Topaz Mountain

We had fall break from school on Thursday and Friday of last week. We were originally planning on going somewhere to do some camping, but for one reason or another we ended up not going. We still wanted to try and do something. There are several places in Utah that we have heard a lot about, but hadn't ever been. One of Marsha's goals was to go somewhere we hadn't been before. The choices were to go to Goblin Valley, Midway, Topaz Mountain and the Deardens. (OK, we've been to the Deardens before, but that's always a good choice of things to do.)

We asked the kids what they wanted to do. There were varying degrees of enthusiasm and responses. When Ryan found out that there was a place where we could find crystals AND try to catch lizards, he wondered why there was even any discussion of going anywhere else. We decided to go on a day trip to Topaz Mountain. 

Sunscreening up at Topaz Mountain. It is actually a mountain as seen in the background.


Since there was rock hounding invloved, we invited the Deardens to go with us, but they had some fall cleaning that kept them from coming. We did manage to round up a book on the best way to find crystals at Topaz Mountain and off we went.

Lauren on Topaz Mountain. Look at all the miles of nothing around.

Topaz Mountain is in the middle of nowhere and I'm not even joking. The closest towns of any size are the thriving metropolises of Eureka and Delta Utah. You drive to about half way between the two and then head west for 40 miles. When we were about halfway out to the mountain, Joseph asked where we were. We had to honestly tell him that we were nowhere.

For those unfamiliar with what topaz looks like, the following picture will give you an idea.


Museum grade golden topaz

It used to be that you could find large rough topaz crystals lying around at Topaz Mountain. You now have to dig for them and even then chances of finding anything are remote. We took hammers with us to break up promising looking rocks. To Joseph, all rocks looked promising.



When you have a hammer, the whole world is a nail.

 We found pleanty of topaz crystals. Unfortunately, they were all around a millimeter in size and imbedded in rock. The biggest one I saw was about 2 mm. It was fun to see the sparkley rocks. The rock formations were pretty interesting too.

Mark in front of a windblown rock formation

Luckily there were hundreds of lizards around to chase. Ryan was in heaven. The lizards were extremely speedy and hard to catch. They could scale rocks like you wouldn't believe.


Ryan in hot pursuit of a lizard

Laruen actually caught a lizard. Ryan was/is so excited that he has talked about little else since then. We have lizard pet material from when Mark had his lizards, so we brought Dexter (the lizard) home with us. He is, miraculously, still alive and eating the crickets we have been feeding him.

Mark also caught a large lizard, but managed to crush it pretty good in the process. Sadly, that lizard didn't make it.

On the way home we decided to go to another place we heard about that has Apache Tears, obsidian drops that could have the appearance of black diamonds. We followed the directions we had to try and find them but couldn't find the place. The map we had showed a back way to get back to the old pony express trail. I knew that the old road lead back to Lehi. We (I) decided to follow the back road. We ended up driving about 110 miles on a dirt road. It took about the same amount of time to get home as it would have to take the highway and our teeth were a little looser for all of the jarring we took on the dirt road.

We made it, though. A fun time was had by all (even though there was weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth by some members of our party before we left on our adventure.)

Two Goals

Marsha sent out e-mail not too long ago reporting what was happening in our lives. One of the things she said about Ryan was: He's playing fall soccer and really loves it. He's a courteous player which is not exactly a good thing in soccer.

His team is called the Volcanos. He and another boy on his team are about the same height and both are about the tallest in the league. We keep telling Ryan that he is so much bigger than the rest of the kids that he just needs to keep kicking the ball even when another kid comes up and tries to get it away from him. His usual MO is to back off and let the kid on the other team kick the ball.

In his game yesterday, he got the ball on a break away (nobody was between him and the goal.) He dribbled almost the length of the field and scored. We were pretty excited about that. Ryan, stoic as ever, high-fived people but didn't even smile.

Later on in the game, he had another break away, but a kid from the other team ran back to guard the goal. True to form, Ryan backed off and let him kick it. There was kind of a scrum in front of the goal. The ball squirted out and Ryan kicked it into the net for his second goal of the game. His team was celebrating like they had won the world championship. A kid on his team about half his size kept trying to pick him up. It was pretty funny.

After the game I told him that he did great during the game. He modestly said, "I know." And then we went and celebrated with slushies.

Here are some in game photos. Sorry no action shots.

Three First Days

OK, it took me a little while to get to this, but we had three first days of school in one week.

Ryan was first. He started first grade at Renaissance Academy on Monday. His teacher is Mrs. Sylva. He is doing great at having a long school day. He enjoys eating his lunch at school.

Lauren's first day of school was Tuesday. She decided to go to the Junior High this year rather than staying at Renaissance. She is really enjoying junior high and has some fun classes. The seventh graders started a day earlier than the rest of the school so that they could get acclamated before the rest of the students showed up.

Mark started 11th grade at Lehi High School on Wednesday. He has a crazy schedule with 3 AP classes (Biology, History and Calculus), an early morning orchestra class (he couldn't fit it into his schedule during the normal day), and marching band after school. His parents are more stressed out about his schedule than he is. We've tried to talk him out of some of it, but he won't hear of it.

We have a fourth first day coming up this week. Joseph is starting preschool this week.

West Coast Tour

We had a great time on our trip that we took. We were gone for 15 days, drove about 2400 miles and stayed with 5 different families. We left Lehi on July 30 and made stops in Nampa, Portland, La Pine, Eureka and San Jose. Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Sorenson, Aaron and Jenny, Jim and Becky, The Smiths, and Grandpa and Grandma Lindsey for letting us stay with them on our adventure. We did so much at each stop and between that a blog entry that detailed everything would be about a hundred pages long. Here is a list of the things we did with some pictures sprinkled in.

• Swim at the Nampa rec center
• Nightly Quiddler matches
• Visit to Larry and Tawana's with the Tophams
• Delicious apple and berry cobblers with home made ice-cream
• Checking out the animals with Hannah
• Shopping

Fishing with Grandpa in his boat at CJ Strike

• Everyone caught something
• Joe caught a trash fish
• Seeing a lizard
• Blowout on the boat trailer tire
• Ryan losing a front tooth in the car

Stopping at Multnomah Falls on the way to Portland

• Wrong turn across Fremont Bridge
• Giant bubbles with Trevor
• Visiting with Aaron and Jenny and Christine
• Finally a piano to play

Autobon Society Bird Refuge with Christine

• Seeing salamanders in the pond
• OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry)
• Portland Zoo
• Nirvanah of finding the big snakes
• Thai food
• Domino Effect
• Visiting Aaron at work and seeing the cool animation that people are doing
• Ben and Jerry's stop in Bend
• Throwing balls for Jim and Becky's dogs
• Homemade pizza

Horseshoes

Floating the Deschutes River in La Pine

Marsha, Derek and Joseph tipping the canoe and falling in

• Saving camera, keys and wallet, but losing a flip-flop
• Dinner with friends
• More horseshoes

Crater Lake

• Jedadiah Smith Forest and the big trees
• Skipping rocks 

Trinidad Beach (very cold)

• Another piano to play
• Blackberry picking

Sequoia Park

• Banana slugs
• Tennis with Alan Smith
• Old town Eureka

Feeding / chasing pigeons

• Gepetto's Toy Store no longer in business (we are so sad)
• Chinese yo-yos
• Carson Mansion
• Feeding chickens and rabbits
• Blackberry pie and ice-cream
• Mark performing on piano and getting to practice Chinese
• Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge
• Fisherman's Wharf
• Pier 39

Sea lions

• Joseph riding elevators/escalators
• Crazy hats
• Crazy socks

Crazy sign (details upon request)

• Ghirrardeli Square

Yummy ice-cream

• Crazy singer with handlebar moustache (details upon request)
• Fun with Meyers (rocket ball in back yard)
• Back to school shopping at Valley Fair Mall
• Bowling with grandpa
• Ice-cream at Sweet Retreat
• Trip to Oak Meadow park
• Ride the carosell
• Play on the fun equipment
• Frisbee

Riding the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad

• Visit to Meyer's in San Juan Bautista
• Tramp jumping
• Catch Phrase
• Pulled pork sandwiches
• Uncle Brad's famous smoothies
• Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Body surfing

Sand crabs

Checking ocean current conditions

• Ryan losing a second front tooth this trip
• Home at last.

We had a great time. We have photos of most of the things listed above if anyone wants to see more.

Feeling Lonely?

If you are ever feeling lonely and like you don't have any friends, I have the perfect remedy for you. Here's what you do:

1. Go to the Home Depot
2. Pick up a plastic owl
3. Carry it around the store for a few minutes

 You will have more people talk to you in those few minutes than you would ever need. People who haven't spoken to another human being in years will feel the need to talk to you about how an owl worked in keeping the doves out of their mother's barn when nothing else would work. People will ask you if you have problems with woodpeckers. People will offer advice on how to place the owl just right so that it will work.

I bought an owl to try to keep the robins from eating our cherries. The owl didn't work, but I now have about five new friends that I talked to between picking up the owl and walking to the checkout stand. And yes, all of the above were things people talked to me about in the store.

Here is a picture of the owl.

Party at Our House

We have had a non-stop party at our house for the last two weeks. Let me explain - no there is too much. Let me sum up:

The Tophams showed up on Wednesday. They were in town for a family reunion. They brought Lauren, who had been to visit her Grandma and Grandpa Sorenson for a week, back with them. They had reunion stuff to attend to during the days, but we got to spend some time visiting with them in the mornings and the evenings. The boys had a great time playing the wii while the were here. We picked about 10 pounds of cherries from our tree. We didn't manage to take a single picture while the were here. The Tophams stayed until Saturday morning.

Jane and Matt Smith (in our Provo ward) were in town for the opening of their new pizza place in Highland. We spent some time visiting with them and had their boys over for the day one of the days.

Friday night Kathy Smith (no relation to Jane and Matt) from Eureka was in town. She stopped by for a visit.

Also Friday night, the Sumpters drove up from Phoenix. They brought Collin Stimpson with them to stay with us for a week. That's when the party really started for Ryan and Joseph. They had a great time with their cousin.

There is a small (very small) amusement park called Liberty Land less than a mile from our house. We had some free passes for that, so we went there on Saturday morning.

Ryan and Collin rode on the airplane ride

All Joseph wanted to do was mini-golf

We also rode the roller coaster. Collin wasn't sure he wanted to go at first, but after he saw Ryan ride, he decided to give it a go. If you ever ride the roller coaster at Liberty Land, be sure that the bigger person sits on the left. We also played a game of laser tag. We had a great time.

Our old trampoline died the death (to quote Grant Dearden) a while back and we decided that this would be a great weekend to replace it.

The boys kept busy for a long time putting together the new tramp...

...and using it

Collin spent the day Monday with his Uncle Brett. We decided to go see "Toy Story 3." We had a great time. You will have to ask us about the boy sitting behind us who yelled at the characters on the screen for the whole movie. It was pretty funny. We barbecued with Val and Camille Ogborn that evening.

The Sumpters came over on Tuesday and we headed up the canyon. We had fun visiting with them even though it wasn't for very long.

We went to Tibble Reservoir

We fed stale Cheerios to the ground squirrils and, of course, threw rocks in the water.

Wednesday was BYU day. Marsha and the boys met the Sumpters at the botany pond (one of our favorite places to visit at BYU.)

The kids (and Steve) fed the ducks...

...and caught a turtle

They would have thrown rocks in the water, but the rocks are pretty scarce around the botany pond. They also went to the Wilkenson Center for some snacks. They also met up briefly with Mark, who was at BYU for Chinese camp.

Thursday Marsha took the boys to the Museum of Ancient Life (Largest dinosaur museum in the world, really).

They played on the erosion table

Rode the dinosaur

Looked at dinosaur skeletons (They were having a birthday party. That's why the dinosaur is wearing a birthday hat.)

Saw the giant shark (again with a party hat)

and uncovered dinosaur fossils

Other things we did with Collin that we don't have photos of: We shot off our own fireworks for the 4th of July. The smoke bombs were an especially big hit. We attended our annual "Cul-de-sac of Fire" were all the neighbors get together and shoot off all the fireworks we have at the same time. We went to the blue park and played on the equipment, climbed trees and threw rocks in the water. We played the wii. We built Legos.

The boys had a fabulous time with their cousin, Collin. We are really glad he decided to come visit us for the week.

We are still waiting to hear when the Meyer Family is coming to visit.

Fishing with Grandpa

We had a really fun Memorial Day. Grandpa and Grandma Sorenson were in town for Camille's graduation from high school. We got to spend lots of time with them. Ryan has been dying to go fishing, so when Grandpa was in town, it was game on. We went to Vivian Park in Provo canyon. The main Provo River runs on one side of the park. The other side has a little pond that is fed by the river. The fishing in the pond is for kids 12 and under.

Here are the intrepid fishermen at the start of the day.

Joseph was the first to catch a fish. He couldn't figure out why his pole was jerking around. He was pretty surprised in this picture.

Here he is admiring the fish that he caught.

Ryan was an awesome fisherman. He has the patince of Job. He could stand there all day fishing. He loves it. Here he is with a fish on the line.

And here he is with the finsished product.

Lauren even got into the act. She didn't think she wanted to come. Marsha told her that if she had any fun at all we would buy her a milkshake on the way home. She broke down and actually had a great time fishing. She caught two fish. She even got pretty good at casting by the time we were done. At first we teased her abouot trying to bludgeon the fish when she was casting. She was pretty excited to catch some fish.

We caught eight fish all together, but two got away. Ryan ended up catching four and Joe and Lauren caught two a piece.

Lauren found a Monarch butterfly that didn't fly away. She was able to pick it up. Maybe she is the butterfly whisperer.

We had an impromptu picnic. Marsha brought a loaf of bread and peanut butter. Here is Joseph chowing down on a PB&J.

Here is a picture of Mark - just for the heck of it.

We had a really fun weekend and are really glad that Grandpa took us fishing. We did end up getting milkshakes on the way home. The were tasty. Ryan has been after me ever since to get him a fishing pole and take him fishing again.