A Splash of Color

I am not allowed to go to Hobby Lobby anymore. I spend too much.

On the flip side, I finally made some pillows which I have been meaning to do for months. I only made 2 so I will need to make a couple more for the other couch, but now there's a little more color in the living room. I SLOWLY getting things put together.

We put some things up on the wall in the living room and the dining room, and I just need one more large piece of art in the living room and the front will be pretty much done as far as the walls go.

I am also trying to ramp up my knitting - I picked up a book and will be trying my first sweater. It could be a long time and a lot of frustration away. but I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Updates

No photos on this one - but hopefully a few to come. I just completed my second week of training for my new job at ARUP Laboratories. They are accelerating my training schedule from 7-8 weeks down to 4 weeks so I am really trying to get my bearings and feel comfortable with the job basics. I;m really enjoying the people and the atmosphere in the department and company alike. It's been fascinating to see how a large lab company runs and I am definitely flexing my brain a lot right now.

House-wise, Jon and I finally did some more wall decorating a couple of weeks ago. Jon is still working on figuring out electrical things in the laundry room and we've started to take out bushes and trees in the front and backyard so we can take advantage of Fall and get our landscaping ideas rolling.

Lastly, with the Legacy Highway finished, the commute from Salt Lake takes only 25-30 minutes (a little more for me since I have to get across town and the lights are unfriendly) instead of an hour. We go freeway speeds allt he way at rush hour instead of at least 50 minutes of stop and go. Let's hope this means fewer inversions this Winter?

Glacier and Cuhnaydia (aka Canda)

I'm working on editing the 300 photos Jon and I took over the last week while we were in Glacier National Park and Banff National Park in Canada. Mother Nature produced some good and bad weather for us - rain at the beginning and at the end - but we managed to draw on our Grizzly Adams skills and enjoy ourselves anyway. How could we not? Glacier Park is now my numero uno, favorite National Park that I've been to and we are already thinking about another trip next year.

Day 1: We left last Tuesday after finishing up a few things in Utah and set off for Montana on our first real vacation since last November!

Day 2: Rain! After staying in Missoula for the night, we arrived in Glacier mid-morning on Wednesday. Donning a few layers and rain jackets, we set off on a hike up Avalanche Creek. The rain, while limiting my ability to look around, only increased the natural color. The greens were greener - the ground covered with a carpet of verdant, green moss and sprinkled with toasty, golden evergreen needles. There were all sorts of exotic looking plant-life throughout the park and you felt a bit like you were in the some prehistoric dinosaur world. After a few hours of hiking we went back and set up camp. There were various places that held nightly presentations on varying topics and we went to one in our campground on the Birds of Glacier before getting off to bed.

Day 3: Better weather; sunny but still pretty cold. We were in the 40's most of the morning and we made it to mid-50's by afternoon. Logan Pass was reopened after the previous day's snow, and we stopped at the visitor's center there. It was FREEZING and we only managed a few quick photos before setting off for another hike. We headed up for Iceberg Lake, but after spotting a couple of grizzlies, albeit far off, and without bear spray, we turned around and headed up a different, lower path. We ended up at a lake and hiked around it to a waterfall before heading back to camp. We learned that Jon doesn't like to have to cook or wash ANYTHING while camping and so I ate hot dogs and cold chili from the can. Because of all the bears, you can't leave anything out like you can in other campsites and you have to dump your dirty water in a special place, etc. etc. So cooking is a little more work anyway.

Day 4: Even better weather! Beautiful sun and crisp, fall temperatures. We tried to hike to Grinnell Glacier, this time WITH bear spray, but alas! Bears! It's their season to bulk up before hibernation and they are out in force and ready for a meal. We met with various parties coming past us who had been "chased" away by a momma bear and a cub so we turned back and hiked to the Hidden Lake Overlook. Like the entire park, it was beyond words, but we also crossed paths with a small group of mountain goats. Not very afraid of people, they walked right through the crowd, grazing and altogether unfazed by us.


Day 5: Leaving no trace like good outdoorspeople, we disassembled our camp and set off on a short hike on the Garden Wall. A long trail that runs right on the side of a mountain. Falling is not an option; at least not an option you want to think about... After that we set off for Canada and Banff National Park. We arrived late afternoon, checked into our hotel, walked around the oh-so-touristy (oh-TOO-touristy) town and ate at an irish pub we found. The place was like the Aspen of Canada, all yuppies and international people doing what else but SHOPPING! It was pretty difficult to find where to hike and how long the hikes were. It seemed more an atmosphere of drive and look or hike no more than a quarter of a mile. Even the maps often did not note the length of hikes simply saying, "Approx. 75 minutes away from Banff Village. Plan to Spend an hour." Which was not a particularly helpful note. Nevertheless, the area was beautiful and they did have some funny signs.

Apparently they need a van to round up all the Canadian criminals?
The Lego Building...
Can you tell where we're going? I can't... I'm glad there are two red lights though so I know to stop extra hard.
Day 6: We checked out and went North to an iceberg and after almost giving up on finding it, finally noticed a visitor's center and a large crow of people clearly ignoring the signs that said not to cross the rope and walk onto the Glacier. Canadians are so laid back. Then we went south again to Lake Louise and down into Montana where we stayed the night. It rained all day.
Day 7: Down through the rest of Montana and Idaho, into Utah, and finally home to unload the car and get to bed early.

Ok - enough typing!! I'll try to get a full album up in Picasa, but no promises on when.