September Already

Timpanogos Storytelling Festival

Orem, Utah - September 5, 2015 

We appreciated the invitation from David and Kayleen (my nephew and his wife) to attend this storytelling event Saturday morning when their son, Jarrett, gave his presentation as one of the ten National Torchbearers.  We enjoyed Jarrett's storytelling talent as well as stories told by the professional presenters we listened to that morning. 

Jarrett Nelson, one of 10 National Torchbearers,

presenting his story at the

Timpanogos Storytelling Festival,

September 5, 2015.

Jarrett's story presentation

was prior to these two professional storytellers:

Eth-Noh-Tec

and

Bill Harley (in the middle).

We also enjoyed Carmen Agra Deedy,

another featured storyteller.

My brother came from Saint George to

watch his grandson participate in the

Storytelling Festival.

(K. LeRoi, Narene, and Sam)

We didn't stay for the afternoon presenters because Sam wanted to get home to watch the BYU-Nebraska football game on TV.  We would have enjoyed hearing more of the talented storytellers, but Sam would have hated to miss the big ending of the game when BYU's replacement quarterback threw a Hail-Mary pass to win the game with one second left on the clock.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Diamond Fork Canyon

with Todd and Beth's family

Labor Day - September 7, 2015

                                         Enjoying a tin foil dinner with the Graham family.

(Joshua, Beth, Jared, Todd, Rebecca,

Sam, Amanda, Megan, and Ethan)

Joshua splitting wood with a hatchet.

Sam taking a turn with the saw.

Rebecca had fun finding snail shells.

Megan and Amanda

on the other end of the camera,

but had a good time wandering around

looking for photo ops.

Ethan trying out the swing he made.

 Rebecca liked Ethan's swing, too.

Jared took time out from his whittling

to show Beth and me the path to the stream.

Sparkles on the water from the sunshine.

It was a relaxing afternoon in nature.

Leaving the canyon road, we entered in the slow-moving stream of campers

returning to Spanish Fork at the end of the Labor Day weekend.

* * * * * * * * * * * * 

Changes on Slant Road

  We watched this huge machine

grind up the pavement so the irrigation ditch

by Slant Road near our property can be buried.

They had this machine parked in front of our house

for several days until they loaded it up this evening.

Another Sunset Seen from our Front Yard

   

Our Family Reunion - July 2015, Part 2

On the third day of our reunion, July 3rd, we headed for Provo Canyon after breakfast.  Our first stop was at Dave and Kayleen's, my nephew's place near Sundance, where we had the opportunity to do their zip line (for ages 5 and over, weighing from 40 to 225 lbs.).  It is advertised as being "the steepest, fastest, longest home zip line in the world." 

Some family members went ahead and had one or two times down on the zip line before I got there, so I only have pictures of those who were doing it after our group arrived. 

Zip Line at Nirvana

 Austin

 Here comes Sam!

Zack coming in for a landing.

Jacob, Kate, and Brynlee

in their safety hats and harnesses. 

Kate will be 7 next month, so she made the
5-year-old requirement; but she is petite
and got quite a bounce at the end.

She is quite a trooper, though,
and had a smile for the camera
after she landed safely.
(Kate)

Rochelle

Doug

Brynlee

Jacob

Koryn

Kyle (wearing a camera attached on his foot)

Shannon

Amanda
  

Ethan
 

 I decided I had better try this, too;
so with a little apprehension, I got the
equipment put on and headed up the hill
to the takeoff platform.
(Kayleen and Narene)

 Upon arriving to the platform and looking down
at the scene below, I took mini steps to the edge
with some concern about dropping off into space.
I was pleasantly surprised that it was not scary and 
turned out to be an enjoyable trip across the zip line.  
I did get quite an unexpected bounce at the end of the line.
"Do you want to go again?" I was asked.
The worst part turned out to be the hike up
to the takeoff platform, which I
preferred not doing again
on such a hot day. 
   (Jeff and Austin watch David help me get unhooked.)

Fun seeing cousins be good friends.
(Rebecca, Kate, and Monty)

Provo River Tubing

After eating lunch, those going tubing put on
sunscreen and set off to the launch area.
Rebecca stayed with other younger children
in the park area and had their own activities.
(Jenna, Amanda, Shannon, Rebecca, and Megan)

Ready to go tubing.

Also ready to go tubing, but missed the group photo.
(Jacob, Zack, Rochelle, Shannon, and Brynlee)

Marla and I helped Kristine with fun activities 
for the children too young to go tubing.
(Anna, Rebecca, Isaac,
[and Mason not shown] with Kristine and Marla).

Kate had gone with her dad to take
Miles to get his last blood test following
his e coli scare.

Rebecca and Todd watching for our family members
to come past us toward the end of the tubing run.
The river is quite calm at this point.
We actually missed seeing Jared's group go by
until it was too late to get a picture.
They were quite a few minutes ahead 
of the rest of our group. 

Joshua and Megan

Tauna, Brent, and Seth

Shannon, Jacob, Rochelle and Brynlee

Carson and Maria

Ryan

Derek and Sarah

Weston and Brady

Sam

More tubers arriving.

Megan, Trevor, Beth, Ethan, Marisa, and Haley

Rachel, Scott, and Curtis

Trent

There was one casualty in our group.
Parts of the river were quite rough causing some tubes to upset,
and Judd cut his knee on a big rock 
resulting in his and Amy's decision to leave the river. 

This was a busy day.
In order to have all of our 59 family members there 
for our traditional group photo,
it had to be done this evening.
Therefore, we got home from the tubing, had showers taken,
hairdos fixed, and traded swimsuits for coordinated outfits.  
First, we had a casual photo wearing our blue and red t-shirts
and then went to the nice backyard of Todd's brother's home
for more picture taking.  (These will be added in a separate posting.)

Back home with time to play games and visit.
(Rebecca, Mason, Megan, Brynlee, Kate, Amanda, and Corban)

Sam, Haley, Megan, Trevor, Ethan, Trent,
(Jared not shown), Brady, and Seth.

Tauna, Ryan, Brent, Brynlee, and Doug

Night swimming
Joshua, Austin, and Zack

  Jamon and Jacob


We have one more full day of reunion activities to be in the next blog:
Ice Block Sledding
 Cardboard Boat Races
Swimming
Potato Car Races
Games
Fireworks