 tile stores on 3rd west so I tried to hit a bunch of them to see what was available.  I brought home a bunch of samples of ones that I liked,.  Some of the show rooms had some great ideas of  different things you can do with the tile...gonna take Kelley back with me to look at some tomorrow...hopefully we will come home with something...we are at that point now where he can't do anything else till he gets the tile in.

We had bunko Thursday night out to Brenda's.  Stacey and I went up to the stake standards night first though.  It was really cute the way the stake yw and ym presidencies had set it up. They had all these booths set up outside with fun activities for the kids to do.  We went to the booth that Abby was running and played musical chairs. We had a good bunch of kids from our ward show up.  We snuck out after that...I don't think it was a big deal for the leaders to be there anyway. 

I picked up the other gals and drove out to Brenda's.  I felt so sad to hear Karen tell us of the hard things they are going through right now with their son.  My heart breaks for her and the decisions they are having to make right now.

Bunko was fun.  Everything was so nice and we were all in the mood for  chatting so we went way late.  I came home with the bunko prize this time!  I don't think I have ever won it before. 

 

Very cool!

.

About a month ago, Tammy came over and said she had something important she needed to ask me.  ummmm. OK.  Then she told me about a trip her and Ken were going on in mid September.  I was like, "Oh do you want us to watch your dogs?"  she said very seriously,...."Yes...I wanted to ask KC if he would take care of them while we were gone...but I thought I had better ask you first to see if you thought he could do it." I said  " I'm sure he wouldn't mind at all"  Then she said " It's a little more involved than just feeding them...they need to be fed twice a day, then theres treats and letting them out to play and go potty and then I'd like him to sleep at our house so the dogs aren't lonely."

 

At first I thought she was joking, but then I could see that she was very serious.  These dogs are very important to her.

So I said..."yeah...that should be OK...you'll have to talk to KC about it"  she said, "yes, I just thought I'd run it by you first to see if it was OK...I'll be talking to KC this week. 

She came over and talked with KC a few days later and he said he could do it.

During the weeks up till they left, I bet she asked me at least 10 times if it was still going to work out for KC to watch the dogs.  yup...still OK.

A week and a half before they were leaving, she came over and wanted to set up a time for KC to come over to learn how to take care of the dogs. So KC got over there and she showed him how to do their food, treats, when to let them out, and where he could sleep. ("Oh  and they might get in bed with you...just don't mind them" HA!)

 

 So when KC got thinking about it.... he realized he was not going to be there for their afternoon time of letting them out, so he asked me if I would do it.  Of course...(KC was taking this job very seriously...he could see how anxious Tammy was about her dogs and didn't want anything to go wrong!  he called me every day to make sure I had gone over there) 

So I went over there and could hear the dogs barking at the back door.  Kind of intimidating to open that door when you know this huge beast is going to jump all over you.  ( when ever I go to visit over Tammy, she has to hold the dogs back from attacking ( which is not easy because they are twice the size of her)...not in a scary way...they just want to jump on you.)

So when I got to their door, I could hear them jumping and scratching at the back door and barking.  I pushed the door open and tried to slip inside without them escaping. I got inside and quick shut the door and they were all over me.  The big brown one, Anaka....he is reeeeeealy friendly.  He is really large too!  I 'm pretty sure he weighs more than I do....his tail wagging would easily take out a small child.  It about knocked me down.

So I got them to settle down and get off me and let them out into the back yard so they could go potty.  They ran out, but then ran right back in and wanted to jump on me some more.  So I went outside with them so they would do their business. 

I came in and got their food ready...one cup dry dog food...then a package of  this food that honestly looked delicious.  Big chunky vegetables, shredded chicken in a savory sauce...at least that's what it said...it didn't smell like dog food...more like chicken pot pie.  HA!

So I got their food and water all done...the black one Hermine came running in and went to town on his bowl.  Anaka was rolling in the grass outside.  I went out and hollered at her to come and eat.  By the time we got back in the house, Hermine had eaten both of their bowls of food.  Oh dear.

So I fixed Anaka some more.  She didn't seem like she was even hungry.  I didn't want to leave without making sure she ate though,  ( and Hermine didn't) so I sat down in their lawn chair to wait.  Next thing I know, Anaka is trying to hop up on my lap.  Haaa!  It was so funny,  I wished I had my camera with me that day!  She is just a huge, very lovable dog. 

 

Anyway, I got to do that for three days.  The second day when I went over there, Hermine was really droopy. I was afraid she was sick, but she was eating and drinking ok so I'm sure she was just really missing Tammy. 

KC got along just fine over there with them at night...except for the fact that they like to get up at 3:00 am and  bark.  I don't think Tammy had mentioned that to him...that's when Ken would always get up and let them out. 

Tammy called several times every day to see how they were doing.  She really loves them.  I sent her some pictures that I took of them and I think that made her feel a little better. 

When they got home, she brought me over some nice cantaloupes.  She was really grateful and paid KC well for his time. 

 I can see why she loved the dogs so much...they are very sweet...

can't compare to Lizzy though...(she was very jealous when I would go over there...she could smell the dogs on me and gave me a dirty look like she thought I had been cheating on her!)

We found out the other day that Robin had lost two of her dogs in the past few months.  She sat there and cried as she told us about them.  They were quite old, so she knew it was coming, but still so sad.  They were everything to her.  

Lizzy is getting older too...can't even think about losing her. She has been such a good dog and is like part of our family.  She still has the energy of a puppy though, so I hope she will stay healthy and be with us for a long, long time.  

Yesterday we  had the first annual Braegger reunion....and it was sure a lot of fun!  I took a ton of pictures, but my computer is kind of wigging out and won't let me upload them...so I'll keep working on that.  I need to write a little bit though cause it was such a special day, and I don't want to forget.
We had initially planned on going up to Pine view reservoir and taking the boat.  Teina and I talked and decided we had better check out the situation up there in person to make sure we could get a camp ground close to the water, so her and Lynn drove up there and found out we would have had to reserve the pavilion, (which is not close to the water) for 200.00.  The lady I talked to said there were camp grounds close to the water that we could probably get if we got there early.  Teina said the camp grounds were pretty small with just one or two tables and not enough room for all of us.
So we decided to bag that idea and were just going to go to the park.  Then Brenda suggested we go up to Mantua ( thats manatooa for Candice)  to a camp ground there by that lake and do dutch oven cooking.  We thought that sounded good.  Then we found out that the LDS girls home up there was available that day, so we decided to go there.  We actually went there about 25 years ago for a Braegger family reunion.  I have a picture of us all sitting on the big front lawn.
Anyway, we picked up Candice on the way and had a few other stops on the way so we didn't get there till after 11:00.  Driving up the canyon  and back into the girls home was pretty amazing.  The colors in the mountains were so bright and vibrant.  It was really beautiful.
When we got there, Brenda and Teina were there setting up and Leslie pulled in right behind us.   We helped get the dutch oven potato's ready to cook and got the chicken cooking, then we had some time to visit and  play some games. Phil and Stacey, Denise and Eric showed up just a little later.

   We were just getting dinner on the table and Brad's family showed up. Julie came with her cute girls too.  Mark's family came just a little bit later.
Their families have all the little ones, so that livened things up a bit.  I was just dying to have Olivia and Sam there.  It was fun to see the cousins play together and get to know each other.
After we ate, we did this little craft I brought.  It was a cute thing I saw on pinterest...a bead necklace that you attach a little toy container that comes in the gum machine ( I looked everywhere to find these!) then you put a bug or crawly thing in it for your little pet.  The kids seemed to like it!

Then we went outside for a pinata Leslie had made.  It was so cute.  The kids had a ball with that too.
  Then Brenda did a fun game with the kids with balloons. 
It was so nice to get to visit with neices and nephews.  Just love them and their sweet little families.

So glad KC and Candice were there...they were good sports and very supportive! ...so lucky to be mom to these two...they make me proud and happy!

 Fixing Sadies little necklace that broke

Oh boy, the day went by so fast!  We wanted to get a family picture taken before people had to leave, so Lynn set up his tri-pod  so we could all get in the picture.  That was quite a trick to get all the kids to cooperate, but I think it will turn out! 
We cleaned up a bit, then it was time to go.  We are already making plans for next year though... we decided we really like having it there at the girls home..There's lots to do and it's got everything we need there.  The kids had the best time just running around in there and letting their balloons go off the balcony.   I think everyone had a good time.  Thank you thank you to my sweet family for supporting me in this...it meant so much to me to be able to have this get together with my sisters and their families.  This is our family and we will have to give a little more effort to stay close now that mum and daddy are gone. We will have to be the ones to hold our family together now.  I want so very much for us sisters and our families to stay close to each other. I miss the get togethers we had as we were going through things at the house.  Now that it's all said and done,  I feel an emptiness. I look back over pictures and things I brought home though and remember the fun we had and that fills me up.  We will just have to keep making more  wonderful memories,  All it takes is a day like we had yesterday...that left me with a very warm, full to over flowing heart.

 Friday morning I went over to Judy's to learn how to make these button dolls for the festival of trees that our Relief Society is doing.  She is on the enrichment committee ( or what ever that's called now) and was in charge of a few of the ornaments for the tree they are entering. ( Which should really be  fabulous...Naomi is in charge of the whole deal and she always does an amazing job!)

They had asked the young women to come help with these dolls so she wanted me to be able to help teach them how to make them. 

Judy is an amazing lady...one of my favorite people ever. She has been through a lot in her life...some real hard things, but keeps on going with a great attitude.  She is a great camper and has always been involved in yw girls camp.  I think that's where I got to know what a neat lady she is.  She doesn't do anything half way...more like 150 percent!  She always had the funnest ideas for the girls and they all loved her.  My girls still just love her to pieces and always have to talk to her and get a hug when they see her.  I got to be her visiting teacher for many years and really enjoyed that too. 

Anyway,  she had all these little dolls ready to go and their dresses all sewn. 

Judy's daughter Cami was over there too.  She is super crafty and real talented.  She showed me how to do some cute  crochet edges on a baby blanket.  It looks really cute.  Gonna have to try that!   Then Judy showed me these socks.  She said she had learned how to do them and thought Olivia would like to have a pair.  How nice is that! 

 Cami showed me these adorable scarves she has been making and told me they were really easy.  I had her show me in just a jiffy how to do it.  I'm going to have to make some of those!

They sent me home with my arms and my head full of fun projects to do!

Sure do love these two.  So grateful for their close relationship  and for the love and respect they have for each other.  So grateful for the love and respect they always show me too.

While I went to super Saturday, they worked out together and mowed the lawn.  Then when I got done, we went fishing! ( Super saturday was fun.  the amount of work that goes into it is unbelievable...all these different handmade ornaments, a train with hand painted cars to go around the tree, a big quilted quilt, and lots of other things will go with the tree. Bishop Light cut out a ton of wood projects to be finished...so much work!   Kelley is making a quilt rack for the quilt to hang on to donate too.)  a few young women  and a couple other ladies worked on the dolls with me.  Stacey came a litttle later and stayed and finished up with them.  I think they got about 10 dolls done! They had a nice lunceon ...it was nice to get to visit with some ladies from the ward...not a lot of opportunities to do that.) 

 It was such a beautiful day.  We caught a few pretty good size fish!

Kelley are you giving KC a dirty look because you got skunked?

Canyon was so beautiful...the colors are amazing!

 The flowers are so pretty right now.  Just had to take a few pictures...

 

 

Cotners came over after church. Will reset the sensor in the car that keeps saying to service engine soon.  They have fixed everything so now we just need to fix the stupid  sensor that says it's broken!  Hope that did the trick.   

Colton wanted to feed the chickens and the fish.  He is growing up ...hardly threw any rocks into the pond...I could just see the wheels turning as he held the rock in his hand  ( although he did throw the food right on the chickens and got a big kick out of that.)  Ha, he is a funny little guy. He adores Kelley though.  Kelley boost him up into the coop and let Colton fetch the eggs and put them in a basket.  He was careful with them after Kelley told him they would break...couldn't care less when his mom and I told him.   His parents have the patience of Job.

This is their baby boy.  He seems a lot calmer than Colton...by the time Colton was his age, he was running circles around everyone!

 Made some yummy rolls and a turkey for dinner...  a nice Sunday!