Jarrod Bday/Bookcases

Jarrod's birthday was October 28th. It was the big 15. Only 1 more year to drive, actually less with a learner permit. As evidenced from the photos, he is into tennis. He got new tennis shoes and a ball holder/stand/picker-up thing, plus a t-shirt and Ipod earphones. He's enjoying being the only child at home.

Rick C's beard (seen at the left) was for the "Savior of the World" play. He looks like Santa!! Sue and Jarrod also took part. Sue was the prop manager and Jarrod ran a spotlight. It was very professionally done. There are YouTube versions; but our stake's production was much better (in our humble, unbiased opinion).

Rick started building an entertainment center/bookcase in the family room. Still has a long way to go.

Jarrod Court of Honor/Running

Jarrod received his Personal Management, Personal Fitness, and Camping merit badges at the last court of honor. He has completed his merit badge requirements for Eagle rank. He wrote up his Eagle Project and submitted it to the committee last week. He should hear from soon for corrections. He can then begin his project. He will be building bookshelves for LaVeta Elementary School.

Jarrod ran in the Orange County Invitational at Irvine park on Saturday. His finish time was very impressive. Unfortunately, it rained the night of the race and created heavy mud. The officials changed the course and eliminated a hill. Therefore, their times were 1 - 1.5 minutes faster. But it sure sounds good for a personal record when there is no time for explainations!!!

Jarrod's Cross Country

Jarrod had his first cross country meet this week. He hadn't been planning on doing cross country this year.He thought he would be able to do Tennis but that didn't work out so the only way to have 6th period PE was to do crosscountry. So he ran. He had only been running 1 week prior to the meet. He couldn't hardly walk due to painful muscle the first few days after practice. At the meet he finished 5th for his team of 9 or 10. The coach was very pleased.

That's a tired bobo.

Katelynn & Jennifer visit

Jennifer and Katelynn were visiting this week. They went back to Provo yesterday. It was nice to be with them again. We were sad that Nathan had to stay in Provo. He had to work and started school. By the photo, it's easy to see Grandma loved having her favorite (though only) granddaughter around to spoil.

It was very hot during their visit. Sitting in the front yard eating a popcicle was a welcome relief for the kids. Anna and Katelynn have become very close cousins.

We also were able to go to the park and play on the slide. Grandpa had gone down the slide several times on his lap just fine. Then we let her do it on her own. Though hard to see, you can see she did not care for it much.

This is a video of Katelynn calling Anna.

Utah Vacation

After the trip week to Yosemite and Shaver Lake, Jarrod spent the next week in Utah attending EFY at the BYU campus. Sue's 3 sisters were in Utah at the same time. So she went there for the week to be with her sisters. Rick had the "pleasure" of being a bachlor for a week. He flew up on Saturday. Josh has been in Logan with Hayley's family for the summer so they came down on the weekends. It was a tremendous blessing to see the entire family together again. It doesn't happen very often any more. Nancy had fabulous dinners for us every night.

Sue is playing games with Katelynn. It was great having bonding time with her.

Julie and Bob's family were in Utah for a family reunion for the Spencer's.

Cute!

Rick spent the days working around the condo. He did various things: motion sensing flood lights, new outlet and wall switches, track lights on Nancy's painting, new dining room light.... But at night we had fun. On Wed night we drove to Logan to be with Josh and Hayley. After dinner we went to a fun center in Logan. It had a wave machine to boggie board and surf. Josh and Jarrod did pretty good. Josh says it's nothing like the real thing.

Then we went bowling. Josh's HS bowling class paid off - he won.

Thursday night we went to the Owlz game. It's a farm team for the Angels that play in Orem. It was fun but they had a terrible night. Lost big time. Friday, Nathan, Jennifer and Rick hiked up to Timpanogas Caves. It's a national park between Salt Lake and Provo. It's a 1.5 mile hike with an 1,100 foot rise to the entrance. It was worth the hike.

This shows the elevation. The parking lot in the canyon and the trail are marked.

The edge off the trail is very steep.

Sue helping Katelynn sweep the floor.

High Adventure Shaver Lake

On Wed AM, we broke camp and drove approximately 2 hours to Shaver Lake. This photo is the Yosemite campsite. The young men's tent is large in the middle with the adults tent to the right.

Each night, we had a campfire devotional with the Priests, Teachers, and Elders giving the lessons on Mon, Tues and Wed respectively. This is before the Wed night devotional.

Even though Ipod's were supposed to be put away. They couldn't be completely banned.

Thursday AM, we rented 2 Wave Runners to pull a WakeBoard and tube. This is Scott and the next Rick C driving.

Jarrod, Adam and Scott on a cruise.

The crew hanging out.

Pulling the 3 man tube.

We broke camp and were home on Friday about 2 pm.
Except for the Ricks back and knee, it went well. Rick C did a great job on the food. No one went hungry. He scrabbled at the last moment to pull this off and did an outstanding job. Great activity.

High Adventure Yosemite

On Monday, we drove from Orange to Yosemite National Park. We had 9 young men and 7 adults. We arrived in the afternoon. As we entered the valley, we stopped at a look out over the valley. Sue, Alyssa, Jarrod and Rick had done a similar trip in mid July of 2005. I will include some 2005 photos to show how long the water level was this year.

Bridal Falls July 2007

Bridal Falls 2005

On Monday, after setting up camp in the valley, we took a hike to Mirror Lake - which was just a lot of sand and little stream. This is B. Masters, Jarrod, Rick C, and Adam at Mirror Lake with Half Dome in the background.

We arose early on Tuesday morning with a quick breakfast and started on the trail a little after 6 am. The hike starts from the west of Half Dome in the Yosemite valley at 4000'. We hike to the south of Half Dome passing 2 waterfalls. The trail loops as we approach Half Dome from the east at 8800'. It's 16 miles round trip. Fortunately, it was an overcast day - keeping it cool. This is a group photo at the bridge before Vernal Falls.

Adam, Aaron, Scott, Jarrod and Rick C with Vernal Falls in the back ground.

The stairs just before the top of Vernal (about 1.8 miles)

The next falls is Neveda Falls. Jarrod appears shocked because of the water level compared to 2005.

Neveda Falls in 2005

Doing the switchbacks by Neveda Falls.

Alyssa on the switchbacks in 2005.The view to the north, east of Half Dome. Majestic, awe inspiring!!
Our first view of Half Dome as we approached from the east.

This is taken from the same spot as above but zoomed in. You can see the people on the top (arrows added).

These are the final switchbacks to base of Half Dome. Rick C's (Iceman's) back was killing him. This isn't trick photography. You can see others above us. They are really this steep.

Quite an ominous site! Some people might tell you that Rick W stayed at the bottom to photograph the climbers. Sounds good. However, the truth is he has a phobia of falling and would pass out in the attempt. This is a known fact after attempting Angels Landing in Zion's National Park.

WARNING: FROM THIS POINT, MOM SHOULD NOT CONTINUE VIEWING.

They made it to the top!!

But none too soon!! That storm to the south was both rain and lightening. We hustled down. Surprising, as the guys were coming down, people were still ascending the highest point around with lightening. Very brave or very foolish.

As we were walking to the east we could see the rain approaching. As it his the mountain to the right in the back ground, we could see large rivers forming, like an avalanche, cascading down the mountain side.

At the top of the Neveda Falls, on the way down the John Muir Trail. Yes, it was raining most the way down.

This is a view of Neveda Falls from the south. You can see how excited Adam and Jarrod are. It was about this time, I felt my left knee start to hurt. By the switchbacks, I couldn't bend it without considerable pain. Walking pole helped some. But really slowed us down. As of this posting, it's much better.

We were back to the trailhead at 4:30 pm. Hard and exhausting, but worth it.