A couple of Saturday's ago our little department at work got together for a most excellent Saturday. We gathered at the cabin of Chad and Sara, my most excellent co-workers. :-) Here they are ... my illustrious co-workers:
It's pretty cool when you can be a young couple who owns a home and a family cabin, eh? I thought it was great of them to invite us all up for a day of fun-in-the-sun, and I'm sure hoping that a tradition has begun, because it was an awful lot of fun. Their cabin is in the mountains up Payson Canyon (I think) ... in fact, it's in the same general area as Camp Shalom, where Girl's Camp is held. Here's a picture of the area ... beautiful, isn't it?
And here's a picture of the front of their cabin (tho the picture doesn't do it justice one bit):
Everyone from our department went except for Nate who (I think I remember him saying) doesn't feel comfortable doing parties & the like. Too bad -- he's a great guy with a fun sense of humor; he would've added a lot. A few of our team went up on Friday evening (John and a couple of his sons, and also Margaret and Steve) and from what I hear they had a GREAT night playing poker. Who won the $$, everyone? I don't think I ever figured out the final outcome. One of John's sons pitched a tent outside and the rest found various sleeping spots in the cabin. The rest of us (myself, Karen and Gary, John's wife in one car and later on Dave and his son in their own car) came up Saturday morning. Gary, Karen and I had ourselves a feast at Denny's Restaurant before picking up Patty (John's wife) and we had an enjoyable drive up to the cabin. Patty declined to join us for breakfast ... I think she said she wanted to sleep in more than she wanted to eat - hehe. I sure enjoyed getting to know Patty better -- she's a really nice person and we all yakked up a storm in the car!As I said, we had a great day. John and his boys went fishing at the nearby lake during the morning, while Chad and Steve played on their ATV and motorcycle. Some of us learned to chop wood (I've always wanted to do that!) though Steve did the lion's share of the chopping. Hah! Check out the video ... it'll give you a little idea of just how good I was (not). We all got a hearty laugh out of it:
After that adventure, Sara took some of us (me, Karen & Gary, Margaret, Patty) on a most excellent hike above the cabins. (Hey Sara, is that "Sara" or "Sarah"?! I'm embarrassed to say I'm not sure!) It was a great hike up the mountain, on a neighbor's private property (we went about 3/4 of a mile, I believe). They put up a little "Nature Walk" sign and allow their neighbors to enjoy the path. Pretty considerate, I think. We had to take it slow because Gary is recovering from recent heart surgery. Can you believe he was out there hiking up an inclined trail at 9,000 feet?! Crazy! He did okay, but there were a few stops along the way where he scared us a little. I think by the end of the day we'd really worn him out. I'm amazed that he participated as much as he did. And I have to admit, I was secretly relieved that we stopped often because as you can obviously seen from my beautiful physique, I'm not yet in perfect shape!!!! HAH!
When we got back from our hike Margaret prepared a most excellent lunch/dinner (hmmm ... what would a late afternoon meal be called?! It's "brunch" for breakfast/lunch but no one's ever given a name to eating mid-afternoon. Hmmm ... how about "linner"? (If you prefer lunch/ dinner) "Lupper"? (If you prefer lunch/supper)). Margaret loves to cook dutch oven and she's DARN GOOD at it. Gary brought his dutch oven cooking paraphernalia (sp?) too and what a great feast we had. We helped some with the cooking (my part was stirring the chicken while it cooked on/in the fire pit) and we all certainly enjoyed eating everything. Margaret made chicken enchiladas (mild in one pot, spicy in the other) and cornbread that puffed up sky high. Hah! The size of it was quite the surprise. It sure was delicious though. Later on we had dessert that Gary made in his dutch oven ... an apple spice cake I think it was, with vanilla ice cream. We all ate sitting around the back patio fire pit, enjoying smoke from the fire (hah) and that fabulous mountain air. One thing I really enjoyed: clouds rolled in and the sky got dark while we were cooking (and eating). We thought for sure we'd get some rain but it never happened. How d'ya like that? Spared! (Though everyone who came up Friday evening got caught in some good rain, I hear.) It then rolled out again and left the afternoon sparkling and sunny again.
After "Lupper" (I LIKE that word!) John and his family took off for home, while the rest of us went down past the lake to a nice open field where we shot skeet. YES! REALLY! It was a most excellent adventure (for me, anyway). We mostly used Steve's rifle, though we also tried our hand with his .38 pistol too. THAT is the first time I have EVER held a gun in my life! I tried the rifle a couple of times, though I wasn't very good at it -- and I also tried the gun just once. I didn't like the gun at all ... it scared me, it made my ears hurt, and I didn't know how to be very careful with it. I liked the rifle much, much better. Sara, Margaret, Steve, Chad, Dave ... they all did pretty good! Karen, Dave's son and I didn't hit the little clay pigeons, but we came close a few times. :-) Or hey Karen, did you hit one? I can't remember for sure ... you might have! Gary didn't shoot at all because it was too dangerous for his recovering heart.
I have to say I was very impressed with Steve and Chad, who were very cautious with both the rifle and the gun, and they went out of their way to make sure we all handled them carefully. They were very responsible and I admired that. All in all it was pretty fun and I'd like to try it again sometime. Actually, I've wanted to learn how to shoot a gun for a while now -- I feel it's important to know how to handle one without fear. If there ever comes a time when we'll have to defend ourselves or our property, I feel it's more dangerous to have never handled a gun than to have used one and not be so afraid of it.
Well we finally had to call it quits in the early evening and everyone went back up to the cabin and pretty much packed it up. Karen, Gary and I left in our car first, followed by Dave and his son ... Margaret and Steve left a little later and I think Sara and Chad came on home too rather than staying at the cabin for another night. On the way home Karen pulled the car over at a Mammoth historical marker site ... did you know that a prehistoric wooly mammoth was discovered at this 9,000 feet spot? Amazing. Here's a link to some info: http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM21XW. I didn't even know it existed - that's how unenlightened I am! Pretty cool, though. Dave and his son pulled up right behind us and we all hiked down the short path to a small viewing area and the marker. There was some lively debate about where the site actually was, from our viewing spot. :-)
We arrived home just after 8:00 p.m., pleasantly tired. You know, it's a pretty wonderful and rare thing when you can work with people who you like well enough to play with, too. Our whole department gets along great with each other, and I think we each recognize how lucky we are to have this kind of a working relationship. It reflects in our business too -- because we truly like each other we work well together and try hard to assist each other, instead of one-upping or backbiting or playing corporate games. I think our product and services are of a higher quality because of it.
So ... now it's time for the slide show ... I hope it works and I hope you enjoy it! Let's see if I can describe everyone off really quickly: Sara is blond and wearing a BYU sweatshirt, Chad is in a turquoise blue shirt, Margaret is wearing army pants and a red sweatshirt, Steve has the shorter hair and looks strong, Dave is the very tall guy, John is the comfortable, laid-back guy (and I think he's wearing a dark blue shirt), Patty has dark hair and I think she's sitting next to John in one of the pictures), one of John's sons (can't remember which one!) is holding several bottles in one picture, Dave's son is the youngest one there, Karen is wearing a fun camp hat and Gary is wearing a light blue shirt (I think). He's a little balding too. :-) And of course you know who I am! Oh, and by the way ... there's one little picture of some furry lumpy things ... those are BATS!!!!! The little guys all cram in between the shutter and the window pane in Chad and Sara's bathroom!!! HAH! They absolutely and completely fascinated me. I wish I could've gotten a better picture of them. So ... enjoy!
3 comments:
That sounds like a lot of fun. It's nice to work with Nice people! I'm glad you do Judy.
That was a fun trip! And yes, Judy, you spelled my name right...Sara.
Also, just so you know, I won the poker tournament. It came down to me and John, and I really went on a tear getting great cards and ended up taking him out.
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