Kicking Off Fall with Family

Yesterday we had a really fun family day to kick-off Autumn. James and Allie & family came down Friday night for a sleep-over, and early in the morning James and I explored Highlands Ranch's Back Country Wilderness Area trails on bikes. There are about 8 miles of trail and even a camping area that starts about 10 minutes from the house and is owned by our home-owners association. The trails seemed to have been made for biking; there are lots of twists and turns and jumps and bumps that were deliberately put there.

After our bike ride, we celebrated Molly and Ben's birthdays with lunch and opening a few presents. Molly got a toolbox and tools (including a cordless drill), and Ben received a shark, real pocket knife, and marble maze set.

After lunch we went down to the town square and cheered Melissa and Bryson in running the annual "Octoberfest" 5K. Melissa pushed Bryson most of the way in a jogging stroller and he ran the last quarter mile himself.

After the race, we all went out to Red Robin and received the Royal Treatment (no pun intended) by our waiter. The two birthday kids received free sundaes, and a few minutes later our waiter brought complementary sundaes for the rest of the kids as well.

After naps and relaxation, the Jane, Melissa and Allie attended the Women's Broadcast at our building while James and I entertained the kiddies. Allie and James spent the night again and Marie (with a little help from Grandma Jane) made pancakes for breakfast.

Randy's New Bike: Giant Trance X2

Apologies for the potentially boring post; its intended audience is Jason and his boys and possibly Bill Foster. This is the new bike I just got at a season close-out sale. It is a Giant Trance X2, which is about the best bike I can buy for the way I ride. Its pretty much the same brand and model I rented and rode for the 100 or so miles in Moab this summer. The pics are so Jason can see what components it came with.

Seth Opens His Mission Call to Canada

Seth's application for a mission was submitted on September 1st, and it arrived at his mailbox at BYU on September 15th. I happened to be there for work so I was fortunate to be in his apartment when he opened it and read it. Seth was joined by his best friends from our stake in Colorado, and a few new friends (and his room mate) from his ward.

Seth has been called to the Canada, Toronto mission and reports on February 1st.

Blog Update: Seth's mission; the "Canada Toronto Mission" was recently formed this past July from combining the "Toronto East" and "Toronto West" missions. His mission president was called in June and reported on August 25th, so Seth will have the same president his entire mission.

Seth's WyView Apartment

The past week Seth returned to BYU. This semester Seth is in an apartment at "WyView", the married student housing complex that was "converted" to single student housing a couple of years ago. Here are a couple of pictures and a video tour of his new digs.

Hiking the Subway in Zion National Park

While taking Seth back to school, Seth and I left a day early and met Jason and his family and friends in Hurricane (pronounced by the locals as "her cun") Utah for a fun 12 mile hike in a slot canyon named "The Subway" because the cylindrical passages look sort of like a subway tunnel. Much of the hike requires wading and swimming in pretty cold water; about 45 or 50 degrees, and a few sections require climbing down ropes or a long jump into the water. When we arrived at one section we discovered a log was partially blocking an already narrow opening and so we had to swim in very cold, deep water through a gap barely wide and and high enough for your head, while pushing your pack in front of you. A little scary but definintely an "adventure". Unfortunately my zip lock bag containing my camera leaked a little so I didn't get very many pictures once we started swimming (I took the batteries out; dried the camera completely and all is okay; same with my cell phone that was with it). The pictures and video were from the beginning parts of the hike. Hopefully Jason and the others will make their pictures and videos of the more scenic and technical sections available