Wild Flowers To Wild Broncs

This last weekend Ruth and I went to visit her family in South Jordon for a few days. We headed out as soon as I got off work on Friday night, and stayed there until Monday afternoon. On Saturday morning we (Me, Ruth, Mom & Dad Allred, Betsy & Chris, Hannah, and Rachel) went for a hike in the Snowbird area. We hiked a couple of miles up to a place called Cecret Lake. It was fun getting to hike around in the mountains like that. There were a ton of wildflowers everywhere, which added a lot to the scenery. While it was a fun hike, we were all pretty drained, I think that was due more to all the sun we got, than the difficulty of the hike. After the hike we all ate lunch and then Ruth, Her Mom, and I did another small walk down closer to the Snowbird resort. After that we drove to La Caille to walk the grounds. It had been a while since I had been there, so it was fun to see it all again. They had the grounds looking very nice that day too, because they were getting ready for a wedding. After visiting La Caille, we went back home to take a break and eat dinner before heading off to see the Days of '47 Rodeo at the Maverik Center. It was a lot of fun to be there, and we had excellent seats too! We were able to spend the rest of the weekend just hanging out with Ruth's family. It was a lot of fun to get to know them all a little better. Here are a few pictures from the adventure. Enjoy!

4th of July Adventures

Well, I was unable to get back to the best spot on earth for the 4th, Blanding, but I was still able to have a couple fun adventures. The first adventure started after I got off work on Saturday. Ruth, Barry, and I hopped in my car and headed for Nevada. We had been invited by Ruth's roommate Lyndsay to go and celebrate the 4th in her hometown of Logandale, Nevada. So after the two hour drive to Logandale, we picked up Lyndsay and went to our other friend Alicia's house. We spent a couple hours at Alicia's house playing in her pool. We had a couple pretty intense (and I am sure hilarious to watch) games of volleyball. After enjoying the pool for a few hours we all went to the Logandale fairgrounds for the community celebration. They had a free dinner of bbq beef sandwiches, baked beans, chips, pie, ice cream and drinks. After dinner there was a small awards ceremony and then a fireworks show. After all the festivities, Ruth and I went back to Lyndsay's house. It was very nice of them to put us up for the night. The next morning we went to the singles ward down there, and then went back to Alicia's for her birthday lunch. So that was pretty much the end of the first adventure. Unfortunately I didn't really get pictures from the trip to Nevada, so you will just have to settle for the story. The other adventure though, will have plenty of pictures. On Monday after work Tara, Ruth, and I went to hike Kanaraville Falls. Ruth and I had attempted this hike in early May, but the water was just too high and too cold to finish it then. I was really glad we could actually get up to the falls this time though, because it was a very beautiful hike. So here are a few pictures and videos from the adventure.

Bryce Canyon

At about 1:30 this afternoon (I guess it's technically yesterday afternoon now), Ruth and I headed out of Cedar City and made our way over to Bryce Canyon. We went and hiked to a few different spots. We hiked to Sunrise Point and Sunset Point, just so we could say we hiked from sunrise to sunset! We also hiked down into the Queens Garden, which was fun because of all the switchbacks and mini tunnels you had to go through. Then we took a drive to the more southern parts of the park. We decided after pulling over at one lookout point that we liked the scenery up in the northern part of the park better. So we went back up to Bryce Point, and then hiked around the rim to Inspiration Point. By the time we reached Inspiration Point, we were kind of regretting our last hike because we were now about 35-40 minutes from the car. Lucky for us we came across a couple from Houston Texas that were willing to give us a ride back to our starting point. After getting out of the park we got to meet up with some of my family, which was the real reason we were in the Bryce Canyon area. My Grandma Crofts is turning 90, so they were having a reunion/birthday party in her honor. So, right after leaving the park, we went to dinner with Farley, Tina and Colee. I could not believe it when I saw Colee walking. She is growing up so fast. After dinner we headed out to the campground where most of the families were staying. I was very excited to see my Mom and Dad, Hilary, and Camden. I wish Zeb and Jason could have been there too, but you can't win them all. I also got to see Grandma Crofts, Aunt Sue and a couple of her kids, and a few other relatives. I was so excited to see everyone again, but it was a short lived event for me as I had to get back on the road to Cedar City so I could be to work on time. It was definitely a fun day, and I can't wait until I can see my family again. Here are some pictures from Bryce Canyon. Hope you enjoy!

Update / Vegas Trip

It has been a super long time since I have posted anything, but I am alive and well here in Cedar City. I am on the brink of finishing my second semester at SUU, and am really looking forward to taking a break from classes for the summer. The most recent news for me was being accepted into Beta Gamma Sigma, which is an honors organization for students in business programs. I was pretty surprised when I got the invitation which only goes out to those who are in the top 10% of their classes. Anyway, on to the fun stuff, this last weekend I got to take a trip down to Vegas with a few friends. We went down as kind of a belated birthday celebration for my friend Amy. So at a little after 6:00 on Saturday night me, Amy, Val, Dave, and Dani drove to Vegas. We went and ate at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville in the Pink Flamingo. After dinner we walked around on the strip for a while. We tried to go and watch the show outside of Treasure Island, but we got there part-way through and it was too crowded to really see anything. So we headed for the Stratosphere so we could go and ride the Big Shot! It was pretty sweet just checking out the view from on top of the Stratosphere. I tried to get some pictures of the city, but they just didn't turn out very well. The Big Shot was a blast though, and I would recommend it to anyone who hasn't tried it. After the ride, we headed back down to the Bellagio. We hung out in the casino for a bit and wasted a little money. I think it would have been a loss for everyone, but Dave won $5 at the very end on some video poker. After we finished with that we made our way back to Cedar City. We didn't get back until 5:15, so it made it a little tough to get up for church the next day, but I still made it. I would definitely say it was worth the trip just to get away for a little and have some fun with friends.

Val, Amy, and me waiting in line for the big shot!

Dave and Dani on top of the Stratosphere.

Snowy Update

Since it has been forever and a day since I have posted, I will hit a few highlights and share a couple of photos. This last month I finished my first semester at SUU. I was very excited to see that I made it through with a 3.83. After all the finals were over I made my way back home to Blanding on the 11th. I was super excited to see family and friends again. I was also excited to come back to work at the hardware store for a couple of weeks. One very pleasant surprise about returning hime for the christmas break has been all the snow. I thought Cedar City would have been getting a lot more this year, but Blanding has got a lot more! I got home just after the first storm which dumped about a foot on us. The last storm brought about another foot after snowing almost all day. While I really don't like trying to get around in the snow, I love the effect it has on the holiday season. I was really hoping that we would get a fresh blanket of white down before Christmas, and that wish definitely came true. I know they won't do it justice, but here are a couple of pictures of how awesome the snow has made things look.