Sunday, September 30, 2007

September Events

Welcome ZIA!!
Zia Roberts came into the world Sunday September 23, 2007 at approx. 3:37pm. Zia weighed in at 8lbs 2oz and is 22.5 inches long! Pretty good sized kid! Here is Zia being held by her Grandma. Because of the Warren Jeffs trial, Maureen was held up from going to Albuquerque until the 22nd...Zia was kind and waited until the 23rd. Maureen has expressed her joy for being able to witness the birth of both of our grandchildren. Zia is a beautiful, content, sleepy, hungry and growing little beauty! Ava and I will be going to to ABQ next weekend to enjoy the baby, conference and bring Maureen home. Emily is doing fine, in fact, she really did well...a regular baby delivering trooper! It is a great blessing to have Zia here. For more pictures and stuff, check out Emily's blog linked to the right.



Harpoon that Whale!
That would be referring to me of course.....Our latest kick for exersize is swimming. We bought a pass down at the Sand Hollow Pool and are swimming laps....I have found that I can still swim, just not very far...but we are having fun!

Meet the Ravitch family.
The weekend of Sept 15th, Adam's mom and dad came for a visit. Harold and Silvia Ravitch came up to do wedding stuff, and see what kind of a family Adam is marrying into. They are from the San Fernando Valley near LA. While Maureen, the bride and groom and Silvia checked out all the wedding stuff, Harold and I went sightseeing and on a hike in Pine Valley...I guess you know who got the better end of that deal! We welcome them to the family!


El Salvadore night
After Ava and Val came home from El Salvador, they invited some friends and neighbors over to our home and reported on their summer at the orphanage. We had authentic food and a great slide show and presentation of the work they performed. I was really impressed with the great work they performed for those kids. If you would like to know more about their summer adventure, check out the link to their blog over to the right!

Friday, August 17, 2007

Valerie and Adam Are Engaged!!

Valerie and Adam at Rainbow Bridge

Valerie and Adam Ravitch have decided to get married in December. More details such as date and time will be forthcoming! Congratulations to the future bride and groom. This much we do know, Valerie will take out her endowments in the Los Angeles Temple and they will be married in the St. George Temple following her endowment. Adam is from the San Fernando Valley, near LA. Valerie and Adam met at USC where Adam was attending Law School. He graduated last May from Law School and has taken the California Bar exam this summer. He also has secured a job doing a clerkship for a judge in Las Vegas this fall.

Val and Adam preparing a big Cathedral Canyon smootch!! A passerby boat egged them on by yelling KISS, KISS, KISS, KISS and cheered when it finally happened!
Congratulations you two!

Lake Powell Trip

Beautiful Last Chance Bay at Lake Powell

On August 14th, we took a three-day trip to Lake Powell. Our neighbors and friends the Wades were nice enough to let us borrow their boat...so it was off to Wahweep we went! We put in at Wahweep on Tues morning and drove the boat with all of our gear up channel to Last Chance Bay and found a really nice campsite in one of the fingers of the bay shaded from the wind and main channel. It was really a beautiful spot on a sandy beach.
Camp site in Last Chance Bay

The weather was really great...not too hot and the water was bathtub warm...in fact, I really don't remember the water ever being as warm as it was this trip....truly bath water temperature as evidenced below. The first night however, we experienced a terrific lightning and rainstorm. It was really cool.
Nice polygamist hairdo Val and nice shampoo point Ava!

The next day we took a tour up to see one of natures incredible wonders, Rainbow Natural Bridge. With the water being low, we had a 3/4 mile hike up the canyon from where we left the boat. I am always impressed to see the bridge, no matter how many times I have seen it.
After Rainbow Bridge and lunch, we toured Cathedral Canyon which is just west of Rainbow Canyon. As you can see below, it was really breathtaking up in the canyon. We went as far as we could in the boat, then Maureen and the kids went up further swimming as the canyon walls go more narrow. You can see just how low the lake is....about 30 from the high water mark.

Cathedral Canyon

If you look really close above, you can see 4 swimmers up in the narrow canyon. I stayed back and made sure the boat was ok as there was no place to tie it up.


No Lake Powell trip could be complete without plenty of water skiing! Here is Valerie getting up for the first time on one ski. Adam, Valerie and Ava skied and wake boarded for several hours each day until their muscles dropped off...Even Maureen was coaxed in to ski as well!

There was plenty of shore activity as well, here are the kids and their sand castle at our campsite.


Here I am on the boat before one of our adventures.

Another Lake Powell tradition is cliff jumping. We drove the boat up to the top of Last Chance Bay and went into a side canyon called Twitchell Canyon. There we found a cliff, not too high to jump off of. Here is Maureen and Ava's legs flying through the air!

It took a full 3 minutes to for Val and Adam to decide to go off holding hands or not....they decided to hold hands!

Lake Powell is a great vacation, very relaxing and picturesque. Here is Maureen up in at a beautiful spot in Twitchell Canyon. We had a great time and enjoyed every minute.

Ava and Valerie Return From El Salvador

Ava and Valerie with their friends Adam and Julian enjoying a welcome home meal at Gardunios in Las Vegas after picking the girls up at the airport.

After 3 long months (according to dad) in El Salvador working in an orphanage for disadvantaged children, Ava and Valerie return home having had an incredible experience working with, teaching and helping these wonderful children. We hope that you have enjoyed their blog that they have recorded this summer. They will be posting their final blog shortly. You can view it at: www.elhogardelnino.com. There is also a link to their site in the right column. They feel that their lives were richly blessed working there for three months. Many great friendships and a remarkable program was started. Rachel Nielson, one of the Foundation's leaders said, "You...have built a foundation of respect and professionalism with the administration and the foundation, which is absolutely vital to the program." Well done Ava and Valerie, your work has been wonderful and you will be greatly blessed and enriched from the experience!
Valerie poses with the many gifts from El Salvador they came home bearing!!

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Bishop Crump is Released

St. George College 17th Ward Bishopric and Wives
Left to right: Suzanne Kuhlmann, Pete Kuhlmann 1st Counselor, Maureen Crump, Bishop Crump, Nadine Hancey, Kevin Hancey 2nd Counselor.

On August 5th, our bishopric was released after serving 3 years at Dixie State College. The time really flew by. Many bittersweet feelings were felt among us and expressed by ourselves and others. I really need to adjust my thoughts and feelings....I can see things that need to be done, but then I remember that I cannot do it. It is a real adjustment. I had at the time of release a wonderful peaceful feeling come over me. I know that I did my best. I can tell you that I felt led by Divine power many times. It will be a loss, however, I have all of the great memories that were made during my time. Maureen and I will move forward to other things and we look forward to it. Thanks to all of you for your love and support during the time I served.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Crump Family Reunion 07 7/23-25/07

Granite Flats Campground
We gathered at Granite Flats up American Fork Canyon for our annual family Reunion. Many thanks to Dianne, Wayne and their family for setting us up in a great spot. Above is the dining spot, we had a ball field where a couple of tenacious Kickball games were played and many sore muscles were earned. In between was a nice creek that was home to a grand water fight. Fish stories were shared, not many caught. A broken camper window on Stan's truck, a great FHE on our pioneer ancestors was shared, about 30 Harry Potter books scattered and devoured by many was seen, and a nice rainstorm that failed to wake me from my nap as it flew by all happened in a wonderful 48 hours. The food was great and the company was better.
Timpanogos Cave Hike
On Tuesday morning, many of us got tickets to hike and tour Timpanogos Cave. Maureen and I huffed and puffed up the mountain trail to the cave entrance. It took us about 40 minutes to hike the mile and a half. Jen Christensen, my niece told us when she was a ranger taking tours there 10 years ago, she could hike it in 20 minutes. Maureen and I were pretty tired when we got up there.
Cooling off in Middle Cave
We seemed to get more out of the cave tour this time. Maybe it is because I didn't have a bunch of kids to herd around inside or my memories of the tour have been stored in dead brain cells. Anyway,it was nice and cool inside the caves. We got the full Martin Hansen treatment, legends and recognition as some of his ancestors. I still can't get over the bravery of Grandpa and the others to explore those caves with the primitive tools, candles and having to drop over 100 feet by rope and for Grandpa Martin to drop that 100 feet at 73 years old. This was really a fun activity and I got my cardio in for the next month!

Grandma EJ's Birthday 7/25/07
Wednesday morning we got up and said goodbye to the Crumps at our reunion and drove to Ogden to celebrate Maureen's mother's (Grandma EJ is what we call her) 77th birthday. After visiting JB and EJ at their home in Ogden, we drove up Ogden Canyon to a park in Huntsville to celebrate with the family. We had a great dinner at the park and many toured the David O McKay home there in town. Happy Birthday Mama, we love you!
The newest in the Dickson Clan!
Zion is growing! And never is it said more true than in JB and Elaine's family! Here are the two newest in the family. The baby on the left is Jada Herring, Camille's fifth child and the one on the right is Caleb Rasmussen (Sarah's first). These two kids are number 43 and 44 great grandchildren of JB and EJ. Oops, I forgot, number 45 was born last Sunday. Makel Gardner who is the daughter of Melinda (Witt, Karen's daughter) and Chad Gardner, see how fast they come....if you blink, you might miss one.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

ABQ Trip, Cape Final Trip, Strawberry Days

THE 2007 STRAWBERRY DAYS GRAND MARSHALL!

On June 23rd, Maureen and I jumped in the car and drove to Pleasant Grove to see Mom and Dad ride in the parade as Grand Marshall. It was really great. We met Stan, Holly and their kids on 200 South to watch. It looks like the lady was as excited to take my picture as I was taking Mom and Dad. Dad said he needed a little more leg room in that rumble seat.
EDEN GETTING READY TO "JUMP"
Our trip to ABQ was alot of fun. We went down 7-13 thru 7-17 to help Dane and Emily and Eden with some house projects. We worked in their yard getting ready to lay Flagstone, put in a sink and fixtures in their bathroom, and Maureen and Emily sewed curtains for thier windows.

SEW LIKE THE WIND!!!
Flagstone already layed by Dane

HIKE TO CAPE FINAL, NORTH RIM OF THE GRAND CANYON
JULY 4, 2007

Maureen and I on the 3rd and 4th went out to the North Rim. On Tuesday the 3rd we drove out to Kanab in the afternoon and visited the Visitors Center. I had no idea there were so many movies made out there.....There were over 200 made in the hayday. We had dinner then drove up to Jacob's Lake and stayed in a cabin. The next morning we drove out to the North Rim and did the Cape Final Hike....again something we had never done before. Here is Maureen resting in her normal resting position. I think that Cape Final was the best views We have ever seen of the Grand Canyon, we could see all the way up to Lee's Ferry and the Vermillion Cliffs to the north and all the way around the elbow of the canyon to the South Rim. It was really great...too bad Maureen missed it looking into the orange bandana!!


Looking southwest toward the elbow of the canyon