Firehouse Ruin

What a beautiful day to hike!  Dana took me to this ruin on a cloudy, warm, and wonderful fall day.



The unusual layering of rock in the roof of this cave gives the appearance of fire in full sunlight.  When Dana and I got there in the cloudy morning, it looked like a normal cave.  We went on to another ruin, but when we returned on our way back out of the canyon in the afternoon, the sun was out, highlighting the colors in the roof.  I was so glad we got to see it both ways!



Grandpa's New Pet--Meet Rocky!




What's that hangin' in my tree?







Hey you!



<>



You talkin' to me?












Whatcha after?  Almonds!





Grab it.






Peel it.













Eat it and brush the crumbs away.





Then repeat a dozen times 6 x day.





Waddle home for a fat nap.



. . .and things you never knew about these two!

Notice the ring on Kaye's finger--the happily engaged couple looked and looked till they finally purchased the perfect ring.  Later, Daniel reminded Kaye that she helped him choose the same one for Brook years earlier.  And the great news is they both ladies still love the ring!




Kaye and Matt are currently reading The Hunger Games together.

 

More about Matt

 For inquiring minds:


Matt served in the Charlotte, North Carolina Mission.



Matt does the majority of the laundry.

Matt is a great racquetball player.  So is Kaye.

Matt and Kaye

 This is the first installment of a couple of blog posts devoted to the outrageously, deliriously, and hysterically happy new couple. Hope this helps you get to know Matt a little better.  He's a keeper!



Matt works part-time at UPS and is a fulltime student at USU, majoring in Human Movement Science (no he is not a ballerina) and minoring in Health Science.





Matt moved to Price as a 3rd Grader.  At Carbon High School he was an All-State Football selection at cornerback and wide receiver as well as a star on the Dino basketball team.



Kaye reports that Matt is sensitive and sweet with a HUGE heart!  He even loves Lilly, the little black doglet.



Matt has a beautiful tenor voice, maintains their family blog, and builds "woodish things" like a true carpenter.  He has his own tools and everything!  Kaye says he put together a lamp in like two seconds. . .

An Afternoon at Mount Vernon in Washington D.C.

When LeGrand and I spent some wonderful hours at Mount Vernon, we started to understand how carefully the Lord put remarkable people in positions to create a climate of freedom and democracy in which the Restoration could flourish. We gained a love for the great general who helped those ragtag rebels win the Revolutionary War and became the first President of the United States.

It reminds me of Maggie's experience in Primary. Sister Susanne Johnson was teaching the Sunbeams about the baptism of Jesus. She showed the children a picture of the holy event and asked, "Can any of you name this man who baptized Jesus?"
"Oh yes!" Maggie hollered, "That is George the Washington."



Original burial site of the Washington Family




Steps to the wharf on the Polomac from the Washington property.  At times during the year, everyone working at the farm would quit what they were doing and fish for weeks.  The fishery became one of the most important "crops" of the estate.




Washington was eager to try new techniques and advances on his farm such as breeding mules.





Farm Estate of George Washington:  Mount Vernon
"I had rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world." George Washington



Mount Vernon: Estate of George Washington

Weather Vane on Mt. Vernon
"It is better to be alone than in bad company." (GWashington)



The backyard of the Washington home overlooking the Potomac River.
"I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man."  George Washington





The front gate to Mount Vernon, home of George Washington.
"Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses." George Washington

 



One of the many gardens on the estate.
"We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience." George Washington

 



Washington was a very progressive farmer.  He designed this threshing barn in two levels.  They would pile the grain on the floor of the first level, allow horses or mules to walk around on the grains causing the wheat kernals to fall through the floor to the second level to be harvested while most of the chaff was left on the first floor.
"Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse." George Washington

 


Lower farmland and threshing barn.
"True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation."  George Washington




Door handle to the Washington burial structure where General Washington was originally buried.
"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." George Washington



A depiction of the swearing in of  the first President of the United States.
“It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.”



George Washington as a young man.
“Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”



The handle to the coffin of President Washington. 
"Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder. "



George Washington wanted to be a farmer.  His remarkable life took him on a different path many times, but part of his greatness was his ability to give up the presidency and return to the life he loved as a farmer.
One of his officers, Henry Lee, summed up contemporary public opinion of Washington: First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.