Westridge Ward Halloween Party (for Jane)

These are pictures from our ward Halloween party last night. Most of these are random people, but I wanted Jane to see them seeing as how she had this entire event planned before she left for Boston. I never want to do another one of these events that Jane planned and I have to execute again, but people really had a good time, plus my chili won a prize.

I was so worried that we were going to run out of food, that I made a huge pot of chili that probably could have fed 40 people. All fresh ingredients, rotisserie-roasted meat, lots of cheese, bacon, four kinds of beans; it was great, but too much work. About four inches (20 servings?) were eaten and what was I going to do with four gallons of chili leftovers? We ended up putting it into about eight one-gallon ziplock bags and putting it in the church kitchen freezer where the Relief Society president could tell appropriate families to pick up a bag or two after church.

some of the ingredients for my chili (times two)

Late Sunday Afternoon Walk- and news

This afternoon I was feeling a bit of cabin fever, so Molly and I took a walk just before sundown hoping to see some autumn colors. This is the one picture that I took that was worth posting. It is taken at the edge of the bridge at Marcy Park near our house looking west.

On the news front, last week I was very busy at work; Arizona Monday and Tuesday, a career event downtown on Wednesday, a visit to Colorado State University - Pueblo on Thursday, and Friday a short day at work and then my Friday night "shift" at the Temple. Saturday was mostly chores around the house. It still hasn't been into the freezing temperatures yet, so there is still grass to mow (although it is growing more slowly now), leaves to rake, and some general winter prep. This week I am not traveling, although I do have two engagements tomorrow; one at Colorado School of Mines during the day and the other (an evening talk) and University of Colorado - Denver at their downtown campus. The rest of the week I get to catch up on e-mail, expense reports, and stuff that is much easier to do in the office than on the road. Yay!

Colors of Autumn

With Seth at BYU and Jane and I on the road a lot it has been difficult finding blog post themes to write about. With a bit of Autumn nip in the air I took a couple of pictures around the house; and when I down-loaded the pictures onto the computer I found a couple of pictures from our Labor Day weekend trip to Keystone and Breckenridge ski resorts.

Mom's first (and probably last) experience with a chair lift. They weren't running, but you could sit in them and they would gently rock. Very relaxing. They might make a nice backyard swing. The plaid jacket Molly is wearing was a close-out on a side-walk sale in Keystone that we paid $15 for.

This fox hat was on sale for about $300.

Even though the days and nights are getting cooler now, we haven't had frost yet and the yard is still looking pretty good. The marigolds and petunias went crazy this year, but the pansies didn't fare so well.

I'm still keeping up my wicked lawn skilz. I think I have the only privately-owned gas edger in Highlands Ranch.

The Virginia Creeper on the back fence has turned some beautiful colors.

The tomatoes this year were a big dud. Most were golf-ball size and we get a half-bowl per week.They are starting to look a bit ragged now that the temperatures are dropping. The first big frost will be their demise, but the warm days have held on a bit later than in prior years so we're still getting a few for sandwiches and salads.

Hiking the Subway in Zion National Park

On August 30th I took a hike with Jason, Leslie and Brandon to a canyon in Zion National Park called "The Subway". Leslie's cousin Michelle and Michelle's husband Anthony, and Danny Hafen went with us. This was Brandon's last adventure before going into the Missionary Training Center four days later. Our original plan was to drive to the top of the canyon and then walk down. We took two cars so we could drive back up to the drop-off point at the top of the canyon when we were done. Unfortunately there had been a grass fire somewhere near the top of the trail, and the park rangers had closed the top end, so we drove back to the end of the trail and did an "up-and-back" type of hike.

The trail winds in and out of a creek, and the main attraction is a circular tunnel section in the middle that looks like a subway tunnel; hence the name. The water is pretty cold; about 45 degrees but it was quite refreshing as the day grew warmer. In total we hiked about 6 miles (I think) and we had a great time.

We all wore board shorts, compression shorts, rash-guards and water shoes because we were in and out of the water a number of times on the hike.

At the "end of the trail" where we started our hike

One of the cars parked at the trail head had this bird stuck in the grill

Pretty but steep and scary because of the loose gravel on the trail

Getting to the bottom of the canyon

These are dinosaur tracks that have been preserved in petrified mud. The trail runs right below this spot

Lots of pretty scenery. The sun hadn't reached the bottom of the canyon yet

There were several spots where the sedimentary rock created stair-like waterfalls. It was much easier walking up the creek than on the trails at the side. We all wore water shoes for the hike. Sometimes there was moss on the rocks that made for slippery walking. The more daring among us did a little water sliding, but I declined

In the lower distance you can see the entrance to the subway section of the canyon

The bottom is slick and has deep pools along the bottom. It was actually pretty cold down there

At the far end was a series of deep pools that let to a high waterfall. There was a room behind the waterfall that we went into. Jason, Brandon, me and Anthony did a little "Polar Bear" into the waterfall. Keep in mind the water was cold.

Walking out the sun finally made it down to the bottom of the canyon and it started warming up. We took a little break on the hike back down to jump into a refreshing pool

Family Hike in Zion's "Subway" from randy guthrie on Vimeo.

Seth's College Dorm

I'm a little behind with the posts. We took Seth to BYU the last full week in August; he checked in August 25th. Jane and I stayed in town the rest of the week while I visited the different Utah universities for work, and we checked in with Seth in the evenings to see if he needed any supplies or help with his computer, etc. He kept busy with Freshman orientation and we didn't see him all that much. On Saturday, we said our final goodbyes and I took a couple of pictures of his dorm room. He is in a brand-new building that isn't even named yet. They call it "building 9". Looking at these pictures it looks like he's been living there for months even though its only been three days. He likes his roommate and so far he is doing okay with his class load. He even has some classes he really likes which is always nice. Seth has started his own blog at http://www.sethscomputer.blogspot.com .