Saying Goodbye To Friends

Saying goodbye is a normal part of any mission.  In a few weeks, we will say goodbye to many good friends.  Some will be back next year and many will be done on the mountain and we may not meet again in this life.  Some have had to leave early for health reasons.  It was a touching time when the missionaries gathered at the point to say good bye...

Elder and Sister Freestone, Elder Sister Stahli, and Elder and Sister Jenkins- We love you, we miss you and our prayers are with you!

Last Days at the Lake

Winterization is in full swing.  Lots of work to be done- but not too fast!  We need to have things to do until we are officially through!

Here are more pictures of masking the cabins.  We got the job done so fast, we now get two days a week for p-day!  That means we can go home and start our fall clean up at our house.   

Our lake is an irrigation holding pond.  We were able to keep the water until just before Labor Day when they started draining it. 

As the water drains, our dock starts to sink

On Labor Day, we moved all of the paddle boats up to the shore.  When we came back on Thursday from p-day, they were high and dry!

A lot of shutting down the lake involves getting things ready for next year.  Painting, sealing, scrubbing, sorting, cleaning.......

Sisters Taylor, Pulley and Heaton painting one of the shelves in the boat house

Elders Way and Oliekan power washing paddles

Sister Terry spray painting life jacket racks- the pontoon boat in the background was power washed and painted.  All of the life jackets were washed, sorted and hung to dry.

Wear and tear has to be fixed!

Elder Oliekan power washing the rest rooms

The whole crew and extra helpers all pitched in to stain the tower

We had a problem with drainage in the spring, so a new run off ditch was created

 

finished

backfill

All of the paddle boats were poserwashed...

and all of the canoes... lots of lifting and moving for the Elders

 

 

 

Pictures of the lake as the water recedes...

Our floating dock floats no more :-(

Missionaries Will Be Boys!

We opened the lake up to the missionaries to come and have some fun.  They got a little carried away- I think they broke almost every rule!!!

Elder Heaton's improvised, unauthorized, "motor boat"

Silly boys!

Innocent bystanders

Out for a pleasant cruise

Elder Simonsen and Benny

Let's be friends!

Benny (full-time FM employee) after he cannon-balled off the dock!

Let's get Sister Jensen wet!

Elder Sorenson takes the plunge!

Trogers, Heatons, and Jensens

More Friends On The Mountain

Saturday Sept 5th was the last day that we were open for business on the lake.  We were very surprised to find that we knew the family who was scheduled for our last group.  It was the Burton Family who used to live across the street from us in Kaysville.  Katie, Jenny and Amy were all at the lake with some of their little boys.  After the session, we went up to their camp to say hi to Dave and Dede. 

The Burton Family

Elder Oliekan enjoying some of Dave's famous ice cream!

Some of my favorite people- Jenny had gone home when we arrived

Valerie Burton is a quilting friend of mine!

  Sunday the Chambers and Barbara Noriega came to have dinner with us.  We had a great meal and them took them on a tour of the camp.  

Lee, Sherrie, Barb and DeAnn- we love sharing our mountain with good friends!

 

Cabin Staining

As the summer winds down and the campers only come on weekends, it is time to do fall projects.  Every year one forth of the cabins need to be restained.  Guess who gets to do that?!?  
All told, the missionaries will save about $40,000-$50,000 in labor costs, and the camp will continue to look great!

I am on the "Masking and Taping " crew.  We cover every window, door, sign, etc.This is Sister Brown, and E/S Pulley

After the cabins have been power washed, buffed and borated, the "sprayers" move in

After the cabins are sprayed, the "brushers" go to work making sure that there are no air bubbles in the stain.

Granger is the "mixer".  His job is to mix the stain and monitor the lines to the sprayers

Fall Has Arrived!

Our days have been beautiful, the nights are chilly, and every time we drive up the parkway, more leaves are changing.  It's a sure sign that our time on the mountain, for this year, is ticking away.
     We have missed having the Young Women on the mountain.  The families and groups are fun, but the spirit is not quite the same.  The families do have a lot of fun though.

Family bonding time on the lake

The sandbox is a big hit with campers young and old

     We had a couple of fun visitors:  Granger's brother, Dick, came to see us, and my niece, Megan was here last week with an EFY staff group.  

Dick

Megan

 

 

 

For now we will only have groups, on the lake, on the weekends.  That will last until the lake is closed for the winter.  Then we will clean boats, lifejackets, etc.