Capitol Reef National Park

When we left Fish Lake to start heading towards home we decided to take the scenic route. We went to Capitol Reef National Park. We saw some really interesting rock formations.

Chimney Rock

We took a short hike down the narrows to see the petroglyphs, pioneer register and the natural water tanks. Everytime I turned around, Tyler was holding hands with his cousin's friend. I am not sure if I need to start worrying or not.

These are the tanks from below. It is just a series of cascades that have eroded pools into the sandstone. I didn't get any pictures from above. We hiked up as far as Rebecca and Tyler could handle. Each of the pools had tadpoles in them. Some were really small, and others were really big.

Seven Mile Creek

We spent one day at the meadow at seven mile creek. It was cold and rainy at times. We fished in the creek, ate lunch and

Meagan's favorite part was the freedom that she had with the junk food. Here she is walking around with a bag of giant curly Cheetos and one in her mouth.

Next came the Oreo cookies.

Don't we all look like a bunch of red-necks?

Someone turned 38 while we were there. We made brownies and followed the high altitude directions, but they still didn't turn out very well.

Tyler and his cousins made a fort in the trees just outside the cabin. They spent a lot of time there. It was nice to just let them go and play outside and not worry about them. At least I didn't worry about them. Their mother has a different story.

Fish Lake

When we go to Fish Lake, Grandpa and uncle Randy always rent a patio boat for us to take the crew out and fish on the lake. Here are the kids having fun on the boat.

We all know that once a camera gets pointed in Tyler's direction, he loses his real smile and pulls some kind of akward smile. He really was having fun.

Tyler reeling in his first fish.

Rebecca's fish. After holding the fish in Richfield, she didn't want to touch this one.

Fish Lake Through the Years

I noticed that I had some very similar pictures at Fish Lake through the years.

2002

2005

2010

Rebecca always seems to take a turn driving the boat with her uncle Randy. This year she seemed a little more attentive to what she was doing than in years past.

Fourth of July

We celebrated the Fourth of July twice this year. Neither time on the 4th. We were in Morgan with Michelle's family on the 3rd. Her whole family was together, which hasn't happened very often. We BBQ'd in the backyard and then went to the Morgan fireworks show at the high school once it got dark. I don't have any pictures of our Morgan 4th.

On Sunday the 4th we drove to Richfield to meet up with my dad, my two brothers and their families. On Monday the 5th we went to the Richfield parade. We had our traditional spot in front of the firehouse. There is really only once good reason to go to the parade. It is to watch the kids (I include myself in this statement) scramble to collect the salt water taffy that is thrown from the floats. Here are the kids with their goodie bags.

We always take a "self-guided tour" of the Richfield Fire Department and take pictures in and on all of the trucks. We feel that we belong there, even though some may look at us and wonder who we are.

After the parade we went to the park to participate in all the activities there. They have several food booths, all kinds of vendors (mostly selling junk), blow-up slides and bounce houses, races for the kids and the fish grab. The fish grab has changed since when I was a kid. Now they build three small tanks. The kids all line up on the edge of the tank corresponding to their age group.

The hatchery truck pulls up and loads the tanks with fish. This process always seems to take longer than it should.

They let the fish swim around for a little while...

... and then they let the kids loose. It is total chaos. Rebecca and Tyler were both in the same age group. Here you can see both of them trying their hardest to get a fish.

Rebecca figured out that if she sat near the edge with her hands in the water and waited for a fish to swim over the top of her hands that she could toss it out of the tank. The first one that she did this way was taken by a boy before she could get out of the tank to claim it. This is the second one she got this way.

She wasn't quite sure what to do with it. She walked around holding it and showing it to the family for a few minutes. Tyler wasn't ever able to catch one, so here he is holding Rebecca's. Notice that she wasn't going to let go of it even if it was just her little brother holding it. It was her fish.

After Tyler held it, Rebecca decided that she would put it back in the water to let someone else have a turn. Being Rebecca, she later told me that she felt good that she was able to have the experience of catching the fish and then letting someone else have the same opportunity.

Hiking in Morgan

While we were in UT we took the kids on a couple of hikes. The first hike we did was to the M on the hill behind Grandma and Gandpa's house. It isn't a very long hike, but it is steep. Of the 10 who started up the hill, there were only 5 who made it all the way up. Michelle, Meagan and Justin didn't make it past the first steep stretch.

We must be in UT.

Two weeks later we went to SnowBasin Ski Resort. We went thinking that we would ride the gondola to the top and do a little hike on the top of the mountain. When we got to the base it was 68 degrees and we were all a little chilly. I asked the girl at the ticket counter what the temperature difference would be on the top and she said it would be 8 - 10 degrees colder and windy up there. We decided that we weren't prepared for the cold. We did a little loop hike around the bottom of the ski runs. It was nice to hike amongst all the vegetation.

110 Volts

Today at work I got quite a shock. I was working in a lab and needed to use a power supply for some of the testing that I was doing. It was sitting on a workbench with its side facing out. I needed to have easier access to the front panel, so I grabbed two opposite corners to pick it up and rotate it. Little did I know that the power cord was attached to bare bolts on the back corner. I touched one of the terminals with my left middle finger. Current always finds the shortest path to ground. Usually when someone touches 110 Volts, it goes in one finger and out the another finger in the same hand. You get a little tingling sensation and you think to yourself that you don't want to do that again. Well, today, the shortest path to ground was through my right hand, holding the opposite corner. So, I had the current go up my left arm, across my chest, down my right arm and out through my hand. That is the situation that you don't want to have happen. It crosses the heart and can to bad things to your natural rhythm, including stopping it. I quickly dropped it back onto the workbench and paused to take a couple of breaths. It was a really weird sensation that I hadn't ever had before. I felt like my heart was pounding as if I had just run for a good amount of time. A little later I felt like I was going to throw up. Then after about 10 minutes I felt back to normal. That really is something that I hope doesn't happen again.

After all of this, one of the other guys in the lab said, "Oh, I should have told you that that is one of those power supplies that are illegal to have on the plant site becasue the terminals are open on the back." That is information that would have been helpful to know before I picked it up.