Turning over a new leaf....

It has been way too long since this blog was written on - so I am going to give it a shot and try to post on a regular basis. Emily does so well with hers - here's hoping that mine goes as well. Check back in a couple of days and I will hopefully have an update on what has been happening around here for the last few months.

MATT'S LAST (PRE-MISSION) HURRAH

Last weekend was the last one before Matt's 2 year mission to Jamaica. So he and I took off on a motorcyle trip to southern Utah. We left on Thursday after work and rode to Cedar City. After spending the night there, we rode about 10 miles to the south of there to a very tiny town called Kanarraville. I had heard thet there was a good slot canyon hike there. So we rode in blind and hoped to find it. The town was much smaller than I had anticipated and we saw like no-one to ask about it. We finally saw a man working in his front yard, so we pulled up and asked him if he knew anything about it. Fortunately, he did. It turned out that it was just up the street from his house. We talked for a while and he told us that while there were no parking signs at the trail head, the town was so small that it did not actually have any parking regulations in place so there was no way to enforce the no parking signs. He also said that many people parked at the Mormon church parking lot (which was right across the street from his house) and then just walked up the street from there. After riding up to see scout out the trailhead, we came back and parked in the church parking lot. No need riling up the natives. We found a short wall hiding the air conditioners near the church and took turns changing out clothes. This was after waiting for two little old ladies sitting in their car (and who asked if we had any questions about the church) to leave. Fortunately, they left shortly after we talked to them. We then walked over to the "general store" (the office of a KOA campground) for a couple of water bottles. The proprietor asked if we were going to hike the falls and recommended that we pick up a long stick along the way to ward off rattle snakes as they were common on the hike. We heeded his advise at first, but not seeing any snakes at all (fortunately), discarded them after a while. The trail was just an ATV trail for the first half mile or so and we were beginning to think it was going to turn out to be a dud, when we came across the river. We hiked alongside the river for a mile or so and then ended up hiking right up the stream bed. It was a very beautiful canyon and before too long we hit the first the first of three slot canyons (narrow walled canyons with sheer walls rising on either side, sometimes hundreds of feet high) and a river or stream running through it.


Here are some pictures of our hike:

below: Mat on the top of the same waterfall

right: Dave and Matt --with a good view of a slot canyon in the background

Matt at the beginning of a slot canyon.
Just to the right of Matt's ear you can see a tiny patch of green on the other
end of the canyon

After we hiked in Kannaraville, we rode to Hanksville for lunch. While we were eating at Burger King, I pulled a sheet of paper from my pocket and dropped it in front of Matt. He about gagged when he saw it was a printed internet page for a local skydiving outfit called Skydive Zion. He has been wanting to skydive for a long time now and I told him no, I didn't want to kill him off before his mission. He was (massive understatement) very excited. The reservation was for about an hour later, so we cruised out there after lunch was over. After about an hours lesson, we were off. Since there was only one instructor, one plane, and one pilot, we had to take turns. Matt went first. Here is a video clip of his landing, and post landing:

And here is a clip of Dave's landing:

The conquering hero:







After our big skydiving adventure, Matt and I rode into St. George for the evening. The next day, we rode into one of the most beautiful places on earth, Zion National Park. There we parked the motorcyles and changed clothes behind a huge rock. We then boarded a shuttle into the main canyon and got off at the trailhead for Angel's Landing. Without a doubt, Angel's Landing is my favorite hike ever. It is awe inspiringly gorgeous at the top, and a very fun hike to get there.

right and lower: on the lower part of the trail

Believe it or not, this is only a little more than half way up, and yes it is a sheer wall on the far side.

Here are a couple of pictures from the top. There're real . . . and spectacular!!

After decending from Angel's Landing, we rode home, grateful for a safe trip. I think that both Matt and I will always remember this trip with very fond memories. I know I will.

Lake Powell 2008

We went on our annual Lake Powell trip in late August. The kids "had" to be pulled out of school after only the first two days of the new school year. They think that is great until they get back and have to catch up on the three days they missed. They seem to have survived both Lake Powell and the follow up homework crunch. This was Auden's first trip to the lake and, of course, she played a starring role.

Emily and Makana (and half of Matt)

Makana's sister, Jessica, who just moved to Utah and is staying with Em and Makana for a while

Em and Auden chillin' under the umbrella on the top deck of the houseboat

It gets a little crowded inside the houseboat. From l to r: Makana, Emily, Steven, Auden and Grandpa Hout

From l to r: Michelle, Ashley, and LeAnn

This may not look like much, but there is a story: At 8am on a quiet Sunday morning, we heard a giant noise outside the houseboat. We all ran outside to see a huge red cloud of dust at the front of the houseboat where we were tied up. A giant boulder had broken off from the top of a 500 or so foot cliff and landed a mere 20 yards from the boat. Steven was forward on the top of the boat and heard it break off. Thinking it was going to hit the boat (i.e., him) he decided that the best thing to do was duck behind the flimsy plastic lounge chair he was in. The rock was basically pulverized and left only this sand/dust on the shoreline. You can see the ends of the houseboat tie ropes in the picture. Very close call . . . we were all grateful that the worst thing that happened was having to clean up a layer of red dust at the end of the trip. It was everywhere!!

It was a great trip, but as always it was good to get home and sleep in our own beds. I will though, miss sleeping on top of the boat and looking at the magnificent sky late at night. There are always millions of stars, satalites and, of course, falling stars to see.

hello

Hello:

Since we are all so far apart and generally acknowleged awful corresponders, I am making an attempt to set up a blog so we can all keep up with each other. I have no idea if others can post here or not, but at least you will have our information and photos as we go forward. I am pretty sure you can at least comment.

The biggest news we have, of course, is the arrival of a granddaughter, Auden Kahiwalani Ho (the "w" in her middle name is pronouced as a "v", as in Ka-He-Va-Lonnie, which means "beloved child" in Hawaiian). She was born on May 24, 2008, in Provo, Utah. She weighed in at 5 lbs, 13 oz. and was about 18 inches long. Here are some pictures. As you can see, Auden is undoubtedly the world's most beautiful baby girl (at least currently). Em is still in school and should be finished in another semester (or two, depending on the demands of motherhood, work, etc). Being a grandparent is the best!!