Amateur Night

So, we have a contest at work to add amateur pictures of Utah to our 2009 calendar. The theme is "This is the Place." I know, creative, right? Basically they just want landscapes of Utah without any people in them.

This past weekend we made a trip to Logan to see the Aggies win their first home game in nearly two years (42-17! Woot!), and to take a hike in the beautiful color-changing confines of Logan Canyon. I will admit up front that these pictures do not do the canyon justice. I am not a very good photographer, and the pictures below could easily have been between 10 to 97 times better than they are. And, I can't really say that I have any desire to improve my skills. I thought maybe this outing would light some fire in me to become the next Ansel Adams, but I realized I'm way too lazy to put any effort into it.

Anyway, what I need from all of you good folks who read this blog is your unbiased opinion about which of the following are worth submitting for consideration. Fifty bucks are at stake for a picture that's accepted, so I need good input, and lots of it! Vote with the numbers of your choice in the comments section. I can submit three, so rate your top trio.

Here's #1:

OK, I cheated. That really is an Ansel Adams. Sorry. Here are the actual candidates.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5 #6 #7 #8

#9

And finally, for posterity we'll post another update of our backyard grass. Parts of it are almost tall enough now to mow! I know the old saying that "it's as boring as watching grass grow," but it's been altogether too exciting to us!

September Update

Here's our September update, since we seem to get around to posting about once a month. About a month ago I took a day off and we all went down to Manti for Jenny's cousin Kjerstin's wedding. We took away the following things from the trip:

1) Kjerstin looked stunning, and we're very excited for her and Steve.

2) Trying to get a group of small children to look at the camera all at once is an impossibility.

3) 75% of our family is extremely cute (hint: they're the ones in dresses).

4) Manti is approximately 87 billion miles away from civilization. We basically spent all day driving there and back. A lot of my pioneer ancestors are from San Pete County, and I came away with a new appreciation for the hardships they must have faced. I can't imagine trying to settle a place like that. But somehow they did. The Manti Temple even had a piece of Isaac Morley's original temple clothing on display just past the lobby. Isaac Morley was basically the first convert in Kirtland, Ohio, which became the first real center of the LDS Church back in the 1830's. He is one of my great-great-great-great-grandfathers, and was featured recently on "The Joseph Smith Papers" television series recently. So that was pretty cool.

Secondly, our backyard is coming along pretty well. Blogging was light in August because just about every evening and weekend was spent digging in the dirt, installing sprinklers, and planting grass. We went with hydroseed over sod (because it was like $1000 cheaper), and it's looking pretty good. Here are some before and after shots.

Lastly, we tried our hand at growing some tomatoes this year, and pictured here is the full extent of our garden produce for 2008.

You have to see it next to a real tomato to appreciate the humor here.

Apparently growing tomatoes on your deck in planter pots is not the way to go. Next year we will actually have a real garden spot in our yard, so we'll see if it makes a difference.