Danielle and Cal Sexton

I took some wedding pictures for Danielle and Cal Sexton. They didn't have a photographer at their wedding, but wanted to have some formal portraits. So, they got dressed back up and I met them at Wheeler Farm. Here are a couple of pictures from the photo shoot.

Med School and White Coat Ceremony

Today was Rich's first day of class. He's still working on the cleaning up his papers for his PhD, so he's got a lot on his plate and is feeling the stress of it all. We're confident he'll be able to handle it and get through all the demands on his schedule.

Last week was Medical School Orientation week. Rich spent the week in lectures getting information about school. The School also hosted two different barbacue's. Lynnae was able to go to both, and the kids were also able to come to one. It was fun to meet many of Rich's new classmates and their families. They are a very impressive bunch; what a neat group of people. We really feel that it's a priveledge for Rich to be a part of it all.

The week ended with a White Coat ceremony that marks the beginning of the student's medical career. After some excellent speeches, full of valuable advice, the students received their white coats, a stethascope, and a book. Here are some pictures from the event:

Kara, Troy, and Tyler

Here is my favorite picture that I took of Kara, Troy, and Tyler at Shonshone Falls in Twin Falls, Idaho on August 2, 2008.

Capitol Reef

We went to Capitol Reef and Torrey, UT from August 15-18 for a family vacation and for the opening of archery season.

The first night when we arrived in town, we ate at a restraunt called Cafe Diablo. Wow! Who would have though there'd be a world class restraunt in Torrey, UT.

We stayed at a motel called The Rim Rock, which was not our favorite place. Aside from no closet and definitely wishing for a refridgerator and microwave for the kids milk habit, there were spiders all over and mouse poop in the drawers. The next day, we moved to a place called the Affordable Inn. It was only $5 more, and what a difference. It even included breakfast.

Rich went hunting Saturday morning, and then we went into the park. We hiked a little way on the Chimney Rock trail, and stopped at several other scenic points. Then we stopped at the bakery and store in the park for some peach salsa and peach butter. Yum!

We headed back to the hotel for a nap (we were all beat), and then Rich went hunting in the evening, while the kids and Lynnae went swimming at the motel.

Sunday, we attended Sacrament Meeting, and then went for a drive on scenic Highway 12through the Dixie National Forest. It was breathtaking. And then the fun began...

We decided to take the back four wheeler road into Capitol Reef and the scenic drive there. We have a Subaru, so no problem, right? Wrong. The first 5 mi. were a piece of cake, and the next 5 weren't too bad--a little rock and washed out, but nothing too bad. It's when we hit the border into the park that it got really bad. At one point, one of the tires of the Subaru was actually hanging over the edge of a pretty big drop off. The going was SLOW, and Lynnae walked a lot of the way to scout ahead and have less weight in the car. The trail led through dried up stream beds and we were very grateful there were no storms in the area. The kids were amazing through the entire ordeal.

After lots of prayers, and a few extra dents in the car, we got out safe and sound just before sunset. We were very grateful to Heavenly Father for helping us make it out safe and have had enough adventure to last us for a long time!

Rich went hunting one last time on Monday moring and we came home, just in time for Medical School orientation, which started on Tuesday morning.

Idaho

After our camping trip, we headed up to Idaho to visit Rich's family. We went shooting clay pigeons, visited Shoshone Falls, attended Amanda and Jason's baby's blessing, had a water fight with Grandma, and went to the Twin Falls Temple open house.

Camping

On August 1st, we took off to the mountains for the annual ward campout. This was Mackenzie's first camping trip. We had a lot of fun with Grandma and Grandpa there. We went on a hike and saw a beaver dam and a tree that a beaver had started chopping down. We could also hear a moose cry in the background.

The campground was in the middle of bear country, so we had to be really careful to keep our food locked up in the car at night.