LABOR DAY 2013

Labor Day  (9/1/13) was a great day from start to finish.  First it 

should be noted that it was Uncle Mark's 57th birthday!

 We went to Payson's Onion Days parade in the morning.  

Malea couldn't resist the Macey's float. Unlike the parades 

when I was a child, most floats are now done by businesses

and represent an advertisement rather than a theme.

 They were some awesome "Queen" floats.  That is a common thread 

to the parades of yesteryear.  This one was sponsored by Spanish Fork City.

 Smokey the Bear and Woodsey the Owl haven't changed much!

 We loved the kazillion bubbles coming out from under this car.  Andrea might

 apply for a job at Wiggy's because they are hiring and it is close to her school.

 Let it be known---This is the kind of hearse Andrea wants 

her corpse carried in!  I still plan to be "twinkled" :)

 We sat at Grandma Davis' old house.  She would mortified to see her yard.  

The grass was once manicured.  The petunia's so thick along the front walk 

that there was no room for weeds.  The old seminary building was covered 

in ivy from Grandma's planters and there were geraniums of every color.
But as you can see, in spite of the unkempt yard, the family still gathers
here on Labor Day.   That would make Grandma Davis smile!   :)

 The Shulers were out in good numbers.  This is Wendy Pope.

 Natalie, Angie, Koen, Lee, Justin,Sarah and Sidney.

 We sat in the shade of the old crab apple tree.

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After the parade I opened the trunk of the Taurus!

It was a bit alarming, but Andrea assured me it is all in the name of education! 

 We headed up Payson Canyon to our traditional Labor Day 

picnic spot...Maple Lake!The leaves are just beginning to turn. 

Every turn brought another gorgeous scene. 

 This is Maple Lake in her early autumn splendor!

 Malea, Colton and Andrea making their way down the trail to the lake.

 Dad went straight to the water as if looking for something.

This is what he was looking at.  There were 

thousands of snail shells along the northern shore. 

There weren't too many cattails, but the ones there 

were easy to get because the lake is so low.

Couldn't resist this shot on our way to the spring and bridge.

 The amount of water from the spring seems to remain constant 

through the years.  We had to do the traditional bridge photos.

 Andrea,Malea, Me and Dad.  Colton was the photographer. :)

Andrea with her cattail and "Dad the dwarf "on the handrail. (Not planned but fun!) 

There was a fish near the spring. With cat like stealth Colton slowly
lowered his hands until he snatched that fish so fast no amateur photography
would have captured it. He is looking to see where the little critter landed. 

 Yep!  He really caught it with his hands!

 TWICE!  He released it and caught it again so Malea could capture the feat on video! 

 Fish on the menu tonight!  (Not really!  It was another catch and release:)

Then he had to clean his feet and flip flops before we moved on.

Dad taking a rest! 

 Here's the whole gang on the same bench.  Andrea, Dad, Me, and Malea.

 Dad. (Not sure what he was thinking!)  I loved the autumn leaves cradled in the pine bows.

 Andrea suggested she and Malea do a cave women pose for the 

picture.  Malea said, "Yes," but it was a one woman performance.

 This shows how long Andrea and Malea's hair is getting.

 My favorite picture of Maple Lake. It is postcard perfect! 

This is the sunlight shining through one of the many caterpillar nests. 

Malea was nearly camouflaged behind this maple tree.

Malea, Colton, Dad and Andrea standing on the earthen dam of the Lake. 

Thought we would want to remember why Colton and Malea 

were here.  They were returning from an internship deep in the 

heart of Texas on their way back to Rexburg for their final year of school.  

 We stopped for a picnic on our way back down to Maple Bench.

 Dad is slicing a big tomato from our very own garden!

I hoped to capture the color of the autumn blue sky.  I love it!

Walker's Flat is where there was a battle between Chief Wakara and the

 local settlers. It was planted in alfalfa for years, but now it is a meadow of 

sunflowers.We used to hike from this flat up into the Ponderosa pines to get bows 

to decorate at Christmas time.  My brothers would shoot them out of the trees with their

 22 rifles.  I  loaded the bows on a sleigh and we pulled them back to the truck.

On the way home we passed this monster truck giving people rides.

 Dad had just gone in Grandma's house to get 

her for the play when a UFO was spotted.

 We stood in awe as it began to descend toward us.

It came closer and closer! 

Without warning is plunged and hovered above Grandma's lawn---

Made a wide circle under her front porch as if analyzing the plant life.

Then it darted quickly out and hovered at eye level with Colton.  

Finally, it made a perfect landing in Andrea's hand.
Do you like Colton's new quad-copter?

We finished the day at the Payson Community 

Theater's  Production of "Shrek the Musical."

Grandma is talking to Fiona following the performance. 

 Jeff Cooper (Aunt Sheree's little brother is Fiona's Dad!) 

 Here is Donkey and Shrek with some random lady.  The actors were brothers.

Colton, Shrek, Andrea and Malea giving me a BIG thumbs up.  That's 

we thought about the show.  The singing was phenomenal and the 

acting was amazing.  We hope the crude parts didn't offend Grandma K.  

We knew what Skrek was when we decided to attend, but Grandma was blindsided. 

 This this Andrea and Grandma with the Mad Hatter--aska.....Seth Hayes.  

Seth played three different characters in the production. 

The young man who played Pinocchio was a Ben Mitchell, but 

he was not THE Ben Mitchell. He was good, but not amazing!

Proof that we went to "Skrek: The Musical!"   Fun and well done!

Another one of Jeff Cooper's daughter offered to take a group shot for us. :)

Dad and Grandma lead the way back to the van.