Saturday, November 25, 2017

Cutting the Tree



 Oh its been a   l o n g   time since we have ventured out into the woods to cut a Christmas tree!  


Wishing for a little snow in the mountains, but still not committing to full blown winter ...yet!


The drive was beautiful and there was just  a little  snow!  


It probably took me longer to set up the timer on the camera than it did to saw down the tree!



Em and Dylan were a great double date!







A long kiss :)







Strawberry Canyon in Idaho.
Just over an hours from home. 
So glad we get live near the mountains and enjoy four seasons.




Exactly one month from today and Christmas will have just about come and gone. 
Looking forward to new memories with family and friends this year.... 
and yes - dreaming of a white Christmas


Saturday, October 28, 2017

Finding a Piece of Heaven




This is taken from the top of the lot we are really interested in.
You can see the Garlick's house in the upper left corner.



Watching the sunrise from the lot.
Durfee Creek Estates is the name of the development.
I know it sounds fancy...and we aren't fancy...
but it's beautiful and we can't wait to share this area with everyone we love!!



This is another view looking from the East towards the lot.  It's on a corner and is 1 acre. 
I know it's hard to see visualize it from photos... but at least you can get an idea of the area. 
This area gets the most snow in the valley so we are glad we have had a little preparation 
in Cache Valley and Alaska! Dean said they got 17 feet last year!

Just around the corner to the right is North Fork Park.
It is teaming with trails for hiking, mountain biking, cross country skiing 
and so much beauty and solitude.

We hiked up to a waterfall this afternoon which is just a trickle
right now, but in the spring it will be gorgeous.
The locals tell us this time of year is off season and kind of ugly but
we are so captivated with every glance.
Can't wait to see the seasons pass by here!








Can you find Papa?  Check in the upper left and look for his hair :)





A perfect little creek to play in and all of this is just a 3 minute drive from "our" lot!




We are in heaven!!


to the top of Ben Lomond is only a 3 mile hike!


Pretty exciting!!



I call the 3 little towns here Villages.  From the south is Huntsville, then more central is Eden (which is the center of business ;) and then to the north is Liberty where our favorite lot is located. It's a long narrow valley similar to Cache Valley in many ways.  Just much more compact with Beaver Mountain and Logan Canyon all rolled up into it! A fun thing to know is that my Grandma Ririe lived in Eden...about a hundred years ago!!  She served as the relief society president for many years.


He has had a smile on his face the entire trip!

And so have I.  I keep thinking it must be the honeymoon phase....
Hope it always feels this wonderful!


So many paintings just waiting to be born!



New people to meet AND we get a chance to roll back time a little bit.  
There is one Market in town and I think we only saw 2 gas stations in the Valley.
Things are quiet and slow here.



 Pretty darn good Mexican fare here.  


We saw one place in Huntsville open for business... and they did a grand job with their burgers!
And homemade fries like my dad makes! Fresh raspberry milkshakes on the menu!!
The people watching is just wonderful and I can't wait to meet them!




Pineview Reservoir is very pretty and much larger than I remembered it.
It looks like a little Bear Lake from these lots.






Dad is laughing at my near plunging into the water as I lost control running down the hillside of rocks. It was a Lucy moment for sure.  And minutes later I was being swallowed up by the muddy quicksand.  We have had our share of laughing this trip.


So this is Causey Reservoir and it made me think that maybe the Grand Canyon started this way millions of years ago :)  It's a pretty place.  There were so many hunters out we didn't dare hike around much.



You all know how the selfie thing goes with us...it takes a lot of tries to get a semi good one!




Canoeing anyone?
The salmon come here to spawn and there was a sign describing the fish
that were here and this is what it said about the brown trout:
Brown Trout are non-native and self sustaining in Causey.  They eat other fish.
Due to their diet and secretive nature, they are rarely caught by Anglers.
The Ogden River runs from Causey to Pineview and dad was one happy
guy as we drove along side it.  This is also a very wonderful valley to bike in
so he is on cloud nine dreaming of the day.......


Janell!!!  They have Cronuts here!!! I was so surprised!  We have never seen them, let alone tasted these delectable goodies!  I would put them up against an alligator jaw from the Lehi Bakery and I think they would hold their own! We loved Juju's Bakery and you ALL will, too!!  He was fun to meet.  He does all the baking and cooking from scratch and puts in long hours.  He hopes to move to the valley with his family very soon so he won't have to commute from Ogden.  So many interesting stories.  And we can't wait to start writing this chapter of ours. He told me he loves that he can sell a whole pie or quiche to someone and tell them do ring the dish back when they are finished... and they do!  How can you not love that!?


They had everything from quiche to giant loaves of homemade bread!
And a small menu for meal options!


We watched him weigh out his loaves tonight.


We were also able to try Eat's of Eden tonight.  We weren't expecting much but really enjoyed our meals!  They have quite a little menu - burgers, pizza, pasta and salads.  Many vegetarian options, too! Emily...did you see that cheesecake description??


Its pretty awesome!


I had the sweet potato polenta with chicken and brussel sprouts and dad had manicotti. We ended up sharing and loved every bite!  The dinner salads were very nice too.  Dessert sounded tempting but we had a cronut to devour!


I think my favorite quote of the trip was tonight when dad said,
Hey, it's not quite dark yet...let's keep driving around!

Neither of us want to be done exploring this beautiful place.
We are certainly looking forward to doing it with all of you!!
Our plan is to get the rest of the information we need from the 
courthouse Monday and then put in an offer.
We'll keep you all posted!

With all our Love,
Mom and Dad
xoxo

PS:  Ogden Valley is one hour and 5 minutes from Logan and then the same 
distance to Jake and Lindsey's house.

Oh, and one more thing!  Before dinner there was musician playing in the gazebo by the cabins this afternoon.  He was awesome AND had the harmonica around his neck. Bonus to hear that!!
This is in the central area of Eden.  You will see the cabins (our view at dinner) where all the stores and eateries are. It's just fantastic!  The pizza place is amazing!!