Pine Valley

Pine Valley, Utah Camping
My first memory of Pine Valley was as a young 12 year old boy. I can remember coming to Pine Valley. I was excited weeks before we packed the 65 Ford Custom and slowly headed for Utah. I remember Great Grandma and Grandpa coming up to the camp site and staying in their little pink house along I-15. It was a great time, care free with a little nervous anticipation concerning weather and the car. When we visit Pine Valley the lightening and rain seems to follow us. We spent the night in our 65 Ford at least once. I remember the comfort I felt being with my Mom and Dad in the car. The safety I felt when we prayed as a family in that old white car. I remember getting up early and it being so cold I had a hard time baiting my hook. When the warmth of the sun came over the mountain it brought a smile on my face and a sense of awe. I can't remember a time we did not catch plenty of fish. After fishing, Dad, David and I would clean the fish while Mom, Jamie and Lisa would get our breakfast cooked. Breakfast was big..... very big! Fish, eggs, bacon, toast etc. I remember one of my jobs was gathering wood for grandma to cook. I enjoyed getting her the wood and receiving praise for doing a good job. As kids the stream was a great place to fish and swim. To this day I have the fondest of memories of Pine Valley. We have all shared this beautiful place with our own children. I hope they will do the same with their own kids. There are a few places that bring so many good memories to my mind.

David's family, Rich's family and Grandpa and Grandma spent three days together up at Pine Valley camping, fishing, catching insects, eating good food, and just having fun together!

We had one small problem when we arrived, we realized that we had only packed the poles. and rain cover for our big tent--we had no tent itself! WE began to make a make-shift cover with Heather in her own little one-man tent sealing off our doorway. The boys opted to just sleep under the stars. Man vs. Wild had nothing on this gang of wild campers!!!

















It didn't take the boys long to jump into the river and cool off! They gladly took on the role that Uncle Jim had led them in previous years and went swimming in the freezing water. Looks like they had a lot of fun!

Corey discovered a spider

Richie and Corey made Heather feel right at home and did their best make her feel like she was in the middle of their fun. The three of them had a lot of laughs this vacation.
















If you look closely, you will see that Heather had her fun with goofing off with their hair too!

Down to Business--Time to go FISHING!!!



Heather and Corey were the first ones to catch fish, way to go guys!

Richie caught a fish in the eye--GROSS!


Lynne actually caught a dragonfly with her fishing
line. As she threw out her line it tangled in it's
wings and Corey had to come to the rescue
to help release the dragonfly.

Little Joshua proudly shows off his big
catch. He hooked and reeled this guy all
by himself!! congratulations Josh.

Richie and Corey caught other things other than fish--they caught water snakes, insects....

Night time meant roasting marshmallows, reading books, and telling scary stories!

Heather made her very own Marshmallow
stick. She widdled it without any injury!















Grandma and Grandpa made the whole experience so much better. We had a great time with them, relaxed, laughed, fished, and as usual Grandma's cooking was wonderful!!
The way home was tiring and long! Good thing Rich was not as tired as the kids!!!














Good bye Pine Valley, til next year. Thanks Dave and Gina, we all had a great time with your family again.

Corey Comes To Town

Corey safely arrives at the Salt Lake Airport to meet a very excited Grandma and Grandpa



Grandpa, Corey and Angie are in a serious game of "horse".























Dinner Time!

Rachel and Grandma relaxing after dinner, waiting for their turn on the ping pong table, and secretly plotting a water fight--but then they remember we are in a drought, and decide to just continue to relax!!!

The Ping Pong Games began with Dan and Richie with Heather and the referee! Dan imparts his New York spin on his serve and Richie attempts to counter his spin. Heather looks on with awe!







Corey's backhand brings fear to his opponent's face. The only way to beat Corey is to make him laugh, fortunately that's not too hard!
























Muscle Men!!!
Look out Arnold!

4th of July Swimming

A picture says a thousand words!!! Stephanie, Richie and Rachel jumping in the pool and having a blast together!

This is Dan and Jessica wet.....

......and this is Angie and Chad DRY!
I guess O.B.1 and Princess Laya didn't understand the whole swimming part of the swimming party!

Richie really got some height off the diving board some times!

This was Richie's Kung Fu move while flying 15 feet above water.

What goes up...must come down!!!! Swim for your lives!!!! It's coming down FAST!

Heather's dive was a fantastic, backwards, 2 1/2 Pencil Twist. No one can quite do it like Heather!









Rachel showed her true abilities on the diving board today with this gorgeous dive.








Even in your late 70's, Grandpa scores a perfect 10 on his dive!
Good Job old man!

I can remember Grandpa ordering some daylily seeds from a company called Parks Seeds. He planted them in some pots in the front yard along the stone planter. The stone planter originally had cactus but they were soon pulled up and planted with roses. Grandma and Grandpa grew beautiful roses. I don't think I have seen better roses. Along the stone planter there were flower pots and that's where I saw my first daylily. I did not look at it and say hey when I get my own house I am going to plant a thousand of these plants..... they're awesome. I just remember Dad talking about them and saw his excitement. When We got our own house Grandpa suggested some daylilies and the rest is history. Instead of buying seeds we now breed our own daylilies and harvest seeds every year. Grandpa and I have introduced three new daylily varieties and more are on the horizon. We also have a few of the grand kids that have worked with the dayliles. Both Richie and Brandon have done some pollinating and I am sure both will introduce some when they get older.



In the image to the left grandpa is pollinating Lisa Inez. This is the plant grandpa introduced. It has great plant habbit and a giant flower. He is putting pollen (anther) on the female part (stigma) in hopes of a set or seed pod. It requires a lot of work to get pods and some plants. Lisa Inez is pod and pollen fertile.



There are many plants to pollinate in the mornings. Sometimes we miss pollinating but most often we perform a few crosses every morning. As you can see there are many flowers to pollinate.

Let The Harvest Begin

Grandma and Grandpa picked some beets and onions. Don't they look good together. Grandma worked her magic on the beets and we ate grandpa's onions raw. Some great phytochemicals in our organic produce. I will take an image of the garden soon so you can see the progress. When I see them in the garden it brings back many memories of my childhood gardening experiences. I enjoyed picking beans, squash and just the simple pleasures of watching things grow. I owe my love for gardens, plants, etc. to My Mom and Dad, Thanks you guys.

4th of July Fishing Trip - UTAH Lake

This morning we went fishing at Utah Lake. The bite was good but not excellent. I am helping grandpa bring in his big catfish. Grandpa played the fish like a pro, good thing because the fish was barely hooked. I was just thinking don't mess this up. What ever you do get this fish on the shore. I have unfortunately missed a couple of Grandpa's big fish........ oops ! My goal is to only mess up one more time. Lets hope it does not happen this summer.




Success !! Great team work. Grandpa has caught more big catfish than anyone else in the family. Sorry Hammer but grandpa has you beat ! Ha!





Check out my big fish. Wow !! I only caught a few little catfish but had great success with the white bass.








Richie had good luck throwing a jig. He caught many white bass and a couple of small mouth bass. It sure was nice to have him come along. I remember spending many days fishing with Grandpa as a kid. I loved fishing in the ocean.



I have caught some small mouth bass but not one this big. Richie was working his bass magic today. I threw some jigs and did not catch ONE fish on the jig.





Lynne also hooked into one of the big catfish. She did a nice job of playing the fish before I could net the fish. Richie is also holding one of the small bass he caught.







Check out Lynne's Walleye. We have caught bigger at this spot but just catching this species is a great time. They are incredible predators and have very large teeth. As you can notice I am holding her fish away from the body to protect me from its large teeth.


Here is our catch ! We are looking forward to a fish fry tomorrow. So far Grandpa and Lynne have the biggest catfish of the season. Hammer you have your work cut out.