A Little Side Trip

There was another side trip that I did not post about.  Travis and I went to Detroit for our 24th anniversary and found a little house for him to live in.  It is in Dearborn and we are really happy with this find.  It was a little scary there for a while...  But we found something that had been completely renovated and brought up to code for $20,000 cheaper than anything we looked at.

Welcome to our home!

Detroit isn't known for its romantic getaways, but we managed to enjoy ourselves.  We stayed at the Dearborn Inn right by the Ford Campus.  It is a very historic place and was just beautiful.  We had a nice dinner.  And we looked at houses.  I have to say, I can't wait to move on to this new chapter!!

Happy 24th Anniversary to us!

 Back at home, football season is underway and the girls are busy dancing, dancing, and dancing.

Pep Rally

On the field with both Rozzie and Maddie in one picture!!

 So now we are in Utah.  Travis is on a board at the BYU School of Management.  The dean is a former bishop and upon finding out Travis was in the rail industry, he asked him to be on this board.  Travis had to go to BYU for a day of meetings and such, so I decided to tag along.  We are staying at the Rick and Holly's.  Morgan's roommate came up with Morgan on Friday night.  Morgan forgot to tell her the general rule - you never know what's going to happen when you spend time with Rick and Holly.  Well, we went for a ride on the Ranger.  As they live up in the mountains, it is fun to go riding around seeing amazing views.

The Ranger

Travis drove up to the tip-top of the ski resort.  It was very windy, but so beautiful.  It was a perfect day.  Rick suggested that we hike the last 100 yards up to the VERY TIPPY-TIPPY TOP.  Morgan was a little nervous (as was I) but we did it.  This was very difficult.  First of all, I am used to an altitude of 2 ft.  We hiked up to about 10,000 ft.  My heart was pumping fast.  My legs were straining a bit, too.  I'm not used to hiking up such steep terrain.  It was pretty windy.  But...WOW!!  Standing on top and seeing the view of both sides of the mountain!!!  We took pictures and enjoyed it.  However, it was very scary standing there because there really wasn't anywhere to stand!  It was literally a tip!  A couple of times the wind nearly took me down one side or the other.  This is an interesting shot in that we are hiking down the spine of the mountain, Holly leading the way.  The chairlift you see in the distance is the end of the line for the resort and the runs from up here are double black diamonds.  

On the spine headed down.

Looking the other way, you see the yellowish expance of the Great Salt Lake.

Travis drove us back down the mountain at a nice safe speed.  We stopped at the mountain resort and had lunch.  Can I just say once again that it was a beautiful day?  It was a beautiful day!!  Then Rick drove us back to the house.  It was the wildest ride I have ever been on.  No roller coaster anywhere has anything on Rick's mountain driving.  I have no pictures or video because I was hanging on for dear life and screaming the entire time.  As we were off -roading it a bit, we went through all these weeds and the seed heads were flying at us like missiles!!  We had to keep our mouths and eyes shut, but we peeked and screamed and laughed.  I think I was still recovering this morning as I woke up.  Morgan's roommate, Amber, was just beside herself.  Morgan was right there, too.  They were laughing so hard.  We had to pick all those seeds out of our hair.  They weren't just on TOP of our hair, but nearly embedded in our scalps.  About four hours later, I felt a tickle in my nose, wiped it, and pulled out a seed!!  Travis pulled one out of his ear.  Truly a day to remember!!

Next, we needed to head to Provo for the BYU vs. Utah game.  I'll just say now that Utah won 20-13; however, BYU scored 2 TD's that were solid, but the refs called them back.  The refs did BYU no favors and it was pretty obvious.  Aside from the loss, we had a great night.  It was a "Royal Blue-Out" meaning to wear the royal blue color that used to be the official color until it was changed to navy for reasons unknown to me and I wish they would change back.  The stadium was sold out.  It was a gorgeous night for football.  

Waiting for the marching band.  This was the current logo when we were at BYU.  

Finally we heard the drums and knew that the band was on their way!  Most of our friends who have kids in the college marching band in Florida go see their kids march at every home game.  In Morgan's three years of marching for BYU, this is the 2nd time we have seen her march.  However, I have never wished her closer to us.  It is always a little teary when I see the tubas coming.

I love seeing this!!

When BYU and Utah play each other, the bands combine and play music on a topic they can both agree on - America.  Plus, their combined colors are red, white, and blue!  It really looks cool with the silver and gold tubas, too.  

Morgan is the very corner tubist

'Murica

MORGAN!!

Last but not least, Rick and Travis decided to go on a little plane ride.  Rick has a plane and so they flew down to St. George to see Mom and Dad Smith!  We kept the secret so that Travis just showed up at the house and surprised them!  How fantastic!