A Busy Fun-filled Week

Upon returning from Lake Powell we had the usual catchup on yard work and unloading, cleaning, winterizing and storing the boat. Then on Thursday evening Damon and Donna Rosselot stopped over on their return from a seminar in Salt Lake City to their home in Shady Cove, Oregon. These are the same old friends that hosted us last summer at this same time as we visited Crater Lake, the Oregon coast, etc. We packed in a full day on Friday starting with a bumpy ride from Inman Canyon in Inkom to Pebble Creek above Lava Hot Springs on the other side of the mountains. We were out to see some early fall colors and the ride proved to be a bit of a challenge for the little blue Elantra but we made it. After the ride we enjoyed a picnic lunch in the park and then a soak in Lava's famous hot springs pools. We then returned home and took a dune buggy ride up the the Pebble Ski Area for a view overlooking the valley and also to the Inkom water tower up Sorelle creek canyon north of Inkom overlooking the town site. We then returned home again for a campfire and bratwurst roast meal with all the trimmings. Early Saturday morning Damon and Donna headed for home and we headed for Logan, Utah to support Laurie who was running in the Top of Utah Marathon. She was very surprised to see us and it seemed to give her an extra boost of energy with three and one-half miles yet to run. We ran with her part way but almost couldn't keep up and then cut out to see her across the finish line along with Leslie and her boys, LaRinda and Trevor and family and Evan and the Ockey kids. She finished in 4 hours and 29 minutes in spite of hanging back to support a friend she ran with who was suffering cramps half way through the race. Laurie is amazing for what she has accomplished and we are so proud of her. After the race we had lunch at the Bluebird Restaurant in Logan and headed for home with the O'Donnal family on our tail. They were coming up to visit us for the remainder of the weekend. That afternoon we took all the kids for dune buggy rides and had another campfire dinner with roasted wieners and marshmallows. Lance and Aubri brought Taylor out to share the evening with us. On Sunday we went to early morning church and then Linda Burrup came up to saddle one of her horses in our pasture and let each of the O'Donnal family take horseback rides. LaRinda has always loved horses and this also fulfilled one of Alyssa's biggest dreams as she also loves horses so much. Alyssa said that the ride had her much higher up and was more bouncy than she had anticipated but she seemed to love it. We also got to meet and were quickly charmed by a very attractive and fun young lady from Denmark they are hosting as a foreign exchange student for this school year. Josephine, if that is spelled correctly, or Josey for short is sixteen years old and a Junior in high school. She seemed to have a good time but she wasn't too sure about the horseback ride although she did try it. All in all it was a week crammed with friends and family and we loved it!