Oktoberfest

Cindy hosted an Oktoberfest party last Thursday night. It was also Christopher's birthday. Audre and I went after our Excel Class. It was a great party.

Cindy did this awesome papercut for the party invitation. Isn't it precious??



Audre, Christopher, Cindy & Me


Cindy & Colin

Bev's Birthday & Katydid

It was Bev's birthday last Thursday, September 17. She had a bunch of friends meet her for dinner at Sawadee in Salt Lake City. It was so great to see Bev! She's such a great friend. Bev, I hope you had a great birthday!

I didn't take an pictures at the party. So, I got this picture off of Cindy's blog.


Mindy sent me these pictures. This is Bev, Me, Mindy & Maria. We considered this our official FMOM activity for this month. It had been a couple months since we were all able to get together.


Bev & I with her birthday dessert.


On the way home from dinner, I noticed this bug on my car. Caleb says it is a Katydid (It is. I looked it up.) He rode on the hood of my car all the way from Salt Lake to Layton.

When I got home, I was so excited to show Caleb. Caleb tried to lift him off of the car onto the grass. But as soon as Caleb got close, he flew to the grass. I was certain he was not a flying bug since he stayed on the car for the whole drive.

Here is where I first noticed the bug. At a stop light in Salt Lake.


Here he is safe in Layton.

San Francisco & The Redwoods

Warning....lots of pictures. Sorry, I couldn't tell the story with fewer pictures.

Last weekend Caleb and I went to the San Francisco area to visit some friends. We stayed in San Rafael with some of his old roommates from Salt Lake and had a great time. We got in late on Thursday, and went to the Redwoods on Friday. It was so amazing. It was about a 4 hour drive from where we were staying. On the way, there was a hippie festival going on in the middle of nowhere called Earthdance. We stopped to check it out. Parking was free because we were carpooling, but the festival itself was sold out. So we didn't get to see much of it.




When we got to the spot we were going to hike around in, we saw a large red truck that said fire co. on it, and there were a bunch of guys standing around the truck. We didn't really think anything of it. So, we parked and decided to have them take a picture of all of us before we started out on our adventure. They were all wearing orange, and they acted a little weird when asked them to take our picture. One guy said, "Captain, can you take their picture?". Captain was the only one not wearing orange. He took our picture. As we started to go on our way, I realized that at the top of the truck it said "Department of Corrections". That explained everything. Captain took a nice picture though. This is Me, Caleb, Valerie, Sean & Darren.



Here are some pictures in the Redwoods:
That small person at the base of the trees in Darren.



Darren, Sean Caleb & Valerie sitting on a big tree that has fallen over.


This is at the top of that same tree that had fallen over. A small cloverfield was growing up there. Caleb & Sean are on top. Me, Valerie & Darren are sitting down below. This was also known as Darren's happy spot. It was his favorite part of the trip.



Darren's back after laying down in his happy spot.



a view looking up at the tree tops.



Lots of the trees had hollow centers. Here is inside of one of the trees.



Darren & Caleb are inside the tree. Caleb is touching hands with Sean on the other side of the hole.


walking through the Redwoods. Everything is so big!!! It looks almost fake.


This was our favorite spot. It's so beautiful.


Eating treats


Darren jumping off the log.


Caleb, Sean & Darren


Here is Darren walking out on the log.


Here is Caleb crawling & walking & crawling back from the end of the log.


I didn't go out on the log. It was too scary.

This was a large tree that had split open. Caleb is standing between the two halves.


On Saturday Caleb & I went into San Francisco. We just walked around the city and had lunch with Paula.

Driving down Lombard St.


At the Farmer's Market at the Ferry Building. We had the most delicious fruits there. Caleb is grumpy because he is sick of being in all of my pictures.


Cupcakes with Paula at Miette bakery. Caleb looks so tall.


After hanging out in the city we went to have pizza at Zachary's. Deep dish Chicago style.


Our trip went by too fast, but we had a great time.

Bear Lake with Mom & Dad

I went up to Bear Lake this weekend and spent some time with my mom & dad and Ashley. We had such a great time.


We rented a boat.




The water was so beautiful!



They loaded and unloaded the boat with this tractor. The tractor drove it right into the water. There wasn't a boat ramp or a dock.


Dad & Ash


Mom stitching.

On our way home from Bear Lake, we stopped in Logan and had dinner at Mel, Ben & Oliver's house.


The wildflowers in front of their house.


Mom & Oliver in front of the chicken shack. They have two chicken that live in here. Clack & Lack.


Clack or Lack?? I don't know, and Oliver couldn't remember either.

Thanks for such a great weekend!

Guinavah-Malibu

I have been waiting to finish my roll of film to post these pictures of our camping trip up Logan Canyon with Mel, Ben, Oliver & Ash. We stayed at Guinavah-Malibu campground, and it was perfect camping spot. Very private, right by a river and a big spot. We had a great time.

A path right by our campsite.


The river right by our campsite.


Ben & Oliver playing in the river. Mel & Ash watching on the bridge.


Caleb made his famous dutch oven potatoes. (secret ingredient: lots of butter) I would not recommend eating these on a regular basis.


Roasting hot dogs & marshmallows around the fire.