Recently I've gotten into backpacking! Scott and I got a bunch of gear in May to commit us and then, since December, I have tried to train by hiking the Y every week. There's nothing like planning a trip for motivation so we made a plan to hike the Alaska Basin on Friday and Saturday of this last week. This is an area adjacent to Grand Teton National Park which wouldn't require a permit. We planned this for weeks and then saw that the weather forecast was looking pretty bad with rain, low temperatures, lightning, etc. This would be especially bad at the high elevation we were going to. So we decided to change the hike to the Palisades Creek Trail, hiking to the Upper Palisades Lake and then hiking back out the next day. This turned out to be a really good decision for not just the weather but my hiking abilities. We were still worried about rain so Friday morning, we bought rain suits at Walmart in Rexburg, where we were staying with my sister. Then we drove out to the tra...

 Here it is! Almost everyone who is at the reunion telling their name, age, and what they like to do. It's not that long...

 On the last full day of our reunion, we had a French toast breakfast hosted by Kurt and Lauren. Afterwards we went to the city park to have our usual Undokai. Michelle and Bruce put it together and there were a lot of great feats of athleticism. After Undokai, we had lunch hosted by Craig and Holly and then various free-time activities in the afternoon, including time at the lake and a read-aloud session. Michelle, Kurt, and I sightread a Khachaturian clarinet violin trio.  Friday dinner was hosted by me and my family:  Cafe Rio type salads with chicken and cookies for dessert. Afterwards we took a family picture with all of us and then had a family/testimony meeting.  Here's the big family picture with all 93 of us. My parents, their children and spouses: On Saturday morning, we packed up and headed out. I went on an early morning walk and took a few pictures of the sun rising over Bear Lake. Here's a nice picture of my parents taken by my sister.