We want to see!!!

With the Saturday-scheduled Subway hike postponed again due to the weather forcasts for thunderstorms, we instead had Kyle lead us up to where the marijuana grow so we could check it out. The site was well hidden; we followed the trail along the stream for awhile, and then randomly left the trail to go up and over a steep and rocky hillside. After hiking upward for awhile, we found a bunch of empty holes in the ground that previously held marijuana plants, with only a few stragglers left behind. We also found remnants of the camps: soap, irrigation tubing and pipe, saws, socks, stick shelters, fertilizer, and lengths of wire strung up to tie and dry the plants. Kyle kept an extra close eye on the boys to make sure they didn't try and smuggle any leftovers out...

And this is why I love my job...

Kyle and the SGPD S.W.A.T. team assisted the DEA in seizing tens of thousands of marijuana plants from the Pine Valley Mountain Wilderness. Starting yesterday morning at first light, they hiked two hours into a rugged deep canyon at the north fork of the Santa Clara River. They searched and found four seperate grows with elaborate irrigation systems set up to water the plants. The did not, however, find anyone in the canyon (to Misty's relief), although there were signs of recent camping. They spent the rest of the day, and today, pulling, bundling, and loading the huge plants into the helicopter hoist to be lifted out. He might have been sore and worn out from the hike, but, needless to say, Kyle came home with a biiiiig smile on his face that night.

Full Moon Hike

Every full moon we try to go on a night hike. It's fun to do because flashlights are not needed, and because everything looks so shadowy, scary, and beautiful under the moonlight. This full moon we (Me, Kyle, Trent, and Nate) waited until midnight and then hiked up into the white cliffs just northeast of Winchester Hills. Me and Trent had been there before, but it took us a little while anyway to find our way into a narrow slot canyon that leads to some petroglyphs. We shimmied up the sides of the canyon walls and met some confused bats before we found what we were looking for. Some of the petroglyphs had been damaged by people etching over the top of them, but many of them are still intact and SO neat to see!

Surprises

While I was at work today, I received some some pretty, fall-colored flowers from Kyle! He's in Moab this week working with other officers from different agencies providing extra security for The Bandido's (motorcycle gang), annual get-together. So far it's been uneventful but the weekend has yet to come....

WHATS THIS?!?!

Tia and Tyler hanging out?! Uh-oh. At first, when they went shopping and surfing together at the beach we thought, "Oh...No big deal...They're just family...." Right?

But after we returned to St George they went out again.

And then again.

And then there were flowers.

Kyle's little brother date my little sister?

I don't know.... :)

Kanarraville Canyon

Since we weren't able to get permits to hike The Subway this Saturday, Trenton, Kyle and I went up Kanarraville Canyon instead. They now have it gated off to vehicles clear back to the paved road, so we had to park in town and walk in. It was a hot walk until we reached the canyon and started hiking up the cold stream. There were a ton of people in the canyon until we reached the first waterfall (the ladder log), and then no one after that. We contined to the second waterfall (hand line and log) and then up a couple more miles and through a few more slot canyons before returning. It was very pretty once the mid-afternoon sun shone down into the slots, and the water was plenty cold enough to keep us from being hot! We're going to try again for August 30th to get Subway permits. Hopefully we'll be able to get them and go before Trenton gets his call......!!!

Shoreline Art

I fell in love with this beeeeautiful lifeguard tower on the beach! The combination of the blues/aqua along with the peeling paint looked so perfect against the sky and water that I obssessedly took shot after shot, even getting Kalin to pose for me once. I was heartbroken when the maintenance crew came by the last day we were there and painted it BROWN. Grrr.... Nice way to ruin a piece of art.

Credit for the first picture goes to Tyler Whitehead (beautiful shot!)

Carpinteria 2008!

Camping at the beach was wonderful this year! Our beach-bum party included myself, Kyle, Mom, Rachelle, Trent, Kalin, Tyler Whitehead, and Trevor (Tyler's friend). We were able to get a site from Kyle's mom, across the street from the one we had last time. It was a nice site with lots of grass to put up tents on. We enjoyed our vacation by hanging out on the beach, reading, boogie boarding, surfing, beachcombing, playing badmitton, and biking the trails and around town. During the week we also went to the Carpinteria LDS ward, which was quite small, went shopping at the Santa Barbara Pier and in Oxnard at the mall, and ate at Sushi Teri. Mom, Rachelle, and I biked to and toured Everbloom, a huge nursery that grows Gerbera Daisies, which are Rachelles favorite flower. A few more pictures to follow...

Books to read...

These are the books I took to the beach to read. I wanted plenty of options for both myself and the family (hey, anytime I can get my brothers or sisters to read is good!). I ended up getting through Ordinary Wolves, Memoirs of Geisha, and half of Fable Haven. Ordinary Wolves was...thought provoking but kind of boring. Memoirs of a Geisha was a really good story about a culture I've always been fascinated with! I'm going to finish watching the last half of the movie tonight. Fable Haven is a cute story so far, and is geared toward pre-teen readers.