DL & L WE RETURN FOR 2016

It is time again to return to our favorite BIG PLAY GROUND.

We left on April 18, 2016.  Loading the trailer, hooking it all

all seemed easier and less stressful.  

Stella is our trailer.  She was way happy to be on the 

road again and not parked at the side of the garage.  

The trip up went great.  We stopped at our favorite Macy parking

lot and had a lunch with Ray and Georgia.  That is always a 

highlight to the journey.  Then up Provo Canyon and on to

the ranch.  We arrived about 4:00 pm.  The first to arrive. 

Elder and Sister Peart got there about 7:00 pm.

Morgan's family put pennies in our trailer so when we come upon

them we would think of them.  WE THINK OF THEM OFTEN!

We left some at our house for them to find, so they will think of us.

That is the hard part of the mission.  We miss our family.  Face Time

is a great way to stay connected.  We are actually closer to Gib and

Char.  We went to Park City on Tuesday night to visit with

them and take Gib for a birthday dinner.

Little bit of snow in front of our new building  We

were excited to see it was still standing, Evanston stake you

are the BEST.

We did find a bad thing.  Big RATS built nests in the 

engines of all our trucks!  BIG NESTS, full of rocks, twigs,

weeds, crap in general.  We had put moth balls in the cab of

each truck to keep them out and that worked.  They at least didn't

nest in the inside of the truck, (we had one last year that was 

that way, YUCK, Yuck, YUCK).

Our great missionaries go the nests cleaned out and all but

one truck started.  They were concerned about the rats

eating the electrical wires.  Heavenly Father helped us out, they

didn't.  We are going to have to figure a way to prevent

them from doing this each year.  They decided to park the

trucks inside the building and will have to have some

handcarts outside where the trucks are parked.  

Rats can't do as much damage to a handcart as they

can to a vehicle.

We have 11 couples with us this year.  In 2014 there was

8 couples, 2015, 10 couples and now 11.  We are growing

in numbers as we figure out what works best.  Last year was

a hard year, we had no open weeks and everyone was trekking every 

week.  If there was a illness, or problem we had no extra cushion to

work with.  Things will be much better this year.  Our missionaries

arrived on Thursday and they have had a busy few days getting

set up.  We were able on Saturday to drive the main roads and

get them confused.  The weather is bad this next week, Surprise, 

so getting out on the trails will be difficult.  So it will be indoor

training for them.  Probably a trip to the Payson Temple also.

Elder and Sister Yates from Virginia were with us last year, but

because of medical concerns could not serve again this year.  We

will miss them so much.  They got her sister to come in their place

and came to get them into the trailer they sold them.  Sister Yates

brought us some "Vitamins" to keep us healthy, "One a Day", well

it's only been four days since they left and the container is

empty, WE ARE SO HEALTHY!

So begins our next adventure.  Be sure to check out the journey with us.

September 9, 2015

I made a big error.  We got busy and I forgot to upload the

pictures from our best week at the DL  & L.  The visit we got

from the Greene's and the Cowans on the 3rd of July.

How good to see all their faces and hug them.  They were excited

to visit the ranch and chase the pot guts and rabbits.

We celebrated birthdays past by playing with the new bubble

toy we discovered this summer.

It makes the best bubbles EVER!  Life was fun when

they were there.

Sully had fun exploring everywhere.

And Oliver was his usual wild self.

On the 4th of July we got to have another TWO baptisms

at DL & L.  Ammon and Jackson were both baptized

by the depot in the small reservoir right by our trailers.

For the program before the baptism these five boys sang

a Baptism song.  How cute was that? Really!

Ammon went first.

Then Jackson.

This is the group that were there to celebrate their decision

to be baptized.

After the baptisms the kids changed their clothes and went back

to play in the water and mud, They had a great time doing that.

By the end they were covered in mud.  What a great memory

for them of a special day.  We are so lucky to have the

opportunity to be here and let Quinn, Ammon and Jackson

all be  baptized there.  

August 29, 2015

Today we went for a ride over to the Francis Ranch.

It sits right next to the DL &L.  We were given permission

from one of the owners to go for a ride down into their ranch.

It was fun and really pretty.  We took this picture with

on the Francis side of the gate.

Look who came to visit today.  My brother Norman and

his wife Kay and their daughter Robin.

We took them for a drive on the ranch and then we 

all ate lunch together.  I felt bad all the

pictures were put away so they didn't see

how great the place can look.

They had a fun time and were really interested in what

we do here.  We, of course, loved showing the place

to them.  We love our "PlayGround"

After they left we were all alone on the ranch.  All the

other missionaries are now gone, the last two pulled 

away today.  We are staying to attend a Post Trek Fireside

in Riverton tomorrow night.  So we went on a adventure

to look for some of the sheds Elder Kennedy has

hidden on the Ranch.

Thick brush, steep climbs, we found several of his bounty.

We left them there for someone else to find, or not!

August 28, 2015

Last night we went the Hillyard to eat with Pres. Lester and

his family and Presidency.  The best part of the night was the

cannon.   Look at the size of it.

And, YES, they shot it off!  In goes the black powder.

Then down goes the BOWLING BALL. 

Now you have to pull it back down to aim it at the distant 

hill side.

Now you light the fuse and wait.

Then it explodes!. Wow, it was so fun.  They did

a smaller load of black powder.  You cannot believe

how high and how far the ball went.

What a beautiful place they have in the trees.

One last picture with most of the Sister Missionaries.

Here are the Platts.   They are related to the Platts we

have in Cedar City.  We like them a lot.

Today we drove up to Alpine Wyoming and then on to

the Gray River Road.  What a beautiful drive it was.

We went with the Brinkerhoff's and we left at 5:00 am.

We met up with the Kennedy's.  They are there camping

for a few days.  They wanted us to see the great mountains

where they love to spend time.

We had a great day with them and got to see some really

steep mountains and lots and lots of trees.

And the most amazing river.

We got home at 8:30 pm.  A long day but a great memory.

We are going to miss the Kennedy's next year.

August 22, 2016

Well today was a big day.  Our trek training for Treks coming

in 2016!  We had a great turn out and they said

they learned a lot.

Look at the engrossed audience!

Elder Cowan had them speechless, or asleep?

Check out Elder Cowan dancing to the music

YMCA, only it was a TREK version that Mindy Taylor

wrote for Trek.  

We had everyone dancing but I had to get a photo of

Cowan!  It is amazing what I've seen him do.

After the main training we had a mini trek for those

who wanted to have a handcart experience.  We had only

three carts go, but it was worth it for them.  They all said

how fun it was and what they felt as they pushed and

pulled a real cart.  We had several opportunities to

tell them stories and teach them what things they

could do with their own treks.

New Missionaries, the Calls from Spanish Fork.

The Howards from Emmett Idaho.   They came to be

part of the training and had a great time helping out.

Sister Howard loved telling the Trekkers that the

restrooms were the Porta Johns parked by the building.

Then she added, when you come trekking you get

to clean them also!  We think she is pretty funny.

Tonight Cowan and I are relaxing and enjoying the

end of a great season.  We have all the chairs put away

and the building is now filled with handcarts!

The end is near.

August 21, 2015

Last night we went on an adventure here on the property.

We learned we have our own fortification left from the

year 1857 when Johnsons Army was threatening to come 

invade the Saints.  So some of us headed off to see it

for ourselves.  It was, of course, up on a scary cliff

that overlooks the road below.  It was so STEEP.

We were on slippery gravel rocks and big cliffs, the

trail was not even wide enough for barely one of your feet.

At this point Sister Peart, who is in front of me is saying,

"Why exactly are we doing this?????"

After getting to the top we saw we had to drop down to 

get to the fortification, it was steep and scarier than what

we had been doing for a long time.  Four of them went down,

five of us stayed where we were.  Glad to know we didn't

have to do extra, getting back to the road was enough for

us.  At least we were hoping to get back to the road,

and not slide down and SPLAT ON THE ROAD.

Our own selfie at the top.  Could be our obituary

photo?

See their tiny figures out on the edge!!  It was absolutely

beautiful up there on top.  And look, real trees not just

sage brush.

This would be Sister Peart and I glad to be alive.  Sister

Kennedy is in the background.  What an adventure, one

we won't have to do again.

Now Jeff didn't do as well. What a dork!

We sat my camera on the top of the 4x4 and I pushed

the timed camera button, started to head for the group and

the camera was wobbling and shaking, almost to

tip over.  This is the photo I got of them laughing

at the shaking camera.

This is the final product.  We continued on to see Lost Creek and

then on the way back to our homes we were able to see

lots of deer.  We had fun spotting them and trying to

see the really BIG DADDY one, we saw a couple 

of those.

Look at the rock, it has a hole in it.  On the left of that

it has another hole but it is hidden by the bush that

is growing there.

That dark spot is the back end of a fat porcupine.

We actually saw two of them during our trip.  This one was

right next to the 4x4 and I wish my camera had been quicker.

We saw a great view of his tail spread out and the quills ready

to fire at us.

This was a fun night spent at the Ranch.