Kinsey

On Saturday evening we took the opportunity to go down to Murray to watch our granddaughter, Kinsey Amanda, participate in the 2012 Miss Murray Pageant.  She is in her Senior year at Murray High School and is a beautiful young seventeen year old, who is not only beautiful, but wise beyond her years. We were very happy to be there.  There was an excellent program featuring eleven different young women from Murray all vying for the crown of Miss Murray.  They chose a winner and four runners up. Though in our opinion, Kinsey was by far the most gorgeous girl on stage, she didn't win the title and crown of Miss Murray, but she didn't come up empty handed either.  She was named Fourth Runner Up.  Some of the girls were older and more experienced, but Kinsey certainly did very well and made us all proud.  Of course, we were proud of our Kinsey Amanda already and had been for over seventeen years.  She is awesome in every conceivable way and we love her.

           Miss Murray Pageant 2012

Regal Kinsey in the evening gown competition.

Here is our Kinsey with her response to the questions posed to her on stage in front of the large crowd.

Kisnsey with a couple of the other contestants.  She made good friends with the other girls and had a super experience, not to mention winning some money for college next year.

A Day Alone in The Mountains

Yesterday I decided to spend some time alone in the mountains.  I decided to go over to Camp Bartlett.  I took my fishing pole, a good church book, my camera, and my lunch and headed off for a day of solitude on a beautiful early fall day.  I was not disappointed.  I didn't see another soul.  I caught a few fish and returned each one carefully to the water to be caught again by some other angler another day.  I sat on a log and read and pondered some of the writings of Elder Neal A. Maxwell.  It is surprising the insights one gets alone in the woods pondering on the things of eternity.  I had left my camera on a log while I was fishing and happened to look up and see a deer sniffing around my camera.  I'm glad he didn't decide to take it with him.  Needless to say, I didn't get a picture of the deer.  I did, however, get pictures of other wild life.  I surprised a moose browsing in the rushes along the lake shore and yet another on the side of road as I was driving home through Emigration Canyon.

This is just one of the many moods of the lake at Camp Bartlett.  It seems to change from hour to hour.

A startled moose, returning to the shore after deciding I was really no threat.

This young bull moose was seen near the summit of Emigration Canyon licking the rocks along the roadside for salt.

I can fully understand why Joseph went to the grove for answers and why Moses and others went "up onto the mount", and why I have always appreciated the solitude and unity I feel when I am alone in the mountains.  I count this as one of the great blessings of my life.

Saturday Surprise

This past Saturday we had a great surprise.  Jared and his sweet family (at least most of them) came up for a visit.  Shanna and the three youngest ones drove up from Murray, while Jared (ever the ambitious one) rode his bike the hundred miles to Logan.  Irregardless of how they came, we were happy to have them all.  It was nice to just and hang out and do some good visiting.  Before they went back home we ordered a couple of Pizzas and enjoyed them together at the Merlin Olsen Park.  I guess that was our little Labor Day celebration for this year.  We missed Kinsey, but she is always up to something good so we will forgive her this time.

Emily and Melissa at the Merlin Olsen Park cooling off their tootsies.

They are growing up so fast.

Sam playing in the dirt.  What else, he's a boy.

Sitting on the bridge planning their next adventure.

Jared will be back again for Lotoja this coming Saturday.  I'm betting he doesn't ride his bike back up here to Logan for that.