A glimpse...

On Tuesday, Trevon started working for Color Country Auto. He really enjoys the work he is doing. He does oil changes, checks the fluids in vehicles, works on balancing tires, and helps with clean up and delivering vehicles. After his first day at work I took these pictures of how dirty he was. Every day he worked, he came home even dirtier than the day before, so these pictures actually show him looking pretty clean!




While Trevon worked, Sadie played. She went to Disneyland with the Wilson family. Emily Wilson invited Sadie to go with her and she had a wonderful time. She was able to see the Mormon Batallion Visitor's Center in San Diego, visit the beach, and spend three days playing at Disneyland and California Adventure. She is thankful to the Wilsons for including her on their vacation. I asked her what her favorite part of the trip was and she said she didn't have a favorite part - it was all of it terrific!







Mike and I went with Cari to her college orientation at SUU (Sothern Utah University) on Friday. She seems excited about her upcoming transition. We were able to meet with her roommates and check out where she will be living too. It was a long day but I enjoyed the workshops that were offered for parents as well as students. It is going to be an adjustment to make for all of us when she leaves home, but I think we'll make it through!

Up, Up, and Away!

On Friday evening, just as Mike was getting ready to head home from work, he got a phone call from the father of a previous employee he had. Rocky Neal owns and flies a hot air balloon as a hobby. He invited Mike to take our family for a ride in the balloon the following morning. Cari and Trevon invited some freinds to go with us, as "man-power" was needed to set up and take down the big balloon.

Saturday, we woke at about 4:30am to get ready. We needed to be in Washington no later than 6am, and had to leave our home by 5:30am to arrive on time. The invited friends met at our house at 5:15am. It was an early start to our day. We kissed Sadie goodbye as she had other fun plans that I'll post about later.






We drove out to the Washington fields area and helped put the balloon together. We used a cul-de-sac to spread out the balloon, hook up the basket, and fill it with air. Trevon had to help keep the envelope of the balloon open while Rocky filled it with air using a fan. Then, after it was blown up, he heated it up so it would rise!





The noise of the torch was pretty loud and sent Corban running down the street. He did not like it! The younger kids would plug their ears whenever Rocky pulled the fire starter.



He invited Mike and Elise and me to have the first ride. My heart jumped a little as I was nervous. I crawled in the cozy basket and before I knew it we were floating above everything. It was an easy, smooth ride and beautiful to see the world from a different perspective.

Another balloon was being set up as we took off, and soon joined us in the air.



We flew 700 feet above the ground and Rocky sprayed shaving cream over the side of the basket to test the direction of the wind. This gave us an idea of where we would drift to and eventually land. We landed at the edge of a plowed field.

Next to ride was Cari and her friends: Zak Mitchell and Nathan Gowans.
On their ride, they learned that Rocky charges $400 an hour to give balloon rides (That's per hour for how ever many people you want. The basket is not very big and will hold about four at a time. So, if you have a bigger group than that, he'll give turns during that hour's time). They enjoyed looking over some really nice homes with swimming pools, trampolines, tennis courts and more!






A little boy named Hudson, Kristi, Trevon and his friend Braydon Gubler had the next turn. They were surprised at how smooth a ride it was. When they landed, they picked a number to see which one of them would get a second ride. Kristi picked "15" and the number was "16." She got to stay in the basket for the last ride with Brandon Gowans (Trevon's other friend) and Hudson.




When we weren't in the balloon, we followed behind it in our cars. That way, when it landed, we could quickly switch occupants. We were the "chase crew," ready to help should the need arise.




At the final landing, we spread out some tarps, laid the basket on it's side and pulled the balloon down across the tarps. Then, we "milked" the envelope, getting the air out of it (which was comfortably warm), unhooked it from the basket and tied and rolled it up. Everyone worked together to get the balloon into its case and back into the trailer.

I asked how much the balloon itself weighed. Rocky said that without the basket, the envelope is about 200 lbs.

This picture is looking up into the balloon:




It was interesting to learn that ballooning seems to be a dwindling hobby, meaning not very many younger people are doing it. At meetings that Rocky attends of ballooners, there are a lot of gray headed fliers and not so many younger ones. Rocky has been flying for about 17 years. He says he could do it every day, he enjoys it so much. (He really can't do it every day though - and will not be able to fly it as the weather gets warmer.) We were very appreciative of his thinking of us. We all had a very enjoyable morning together.THANK YOU ROCKY NEAL!

Hidden Canyon

On Monday, Mike, Trevon and I headed back to Zion National Park for some hiking. We wanted to hike the Hidden Canyon trail and so we did, along with the River Walk trail.



To reach the Hidden Canyon trail, we took the shuttle bus to the Weeping Rock stop and then found a map that pointed us in the right direction. The hike up to the canyon was beautiful and in the shade. Still, my heart was a fast and steady beat as we had an uphill climb the whole way.






Some parts of the trail required some manuvering, were sandy and slippery, and there were chains attached to the canyon wall for safety.








I felt like a mountain goat at times!

We reached a sign in the hidden canyon warning us that continuing on would require "scrambling." Well, I was with Mike and Trevon, so of course, we continued on....and I SCRAMBLED! It was good scrambling though, and we really enjoyed ourselves.




Trevon was a mountain goat - in the canyon, he climbed along a wall - until I told him to get down!





Beautiful ferns grew on the shaded canyon walls.




I would consider this hike a strenuous one, but beautiful and I would definitely do it again. As we headed back down the trail, the sun started to shine on us and I felt bad for those just going up. If you hike this trail, go in the morning while it is shady.

Before heading home, we walked the River Walk, and looked at the Virgin River. It was a raging. We really enjoyed our morning together and I was once again, thankful to live so near to this beautiful retreat, Zion National Park.

Trevon and Friends

School is out and Trevon and his friends could hardly wait to play! On Thursday, his friends gathered at our house to go on a campout together.



As usual, it began with a few "glitches." Josh locked his keys in his truck and then Trevon lost the keys to our car. After a bit of stress and looking - the keys were found, and Josh was able to retrieve another pair of keys to his truck. Everyone arrived and the boys were off!

(Kaden, Trevon, Joe, Josh, Jaxson, Brandon and Braydon)



Braydon and Kaden were the drivers. As they headed toward their destination, they saw a little cave and pulled over. A ranger stopped, warning them that they were not allowed to park there, he could ticket them, and that he would be keeping an eye out for them. That made the boys a little nervous! They found a place to set up camp near Enterprise Reservoir.



For dinner they cooked hot dogs over a fire. They divided into three teams and had an air-soft war all night long, sleeping with their guns!



For breakfast on Friday, they had muffins and juice. Then, they played different air-soft games until lunchtime. They had sandwiches for lunch.



They just hung out for the afternoon and then ate burritos with spanish rice for dinner that night. They made woof-ums (or dough boys) by cooking dough over the fire in a bowl shape, then filled the dough with pudding and whipped cream. Trevon said that they were so rich that they were only able to eat one or two of them each.

They set up a TV and generator and watched Back to the Future and Terminator.



Saturday morning they cooked a BIG breakfast: eggs with chopped up left over bratwursts and onions, pancakes and bacon. it was MMMMmmmm GOOD!!!


The boys had a great time together as they started their summer vacation. I was gald they made it home safe and sound!

A Day at Zion National Park

Mike had off of work on Wednesday, so we decided to go to Zion National Park with Connie. It ended up being a trip of Mike and the girls. All of the boys decided to stay home!



We went on two hikes at Zion:Emerald Pool and Weeping Rock.



We saw squirrels, birds, lizzards and a snake! The vegetation was beautiful too.



There was so much "cotton" in the air from the Cottonwood trees. Elise grabbed a handful she found on the ground.



On the Emerald Pools trail, we saw seven baby squirrels popping out from under the pathway. Connie was able to touch one.....(that was of course, before we saw a sign telling us not to feed or touch the animals!)



We each had an ice cream cone and enjoyed being out in nature. I think the boys really missed out on this day!





Cari hadn't had very much sleep and was tired, but was her fun, happy self (finding time to rest here and there - like in this tree)!

GRADUATION!!!

She did it! Cari graduated from high school with honors and we are very pleased and happy for her accomplishments. She had lots of support at graduation: Her immediate family, Papa and Grandma Beutler, Grandma and Grandpa Ferrin, Grandpa Matheson, and Grandma Connie too.







We sat right next to the band at the Burns Arena and were able to watch both Cari and Trevon play together for one last time in band.









A bunch of hugs and smiles followed after the ceremony:





On the way home we laughed as we asked Cari, "So, Cari, you just graduated from high school; What are you going to do next?" (She didn't say anything about Disneyland.)Her answer was, "I'm going to COSTCO!" We headed there to pick up a cake to celebrate with!





We headed home for a BBQ outside and gave Cari some gifts. We ate the cake (vanilla with a strawberry cheesecake filling) and ice cream. As the night cooled off and became dark, we lit a fire and enjoyed being together. Mike got out the telescope and found Saturn. Then, Cari left to celebrate more with her classmates....all night long!