A Sweet Rocky Mountain Paradise....

Time for a Christensen Family Reunion. Bonnie, Claude's Mom, saw the need and enlisted Shannon, Claude's niece, to help her make it happen. They invited all of Ruby and Earl, Claude's father's (Evan) parents descendants to participate. Since Evan and his sisters are all deceased, Bonnie and Richard (Evan's sister, Marilyn, husband) were the only two of that generation to attend. The next generation were all grandchildren of Ruby and Earl and their spouses, children and grandchildren. 

The location for the two days of lots of family was Camp Atoka. This is a camp owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ogden Valley. Cordell, Claude's brother, and his wife, Julie, are serving a mission there this summer managing the camp with another couple, the Watts. They live at the camp in their big trailer. 

We flew to Utah Wednesday, June 15th. Arriving at the Salt Lake City airport, we walked to the parking garage to pick up our rental car. We were pleasantly surprised that our car for the week was a Chevy Malibu. You see, 47 years ago when Claude and I met, he drove a Chevy Malibu. He was very proud of that car and loved it very much. I knew how much he cared about me when he made a trip home to Utah from Louisiana before we married and left me his car to drive and care for...and the rest is history. The cute thing with this new version of the car was Claude trying to figure out how to get that trunk open. After the first day he had the hang of it. With my car you press a button on the key fob and the trunk pops open. With this one he pressed a button on the fob and then pressed a spot on the trunk. 

It was wonderful to be back in the Rocky Mountains. The Wasatch Range is gorgeous. This was a view from I-15 driving north toward Ogden. 

We drove up Ogden Canyon to the Ogden Valley. 

In this picture you have the Ogden Valley at Huntsville. The Pineview Reservoir is in the middle. We were told a little lady owns this farm along the banks of this man-made reservoir. She refuses to sell. She could make a bundle as this area develops more for tourists. Skiing in the winter and the lake in the summer. Gorgeous views. Great spot for a vacation any time of the year. Have to admire this lady for holding on to that which is most precious to her in favor of the almighty dollar. Ogden Valley is a mountain valley at the top of Odgen Canyon in Utah. Claude's sister, Lynette, and her family live in Huntsville in Ogden Valley. 

We went to Rick and Lynette's first to meet up with Bonnie. Then we went back down the Canyon a bit to "The Oaks". Rick and Lynette held their wedding rehearsal dinner there years ago. That was our first encounter with The Oaks and it has become a must visit for a burger every visit. It is located along the Ogden River which flows through the Ogden Canyon. Such a fun place to eat with great food. Rick, Lynette, Brian, Bonnie, Claude and I enjoyed time to visit and eat. 

After we ate I took a few pictures outside. These beautiful flowers were along the front. The first is honeysuckle and the second is columbine.  

We next drove back up the Canyon and found Camp Atoka. We visited with Julie and Cordell and the Watts. Julie made a planter out of some old logs. I thought these were really a neat idea. 

Check-in time at Wolf Creek Resort was at 4pm. We followed Bonnie to the Resort and checked into our room. The Wolf Creek Resort is in Eden in Ogden Valley and, thanks to the generosity of Kayla, Claude's sister, and her hubby Chris, Claude and I stayed there in a two bedroom suite with Bonnie. Very nice digs for the week. 

We all found these chairs fascinating. I'm pretty sure they were made of manufactured wood but they looked close enough to real that we had to inspect closely before feeling confident with that decision. 

This was the view from our deck for the week. The suite was two story. Bonnie had the bedroom on the main level so she didn't have to climb up and down stairs. Claude and I took the bedroom upstairs.  

Thursday, June 16th, would begin adding more family to the mix. This day some of us would go into Ogden to go through the Ogden Utah Temple with Shannon for her first time. This is a very important occasion to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Claude and I were very honored that Shannon invited us to participate with her and even timed this so we would already be in Utah. Love her heart, she gave us a wonderful gift by including us in this tender moment in her life.

Since there was much happening in the 'paving department' on the Ogden Canyon route on Thursday, we opted to drive Trapper's Loop to get to Ogden. We met Cordell and Julie at the Chevron station and followed them. These two pictures were taken on this drive. The first is where grain had been cut on the hill. Just thought it might be interesting to show farming in Utah. When we drove into Huntsville and the Ogden Valley, we passed this field and I asked Claude if he thought the field was planted or if it was just grass growing in the field. Well, we had our answer Thursday morning as that field was being cut. The second picture is Snowbasin, a major ski area in Utah. Snowbasin hosted the 2002 Alpine Ski events for the Olympics.

The Ogden Temple has been renovated and is stunning. The first picture is a view of the Ogden Utah Temple. The second picture is me, Shannon and Claude in front of the temple. 

This picture is the people who went through the Ogden Utah Temple with Shannon.  From left to right: Julie Christensen, Bonnie Christensen, Shannon Drysdale, Claude and Sandi Christensen, and Janet??? Janet is Shannon's father, Rick, mother's sister. Beautiful day for a blessed occasion.

Julie road home with Claude and me.  We saw a huge bird fly over the car. It was an eagle. Evidently, there is a pair of eagles that make their nest each year, raise their young, and then fly away for the winter. At the top of a pole is a flat area. It looks to me like someone deliberately made this spot for the eagles. Then they built their nest on top. At the top of the pole is an eagle parent with young. 

After leaving Julie at Camp Atoka, Claude drove us back to Wolf Creek Resort. He was very good to pause and let me take pictures along the way. This was at Spring Creek feeding into the Pineview Reservoir. 

We had a little time to take a quick nap (Bonnie and Claude napped, I don't do that very well.) and then we met the family for dinner at 'Eats of Eden'. That is a very cute name for a restaurant in Eden, Utah. Left to right: Julie and Cordell Christensen, Kim (Thomas's friend and an adopted part of the Drysdale family) Thomas, Shannon and Brian Drysdale, Dan Drysdale and his new family Bella and Briana, Bonnie Christensen, Sandi and Claude Christensen, Rick and Lynette Drysdale. We filled ourselves with pizza and garlic-cheese rolls. It was yummy and our server, who happened to be the owner, took this picture so we could all be in it. 

Friday, June 17th I woke up, went downstairs and opened the blinds to this beautiful sight. If I were a sign-seeker, I would take this as a sign of a good day to come.

The other thing I found was this crow on our deck. The reason this crow was interesting to me has to do with Oregon a couple of years ago. Kayla and Chris got us our first WorldMark experience at Depot Bay, Oregon. Again it was a two bedroom suite. We had the front bedroom and Bonnie had the back bedroom. Shannon and Aubrey had the sofa bed in the living room. It was an amazing resort condo right on the edge of the cliff with the Pacific Ocean beneath the cliff. There were hundreds of seagulls. There were signs posted on our room and porch to 'not feed the seagulls'. There was constant seagull calls. As soon as we checked in to Wolf Creek Resort, I went out on the deck and immediately felt the loss of all the seagulls and their yammering. This was a different place with a totally different view that was equally amazing. But, I still seemed to miss the seagull action. Then I wake up on Friday and find this guy on the peak of the roof of the building behind us. He obviously spent lots of time there as he left his white markings all over that peak of the roof. Then he flew down and took up residence for a brief bit on our deck. He was calm enough for me to split open the blinds and take this picture. Not a lot of noise but it was still a bird out the window. Very nice. Very nice.

In addition to the family reunion, the Ragnar Relay Race was being held Friday and Saturday. There were places all over for the runners to refresh with water, police to block traffic and keep it moving and lots of vans to help move the relay teams around. This picture is of two very old restored buildings in Huntsville and, if you look closely, you can see some of the people running the Ragnar Relay Race.

Diagonally across from the picture of the runners, was our destination for lunch, Carlos and Harley's. The building they are in was originally a general store. So the furnishings inside are really, really neat. But my first view was outside. This is the back where we parked. Please notice this very cool fence. It is made of old skis. We had Tex-Mex for lunch and totally enjoyed our meal. Bonnie was with us. Great fun to read the catchy signs on the walls and notice all the fun decorations and the old cabinets from the general store days. Great place to eat if you are ever up that way.

On the ride back to Wolf Creek Resort, Claude once again slowed down so I could get a picture of this beautiful old barn. I am sure at one point it was painted red as there is a hint of that all over the walls. I just loved the shape of it.   

The family that could arrive on Friday evening was on hand for the campfire. Hot dogs roasted over the fire was the meal for the evening. Here are a few pictures: First, Cordell and Claude (the brothers) getting the first of the hot dogs cooked. Second, Cordell feeding Bella. Third, Kayla roasting her hot dog.  

Bill and Tami were not in attendance. But Bill taught Julie how to make a campfire treat called 'Woofems'. Then Bill made Julie four of the sticks needed to make Woofems and a case to carry them in. Julie brought these and the fixins and we made Woofems for dessert after the hot dogs. They are called Woofems because once you eat one you will woofem down. The stick is really a wooden dowel. A larger dowel with a hole drilled in it is cut and put over the smaller dowel at the end. You spray this end with cooking spray. Then you take a canned biscuit and mold it around the large dowel at the end forming a cup shape. Hold it over your fire and rotate it till it is cooked a light brown on the outside. When the cooked biscuit it taken off the end of the woofem stick, it is a little bread bowl. You fill it with pudding or pie filling and top with whipped cream and what ever other things you might want. I actually think they would be good with sloppy joe mix in them and grated cheese on that. It was a fun treat and we thank Bill for sharing this with Julie so she could share it with us. The first picture below shows Cordell getting the woofem sticks out of their case while Julie gives instructions. The second picture is cooking the woofems over the fire (left to right: Shannon, Alyssa, Eileen, Daniel and Briana. The third picture is Dan holding up his completed woofem.

Love this picture of Joann, Claude's sister, and her mother, Bonnie, laughing. Just makes me happy.

I am constantly amazed at the things Brian is learning to do. He is one of Lynette and Rick's twins. They were born very, very early. Brian is severely autistic. Yet, he continues to amaze me with all he does as this loving family teaches, trains and cares for him. In this picture, Shannon is teaching him how to drive a 4-wheeler.  

Bella and Clyde made fast friends from the moment they met. In this picture Bella is the owner and Clyde is her dog. They went all over the camp ground playing this game. It truly doesn't take much to entertain children when you place them in this environment. 

Aw...the story behind this picture.  This is Cordell in a thoughtful pose. In his little vehicle are two garbage cans, one on top of the other. Inside those garbage cans is a live skunk!!! That's right folks, a real, live skunk!!!  

It seems one week the campers forgot to put their food in air tight tubs at night. The skunk realized he stumbled into a good place to eat. So the skunk kept returning. Well, you really don't want a live skunk in a campground with hundreds of teenagers. Not a good mix. So, while the rest of us entertained ourselves with the campfire and visiting, Cordell decided to go to one of the many campsites and check to see if the skunk was still coming around. Sure enough, it was there and he trapped it by putting a garbage can over the one it was already in. He is musing here on exactly how to get rid of the live skunk without being sprayed as it defends itself. Yike!!

Now, this is a fun story for this branch of our family tree. Several years ago Aunt Lou passed away. She was Evan's sister (Claude's dad). Friends dug her grave and went to the cemetery the morning of her funeral to lower the vault into the ground so the casket could be placed in it after the dedication of the grave. The family was at the mortuary that morning for the final viewing and family prayer. Just as we were all getting ready to get in our cars to leave the mortuary and make the drive into the country to the cemetery, the mortuary received a call. The call went something like, "Keep everybody there. There is a skunk in the hole!" During the night before the funeral, a skunk had crawled into the grave and couldn't get out. It was pacing in the bottom of the grave site when the friends came to put the vault in. Now, how to get the skunk out without it spraying. That would make having the graveside service and dedication a mite unpleasant when the guests arrived.

It was determined the best thing to do would be to cover the top of the grave site and then put the exhaust from a vehicle in and either kill the skunk or knock it out. A covering was found, a vehicle had a hose attached to its exhaust and the hose was put into the grave site. After an extended period, the skunk was still pacing and showing no signs of slowing down or dying. Then the knowledge dawned that we have wonderful emissions restrictions on our cars and there would not be enough in the exhaust of any new vehicle to get the skunk. A very old farm vehicle was located and brought to the cemetery. The hose was attached to the exhaust and placed in the grave site. Sure enough, the skunk soon lay what appeared to be dead.  A truly valiant soul climbed into the grave, picked up the skunk and brought it out of the hole. Thinking the skunk to be dead, they swung it my its tail and threw it across the land into the field on the other side of a creek. Alas, the skunk hit the water and not the field. This cold water woke the skunk from its induced slumber and, with a very stunned gate, it wobbled out of the creek and into the field and away from the site of Aunt Lou's funeral. 

Everyone agreed that Cordell trapping this skunk and having to dispose of it was Aunt Lou's way of being at the family reunion. The phrase "There's a skunk in the hole" will forever bring good memories to this family.

Saturday, June 18th we would spend the day at Camp Atoka. So I walked around some of the camp ground to get a feel for the space. These are a few pictures showing the Bowery, the Lodge, the Ogden River running through the middle of the camp ground and a birdhouse in the entry and front part of the campground.

As I returned to the Bowery area, I found my hubby on the bridge over the Ogden River having a quiet moment. It turns out he was watching CJ, our nephew, fishing on the Ogden River. 

Bonnie made a trip to Ogden the day before and must have visited a party store of some kind. I had opted out of that shopping trip so I'm not sure where she went but she came back with a pinata for the kids, a banner she wanted hung off the top of the Bowery, visors for everyone in patriotic theme, cups and napkins in patriotic theme, and the list goes on. This is Lynette trying to hang the banner with fishing line from someone's fishing pole, it took some clips and other things to make this project work but Lynette got it up and Bonnie was happy. 

Family began to arrive. The first picture is Mack and Robyn on the right with their son, Hunter, who is seated.  Then Clayton and Kalli Belew. An the Malizia family arrived after making a stop at the snow cone machine. That snow cone machine was a big hit. Julie rented it and set it up by the ice machine at the Lodge. Lots of ice and lots of different flavors. A big hit was the blue one because it turned their mouths blue.

An end table was set up with displays of Aunt Marilyn, Aunt Lou, and Evan's histories with lots of pictures. This picture has Kathy, Robyn and Shawn looking and remembering and learning something new about their family.

While the guys worked on setting up the grill and starting with the brats and burgers others took turns floating down the Ogden River. 

We all filled the Bowery and enjoyed conversation and lots of really good food. Salads and desserts were brought by family members. Way too much food for all of us. But, that is how a reunion meal is supposed to be.

After the meal, some headed to Pineview Reservoir to do a little boating. Kathy took this picture to remember her of her first time taking a boat ride. She loved it and Thomas was very happy to share his boat. In the picture are CJ, Brian and Thomas. 

It was time to entertain the little kids a bit. Briana and Dan found a strap and fixed up the pinata to a tree. The kids whacked away until it burst open and then filled cups with their candy. When they were all finished, Evan took time to line up all his candy in a row on one of the tables. Reminded me of Jake when he was a little one lining up all his cars in a very long line and then moving them forward one at a time until he was at the end of the row of cars. Then starting at the beginning again and moving them forward one at the time a little more. He would do that until he moved that long line of cars from the basement to the upstairs and around the house.

Bonnie purchased temporary patriotic tattoos and the little ones covered themselves in tattoos.

The little ones could even make themselves happy by walking around the flag pole. 

Before Robyn left, she corralled all the grandchildren of Ruby and Earl Christensen for a group picture. There were only two missing from this reunion, Lori and Tami. Back Row: Shawn, Alan, Kathy, Dennis, Claude, Cordell and Joann. Front Row: Robyn, Lynette and Kayla. Ruby and Earl's children are Marlyn, Koa Lou and Evan. Their children in this picture by parent would be: Aunt Marilyn (Shawn, Alan and Robyn); Aunt Lou (Kathy and Dennis, Lori is missing from the picture); and Evan (Joann, Claude Cordell, Lynette and Kayla. Tami is missing from the picture). What a great treasure of a picture!!!

Then Robyn wanted one other picture. She thinks Shawn, her brother, and Dennis, their cousin, look like they could be twins are at minimum brothers. She wanted a picture of the two of them together to prove this. It was fun getting them to pose for the picture. This is one of the fun candid shots I took of that process.

It was a great day with family. Everyone pitched in to clean up the campground. Then we all headed to where ever we were staying for the night. Some brought trailers and stayed at the campground.

We got back to Wolf Creek Resort and into really comfy clothes. I watched the sunset and took several very nice pictures. This is one of my favorites. A beautiful sunset at the end of a beautiful day.

Sunday, June 19, 2016, we awoke and got ready to go to Church. Bonnie's phone rang before we left. Her sister, Betty, passed away during the night. This was expected but still a bitter pill to swallow. We stayed with Bonnie a bit till she was ready to help notify family. 

Then, Claude and I drove to Bountiful to have some time with my sister, Junie, and her hubby, Steve. We met them at Church and attend Sacrament Meeting with them. Then we went to their home to have a nice meal which Junie prepared. Steve travels a lot and he would need to be gone to catch a 3:30pm flight. But we totally enjoyed time to talk and visit. Steve, their son, was home and we even got to visit with him some. 

They live in Bountiful at the top of the hill with a view that looks out over the Salt Lake Valley. These three pictures are the view from their front porch starting on the left with the Bountiful Utah Temple in the middle of the picture and ending with a view of Antelope Island and the Great Salt Lake. I took these particularly for Papa. He was able to visit Junie for a week a few years ago. He loved sitting on this porch and looking out over the valley.

I messed up. I wanted to have someone take a picture of the four of us before we left the Church. Steve left and I still didn't have that picture. Kim, Junie and Steve's daughter, came to visit with her family. She took this one of Junie, me and Claude. Junie and I got the giggles and this was the best of the pictures. 

It was really nice to see Junie, Steve and some of their family. We headed back to Wolf Creek for the rest of the evening. Family gathered in our suite and we grilled barbeque chicken.

Monday, June 20th, Claude and I decided to visit Antelope Island. We had neither been there and needed to satisfy our curiosity about this place. But, we would do a couple of stops along the way.

The first stop was this barn. The area of Eden our condo was in was named Wolf Creek. After a couple of passes by this barn, I realized the had a carved wooden wolf on the front of the barn. It took us until the next to last day in Utah to remember to stop so I could take a picture. Love the old truck and a bus around the outside.

When I started posting pictures on Facebook that I took so the family would have access to them and so my kids, who were not able to attend, would see family and Utah again, I had a friend in Kentucky ask if we had been to Rainbow Gardens. No, we had not. She said it was a great place to visit and they also had food. So, we timed our exit out of Ogden Canyon so we could have lunch at The Greenery in Rainbow Gardens and then browse the shops inside the building. It did not disappoint in the least. Attending were me and Claude, Bonnie, Lynette, Brian, Kayla, Chris and CJ. 

After our lunch everyone went on into Ogden so the boys could play at an arcade of some kind. Bonnie, Claude and I went to Antelope Island. 

There are several islands in the Great Salt Lake. This is a big one. It has been populated with a herd of buffalo even though they are not indigenous to the Island. There are antelope and lots of varieties of birds. This was a hot day with temperatures getting up to 100 degrees. Bonnie and Claude stayed in the car as we drove and Claude would pause so I could get out and take pictures. We all got out at the visitor's center for a break and Bonnie purchased us each a bottle of water. Antelope Island has 40 fresh water springs on it. That is amazing since it is surrounded by the Great Salt Lake, or what remains of the Great Salt Lake. There is still a lot of water there. However, the streams that used to flow into it keeping it full are now diverted to water crops and provide water for the residents that keep moving there. Where you see what appears to be white sand is where the Great Salt Lake has dried up.

There is a causeway from Syracuse, Utah to Antelope Island. We took that causeway and Claude stopped after we crossed to the Island and let me take my first pictures. I kept walking into spider webs. At one point I saw some of the spiders. Fortunately, I am not really afraid of spiders. Don't like them at all but not afraid. 

Here are pictures I took as we drove down one side of the island to a ranch that has been restored and you can visit. We opted out of touring that due to the heat and Bonnie's heart. We were very happy with just doing our drive of the Island.

 This picture has the causeway we took from Syracuse to Antelope Island in it.

At the visitor's center, there were a lot of swallows making nests in the rafters. They are beautiful birds. 

Claude stopped at the sign for the entrance to Antelope Island so I could get a picture. There is a life-size statue of a bison and he is completely covered in paintings of the birds that reside on Antelope Island.

The heat had completely drained us. Bonnie fell asleep as soon as we got to the main land in Syracuse and slept most of the way back to Ogden Valley. That evening was 'clean out the fridge' night for us. Everyone that visited was expected to each some of the food left over. As they left, some of it was to be taken with them. We would be flying back to Kentucky the next day.

We did stop at the main office for Wolf Creek Resort to use their computer to check in for our flight and to print boarding passes. The Resort has two computers for guest use. One did not work with the printer. The other loses its Internet connection when it is turned off. I got it back on and the lady had to reconnect to the Internet. I went to the Delta site and tried to check us in. It would not let me select 'all' to check both of us in. It would not let me select a single name to check us in separately. We finally pulled out our cell phones and tried to use our Delta App to check in. That seemed to be going well. It seemed to take payment for our two bags we would be check in with us. But it would not do a boarding pass on our phones. Kept saying the service for the app was down. Now we weren't sure we were really checked in. Disheartened and tired from a long day in the sun, we gave up and went to our condo. I called Delta and their line was busy. They said they would call me back in 23 to 35 minutes. I hung up and waited for their call. The lady was a little snippy with me. She said something about us being on the stand-by list for seating. We flew out in two different places on the plane. We really wanted to fly seated together on the way home. I was not happy with being on a stand-by list when we paid for a ticket. She couldn't do anything with that and told us we had to get our seating assignment at the airport when we got to the gate. She assured me we were checked in and our bags were paid for, we just needed seating. Ugh!!

Tuesday, June 21st, we left the resort about noon after saying good-bye to Bonnie and the McCombs car full of family. We stopped in Bountiful to eat at Kneader's. Then filled up the rental with gas and headed to the airport. 

We checked our bags in at the desk and went through security. From there we found our gate and waited for someone to arrive to ask about our seats. We were very early and so had a good wait. As soon as a man came to the desk at the gate, I hopped up with our boarding passes and took my place to ask him about seating. He actually had new boarding passes already printed and took the ones given to us when we checked our bags replacing them with ones with seating on them. We were seated together. Yippee.

Our flight home got us back to Cincinnati at 10:00pm which was 1/2 hour ahead of schedule. That was even better. We were home, unpacked and in bed by midnight. This was good as Claude had to get up and repack for a trip to Louisville and Bowling Green this week. I had to hit the ground running to take Papa to the doctor, buy his groceries, visit the nursing home with him, and teach Institute. Laundry was also a must to begin the next day. 

This was a wonderful trip. It was so good to visit with family and to be in the mountains again. Utah is a beautiful state with all kinds of beauty to see from the mountain valley to the Great Salt Lake. Great trip.