Weekend at the Ashcroft Cabin

(by Jeff)

We had a really fun extended weekend!

We spent Thursday and Friday with my immediate family at my grandparents' cabin. The cabin is in Blacksmith Fork Canyon (east of Cache Valley). It is in a beautiful area overlooking a deep ravine with a large stream at the bottom.

The Ashcroft Cabin

View from the cabin's deck

On Thursday evening, we went on a hike down to the bottom of the ravine. At the bottom is a stream with lots of waterfalls, ponds, meadows, swampy areas, and gorgeous views of the mountains.

My nieces and nephew in the wagon on the hike
(Katelyn, Wes, and Kelsey)

One of the ponds

A meadow with a mountain view

Some of the waterfalls

On Friday, my grandparents came up and Grandpa Ashcroft took us on another hike in the ravine. This time we hiked to some larger waterfalls. Unfortunately, Aubree and I forgot to take our camera, so we don't have pictures. But my sister has promised to email me some of the pictures she took, so hopefully we'll post those in the next few days.

Besides hiking, we played lots of board games, played ping-pong, ate hot dogs, hamburgers, dutch oven ribs and potatoes, and lots of other good food, and just enjoyed being together.

I just have to post this picture of my niece Katelyn. She had an "owie" on her chin, and she decided to put a band-aid on it. While she was at it, I guess she figured she needed one on her lip as well. (She also thought Aubree's foot needed a band-aid, although we're not sure of the diagnosis.) Anyway, she came upstairs looking like this. She kept the unnecessary band-aid on for several hours before her mom finally convinced her to take it off.

On Saturday, we attended the Ashcroft family reunion. My Uncle Dee had a very expertly planned reunion for us. He split us up into five-person teams and we did an "Amazing Race" activity that took the entire day. We drove around Cache Valley performing different tasks. The different stops and activities were:

--Sky View High School: take turns hitting a whiffle golf ball 200+ yards into a hula hoop, shoot bows and arrows and hit a target, and use coordinates to dig up a clue buried in the sand volleyball pit

--Mountain Valley Trout Farm: catch two fish

--Gittins Dairy Farm: milk a cow

--Sky View High School: play wallyball

--First Dam in Logan Canyon: canoe across the reservoir (and eat lunch)

--Cache Valley Celebration Centre: ride the go-carts, ride the Sky Sling, play 18 holes of miniature golf

--Wendy's: get a frosty for everyone on the team

--Cache Valley Fun Park: bowl one game each

We finished at Dee's house for a dinner of pizza and pasta.

A special thanks to Uncle Dee and Aunt LeAnn for planning and directing the reunion and to Grandma and Grandpa Ashcroft for financing it. It was a great reunion!!!