This and That In July!

We had the Perrys over for a barbecue.  It was so hot we mainly stayed inside.

They took the Planks home and Lily made this with every plank!

The Melanchuks and Perrys got together in Chico.

David and Joshua did a YM backpacking trip to Point Reyes with their Dad and the ward.

The rest of the family had a picnic at the temple and stopped by later to see us.

We had some good Primary lessons.  One of our students was blindfolded.  He then took his marker and tried to follow the path. 

Next, while still blindfolded someone else gave him instructions.  We were teaching them to Follow the Prophet, he knows the way!

We also told the story of Esther...

...including the part Haman played in the story.

We started and finished our newest puzzle:

I decided to decorate for our anniversary early since we will be gone for a good part of August. 

 Fifty years seems like a big deal to me!

Camille and Sarah made these for us.  When Camille asked us we told her some of our favorite animals were bears and cougars.  

John and Sara and Aubrey and Bethany went to a family reunion in Waterton, Canada.  John took these pictures.

The Melanchuks went to a family reunion in northern Idaho and had a lot of water fun.

We have started packing for our trip!  Here is the route starting in Paris and ending in Amsterdam.

Scenic Way Home!

Since we decided to take two days to get home from Utah, we drove up Little Cottonwood Canyon before leaving the area.  It was very beautiful this time of year!

Of course we had to stop to see this waterfall

and the water rushing down the creek

Some of the other sights

And then looking down to the Salt Lake Valley

Then we drove to Elko and after dinner we decided to drive up Lamoille Canyon, a 12 mile Scenic Byway.  

Even the sky was pretty on the way there!

We got in a walk by this rushing water

What a beautiful spot!

And pretty much no one else around except one lone hiker and he looks familiar!

Now after a good sleep we made it safely across Nevada and down the Sierras.

Reunion: Monday Afternoon and Evening July 4th!

We spent some time at Blackridge Reservoir near the house.

Everybody remembered sunscreen but someone forgot after spraying to rub it all over!

Lots of fun on a hot afternoon.

I wonder if this was Courtney's punishment for the sunscreen incident?

The Ping Pong tournament finished with the finalists being David and Daniel.

Big smile from the winner.

The Koob tournament finished with the finalists being Andrea/Emma and Joshua.

The spectators watch as Joshua knocks down the King.  (In his first turn he knocked down all 5 baseline Koobs!)

John and family supplied sno cones for everyone with lots of flavors to choose from.

Before it got dark enough for fireworks, we had a Glow Party in the theatre room.

It was amazing!

So much creativity!

We finally took the Glow Party outside to watch fireworks.

It was spectacular from our perch on top of the hill.

At first we said: We see hundreds going off

But as the evening progressed we decided it must be thousands!

Great finish to the family reunion.  Grandpa and I really appreciated the great fireworks display in honor of our 50th Wedding Anniversary!   And we love our country too!!

P.S. A special thanks to everyone who helped so much get the house cleaned up the next day.

Until we gather again!