This week in pictures

Sometimes I post blogs without any pictures, but this is not one of those.
 

 I'm a stake family history director, and for an upcoming event, we are putting up murals in our church buildings. People will find a name to take to the temple, then put that name on a little sheep and then put it on our mural. We had a very successful name-finding activity in our stake on Monday this week. I helped put up this mural in a building in Centerville on Wednesday. It's not complete, because there's supposed to be a temple on it, but do you like our trees that look like the FamilySearch logo? Unfortunately, I learned that someone threw this away. Maybe it fell off and they threw it away. I hope it wasn't just a jerk who doesn't appreciate fine art.

 Last fall I took a "field trip" to Warm Springs Park to find the warm springs. Recently I saw that they were doing something at the park, so I wanted to make sure they hadn't done something foolish with the warm springs. Nope, they're still there, still smelling like Yellowstone National Park.

 I tell people that trail running is my hobby. Well, it's only my hobby when the trails aren't too steep (like Mueller Park, Wild Rose, and Bonneville Shoreline), because if they are, I end up hiking rather than running. But I think it might be the best possible hobby to have at this time of the year, because you get to go lovely places and be healthy at the same time! I went on a steep non-running one this week.

 I love that leaves fall for months! I don't usually take my phone running/hiking, but I did this time.

 I went on a new trail last night, one that is very narrow and overgrown, such that in places you could hardly tell it was there. I've been on another nearby trail before that takes you to the saddle between two foothills; this one took me directly to the peak of one of the hills.

 No cell phone picture can do justice to the beauty that comes from spotting the full moon peeking above the summit as you approach it!

Sometimes I feel like I'm in the middle of nowhere, but then there are things like this "No Horses" sign that remind me that I'm not. They're kind of comforting, actually. I also took a picture of a random golf club sticking up from the ground, but it's embarrassingly blurry.

 Looking east from the peak showed me more foothills; looking west showed me the Salt Lake Valley.

We started putting up our mural in our church building, and we cut out a picture of the temple, and a few people put up their sheep! We haven't put up the trees yet, and we worry about everything sticking like it's supposed to.

(I just looked over this post again, and the prose is terrible! Which is better--words or pictures?)

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Time for Pumpkinundation Roundup!

 I bought an ordinary pumpkin pie from a grocery store for a ward activity. I don't have to explain pumpkin pie.

 We put pumpkin ice cream in a family dessert known as Fat Man's Misery, although I'm sure there are lots of desserts with that name. (When I was a kid, I thought it was Batman's Misery!) This unhealthy concoction has an Oreo crust, an ice cream layer, chocolate sauce, and whipped topping. Maybe it doesn't belong on this blog.

 I think Kneaders is overpriced, but since they have the greatest supply of desserts, I keep them in business. This cupcake is simply called a spice cupcake, but it's pumpkin spice. I don't quite get the cupcake fad. They may be convenient and cute, but the proportions are all wrong. There's way too much frosting, and often you have to eat the frosting and the cake separately to get them in your mouth! The cupcake was good, but it would have been better as a cake.

 I got Caramel Apple Jolly Rancher Lollipops. They're good but not great.

 Quaker Pumpkin Spice Instant Oatmeal is disappointing. It's like maple and brown sugar, but less flavorful. There's no pumpkin, just spices, even though I think oatmeal would be something easy to put pumpkin in.

 Combine two food fads, and you end up with Chobani Pumpkin Harvest Crisp Greek Yogurt. It's pumpkin yogurt with glazed pumpkin seeds, pecans, and pie crust pieces. Something about it tasted off. I don't know if it was the Greek yogurt, since I don't eat much of that, or the glazed seeds or pecans. There was something bitter about it, but if you like Greek yogurt you'd probably like it better than I did.

Eggo Pumpkin Spice Waffles are pretty good. I like regular Eggos, although I rarely eat them, and these are better than regular ones. Plus they use real pumpkin, which automatically makes them better, even if it's only mentally.