Quick Hike on a Family Reunion Saturday - August 8, 2009

On one of our Sunday drives, a couple months ago, we found this trailhead at the top of the neighborhoods near our chapel. Since then, the pavilion is new. The piles of dirt are new. The heavy equipment is new. We plan to go back before winter to see the end results.
We only had an hour and a half, so we hiked up for 45 minutes. This was the steepest section that we found - and the group riding horses cut off the trail up at the top, so we never did see them up close. I had to stop and breathe a couple times on this section. And my mountain goat, James, would stop and wait for me to catch up.

The steep section (pictured above) is cutting through this green patch (pictured below). It is A LOT steeper than this picture shows. This green patch was my goal for the hike and we actually made it ten minutes past the green patch to a high point with a view of the trail. It goes on a long way. We'll pack a lunch for the next attempt!

We saw quite a bit of wildlife on this hike. Lots of birds - including a sage hen or something like a grouse in the bushes. We startled a buck (growing his antlers - looked like a 4-point for starters) and saw a doe further down the hillside. I took a picture of the buck, but it turned out to be a picture of where the buck used to be standing.

WUNDERLI FAMILY REUNION

I went with G&G to the Wunderli Family Reunion at the West Valley City Rec Center - every year on the 2nd Saturday in August. It is a reunion of the decendants of Rudolf and Lina Wunderli. There is a family tree on the wall w/Rudolf & Lina, their eight children, all their grandchildren, and great-grand-children. So my mom made it onto the tree. But it ends there because it is SO HUGE. They'll need a new tree for each of those great-grandchildren's decendants. For example, my Mom's tree would have five children and 14 grandchildren already!

Rudolf & Lina Baertschi Wunderli ---> Newell & Meta Wunderli Clark ---> Calvin & Margaret Clark Price ---> Gil & Kathy Price Simpson ---> James & Jessica Simpson McCalvy ---> future banditos.

It is a very short reunion and pretty sparsly attended. Potluck lunch and some visiting and games and clean-up. Grandma's sister Dorothy was there and two of their brothers. So I did recognize some of the people. We sat at a 'games table' - set up with butcher paper, crayons and games to keep kids occupied. Granddad and I drew pictures on the table.

I asked one of the grandkids (one with a last name of Wunderly) why some of the Wunderli's spelled their name with a y - Wunderly and some spelled it with an i - Wunderli. He (and a couple nearby cousins) explained that in Swiss/German, i and y are interchangable. When he did extractions, he'd sometimes find the same individual using different spellings. He believes that the Y is the more ancient and traditional spelling.

Rudolf and Lina had four sons (& four daughters - none of whom kept the Wunderli name because of marriage) who emigrated to the United States. Two of them kept the Wunderli spelling and two adopted the Wunderly spelling. He said that when they arrived in the states, people would pronounce Wunderli - WON-DERL-EYE. So the brothers that changed to Wunderly did it so that people could pronounce WON-DERL-EEE correctly.

While I visited with relatives I didn't know, James stayed home, took a nap and did a little clothes shopping. After dinner, I finished making him a hat for Christmas - I didn't have a pattern, so I had to redo parts of the hat as I went along. I also had to try it on him a couple times to make sure I got it just right. It won't be a suprize, but maybe by December he'll have forgotten about it. I chose colors that would match his ski parka and then I had him take a picture of me modelling the finished product. I think it turned out great! Now James wants to learn to crochet so he can make a few more. He's got a list of the styles he wants to try to make.

P.S. for Tucker: HAPPY 12th BIRTHDAY!!! Hope you had a good birthday - did you do the triathlon again? Sorry we missed out on birthday cake - we'll bring your present to you in a couple weeks. Love you!

Salt Lake Bees - August 5, 2009

For date night this week, James suggested the Salt Lake Bees baseball game. The Bees are the Triple A affiliate of the Anaheim Angels and they were playing the Memphis Redbirds (affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals) at 7:05 p.m. At 6:15, when we were leaving for the game, an afternoon windstorm/thunderstorm whipped through North Salt Lake and the surrounding areas. It was super windy when we got to the ballpark & there were a few raindrops, but not enough to get wet. And it cooled the temperature down to a very comfortable evening.

Spring Mobile Ballpark has a very pretty backdrop!

James had a voucher for a free Bees ticket (from attending the Utah JAZZ draft party), so we redeemed the voucher, bought a ticket for me & promptly spent the cost of James’ ticket on $1 hotdogs, a churro, a drink & a bag of kettle corn. Our seats were really good, front row of the upper deck, right over the third base dugout. So it wasn’t as cheap a date as we hoped – having a free ticket, but it turned a $30 evening into a $20 evening.

The Bees Mascot: BUMBLE!

We snuck out in the middle of the 8th inning – work starts so early! – and the Bees were losing 3 to 2 (which was also the final score). We didn’t see a single home run and James didn’t even get close to catching a foul ball, but the Bees had four double-plays. Their defense was good, but they needed somebody with a hot bat!

WVCPD update - August 5, 2009

James had his interview with the West Valley City Police Department today. He says it went really well until the very last question. They asked what additional skills or qualifications he might have to contribute to the department. He thought he stumbled over his answer a bit, and can't remember what he said.


We practiced generic interview questions for a few days leading up to the interview. I know he was serious about the process, but here are some of my favorite Q&A:

Jessi: "Why do you want to work in law enforcement?"

James: "Chicks love men in uniform!"

Jessi: "What have you been doing to prepare for a career in law enforcement?"

James: "Watching NCIS, Law & Order, I just looooove COPS and Homeland Security..."

At the end of the interview, he received a Personal History Statement to fill out. "An extensive background investigation will be conducted in your personal history prior to any hiring. Your background will be submitted to a Hiring Review Board." And if selected by the Hiring Review Board, would then need to take another physical agility test, a polygraph examination, a medical examination, a drug screening test, and other tests required by the agency. There are five pages in the document (which is only 30 pages long) which require a notarized signature. He has until the end of August to complete this history - which includes a 10-year employment & residential history, a copy of his high school diploma, transcripts from college, birth certificate, marriage license & Tax Information Authorization and a copy of his pilot's license.

Luckily, we've been through this already with the AK Troopers, so we don't have to scramble for copies of documents or try to remember what apartment number James lived in 7 years ago or who his roommates have been. We've already compiled all this stuff!

Wasatch National Forest - July 31-Aug 2, 2009

We took advantage of a quiet weekend to do a little Utah / Wyoming exploring. Here's a map of our 3-day route. We drove to the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway (paved) and camped on day one - pink route. Then drove to the North Slope Scenic Backway (not paved) and camped on day two - purple route. Then worked our way out of the Wasatch National Forest and into Wyoming for a drive home - via Ogden and a quick visit with Uncle Glen & Aunt Nancy - green route.
Friday July 31 - The first campground we tried was completely full and the camp host suggested we go back toward Kamas and try a couple different campgrounds. He was absolutely certain that all the campgrounds further into the Mirror Lake Byway were all full. So we ended up camping at Taylor Fork OHV campground ($12). And to even park at the campground, you must have a Recreation Pass. We went to the self-service station, but they were out of envelopes. We parked illegally on Friday night, but purchased a recreation pass first thing in the morning on Saturday. The recreation pass is required for parking at all trailheads and roads inside the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway area (another $6).

Taylor's Fork is an OHV campground, so there were plenty of ATVs running around camp. This one was ridden by two young men and Sasquatch. They'd been hiding near the road and jumping out at cars. And finally, after dark, came past our camp - this was the only picture I could get, but James shook his hand when he was sneaking around in the dark near our camp.

Saturday August 1 - I woke up to the sound of clomping just after daylight - a sound like hoof beats near our tent. A little moose! And he passed really close by the tent. When James and I looked out the other window, he'd joined his mother and the two of them were headed toward the nearby creek. We brought James' bike along, but so far only used it to ride up the road to the outhouse.

A really pretty falls that cascaded six or seven different levels. You could hike right down to the water & quite a few people were crossing the river in some of the more shallow areas. Really pretty stop.

Fireweed at the Provo Falls - they begin blooming, from the bottom, at the beginning of summer. The flowers at the top finally bloom at the end of summer. Which parts do you use to make Fireweed jelly?

Along our drive, we came across the Tour de Park City bike race - which could be 50, 100, or 170 miles depending on the course. These racers were biking the "Super Century" course - or the 170-miler!

We stopped at the Bear River Ranger Station at the north end of the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway to get some insight into the North Slope Scenic Backway. Since the roads are dry, they said it would be a great drive (a little bumpy in places) and that there were several campgrounds, or we could choose dispersed camping. Or camp anywhere that someone had already built a fire ring. Dispersed camping is free, but you don't have an outhouse or a picnic table or a metal fire pit...

The North Slope road was dirt and was usually graded and good road. But some places were super-washboard and one section (we only saw ATVs and a couple Land Rovers on this section) was so rocky that we drove 5 mph most of the way. We saw several of these old Tie Hacker cabins along the way. Tie Hacker's lived in the mountains and made their living by hacking pine trees into rail road ties. Most of them were fairly broken down, but we did find one with a roof.

We also stopped at the Hewinta Guard Station. It was built by CCC workers and was used by them as a main camp, but now is a storage place for fire fighting supplies.

We camped just off of a very bumpy dirt road, on a logging road with plenty of wood chips and dead pine needles - a one match fire for certain! We had pork chops and potatoes and sausage in tinfoil dinners and enjoyed sitting by the fire until dark. And I discovered that (even from a distance) coyotes sound VERY spooky at 3 o'clock in the morning.

Sunday August 2 - we had to work our way back to a main highway and home again, but we stopped for a little leg stretch and for James to actually use the bicycle that we hauled along with us through the woods.

His trail went up the hill and into the trees and down the hill and into the marshy lake land - James said it was more of a cow trail (including pies) than anything else, but it was still a good exploration.

I spent my time exploring little Marsh lake - notice all the dead pine trees? They were everywhere. Some ridges had more dead trees than live trees. A fire would go up hot and fast in this area - and kill all the beetles!

I waded into the lake for a couple pictures of the lily pad flowers - as long as I stayed in the grass near the shore I was fine, but if I stepped out of the grass into the mucky mud I came close to losing my crocs! Then I sat in the sunshine to dry my legs/feet/crocs and read a book. Pretty close to Heaven.

We left Utah and wandered into Wyoming for a bit, and as soon as we came out of the Wasatch National Forest we had a view of a forest of wind turbines! James counted over 60 before giving up.

A closer view of the wind turbines from the highway.

As usual, a weekend is just too short to do everything we would like to do. As usual, we enjoyed every minute of our exploring and can't wait for the next one!

July was so hot! - July 31, 2009

We've been sleeping with sheets only and with the fan on all night. Finally, it has cooled down just enough for one blanket. We chose this afghan - Oma Simpson gave it to us for a wedding present. She made a bunch of these afghan's to be used as wedding gifts for her grandkids - crocheted sometime in the late 70s. We got married in 2006, so it is already close to 30 years old. Right now it fits our room colors & sleep needs perfectly. Thanks Oma!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple - July 29, 2009

For date night this week, we attended the open house for the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It is difficult to stand in line for so long and then have such a quick walk through, but there was a cookie at the end for being good! The open house format was very similar to the Draper Temple open house. There was a short video about temples - this time broadcast in air-conditioned tents in the parking lot. Then a 'quiet' tour with signs in each room and ushers at every intersection to help keep the people walking. Then we got to sit for a few minutes in the sealing room for a short talk about eternal families - this time it was twice as long because the elders were translating everything into spanish for a family. And then out the back door to the hospitality tent for a bottled water and a cookie. James scored two!

The temple is built up on a little ridge, so it has an unobstructed view of the Salt Lake valley. You can see the Jordan River Temple and the Draper Temple and the cluster of sky scrapers surrounding the Salt Lake Temple downtown. The pre-tour video gave a little history about the settling of the area to the west of the Jordan River - hard to imagine the valley without all the homes and shopping and traffic.

Elder's Quorum Softball - July 28, 2009

The Elder's Quorum had a softball team this summer. Usually our team forfeitted due to lack of players, or the other team forfeitted due to lack of a full team, but they always had a good time for the hour allotted to play! I usually spent my hour visiting with the other wives and helping to watch their kids or dogs and cheering for James. Today I even got to warm up with James - I haven't thrown a softball in ages! It was fun.

In each of the first two games he played, James hit an in-the-park home run! Then today, couldn't hit the ball out of the infield. They play again Thursday, probably the last game of the season - go Eagleridge Ward!

At bat:


Playing 3rd base coach:

Agony over making a fielding error: