Monday, September 21, 2009

This Saturday we had an exciting trip out to Ruby Lake! What should have taken a few hours total, took us about 7!

Lee and I went up to the Ruby Lake area w/ my dad to look for and harvest Pine Nuts. It was a really pleasant trip there, and nice to get out of the house. Along the way we saw the most spectacular sight, just like we were in a nature film. We spotted a golden eagle about 30 feet in front of us, about 10 feet off the road. It was taking off with a rabbit which it dropped when we startled it! It was so amazing to see it in real life!!! Lee swears he looked it right in the eyes as it was passing us. To see such a magnificent creature so close to us was very awe inspiring!

When we got there we couldn't find many pine cones which were ready to harvest, but we decided to get what we could so that we could sun-cure them at home. We wandered around trying to find some trees that had cones close enough for us to reach and managed to get about 1/2-1/3 of a grocery bag full. We were going to move further up the road to look for more, but when we got back to the truck Lee discovered that it had a flat tire! The funny thing was that my dad had just had to replace his other tire the other day so the spare was flat, too! We looked around on the other side for a little bit for more cones since we were there, but had to scrap looking further up the road. Lee thought about pumping it up and my dad hooked up his little air pump. We got up to 20 lbs pressure in and decided to head for home.

We managed to travel every 3-5 miles before stopping and filling more air in the tire until we got to the ranger station where they filled the tire full. From there we were able to make it every 8-10 miles between fillings. About 1/3 of the way home the tire finally blew! My dad put the spare on and we limped back to Spring Creek doing the same thing with the second tire.

What took us about 1 1/2 - 2 hours to get there took us another 4 - 4 1/2 to get home! However, it was a still a great day and we had a lot of fun. Can't ask for more than that, can we?
Near the end of August, Lee's grandfather passed away and we took an emergency trip to Utah for the funeral. While there, I finally got to meet Lee's siblings and biological father.

The trip was a mixture of feelings. I met Lee's grandparents on our second date over 7 years ago. I was fond of Lee's grandfather and we were sad that he had to pass and will miss him, and it was hard to see his grandma upset and missing her husband. However, it was great to contact the members of his other-side of the family whom I had not met previously and whom Lee had lost contact with.
The funeral took place in Bountiful and we made it there in time for the viewing on Monday night. The funeral was the next morning. Lee was honored to be asked to be a pallbearer. After the funeral, we all traveled to Spanish Fork where he was buried.

When everything was over we posed for pictures and exchanged phone #s with Lee's siblings and have since had contact with them through phone calls and texts.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Here are more pictures from the Emery County Trip. (See Blog below.)


This is Assembly Hall Peak.







This is Bottleneck Peak.







Fremont Indian Pictographs.







Enjoying the Art.

Thursday, September 3, 2009






Lee and I went to Utah for our vacation on Aug 7-13. On the way to Emery County, our car broke down; we were just barely across the border into Utah. It was the start of a week of ups and downs. We eventually made it to Emery County, but what should have taken 6-7 hours, ended up taking 13 or so hours! LOL

We went to my family Reunion and my nephew's baptism on Saturday. Lee and I also spent a little time exploring around Orangeville, my childhood hometown.

The next day we took it easy, but as I was going back to Orangeville from my sister's house the car died on me again! We had made it from near Tooele through 2 days w/out any problems, and now it was acting up again! The rest of the week we spent trying to fix the car several times, and dying by the side of the road several times!

On Tuesday we spent some time out exploring the desert. Lee and I had a blast! We have all sorts of pictures which I will put on here after all of this. We spent most of the day out with my sister and her kids, my dad, and my older sister. Lee really enjoyed seeing all of the different sights, and I loved sharing with him the area that I grew up in and love.


We finally got things fixed with the car after replacing the fuel filter 2-3 times, the fuel relays, and even the fuel pump. The car had a hard time starting Thursday morning when we were ready to leave to come home, but once started we made it back with no further problems. The next morning when I went to start the car for work, once again it wouldn't start. After another week or so without my car my dad finally figured out that it was the fuel relays again! I need another car! LOL.

Well, that's our vacation 2009!


I will update this blog later when I have more time, including posting more pictures.