Go COUGARS!!

Greg and I went to the BYU-UCLA game last weekend. What a game! It seemed like every play was something not to be missed. The Cougars have a bright future this year. We will definately be keeping our hopes up for an outstanding season. I especially like the attitude of teamwork and preparation that the coaches and players emphasize. It's paying off. I am also impressed that around 40 of the players come to the player run fireside they hold the night before each game and participate in a spiritually uplifting evening. The night before the Washington game, over 1500 people were in attendance. This is a great opportunity for many young people throughout the country to get a feeling for what the mission of BYU is all about. ( not just football).. So, I'm poud to be a BYU alum. And, by the way, I don't feel bad that we beat UCLA 59-0. Good luck against Wyoming this week.

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".

Girls Camp

I just got back from Stake Girls Camp, five days in the beautiful mountains above Heber City, at the Heber Girl's Camp, owned by the church. This is the cadillac of girl's camps. My job was to organize the food for 240 people, 10 meals. Gratefully, no one got sick, starved to death, had an allergic reaction to any of the food or complained too loudly about it. Actually, it was all good, and amazing to see the girls working together to prepare and clean up their meals. Watching them serve 240 meals in about 15 minutes was amazing! Most kids this age can't even set the table at home in that amount of time! We had a cruise theme for the camp, and each night was a different destination (Hawaii, Mexico etc), with decorations, and a fun activity to go with the meal. The kids were doing the "Boot Scootin' Boogie", the Limbo, hula hoop contests... It was really fun.

There was a great challenge course for the girls, and at the end they let the leaders who wanted to do it, do the zip line. After my zip line experience at Philmont Scout Ranch, this was a piece of cake. Just a little scary walking across the log.

Most of my work was done before camp, so for me, being there was almost like being at a retreat. I loved getting to know the other women leaders better and feeling their great testimonies of the gospel.

Legacy Lake was about a 20 minute hike away, and there were enough canoes for everyone at once. The girls had a great time. A highlight was the "Leader's Got Talent" show, and the skit night, and testimony meeting.

We also loved getting to know the senior missionary couples who live right there at the camp the whole summer. They were the best help to us, so kind and knowledgeable. I was impressed with their dedication and enthusiasm.

SNOWSHOEING - President's Day

Lori and Todd invited us to join them for a morning of snowshoeing on the back side of Timp. It was great fun, pretty easy, good exercise and we didn't cause any avalanches or fall off the mountain. So, I'd say it was a success!

Brooklyn was a good sport, bouncing around in the backpack while Todd did his best to dodge tree branches and keep her face from getting whacked! We hiked about 3 miles, and saw some spectacular views of Stewart Falls, the Sundance ski area, and mountains all around. What a pretty day! (A welcome mini-vacation from the not-so-healthy air of the valley).

Thanks, Lori and Todd, for encouraging us to give it a try!