I had my birthday recently! So, inspired by my husband, I decided to do a bunch of "58" things. I started off with 58 push-ups. I couldn't do that many in a row but I broke it up into sets of 10 over about 30 minutes. I also did it from my knees but maybe next year, I can do it from my toes. My next activity was going to the temple and doing 5.8 temple ordinances. OK, it was actually 6. You can't exactly perform .8 temple ordinances but 6 seems like a good approximation. I had lunch with Scott and then we hiked 5.8km up Dry Canyon. I wanted to do 5.8 miles but quickly realized that was not going to happen in the time we had. It was a warm afternoon and very sunny so we got pretty hot, but it was enjoyable. That meant I took 2 showers that day which I almost never do. In fact, I can't remember the last time that happened. It seems very inefficient and I'm all about efficiency. It was cool to get this nice view of the Lindon temple. When we got back, Scott work...

Recently I hiked the Timpanogos trail with two of my sons. The trail to the summit from the Timpooneke Trailhead is about 7 miles one way with about 4500 feet elevation gain. I was hoping to also go with my husband but his knee started hurting him the day before so he decided not to go. I met my boys at a parking lot near the mouth of the American Fork Canyon at 6am and we drove up together. Scott and I had reserved a parking spot at the Timpooneke Trailhead a few weeks before ($12) so when we arrived about 6:30, we were happy to be able to drive right in.  We were hiking in the dark for first 20-30 minutes but after that we didn't need our flashlights. It was cooler weather than we've had in a long time so we were happy to have warm jackets. I think temperatures were in the 40's for most of the day. After a mile or so, we saw a moose! We were so close to him, I was a little scared he might charge us so the picture I got was not great. He crossed the trail right after we pa...

 My mom celebrated her 80th birthday this week! We had a surprise family party for her at my brother's house on Monday as part of our Labor Day celebration.  Some of her children and grandchildren wrote poems in her honor. My father's poem was a song to the tune of the Jeeves and Wooster theme music. His performance was quite entertaining.  My sister also put together a Jeopardy game of questions about my mother. Since my mother has some entertaining idiosyncrasies, these questions were pretty amusing. For example, one question was "Mom's name for the so-called family member that is actually a grocery store." Answer:  Who is Uncle Harmon's? I also held a luncheon for her on her actual birthday with some of her friends in the neighborhood. I served grilled chicken, rice pilaf, tomato salad, spinach and berry salad, green beans from my garden, lemon bars, some sliced peaches, and zucchini muffins. This is the best time of year for food from my garden. I think ev...