Wild eastern wind off the Wasatch and onto Parkway

 This is what I saw as I looked out the window at 7 am, this first day of December (except it was dark).  Twenty minutes earlier I had checked because of the noise from the wind, blowing my Christmas decorations around the porch, but the trees were standing.

Even in the somewhat protected porch area, the ivy was peeled back 

and with the bench, pushed off to the side.Our two 40 foot evergreens blew over in the reported 70+ mph winds.....fortunately the biggest tree landed free of the house, and the other landed on top of the garage, with minimal damage.

 Pretty big root clump...this is taken from the neighbor's driveway, looking toward our house.

The tree trimmer just starting his work.....this tree had two main trunks. 

Had to make this picture large so you can appreciate the size of the tree.

 Here's a view up top of the tree on the garage roof.

It took hours for two people to cut away the branches, and line them up across the front lawn. 

Then, as fast as you could blink, the trimmed trunk snapped upright in all it's cut-away glory.

I had to be at the U by 7:30 a.m., so I called Judy C, who was happy to drive me up then return to bring me home. Home at 9:30, there was a Channel 4 cameraman taking pictures of our trees. He said he thought our area was the hardest hit in Salt Lake. Farther north the winds reached 100.

We were trapped inside until the way was cleared and the power came back on, about 2 pm.

Many cars have been driving by, even in the evening dark, to see the mess. But the trees that fell on power lines were behind the Hayes and the Cannons. At the Hayes, in the morning, a fire with flames erupted at the base of the power pole in the corner backyard. The firetruck arrived to put it out.

All day, Parkway was lined with service trucks from the power company and tree trimmers.

Our trimmer hurried off after clearing the driveway, to clear others' paths. 

Hopefully he will return soon to finish the job, and get the tree off the roof.

We are just so happy to have the comforts restored.....

power to heat the house and light the way, and to charge our batteries.

Pac 12, here we come

 A beautiful day to be at the Coliseum, 

for the first official game of the season and the new Pac12!

 Even with the loss, it was a fun time......hold your heads high, Utes!
An added bonus: they honored our Unbroken hero, Louie Zamporini, at age 93

Thanks to our loyal friend, Creighton, we had really nice digs down the coast in Newport......have you ever seen towels folded into a doggie?

 Ahhh.....the Beach!

 

 And another surprise we happened upon when searching for a Sunday morning meeting: The Newport Temple. As Stan said, "if you follow Moroni, you can't go wrong" and sure enough there was the adjoining ward house. Sacrament meeting was a special tribute to the 9/11 hero's, as we had a member of the ward, Ron Robison speak about his experiences as Director of Stanley Morgan at the time, with his wife, followed by a slide-show (for Sunday School), and a special flag ceremony by the scouts. 

 Looking like right out of GQ, Danny at Inspiration Point....

 Not so GQ, but the view was gorgeous...

 My idea of a view.........and Stan's idea.   They both work.

 

Our summer break in Hershey

 

Three generations of Owens....does this look familiar?

Blue-eyed Jude

     

and brown-eyed Wyatt

 Two of my favorite things to do: be with Luke and finish a puzzle.

 Two on a lap is easier than carrying two downstairs!

 We met Dave for lunch in the hospital's cafeteria, 

and this is what happened......multi-tasking parents.

 Our darling Hershey family!

Days of '47 Parade!!

 A beautiful day for a parade, a little sun at first, then cloudy and perfect temperature. This was Cara's 1st parade...she ran down from her parents house to join us in front of Ryan's office. Walker loved the entire parade...especially the marching bands.

 And the missionaries tracked all around us...

 Jake slept while the bands played on............but the guy with the beard behind us was probably so happy to have us plop down in front.

OK......there really were some floats.  One of our favorites was the U of U float.