Just a silly picture

James and I were at this scouting function with his mom a few weeks ago. They had this booth where they would green screen you in to some scouting type activity. So here's ours.

Ensign Peak

Last Thursday I was off for school on Fall Break and I wanted to go for a hike. So we found a short one near by. Here's the history of Ensign Peak.

After arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, President Brigham Young and eight others hiked a nearby peak. President Young remarked that it "was a proper place to raise an ensign to the nations" and so it was named Ensign Peak. Before leaving Nauvoo, President Young had seen a vision of the Prophet Joseph wherein he was shown the peak and told to "build under the point where the colors fall, and you will prosper and have peace."

Elder B. H. Roberts reported that since the Church had no temple after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Addison Pratt "was taken to the summit of Ensign Peak and given his endowments, that he might return to those islands of the sea in which he had labored, with greater spiritual power."

In 1934, an 18-foot monument was placed there by the Salt Lake Ensign Stake Mutual Improvement Associations. The monument is comprised of stones collected from stakes along the Mormon Trail. The inscriptions of the names of some stakes are still visible today.

On July 26, 1996, President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Ensign Peak Nature Park which included Ensign Peak and an additional 66 acres surrounding it. President Hinckley dedicated it that it may "be a place of pondering, a place of remembrance, a place of thoughtful gratitude, a place of purposeful resolution." The effort was headed by the Ensign Peak Foundation later known as the Mormon Historic Sites Foundation, who worked closely with the Salt Lake City Corporation. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also constructed a memorial garden near the base of the peak which tells of the peaks' significance and the early pioneers who built up the Salt Lake Valley.

So here are some pictures of our short hike. It's less than a mile up and it is a pretty steep hike but it's not so bad. I only wish we had gone a little later because it was pretty bright up there. But there were some good views. (the pollution in salt lake is really evident when you see these photos-that's why some of the mountains aren't really obvious.)

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Some cute pics and fall pillows

My mom made some fall pillows for us and Deacon posed with them. The quilt in the back was made by Sylvia Christensen. And the rest of the pics are just some cute ones of our little guy.

Halloween Take 2

This last weekend we took Deacon to Engh Gardens in Sandy to take some Halloween/Fall pictures. Unfortunately it was about noon, the sun was high and bright, and Deacon was not happy. So we did what we could, I photo shopped as much as I could and decided we will need a Halloween take 3. But these are the best I could get.

Trying to sit up

Deacon has been working on sitting up. And he's getting close. Whenever he's in the car seat he tries to pry himself up out of the seat even though he's strapped in. It's pretty funny. So i was taking pictures of him today and these first three pics are him sitting up and then slowly falling over.And then just some cute ones of our lil three month old. We think he's pretty cute.

Roommate Reunion!!!

Yesterday one of my most favoritest roommates from college was in town! I haven't seen Becky for probably four years! At least! Her brother Jordan was getting married in the Salt Lake temple so Rachel, James, Deacon, and I gate crashed the reception. Ok we didn't actually crash, supposedly we were invited, but we didn't actually receive invitations. Jordan and Becky both said it was due to the other. But anyway, it was so much fun to hang out with Becky and the Rigtrup clan and to have some Roommate reminiscence! Congrats to Jordan and Summer and hopefully it won't be another five years before we can get together again!

Halloween Trial Run and some other stuff

We went and picked out a Halloween costume for Deacon and put it on him the other day just to see. We're not really planning on taking him trick or treating, it's mostly just for cuteness' sake and pictures of course. I plan on taking him somewhere with a nice little fall setup and take some good pictures of him but this is a little preview with some other recent pictures of him. I think the costume looks like Elliot from Pete's Dragon.