Thursday, September 29, 2016

Beauty and storms

This last week has been a time to observe the beauties that exist with the mountains around us. Last Thursday was a quick moving storm that created a tornado in Washington Terrace and heavy rains in other areas. The rains ended up being snow in the mountains and when the storm left the tops of the mountains were covered in white.


One of the other beauties of this week was with the road widening at Washington our street was closed for several hours a day and there was no traffic.



Thursday again a storm rolled in at evening time and the sunset created interesting colors on the mountains and the clouds behind them.





We live in such a beautiful place.


Sunday, September 25, 2016

Trip to Moab

On September 18 I left for a two day trip to do a presentation in Moab. A planner for Grand County had heard me do the presentation in Phoenix earlier in the year at the national APA Conference. He said the people needed to hear this to help them see the potential of their community. They made arrangements for me and Justin Anderson who presented with me to go down. Justin drove down with his family but they offered me to fly down which I did. I flew in an 8 seat plane of Boutique Airlines which I did not know existed. I made it down there in 40 minutes.


This picture is from the inside as you could see the pilots and look through the front window and see everything they see.




The next morning we had various meetings with city officials, a luncheon that was a question and answer period and then that evening Justin and I spoke at a place called Star Hall.



Here is a picture of us setting up in the hall. We had about a 100 people come that evening to listen to us and it turned out well.



The next morning I had some time before my flight back so I rented a bike and biked over to the Colorado River and went up the river on the trail and also on the bridge that crosses the river.





Then it was time to head back. Here is a shot from the sky of Canyon Lands. The plane I flew back on was a single engine where I went down on a twin engine.




The next few days were stormy and by the end of the week was the first snow on the tops of the mountains. Quite a week of different temperatures.

Park City get away

Payton and Connor had to show me a new trick they had learned; climb the apple tree and get on the roof of the shed. Their mom did the same thing when she was young.


This time of year is wonderful with pleasant temperatures and the garden near its peak. Our sunflowers are out and it will be time to get the seeds.


On September 17th we went to Park City to do our annual slide day as a family. We have been doing this for years. It started out when the kids were young and they would earn the money through the 4th of July booth we did at Farr West. Now we can afford it as a regular activity but going to Park City is always looked forward to. We had to take turns doing the slides as Aubrey is too young but it allowed us time to with each other.








Payton had to go on her own this time as she is too tall, but there is not much weight there to get her going very fast down the track, She was a little nervous but still had fun on her first solo though I don't know about the people behind her.





Maddie posed for us as we got on the chair lift. The fall colors were out and riding the chair lift and looking at the changing colors is an extra to doing the slide.





















That afternoon we swam in the Mountain Side Pool and stayed there overnight. We had a nice dinner and then Maddie was left with Connor and Payton while Cindy and I went to the BYU game and Nic and Shannon had a dinner with the Rich's. Cameron and Cecelia had to be home that night. The next morning we noticed balloons in the sky.

















We went down to Park Meadows and watched the balloons up close.








One dropped down and skimmed the pond. That is pretty good piloting.




Saturday, September 24, 2016

Golfing with Dad

Mark and I had planned to take dad to Wolf Creek last year golfing. When we did finally do it the course would not allow golf carts that day so we had to go somewhere else. We finally decided to try again this year and the day we choose it rained again in the morning but not enough to keep us from having carts so off we went. We took Nic with us this time so we would have a foursome.



When we came to the 14th hole we stopped for a picture. This was part of the early Montgomery homestead. Dad talked about Ruth loving this area because there was a beaver pond here. He told stories of working one summer as a young teenager hauling hay, While the area has changed a lot with homes built around the golf course now and the holes changing in length since it was Patio Springs in the 60's and 70's it was great to be able to do this even though we had some times of rain during our round.


Labor Day weekend

The beginning of September means that there is not much summer left so we tried to get a lot of things in. It started with going to a Raptors game. We started the baseball season with a professional game in Phoenix and need watched one of the last games of the season for the local team. There was a player this year with the last name of Montgomery so this is what our name looks like on the back of a jersey.You got to have broad shoulders to carry our name.




Monday we went with Shannon and Nic for a drive to Brighton to go to Silver Lake and see the pretty scenery. I think we were also hoping to see some moose but that did not happen. Connor and Payton loved to climb on the rocks no matter if they were boulders or a hillside.






We walked all around the lake with a lot of other people. Fall colors were beginning but with the drought this year they were not as bright.




We stopped for some family pictures along the lake also. We had a picnic and then traveled over the mountain to Park City and back home.