I've been to Heaven...

1. I few weeks ago we bought a used Chevy Malibu for Natalie to take to school. Todd nick-named it the "Nalibu".. It's a pretty nice little car, but was missing a hub cap. Before she left for school I wanted to find a used hubcap for it so I looked on the internet and saw lots of options, most of which were way too much money. Then I saw it. . . "Hubcap Heaven". I called them and they told me that in fact, they had three Chevy Malibu hubcaps in stock. I hoped in the Nalibu and drove to 3300 South and 1275 West, very close to where we went to test drive another old car a few weeks ago. I pulled up in front of the store, and as I walked in to their shiny showroom filled with lots of chrome wheels, the nice man behind the counter said, "he went to pull your hubcap"... not, "Hello, can I help you", or "good morning".

I asked him how he knew what I needed, and he answered, "This is Heaven!" Little did I know! Right here in south Salt Lake!

2. So, we settled Natalie, with the Nalibu, in Pocatello for her last year of graduate school at ISU. As we drove into town through the campus, we were comforted to see that nothing has changed. . . the large block "I" on the hillside is still there, looking like it's going to slide off at the first big rainstorm. Fortunately it doesn't rain often. No, seriously, Natalie was kind of excited to return to school and we even met one of her friends from her speech pathology program at Walmart with her parents. Natalie's new apartment is sweet! We never had it so nice!! We wish her the best of experiences in this school year. We will miss her here at home.

This is the clubhouse gathering room, with a small kitchen, a workout room, a tv room, and a piano practice room.

The grounds between the buildings...

Saying goodbye..

Now what do we do?

There's always laundry.. washer and dryer combo right in the apartment!!

1st Annual Dahl family campout

We spent a couple of nights camping up Big Cottonwood Canyon with all our family, except Michael of course. We did some serious relaxing, sitting by the fire, making s'mores, eating, cooking.... did I say eating?

Brooklyn and Kaitlyn at the start of the campout... notice how clean they are! It didn't last long! They had a great time running around, chasing chipmonks, playing in the dirt, getting carried around by Grandma.

Cousins...
Michael was a happy camper.

There was a tiny creek that ran through our campsite, and this larger one was a short walk away. We all got into throwing rocks into the water. I think Brooklyn found her new calling in life... she was a rock throwing machine!
Did I mention that we ate a lot? Todd was our master Dutch oven chef, with contributions from all of us. So delicious!
Heidi's Dutch oven potatoes with bacon. Can't you just taste them?

It's not every day the kids get to eat on the ground. They didn't mind a bit. The breakfast burritoes Lori and Todd made hit the spot on a cold morning, right Heidi and Jon? We walked around Silver Lake at Brighton. It was a fun place to see fish, ducks, and lots of wildflowers.
Our campsite wasn't far from Donut Falls, so we took a quick hike up to the falls before we left for home. It was a fun camping trip, and so close to home! Why haven't we done this before now?

Summer fun

It's been a busy summer for us. . . a wedding in Arizona, vacation in Kanab, the "Big Dahl Family" reunion, and playing with the grandchildren. Here are some of the highlights: Sam and Rhea took us boating on Canyon Lake with Paula, Grandpa and Phyllis. It was so fun and beautiful... a perfect late Arizona afternoon. The water was just right, and we even saw mountain goats on the cliffs.

We kept Kate and Michael for a few days while Heidi and Steve were out of town. The kids were great! We had a fun picnic up the canyon with them and enjoyed lots of story time and playing with them. They are such sweet little children.

Kate made new friends with her cousins at the Dahl reunion.

Natalie and Michael were set to cheer us on at the softball game at Alexander Dahl Field in Midvale. This field is named after Greg's great grandfather.

Lori and Brooklyn at lunch between reunion activites.

Before the game, we sang the national anthem, but forgot to bring a flag, so Greg and a little cousin were our "flags"!

The Paul Dahl family, on historic Alexander Dahl Field, before the big game where grandpa threw out the first pitch. Go team! (The Dahl's won)
The whole Dahl clan.

It was a great reunion, with a Road Rally that took us around the valley to family history sites, an American Idol competition, a golf tournament, and shopping for the truly adventurous, and a special visit from "Cousin Cletus".