The Birthday Boy

On October 20, 2015, Dad turned 53!

I started off the birthday celebration by bringing donuts into his morning class . . . 

 

. . . and cupcakes into his afternoon class!

 

I also bought him some plants and made a "quote tile" for his office.

 

We also got to attend Devotional together.

 

Dad chose Big Jud's for his birthday dinner--which tasted so wonderful since we've been so strict with our carbs lately.

 

 

Then we came home to open birthday presents.

 

The traditional lighting of the birthday cake . . . or in this case, a pumpkin chocolate chip cupcake from the Cocoa Bean!

 

Happy Birthday, Dad!

We love you and are so grateful for your righteous influence in our family!

 

 

On Friday evening, as part of our date, we went to the Teton Flood Museum.  There wasn't a lot of things to look at--mostly some pictures of the dam during the hours before it broke and some of the damage it created.  But there was a short movie documenting what happened that was pretty interesting. 

 

 

So on Saturday, we decided to go take a look at the dam site.

 

This is right behind where the dam stood.
It is where the reservoir the dam created should have been.

This is the reservoir side of the dam.

 

This is the east side of the dam.

 

This is the front side of the dam.

And this is at the front of the dam--where the water would have first flowed.

 

 It was really interesting.  It was overwhelming to think what that would have been like for those who were affected by the flood and the devastation it caused.

 

 

Also, on Saturday, Dad and I hiked R Mountain.

 

It was only about 3/4 of a mile to climb up--but it was steep.  We gained about 800 feet in elevation.

 

We learned that the mountain is actually the remnants of an old volcanic cinder cone.  Once you get to the top, you can walk all the way around the rim in a complete circle.

 

In the next two pictures it's hard to get a good feel for the depth of the valley below the rim, but Dad and I have just climbed up mountain and we are about to start walking around the rim.  In the back, you can see how the rim drops lower on the back side.

 

Part way around the rim you can see the St. Anthony sand dunes in the background.

You probably can't tell because the picture is so small,
but Rexburg is in the background. 
If you look closely, you can see the Rexburg Temple.

 

Climbing around the rim wasn't easy, either.  We often had to climb up and down, in and out, and cross over big rocks.



After hiking over the lower part of the rim, we had to hike back up some huge rock formations!

 

We ended up hiking about 3 3/4 miles overall.  It was fun!

 

 

One last picture.  We just had to document this.  When our neighbors moved in almost two months ago, they left these shoes outside their door the very first day they moved in.  Two weeks later, they were still there.  One month later, they were still there.  So we have started taking bets on how long they will remain outside the door.  Pa, ha!  We thought they might be gone by Halloween, but that's only a week away . . . and they are still there!  Anyone want to join in on the bet?!