Harvest Time and and football

The middle of September had some strange storms. One evening thunder and lightning was taking place off and on all night long. The wind would blow, then stop, and then lightning. I was watching the lightning to the north and turned around and the sky to the south was partly cloudy and no sign of the big storm that was going on in the other direction. The moon would go in and out of the cloud cover and create some interesting  patterns.

The next day was the harvest moon and the sky was clear and the moon lighted up the field.

 

The harvest was on with us picking peaches and pears and canning them. We had a great crop of corn that kept going from the first of August till mid September. While picking tomatoes one day I came across this monster cucumber that was growing between the tomato plants. I can't believe I missed it until now.

The grandkids came over and played and it was much more pleasant since it had cooled down. The first of the year Connor would not go down the slide; now that is all he wants to do.

That Saturday was the BYU- Utah game. Gordon Nelson tried to decorate our garage that evening put Maddie pulled up just when they were going to get out of the car so they did not do anything that night but the next morning we woke up to these signs on our garage.

The game was at BYU this year and even though it was windy earlier on the wind stopped and they had skydivers come into the stadium. The game started at 8 p.m. and was frustrating with Utah winning. We got home at 2 in the morning.

Weekend activities

We had a busy weekend with various activities which were all enjoyable. It started off on Friday night as we rode the train down to Salt Lake City. We had tickets to the conference center where the Tabernacle Choir and Utah Symphony had a concert with special guest artist, James Taylor.  On the way down we sat next to a lady who was going to be working the Greek festival. The one sided conversation was a page out of the movie, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." We learned how all things came from Greece. Once we were off the train Cindy and I laughed about how true the movie was. In addition we rode with Cat Woman and saw Power Rangers, Princess Leigh  and others as Salt Lake was hosting the Comic Convention at the same time.  We got our seats early and as we were sitting we heard, "There's Greg and Cindy." It was Cindy's brother Bobby and Julie his wife. They were just across the aisle from us. We moved over and sat with them and enjoyed the concert together. It was better than I could imagine. Of course the choir is always great but James Taylor was just as good as ever. He sang a variety of songs from solos, to pieces with the choir and from his popular songs like Fire and Rain and Up on the Roof to lesser known numbers but equally as good Lonesome Road and Shed a Little Light.

At the end there were two encores. We missed the second to the last train and had to wait 89 minutes for the last train that was leaving to Ogden. We got home at one A.M.

The next day was just as eventful. We went to Payton's first soccer game. It was really fun to watch these young girls try to figure out what they were doing. Payton was enjoying all the attention and we sometimes even saw her following the soccer ball.

After her game it was lunch time and then off to Provo to watch BYU play Texas in football. We left a sunny Ogden and by the time we got to Provo we saw a big dark cloud. They said there was a 50% chance of some rain so we took ponchos just in case. We got to the stadium and no sooner were we within the gates than a very strong wind hit. It tore branches off trees and a guy in front of us got hit by one.  Then the rain came along with the wind. I had never seen anything like it. The wind was so strong the rain was coming sideways. They cleared the stadium because there was also lightning and everyone huddled under the stadium area.

The road turned into a fast moving stream and the game was delayed for two hours for the lightning to pass. This was the second week in a row that BYU had a two hour weather delayed game.

After spending two hours with the concession stands the game was cleared to play. The rain and wind stopped and it turned out to be a nice evening. You never would have guest what had happened a few hours earlier. BYU did not let this stop them and they played great. They ran for over 500 yards on Texas which was the largest amount of running yards a Texas team ever gave up. It was a fun night with a lot of activities taking place to give everyone something to cheer about. BYU won 40-21.

Labor Day Activities

What do you do when you have a day off? We have gone to Ben Lomand peak for the last few years but this year we did a different hike. Besides it rained during the evening and the peak was covered in clouds.This was the first time we have had rain for a long time. Add to it this has been the hottest summer on record. Cindy and I got up and went to hike from Beus Canyon to the 29th Street trail head. It was still humid even tough the sun was hidden by clouds. Along the trail were reminders of the moisture like this spider web.

The trail followed a small stream until we turned to go along the shoreline trail.

When we came around the bend we had a good view of the valley and could see rain clouds in different parts of the valley.

Each bend had different surprise views. Sometimes the clouds were low on the mountain  and other times it was just the view of the valley.





Some of the fall flowers were out like this hummingbird flower and even some leaves were starting to change color. It seemed strange since it has not been cool at all to have leaves start to change.

We followed the next canyon stream at Strong's Canyon and then made our way to 29th Street. We got to the car and then the rain came down. Our timing was pretty good.

In the afternoon we made arrangements to meet all the family at Park City to do our annual Alpine Slide/ Coaster rides. It did not rain there at all that day. Nic and Shannon had been with the Rich's over the weekend in Fairview and met us coming from the other direction. We first rode the chair lift to the Alpine Slide.

Some of the leaves there were also turning colors.

As we all gathered to go down the slide Connor decided he did not think it was going to be fun and started to cry.

We all made it down and each person had a smile on tier face, even Connor. Cameron got stuck behind to slow people and he and Cecelia actually got a second ride from it.

We then did the Coaster and Cecelia had a great picture of her going around the corner and coming out of her seat. It was a very enjoyable evening together.

We had to end the evening off with ice cream. Connor looked like he was starting to grow a shadow like his dad.