Not a Creature was Stirring...

December Celebrations

It is the most wonderful time of year!  Again!  I can hardly believe the month is half over.

This year it was Rachel's turn to put up the star.

I am a Jedi! Like my brothers!

I like to sing while practicing.  It is also confusing to my opponent during a fight.

I am a sleuth and stealthy!

But not always.  One time, in September, at our street block party I stood up on a chair.  And then the chair tipped over backward.  I landed on my face.  I will admit that it hurt... just a little.

My dad helped me feel better.

 And my other secret to strength and agility?  Turns out my hair was weighing me down.  It had to go.

 This fancy device, this concoction of goodness, is the secret to my ability to stay focused and remain completely motionless.  Well, almost motionless.

The new me!

Halloween Festivities

Who is that Rockstar?!  Oh, not a rockstar but a spy girl!  Let me tell you though... Allie felt like a rockstar! 

 Can I tell you something else... she is wearing my boots.  They are big on her but not that big that she couldn't walk around in them including for trick-or-treating.  She keeps growing and complaining that her shoes hurt... the shoes that I just bought!

Halloween parade at the school.  Always entertaining!

This is Luke in his ninja mask... which was too big.  I told him we could fix it.

The big kids weren't the only cutely dressed children.  Rachel was adorable.  We had to go to the store that day and she got so much attention (she LOVES it too).

For the ward Trunk or Treat party Jason, Wyatt and I dressed up as a theme.

I should make you guess but I will just tell you... The Man with the Yellow Hat, George, and myself Professor Wiseman (who turned into a woman for the modern PBS Kids show- versus a man in the original books).

Jason with Rob Magarrell (he is the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric and the one that I work with for Primary).

 Beautiful Bella the cat with Rachel trunk-or-treating.  The  teenage boys were asking Jason about her. :)

This is Jason and the boys standing by the final drop off  of  the obstacle course that he and the YM created.  That was by far the biggest hit of the games that evening!  All the kids loved it and went through it many many times.

 The Jeppsons- we just loved Miriam's costume!

 This is my good friend Julianne who made Wyatt's costume (as well as her little lion and monkey daughter and penguin son.  Our theme was her idea).

 Wesley noticed how his ninja mask would make his ears stick out if he tucked it behind them.  So that evening for his costume he was an "Elf Ninja".

 This was the center piece for the tables.  I made 17 of them.  Whew.

And lastly, Halloween night right before our quick jaunt through the neighborhood.  It was gusty windy and cold so we didn't last all that long.

Golden Trout Wilderness, Sierras

 My brother Jay and I went backpacking in the Golden Trout Wilderness last week.  What an awesome trip!  I don't think I have ever seen such a clear weather forecast as I did for this trip- totally clear and no wind the entire time.  Good thing- it was still late October in the Sierra.  (All these photos are from Jay's iPhone - thanks Jay for taking it along).

This was our first overnight spot on the side of Casa Vieja Meadows about two miles into the wilderness and about 8500' high.  Wow, it was cold, about 18 degrees and humid, brrr.  I like to sleep under the stars but brought along a bivy sack to stay a bit warmer.  

 One cannot outrun the inner geek - I brought a small ham radio and successfully made contacts from the middle of nowhere with a 135' end fed dipole strung into the trees that Jay helped me make before we left.  We spoke with guys in LA, San Fran, Porterville, Edwards Air Force Base, and Sacramento.  Wow, 5W only.  But wow, freezing- no much sleep for either of us at that temperature.  In the middle of the night a pack of coyotes came around and yipped and yaped at us.  They were so close you could hear their paws- I sat up under a full moon, didn't see them and they left.

 

This was a fishing trip after all, we both tried meadow fishing with not too much luck.  We finally caught some small guys and figured we better take a photo as it may be all we had for the trip.  

We decided to hike to a lower elevation to try and get some warmer nights.  We descended about 4 miles and 2500' down to a place called Jordan Hot Springs.  At this altitude the Sequoias start- what cool trees... 

 The next morning we decided to go sit in the hot springs.  We had the place to ourselves other than some horse pack hunter guys who were far away.  Thankfully no hippies.  I thought the hot spring was at the base of this geothermal formation.  Yeah, there was a hot dribble, but not so, it was about 34 degrees out bummer, cold bummer!

OK, this pond above and off to the side was the hot spring. We sat in the spring until the sun came up and the fish started to be interested in flies.  Yes I have a swimsuit on ;-).

 We fished for most of the day after walking far downstream and scaling a big hill off of the trail to reach very remote water- the fish loved dry flies, especially any with a bit of red.  Whereas I was counting strikes, after a while we stopped counting the number of fish we caught- super fun.

 We each kept two of our biggest and brought them back to camp for a little cranberry stuffing and Tony Chachere's seasoning.

 Hmmm,,,no fires allowed still- we had to figure out how to cook these guys and wound up using Jay's single burner stove and and old grate that was in our campsite.  We would just rotate the fish on each side, sliding them past the flame.

 It worked.  Super good golden trout.

 Here's a geothermal formation alongside the stream we fished Saturday morning before heading home.

And a great photo of a golden trout Jay caught.

 We hiked through an area of forest fire, a huge fire.  In fact everything was burned for most of our trip except our two camping spots and vicinity...  Sad.

 Made it out...  Tired and happy.

What a cool trip - fishermen dream of catching a golden trout- Jay and Ilene were great hosts and between hunting, a federal shutdown, the late season, we had the place to ourselves only seeing a few people on the trail.  Thanks Jay for putting this trip together, can't wait to do it again (maybe with kiddos when they get old enough too!).  I missed my family and Joy was ready to go anywhere but home by the time I returned.  Thanks so much Joy and Ilene for supporting our trip.  Who wants to go next time?