Fathers Day Yuba City Stake Style

This is what at least two of the wards in our stake handed out to fathers today. The card stapled to the outside of the brown bag says: "Pop, Pop, Fizz, Fizz, Oh, What a Great Dad you is!" On the inside is a can of Dad's Root Beer and in one case a bag of caramel popcorn while the other ward had a bag of microwave popcorn. I though it was pretty cute.

By the way, the reason you don't see the bag of caramel popcorn is that I ate it on the way home from Church. :-)

First Hike Of The Season

Well, not really a hike as I think of hikes - but the Stake 4th Level Girls camping experience. We thew up our tents (yes, I intended to write it that way) at the Bear Valley Groups Camp (across the valley from Donner Mine) and spent the first night in nearly a spa setting with all the amenities. The next day we drove up to the Blue Lake road and hiked in 1.5 miles. After we got there the girls tried their hands at fishing (no such luck) then hiked up to the top of Zion Hill. One more night at the outdoor resort spa, then went home Thur. Below are some photos from the trip:

My camp site;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;A waterfall by the camp
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Is it camping if there's a fridge, and a water heater, and an ice machine, and an electrical outlet? No, I don't think so.

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Old Man Mountian from Zion Hill;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;Fuller Lake and Rucker Lake from Zion Hill
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Me, at the lake;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;The girls, on top of Zion Hill
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Project Update: 2

This is only to report that I've finished cutting down and dragging out to the curb (Melody helped with that). All that remains is to cut the large pieces into shorter lengths and split them.

No further photos of Melody's project. The painting is done, the closet emptied (I helped with that) an d the furniture moved out in preparation for the carpet layers later this week.

I'm going on the 4th Level Girls hike for three days, then should finish my job by week's end. Melody's staying home, but she hopes to have her job done by then too.

A Break in the Action

I took a little time off from the tree cutting project to do some prep work for another project coming up - the 50 Mile Hike for AP Camp. I don' know how many of you remember the Blue Lake area. It's up the Bowman Lake Rd. out of Bear Valley (where Donor Mine is), but I went up there this morning to scout around for a trail leading east over to the Grouse Ridge Trail.

You see in the top photo how the lake got it's name. Just beautiful. I used to go here often with the 4th Level Girls on their hike. Dad went with me a couple of times even after he lost his leg. And Melody went too one year. They don't go there anymore because it's unimproved wilderness (i.e. no bathrooms) and that seems to be of major importance to current YW leadership. Too bad for me, but then I'm just along for the ride anyway.

This shot is from above the lake on a road that leads to the trail I was searching for. I hiked about 4 or 5 miles around the surrounding countryside getting reacquainted with it. The little peak you see beyond the lake to the left is called Zion Hill. It's close to 7,000' in elevation and the highest peak around except for Grouse Ridge which is 7,700'.

I had a great time, with the only problem being that everything went so smoothly I was home in time to do more work on the tree. Bah! (clicking on the photos brings up a larger, sharper view)

Project Update

It's been two and a half days, so here's an update... I'm about half way through my job and what once looked overwhelming now looks almost doable.

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The bedroom project is also about half done. It's hard to tell in these photos, but the wall paper is all gone and it's cleaned and prepped for painting.

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His and Hers

We are each doing our own projects this week around the house. Mom is peeling wallpaper off, then painting in preparation for new carpet in our bedroom. She likes doing this kind of work much more than I do, and I don't think she likes it at all. . .

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As for me, I got started on cutting back the fruitless Mulberry tree today - A job I enjoy only slightly more than painting (mostly because it involves power tools). I'm afraid Mom got further than I did because I had to take time off to do some stake work in the middle of the day. But I'll be done by the end of the week.

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We'll let you see what it looks like when we're done.

She's Baacckkk!

Melody had a great trip to Idaho. She thinks Atticus is the best! And Trevor is a wonderful father, but then we already knew that. Michelle is doing well and loving being a Mommy.

While she was there I stayed at home (well, I stayed in Yuba City, I didn't actually get to be home much) and went to work, kept the yard in shape, and tried not to damage the stake too much. This past week I spoke at a missionary zone conference, a stake leadership meeting, a stake R.S. Enrichment activity, and seminary graduation within the space of four days. But it's like I always say: getting me to speak is not the problem, getting me to stop - that's the problem!

For those who are wondering, this is the last week of school, so things are winding down a bit. I have to do graduation Wednesday, then on Friday night I've been asked to do a presentation at a YSA Leadership Conference in the Sacramento area. June will be busy too.

But in July I'm REALLY looking forward to camping at the coast and kayaking down the river with David and Kim. Yea!

See ya in the funny papers!