June always brings graduations from high school and each year we have had at least one grandchild graduating but this year we had two, Gavin and Allison. We attended Gavin's graduation at Utah Valley University's Arena. Highland High School had more than 800 graduating seniors of which Gavin was one. It took over two hours for the whole ceremony, including speeches. Afterwards, we were able to spend a few minutes with Gavin to take pictures, give him his card ad money, and congratulate him. The best thing about that day was that Jon and Mindi drove in from Texas to be celebrate with Gavin. They got in late on Wednesday. We had to be out of the house the next morning by 7:45 for a 9:00 graduation time, so there was not a whole lot of time to visit but still good to see them for a minute. They stayed another day and a half but spent their time on the other side of the mountain. A short but nice visit.
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| Taylor was in attendance and came over to where we were sitting to say hi. It was good to see him. |
Allison graduated about a week later, June 11, in Springfield, Oregon. We did not attend but we did send her a card and money and congratulated her via text. She will be heading to BYU in Provo this Fall and we are so excited to have her to dinner each Sunday, along with her sisters and Kasey, Maggie's husband. It's hard to believe that half of our grandchildren have already graduated from high school. We must be getting so old.
Now for the mission call. We were so excited when Aubrey announced to us on the last Sunday in May that she had submitted her mission papers. The next Sunday, she announced that she should receive her mission call on Tuesday. It did come late Tuesday evening, but she held off opening it until Ryan and Julia and Nathan could drive up to Provo to be with her when she did. They faced timed Katie and Grace who were in Mexico at the time. We, too, got a face time call from Aubrey to tell us she was going to the Argentina Bueno Aires North Mission. She will report to the MTC (actually home MTC) on September 19 for two weeks then will fly to Mexico for the rest of her MTC experience before going onto her mission assignment. Of course, she will be speaking Spanish. We are so excited for her. She is just bubbly about finally making the decision to go on a mission. Later in the month, she and her family were in Medford, Oregon where Aubrey gave a beautiful talk to her home ward about how she came to Hear Him, especially regarding whether she should serve a mission. We were not there but luckily, Katie recorded it and sent it to us so we could listen.
As for birthdays.... we celebrated Aubrey's birthday the second week in June. She came up for dinner on that Sunday so I fixed a tri tip dinner and bought a Dairy Queen ice cream cake. She was thrilled that we would do that for her. Her actual birthday was on the 17th, the day before she headed home to St. George to prepare for her mission.
Paul's birthday always falls around Father's Day, this year being the day after. We celebrated both his birthday and Father's Day on Sunday with Todd's family. Todd and Kailee came up with their family to help us celebrate. I made a Cordon bleu dinner with Pazookas (a big chocolate chips cookie topped with ice cream and chocolate sauce) for dessert. Todd and Kailee gave Paul a gift card to Subway which is always a winner with him.
The very next morning, on Paul's actual birthday, we took off for a little road trip to Ouray, Colorado. We had driven through this town many years ago on our way to Durango. Colorado. It is considered the Switzerland of America as it is situated in the middle of the Rockies. Paul has wanted to visit there for a long time so we decided it would be a good time as kind of a birthday trip. We left on a Monday and returned on Thursday so it was a quick trip but very fun. Our hotel room was very rustic and very expensive but the people there were incredibly friendly and the room adequate. When we checked in we were given six coupons, each worth $8 toward the purchase of breakfast at their cafe or any items in their store. That was a nice perk we had not planned on.
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| Our very rustic room |
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| The hooks on which we had to hang our clothes as there was not closet |
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| The river that ran behind our hotel seen as we walked to find the hotel's cafe |
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| The hotel was at the base of this mountain |
The first full day in Ouray found us taking a short hike to Cascade Falls. It was beautiful and well worth the hike up and back. Even worth the 'almost' fall I took while coming down from the waterfall.
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| The falls as seen from a distance |
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| Here we are at the base of the falls |
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| An even closer look at the falls |
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| Couldn't resist a selfie |
We, then, drove the Million Dollar Highway, named that because of its beauty. The drive starts in Ouray and ends at Silverton, an old mining town. It is only about 25 miles but takes 45 minutes to an hour because of the many hair pin turns. We had taken the train to Silverton when we were in Durango years ago so it was fun to approach it from the other side of the mountain.
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| Ouray as seen from that lookout point |
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| This waterfall is hard to see in this picture but it was unique with the interesting rock formations along side of it. |
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| Mt. Abram |
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| The Red Mountain |
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| The old town of Silverton |
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| The train had just pulled into the town when we arrived |
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| Of course, we had to have an ice cream cone while there. It was probably the most expensive cone we've ever eaten at $6 a scoop but delicious. |
When we returned to Ouray, it was time for a dip in the hot springs which is a point of interest in Ouray. It was nice that it was free to citizens over 75. There was a shallow pool, an activity pool, and a lap pool using regular city water along with several pool areas filled with hot springs water of varying degrees of heat. We opted for the heated spring water pools and enjoyed our time relaxing and visiting with a biker from Michigan.
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| We were lucky enough to eventually find a place to sit under this canopy as it was the only area protected from the sun. |
After breakfast on Wednesday, we decided to drive to Telluride, a famous ski resort and where I had been several years ago to Jeannie McFarland's (my niece) wedding and reception. Telluride is only about 7 miles from Ouray as the crow flies but is 49 miles via highways. It was a much easier drive than the Million Dollar highway so it took about an hour. Telluride is an old mining town turned into a ski resort. An interesting fact that we read about was that from Red Mountain on the Ouray side of the mountain a mining tunnel had been dug to connect the mines at Red Mountain with the mines at Telluride. It was only 5 miles long right through the mountain. We stopped on our way home for another ice cream, of course.
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| Taken from above the town where all the condominiums and resorts are located. |
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| Looking back toward the town of Telluride |
When we returned to Ouray, it was off to the hot springs again. We enjoyed sitting in the adult area for a while until it got very windy from a storm coming in. We noticed, when we drove by the hot springs on our way to dinner later that day, they were closed due to the storm. It was time to leave the following morning for the 6 hour drive home. We were glad we made the effort to take this trip as it was great to get away for a mini vacation with just the two of us.
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| We had to take a picture of this flag as we were leaving Ouray. It is sitting in the middle of a beautifully green field all by itself. Someone loves America, for sure. |
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| Looking at the peonies at the top of our water feature. |
Just a quick mention of a monumental decision that came down from the Supreme Court at the end of the month. That decision overturned Roe V Wade, a horrible law enacted 40 year ago and has lead to millions of abortions, some even happening late in the pregnancy. Of course, the left is going crazy and threatening all sorts of things as well as violently protesting in many of the big cities run by the Democrats. This is a big win for the rights of the unborn child and should never been ruled a right of a woman to kill her baby.
We love the fact the Todd and Kailee bring their family up to Heber most Sundays to join us for dinner. On the last Sunday, just as they were leaving, Paul picked a couple of peonies for the girls to take home with them. Kailee sent us this picture to show us that they immediately put the flowers in their water bottles to keep them fresh. So cute.
Just a couple of pictures of Lincoln.
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| This picture was taken when we went down to babysit the kids while Kailee went to a doctors appointment. I took it to show that he was happy even with us babysitting. |
.........and a bit of humor on which to end this post.
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