Merry Christmas!

Christmas according to Curt (this was said in all sincerity to Sydna the Saturday before Christmas): "I don't know why you're so worried about getting everything done today. We have Monday, Tuesday, and even Wednesday. We have lots of time." Okay, how exactly do you define "we"?

Three girls "helping" dad with the lights. They just thought it was fun to be on the roof.

Phish thought that we put the tree up just for her to climb. Fortunately, a few squirts with a spray bottle cured her of this activity. Now she just likes to sleep beneath the tree.

Demotivators

You know those motivational posters? The ones with the inspirational sayings? Well, I discovered this website while reading another of my favorite sites. You may have to have a twisted sense of humor, but I find these posters much more entertaining than the ones that are meant to be taken seriously. Here are a few of my favorites.

"Hundreds of years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove... But the world may be different because I did something so bafflingly crazy that my ruins become a tourist attraction."

"When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams can come true. Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor."

"If you can't learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly."

"It's over, man. Let her go."


There's many more of these Demotivators at http://www.despair.com/viewall.html. Enjoy!

End of October Fun

For UEA weekend we went to Lagoon. The kids had a good time and everyone (except for Rachel and I) rode all the fun "scary" rides. Even Camille braved the big roller coasters. Rachel said that she wanted to go on "Wicked"--a ride that shoots you straight up, sends you straight down, and loops you upside down--but after riding the old, white roller coaster she decided that was enough of an adrenalin rush for her and forgot about the whole "Wicked" idea. Everyone else rode it many times.

Krysta and Kevin rode the Skycoaster--a bungee like drop from 150 feet. Here they are getting ready. They loved it! A few weeks later, Rachel had a field trip to Thanksgiving Point where she got to pet lots of horses. I think the teachers were brave to schedule an outdoor fieldtrip at the end of October, but the weather was beautiful.

Finally, we come to Trick-or-Treating! We have only two official trick-or-treaters left. The others waver between thinking they are too old (which they are) and going out to snag a few pieces of free candy just for old times sake.

Here is Rachie Roo....

...and Millie Moo. Happy Halloween!

Thanks Lisa for this stellar Olympic moment!

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A cat named "Phish"

Just in time for Halloween--a cute, cuddly furball.


They're both cute and cuddly. Our neighbors found a stray cat with two kittens living in a weed covered lot. After Rachel cried and cried for a kitty, Curt decided we could have one. (If we want something at our house, we just get Rachel to cry for it.)


Kevin thought it would be fun-in an ironic teenager sort of way-to name a cat, Fish. Then he got creative and decided it should be spelled with a "ph" as in Phish.


Soon they were involved in making it a home. This may look like an odd assortment of boxes, but it is really a cat palace with many nooks and cat friendly crannies.

Nature and Electricity

We live in a beautiful world. Too bad these pictures can't begin to do this part of Antelope Canyon justice.




On our way home we stopped by the dam. We've tried to take a Dam Tour before, but they were always full. This time we lucked out. (I could include many dam jokes at this point, but I'm exercising restraint!) See that green stuff at the bottom of the dam. I'd thought it was some kind of retaining pool, but it's actually....
...grass. Three football fields worth. The grass keeps dust from getting into the generators. Otherwise, it'd just be a big field of dirt and rock. (Not to be confused with Field of Dreams)
See the water seeping through the rock? They say that's supposed to happen. They planned on it in fact. Well....sure.

Here's the massive generators. Ah electricity, how I love it! Everyone take a moment to reflect on the beauties of nature and the beauties of electicity.

Sand, Surf, and Antelope

The couple's trip to Lake Powell is an annual event that we've always managed to miss but not this year. Now there is no turning back--we'll be there every year from now on. When Brian and Sharla discontinue their invitation, we'll still go to Lake Powell, sit on the sand, and caterwaul until someone takes pity on us. Okay, maybe not that last part, but this was the year several spouses were finally able to convince their better halves that a trip...especially one with no kids (sorry guys, love ya, but it's the truth)...is the perfect way to end the summer.

Lisa gets the award for best pirate.

Here's a few shots of surfing. Who would have thought you could surf on a lake? Maybe someone will next invent power snorkling. Hey, I think I did invent it. That's what happens when you can't get up on the surfboard, and you get pulled behind the boat. Except I didn't have a snorkle, and I couldn't see anything interesting, and I'm still coughing up water, but other than that I may have invented a new sport! Luckily no one took pictures (I hope). Curt took to surfing quite naturally. He should have grown up in California.

What a fun group of people--it's amazing they all ended up in the same family!




Edward's...I mean Ryan's eyes are red for a reason. He needs to feed on chocolate! (Click on the picture for a close up of the vampire eyes.)

To be continued...Antelope Canyon is so amazing it deserves its own post.

Family

Here's a picture of Krysta in her "lovely" college apartment. She moved out two weekends ago. So far, she enjoys school and the college experience, but we haven't given her too much time to adjust as she has seen us every weekend. We went to Southern Utah for Labor Day weekend to see my dad before his surgery for melanoma. This weekend she came to get her car, so she can travel back in a few days for a hair appointment. Once she has to stay and actually do her laundry in her apartment, then she will be a true college student.

Here's all the grandkids with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandpa's surgery went well. We will wait to hear what the doctor says about further treatment.

Tour of 8 Lakes

We took the whole family on a backpacking trip in the Uinta Mountains starting at the Crystal Lake Trailhead. We hiked two miles in to Long Lake where we set up camp. No one was camped by us or anywhere near the lake that we could see. Most hikers go in farther, but since we had little kids and a late start, we only made it this far before we were in danger of losing daylight. It turned out to be a great campsite with a ready made fire pit. Why didn't we bring marshmellows?! or Bratwurst?!

The next day we hiked a big loop (6 miles) and saw a lot of lakes. Island Lake, Fire Lake, Duck Lake, Pot Lake, Weir Lake, and Marjorie Lake were the main lakes we saw along with a few various unnamed ponds. We saw some of the lakes by accident as the trail wasn't always clear, and we ended up taking a longer loop than we expected. But such is the nature of most Graf hikes.





This was Rachel's favorite way to travel. We fully intended to stay two nights, but that evening the weaker members of our family (all of us over the age of 10) started to reflect that since we'd seen all we wanted to see, that it sure would be nice to go home to our own warm, comfortable beds. However, the younger ones really wanted to stay, so we decided to tough it out. Very shortly thereafter an unfortunate incident occurred which resulted in the loss of our entire supply of toilet paper. Now whether this incident was intentional or not (the unnamed culprit, who's name rhymes with 'trysta', claims it was an accident), we will never really know. But the truth remains that this was a camp with 5 girls. Although we love being close to nature, if that closeness involves using leaves instead of t.p., then we are out of there. We had just enough time to pack up and get to the trailhead before it got dark.

Here's the two youngest hikers headed for home.
End of the trail...almost.

We thought we would reward ourselves with shakes at a drive-in in Kamas. We got there at 9:30 on a Saturday night, but it was closed. Ice cream at the grocery store seemed the next best option, but the grocery store was also closed! Not having ice cream when you really need it--now that's roughing it!

Timpanogos

I've been too busy to blog much, but here's a few pictures of our climb up Timpanogos last Saturday. We slid down the glacier and our neighbor (whose family we hiked with) caught some great action shots.