Memorial Day in Mona

Like any other holiday we've split it up between families. I am so blessed to have my parents AND my inlaws so close to me and Bevan. We can always do a little with both families. Saturday, we drove down to American Fork, met up with Bevan's parents and embarked on the "Tour de cemeteries"! We started in Provo and visited Lloyd's parents grave. Then off to Mona to visit Beverly's kin. I say "kin" because she's descended from the family that settled Mona. She said that they were related to about roughly 90% of the cemetery. Gotta love small towns!

It was a small cemetery. We found the headstones within seconds. I reflected back to my childhood wandering the Salt Lake City Cemetery for hours trying to find our ancestors headstones. I kept walking the Mona Cemetery for a while reading the headstones and trying to find the pioneers. Bevan was in the car listening to the Jazz game. I found the several of the town's founders. What a neat experience.

We spent some time with Bevan's only living grandparent: Grandpa Ray. He still lives in the same house he built to raise his kids in. He owns two cars and a tractor, drives them regularly, and is almost 92 years old! What a character.

We spent Sunday and Monday with my family. The biggest event was the BBQ on Sunday afternoon. I finally got to cook up those ribs that we've had frozen for 3 months. They were a hit! Big meals are always followed with games with Nora, James, Paul, and whoever else. The next day, we went with James, Addie, and Ben to the Kamas Fitness Center Pool! So much fun! The huge water slide was worth the 5 bucks admission easily. Highly recommend it to anyone!

It's sad when weekends are over and you find yourself back at work, ready for another weekend. The Jazz lost again for the last time this season. I'm sorta relieved. The NBA has such a long season! As if 80 games weren't enough, the post season can stretch on for months. It makes me appreciate football more. I can't believe I just said that! Am I now partial to football?! Is Bevan wearing off on me?

Southern Utah Roadtrip

Southern Utah Appreciation Roadtrip

I don't know how to give an accurate account of our southern Utah adventure without making this post 10 pages long. I'll shorten it as much as possible. Feel free to follow along with a road map of Utah!

Friday: I met Bevan in Heber and took off from there. We wanted to get food in Utah Valley since it was cheaper. I took pains searching the food ads for the best deals so I could price-match, but Walmart ended up having everything cheaper anyway. We drove to the San Rafael Swell in Emery County and camped on the rim of "The Wedge". I was surprised how good those dirt roads are! Better than any National Monument or Park we ever visited.

Saturday: We found the dinosaur footprint, saw some new petroglyphs, and tried to make it to Little Wildhorse Canyon. We ended up hiking it during the hottest part of the day. We did this so we could see Goblin Valley in the evening. So pretty! Camped in a slot canyon by Wild Horse Butte.

Sunday: Made it to church in Hanksville and had a great time. The nice ladies in the materials center let me leave my laptop in there to get charged. Gotta have something to watch movies on! We were then off to Capitol Reef! We just sight-seed and followed Dave Michelson's rule: "If you don't break a sweat, then you're not breaking the sabbath". We "mossied" on our "strolls" throughout the park and ended up camping at this sweet spot north of Boulder in the mountains.

Monday: Started off the day hiking Upper Calf Creek Falls in Escalante. We waited to do the lower falls (the longer one) during the hottest part of the day, again. Beautiful waterfall, though! We continued down highway 12 towards Bryce Canyon. We camped that night in Kodachrome Basin State Park. Not much to see, but they had the nicest bathrooms in any campground EVER! Totally worth the $15. Did I mention that the nice, hot showers were free?!

Tuesday: We "did" Bryce Canyon that morning and were anxious to get to Panguich and Ceder Breaks. Major detour because highway 148 was still closed because of snow. Who knew there was still snow at 10,400 ft. So we went down by Brian Head, Parowan, and Ceder City and camped halfway between Ceder City and Kolob Canyon on some dirt road in the hills.

Wednesday: Not a good idea to visit Kolob Canyon for sunrise. The sun comes right up over the mountain so you can't see much. We headed on to the main part of Zion and decided to shove all the hikes we had planned into the next 5 hours! We did Upper Emerald Pools, the Narrows (up past Orderville Canyon) and Angel's Landing all before sunset. We were tired and delirious from hunger by the end. We crashed in South Campground and slept for 10 hours.

Thursday: Zion Nat'l Park is the only place I've visited that ALL the hikes seem longer than they are. Why is that? We did the short Watchman hike and discussed our next stop. We were planning on the North Rim, but decided to follow Highway 89 to Lake Powell and camp at Lone Rock. Best decision ever. We had a blast with some new friends camping next to us. A Navajo man taught Bevan how to catch fish in the lake and his girlfriend just couldn't stop telling stories. It was so much fun!

Friday: When camping in Arizona, beware! The sun rises at like 5:30 AM! The sun was blazin' in our tent and I thought it was time to get up. Huh? We went swimming again and I "blew out my flip flops" (according to Jimmy Buffett) so we went into Page to get some new ones. Then off to the South Rim! There was a rehearsal dinner BBQ at the Thunderbird Lodge. We got totally stuffed and decided to take the shuttle back to the campground. When the bus dropped us off and drove away, we were left in pitch black! It's like we got locked in a closet. Couldn't see the road, the trail, the trees, etc. We stumbled around feeling our way to our site, waiting for a car to drive by so we could see for 15 seconds! Next time bring a flashlight.

Saturday: The wedding was beautiful! The ceremony almost gave me acrophobia! We all thought the photographer was going to tumble over the canyon, trying to get his perfect shots. After a wonderful dinner and reception, we decided to drive back to the cabin. The south rim was a little too crowded for us, and it wasn't even the busy season!

The road trip was a total blast, but we were glad to be home!

Graduation!

I'm typing this a little behind. Graduation was on May 5th. Of course it was raining/snowing, like all graduations have been up in Logan. Mom and dad had to split up for the day because Paul was graduating the same day. Dad rode up with the Hawkins, who ended up bringing Bevan's brother, Bryan and his Grandpa, Ray as well. Luckily, the graduation was not as long as it has been in the past. They've gone back to individual college graduations. Whew! It was only an hour and half. Me and the other girls in the program were all sitting together (all 3 of us!) and couldn't be more rowdy. Our attention span was short as always. Good times with Hayden and Krista!

After graduation, the Hawkins had to get Grandpa Ray back home, so Dad rode with us (after a stop at Aggie Icecream!) It was the only time EVER that the attendents at that place were quick. Whenever I was in a hurry to get a project done, they would take 10 minutes to make a sandwich. Now that I'm graduated, and I'll probably never eat there again, they had my ice cream in 20 seconds! Figures. I should be grateful. If it weren't for Aggie Ice Cream kiddy corner from our building, all of the Landscape Architecture students would starve!

With my degree in hand, I was ready to pound the pavement seeking gainful empoyment! Thankfully, no pounding was necessary since the perfect job fell into my lap about 2 weeks earlier. Lucked out on that one. It's a landscaping business and we do mostly high-end residential in Park City. I get to design landscapes and water features for mansions and condos. Lots of opportunity in Park City since the latest "housing crash" hasn't even touched Park City and probably won't. Some say it's degrading for a Landscape Architect to stoop to private residential design without benefitting the public good. To that I say, I love my job! Besides, the money is a whole lot better that I would ever get paid designing plazas and parking lots. Bring on the affluent second-home owners!