Rim to Rim to Rim..what a great hike!

We met the Thomas' at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and on a dark Saturday morning began our rim to rim to rim hike. It is about a 24 mile hike from the North to the South Rim. We started in the dark and finished in the dark. Along the way we saw Ribbon Falls, Phantom Ranch, The Colorado River, Indian Gardens. We finished the North to South with a nice big burrito. On Sunday we tried to recover from the difficult hike the day before. We went to the small LDS Branch (enjoyed the two hour block). Bob iced his knee 3 or 4 times and we just enjoyed the day in anticipation for the big hike back on Monday. We left monday morning and took a different route down to Phantom Ranch. We all seemed to be in good shape for the hike and made good time. We got out right as the sun went down. The Thomas' had reservations for us at the Grand Canyon Lodge restaurant. We enjoyed a nice meal then slept very well before we continued our vacation to visit Laura, Scott and the kids in California. Go to the Album and enjoy the pics.

South Africa and Ghana 2010

Well I never thought I would have the chance to go to Africa!. It was a great experience. In South Africa we di an operational reviw, went on a photo safari, ate ostrich and other weird things, shopped at the local markets and had a great time. Sandie is the HR Manager in South Africa. She was a great host and we loved the trip. We then flew up to Ghana to be with Lydia to do a Operational review. We had the opportunity to have a nice dinner with the expats serving in Ghana, go to the temple, shop at the "pit", visit the slave castle and sit in traffic for hours! The trips were productive and we had a great time. Enjoy the pics on the public album!

Teton Crest Trail Adventure

Our son Joey worked at Camp Loll near the Tetons for many summers of his growing up years. He often took the scouts on high adventures to Teton National Park. Of course he loved climbing the Grand but he always said that the greatest hike is the Teton Crest Trail. He offered to take us there this summer. So Aug. 17th we drove up to Jenny Lake and met Joey. He had been sleeping in his car since 2 am. He had just climbed the Grand the day before with a group that he lead from camp Loll. He was extra tired because he had carried a friend's pack who was injured, but he was still up to being our "mule". We found a good place to eat lunch in Teton Village and rode the tram to the top of the mountain and started on our trail. It was such a gorgeous trail. Immediately we noticed the flowers were magnificent. They seemed to even get better as we got to higher elevation the second day. The campsite we had for our first night had 5 deer, 3 moose and 2 wolves (one black and one white). The wolves were a fun surprise. We only walked about 2.5 hours the first day. We camped in the middle fork of In the evening we had steak that Joey carried for us. The second day we walked from 8 to 4 with an hour siesta in the middle of the day. We camped at the Alaskan Basin. There were so many little lakes with hugh granite rocks around them. It was beautiful as well. The third day we let Joey sleep in and we didn't really get going till about 11 am. The flowers were so beautiful and full that we actually smelled them over ourselves. (Remember that we wanted light packs so we didn't change our clothes too much). This next night we camped in the south fork of Cascade Canyon right next to a large and rushing waterfall. It lulled us to sleep. This evening we had a couple camp next to us from Washington DC. They were a bit nervous to be in bear country for the first time and stayed kind of close. It was a spectacular walk out to board the boat at Jenny Lake. It ended up being close to 30 miles. It seemed leasurely. We actually could have spent another day but we were rested and ready to hit the grindstone back home. We thank Joey so much for a truly special trip that he made possible for us.

Langford Family Reunion

The Langford Family Reunion took place at a beautiful cabin in Island Park Idaho. Thanks Leigh and Ruth!. All the Langford children, spouces and kids converged for a 3 day party. This was a great reunion for Rachel and Jared and family (they had been separated for over a month due to the family move). It also was an opportunity for everyone to meet Ms. Natalie Bischoff. Natalie is a pretty young lady that Joey is all sweet on. We enjoyed great food, riding the quad, bike riding, enjoying little day trips to Big Springs, Mesa Falls, church, lollypop tree, antique fairs, lots of food, and a super game of commando kick the can. (we were tied to our partners ---except Laura she was attached to a lawn chair) We missed you Scott G! It was a wonderful weekend. Thanks kids for coming! Welcome to the family Natalie! Enjoy the pics on the album page.

Hong Kong, China and the Philippines

Hong Kong, China and the Philippines
We have already put up picture albums on our visit to these wonderful places. We hope you enjoy them.
Miriam enjoyed a couple of days in Hong Kong while I was working. She discovered the botanical gardens, met people from all over the world and took lots of pictures. Our evening activity was venturing out and experiencing the great subway system as we attended the beautiful Hong Kong Temple. There were 37 temple patrons from Thailand. They had attended all week long. We were able to return from the temple on a bus that had been reserved for employees and missionaries. We enjoyed visiting with all of them.
I enjoyed meeting with all the employees on day 2 and working with Liana and her staff. Liana is a great host and took good care of us. We topped off day 2 with a visit to the historical museum with Carmen and enjoying the harbor laser light show that takes place every night .
Liana and Cecil showed us a wonderful full day in Shenzen China. We had such a wonderful time. They took us shopping for Rolex watches and pearls. I could have had a tooth implant for only 100 US and Bob could have gotten a suit for 65 US. But we kept it to gift type things. They took us to a Walmart that we could have bought live turtles, frogs and fish to eat. We then went to a very impressive theme park. “Splendid China & China Folk Culture Villages”. We shopped, ate great food, shopped some more and enjoyed a Las Vegas style show that included hundreds of staff, animals, water, fireworks and lasers. We can’t thank Liana and Cecil enough. They are so delightful.
Sunday (mother’s day) we enjoyed Church in the unique and beautiful downtown Church building. Miriam was warmly welcomed by several Filippino workers. Fourty percent of Filippiino women work ourside of their country and send the money back to their families. There is a branch that meets every day but Monday to get the sacrament to all these women who usually work on Sundays in housekeeping. We then enjoyed a great meal with Dave Barrett and his wife Terry. Dave is working as the ALC (Area Legal Counsel) for the entire Asia and Philippines area. Off to the airport on a nice comfy train and on to the Philippines.
The Philippines was a short visit that included working at the Area Office for Bob and Miriam enjoying a day in the city with Abe’s wife Valerie. She enjoyed her warmth and friendship. They spent the morning at the temple and then visited the US War memorial site as well as a really wonderful History Museum for the Philippines. The first day the employees had off because it was a national election. Any one who has voted has a black left index finger. That indicates they have voted and they can’t vote twice then. They were pleased that only 10 people were killed in the country because of elections. Last time there were over 50. Do we appreciate how good we have it? There was security everywhere. Three separate security checks leaving the airport. Metal detectors and men with machine guns at almost every entrance to public buildings. In the evening we enjoyed a Bi Stake jubilee dance presentation in preparation to next year’s celebration of when the land was opened to missionary work. We were so very impressed with the warm outgoing youth and leaders.
Homeward bound with lots of love and appreciation for the wonderful people of the Asia and Philippine Areas. Again we hope you enjoy the pictures..go to the picture link on the right.

Cambodia..Khmer Rouge, Monkey's and Tuk Tuk's

As we flew across Vietnam into Cambodia we could actually see from the air remnants of a country that had been at war. Even though it happened over 30 years ago, you could still see fields that were scarred from mines that have gone off in the past. In fact it is still happening. Parts of Cambodia are still heavily mined from the past. They are still "live" and unfortunately they still go off and injure or kill innocent people. The Cambodian people are very poor. When farmers or children come across a mine in a field they try to disarm it because they can sell the metal. Very often they are not successful. As you walk around Cambodia you see many people with amputated legs, due to mine accidents. They tell us there is about one accident a week. It is very sad.
We took a unique ride from the airport to our hotel in a “TukTuk”. It’s a motorcycle that pulls a carriage. We fit all of our luggage and us in it and away we went. As you can imagine just by the color of our skin we were quite the site. As we went into the VERY busy streets of Phnom Penh, our Tuk Tuk driver seemed proud that he was transporting the foreigners around. We arranged for him to pick us back up after we settled in at the hotel for a tour of a few sites.
We went to the “Killing fields” . We had heard the term before but really did not know the history behind it. Anyone reading this should read a little history on it. It’s very tragic. In the late 70’s and 80’s a revolution placed a new government in control. The new government wanted an agrarian society (based on agriculture) However, the way they imposed it was by executing anyone and everyone that represented a threat to the new society they were building. Educated people, scientists, teachers, people that wore glasses, all their families and children were brutally murdered and placed in mass graves. Finally the Vietnamese came in to stop the insanity. They have built memorials with the bones and skulls of the victims to remind the people to never allow this to happen again.
We took a tour of the palace grounds. Very beautiful. This also is where Miriam discovered some monkeys walking around. She saw it as a photo op. Unfortunately she got a little close and a monkey got tired of the weird lady with the camera. The monkey lunged at Miriam, bared its teeth and took a little swing at her. She never remembers being so scared.
We went to church and attended the International LDS Branch. What a great experience. Our teacher was a Nigerian and we met missionaries and members from all over the world. We discovered that in Cambodia, many missionaries return to continue to give to a country and a people that they have come to love. The Branch President is a very young man that used to serve as a missionary. He has returned with his wife and 3 children because of his love for the people. There were also Senior Missionaries that had returned to Cambodia to live and work simply because they wanted to serve the people. Also Sister Margie King served as a Humanitarian missionary as a senior sister several years ago. She came back to live and will live here until she physically can't anymore. She does so much good here and gives so much of her own resources. We call her the "Mother' Theresa of Cambodia. What a blessing it was for Miriam to hang out with her for 3 days. We both discovered that the people are so engaging and warm. Even strangers want you to be comfortable and happy. It is easy to see why people love to live there.
Miriam's tour guide one day was a young man who has had a amazing journey with the church. He was Young Men’s President at age 14, he was Counselor in a Branch Presidency at age 18, he was blessed with the gift of tongues in the mission field, and served on the high counsel when he came home at 21 years. He ministers to the members with all of his heart. Enjoy the pics of Cambodia by going to the picture link on the right side.

Tender Mercies in Taiwan

When Scott and Daniel returned from the mission field we took the opportunity to pick them up. By doing that we were able to meet the wonderful people that they introduced the gospel to. That was a bigger challenge with Joseph being that he served in Taiwan. As luck would have it Bob's work was taking him to Taiwan so we planned a vacation in conjunction with a business trip a year after his return.

We title this blog Tender Mercies because of the wonderful experiences we had each day as we walked the streets of Taiwan. Several of the days we did not have things lined up with people he wanted to see and things always worked out so beautifully. Things feel into place so that we could see so many of the people Joey wanted to see. Joey was to be both our tour guide and interpreter for the week and he did a great job by helping us learn about and meet the people he came to love.

We landed in Taiwan and took a taxi to the Taiwan Temple patron housing. The next morning as we came outside to go to church two full time missionaries walked out of the mission office. One of them was Elder Hammer, one of Joeys companions. After a long embrace and some pictures it was off to church. We took the subway to one of the Chinese branches that Joey attended. It was a great reunion (Joey was afraid no one would remember him). One of the speakers didn't show up and Joey was asked to speak. We wish we knew Chinese but the holy ghost helped us to feel much of the meetings spirit.

That night we went to a members home for dinner. We enjoyed pigs feet, jelly fish, shark and more. We helped him call the missionary in the USA that baptised him years ago. Home on the subway and looking forward to an adventure down south.

We ate breakfast "on the street" which was very good. then on to the subway and then the 3 hr train ride to Hualien. The train ride was grand with ocean and mountain views. When we arrived Joey mentioned that even though he couldn't contact any people in this city he still wanted to be there. He suggested that we just go to the church and see what happens. On our way to the church we passed a member that drives a taxi and Joey gave him a shout. The church was locked but a member (custodian) let us in. The custodian happened to be the big sister of the taxi driver that Joey knew. They called him and he came and he wanted to be our tour guide for the day in his taxi. So he grabbed his camera and off we went to Taroko Gorge. (They claim it is the 3rd prettiest place in the world)

Amazing canyons, gorges, cliffs, etc. But after 5 hours of nature viewing, Miriam actually said..I never thought I would say it but " I am tired of nature". I think she was just tired but we never thought it would happen. Back to the city by way of the cemetery and ocean. That evening we went to a outdoor show of traditional aboriginal dancing. We spent the night in a bed and breakfast type hotel. The owner was wonderful to us and Joey even had the opportunity to teach parts of the first discussion to a group of guests that asked some questions. Later that evening (11:30 pm) a nurse that went to English classes that Joseph taught and joined the church came over with her son and visited with us. She brought us mulberries and juice for a nice treat.

The next morning it was the best street breakfast with Jeff, a young man that Joseph taught. We had a great lunch with the Lu family then off to the train station where we barely hopped the train to continue our journey to Taidung. (literally)

Mountains and rice patties as far as the eye can see. An entertaining taxi ride (110 in a 60), a hotel with mattresses on the floor but free bikes, yet another great breakfast on the street, and an adventure with the Lu family. They took us to the hot springs where we sat in natural hot springs while our raw eggs were cooking close by in really hot hot springs. We enjoyed meeting and talking with the very friendly people at the resort.

Now to the airport for a flight back to Taipei. (Well, Bob just stepped away from the computer and told me it is my turn. This is going to be consolidated compared to his.) We had a few more days in Taiwan. We went to the temple for 2 endowment and 1 sealing session. That was really sweet for us. We ate great meals with Bob's work people, Daniel and Amber who are younger friends of Joey's. They accompanied us up to Danshui where we had such a great time together. Walked and walked just like missionaries on the streets. We found his favorite Mexican restaurant and Eddy. Each evening we had dinners with people he worked with on his mission. They love him and you should see his face with the people he spent so much time with and grew so close to. He really glows.

One particularly special experience was looking for a Filipino girl that he found and taught on his mission. We passed her on the street going to her home. She has not been able to come to church because of situations with schedules. He was able to get a hold of the missionaries that speak her language and find a branch that will meet in the afternoon so she can attend. He talked with the missionaries and this girl and got commitments to attend and get a hold of each other. The Elders told him they were going to keep helping her to come now. So she was happy and so was he. It was fun for me to see him in action and testifying to her of the importance of the covenants and remind her of the blessings of keeping them. They speak English but she prefers Tagoli.

We got up early and a member taxi driver drove us to the airport. Joey waited for many hours for his plane. We got on our plane and went to Cambodia for Bob's work. The people of Taiwan are the some most gracious and giving people we have ever met. We are so privileged to have had this beautiful experience. We are so grateful that Joey had the opportunity to serve his mission here and feel the tender mercies of the Lord on this blessed land and himself. (Oh, Bob had successful meetings and enjoyed the people at work as well) CHECK OUT THE PICS IN THE ALBUM LINK

Bryce Canyon in the Winter

We decided to take a winter weekend and went to Bryce Canyon. They have received 10 feet of snow since Thanksgiving and had about 3-4 feet on the ground when we arrived. We stayed at Ruby's Inn. When we arrived we took off into the park and visited the visitor center and a few look out sites. Then we put our snowshoes in our back pack and hiked down Navajo loop where we met a couple of guys from Switzerland. They showed us a shortcut over to PeeK-a-Boo Loop and off we went. They had been the only ones there since the last snow so we had a lot of snow to hike through. We did one section of Peek-a-Boo then turned around and returned. The canyon was beautiful. With all the snow, and freeze thaw action going on you can hear rock falling all the time. One large rock fell on the trail right after we passed that was about the size of a loaf of bread. Weird! One thing we thought was so amazing was where everyone came from. No one was from Utah. We met people from British Columbia, Switzerland, India, Florida, Georgia, California, Nevada, and New York. On Saturday we cross country skied along the rim then headed for home. Wow what a drive home! On I15 we ran into a white out, icy roads, dozens of cars sliding off the roads....crazy! A white knuckle experience. Go to the Album and look at winter pics of Bryce Canyon.

Coyote Gulch

Our family has loved Coyote Gulch for many many years thanks to my cousin Myra. I have probably been down there 7 or 8 times. Coyote Gulch is south of the city of Escalante in the Glen Canyon National Rec. Area. It feeds into the Escalante River which flows into Lake Powell. We drive down Hole in the Rock Road and enter at Crack in the Wall. Over the years we have also gone in Red Well. We have exited through that as well as Hurricane and Jacob Hamblin Arch. We love the big red walls, echo chambers, quicksand, playing in the fun creek, the beautiful fall leaves and in the spring we love the little frogs all over everywhere. (Especially loved the frog races) Jacob Hamblin Arch is spectacular as well as Coyote Bridge and the Steven's arch area. We love lowering the packs down the 26 foot cliff (Scott G's estimation) and entering by way of the narrow crack. We love scrambling up on the waterfalls and playing frisbe off of the narrow canyon walls.
We love climbing up to where the Indians lived in the cliffs and finding clues of their past lives. The pictographs, graineries and possible kivas, little corn husks and ends of squash or pumpkins. We found pottery shards, storage bins made with some type of mortar and even the kind of rock that arrowheads are made of. The grinding rocks and where they ground were right there. Ten years ago it was the same way. Although we found a piece of sandle or moccasin too. I checked with the park rangers and these artifacts are relatively new. They are only around 1500 years old.
I love the kind of hikers we meet that will pack in and be so respectful of the canyon and friendly to everyone who passes. I love sleeping under the stars without a tent especially with my 5 kids and Bob under a tarp when the wind and rain came up. Walking out the canyon the next day we found skipbo cards for a long while. In the heat of the sun your bag of gummie worms turns into a huge glob of gunk (but they still eat it).
"A word of caution: In planning a trip to Coyote Gulch, you're committing yourself to more than you know. The Escalante Canyons are addictive. Hike Coyote once in the spring and you'll be cursing yourself to a lifetime of violent and undeniable springtime "desert cravings." Coyote will awaken appetites, emotional and spiritual, you didn't even know you had." This caution is not mine but I agree with it.
Well this week Myra invited 3 friends and myself on another such adventure. I loved being with Candy, Myra, Trudy and Mark. What kind, generous and compassionate people. I would love to go on another such adventure with them. We really would not have made it through the canyon this time without Mark's muscles in helping get the group up some of the falls. Trudy and Mark even had our car waiting for us at the Hurricane trailhead for us so we didn't have to hitchhike back to crack in the wall. I guess they did that for us. Thank you. We will forever be so very grateful to Myra for sharing her canyon and love with us. Look at the pictures with captions under "picture albums" to the right.

Visit the Albums!

Ok this short blog is to inform all of our loyal followers that we have loaded a bunch of albums for all to enjoy. If you know Miriam at all you know she loves the seasons. Included in the albums are hikes taken throughout the year. You will find us in Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. Enjoy the journey!