Hello Everyone!

Sorry it has been so long since my last update. I was busy redecorating a
guestroom and dining room as well as getting ready for my guest from
Singapore.  Florence Ng is the Asia Training lead and I am the US version.
When she saw the pictures of where we were moving, she wondered if she
would ever get to visit the US. She has only been in SE Asia her whole
life. It turned out her next leave was in late October so she checked on
flight prices and found a $900 round trip to Vegas. I agreed to drive down
to pick her up and stay overnight there and drive back to SLC the next
day.

Vegas was OK but I'd much rather be in the mountains .  Florence
agreed! (Neither of us gamble) There is some beauty in Vegas. We stopped
at Red Rock Canyon and took some pics.  Anyway, we had a wonderful road
trip back to SLC, passing by Zion National Park and Mt. Nebo.  We arrived
back to my house about 6:30 on Sunday, 30th.  Picked up Fred and headed to
the Porcupine Grill then stopped by the Shoell's home (our neighbors with
8 kids) to carve pumpkins and visit.  Florence brought them a gift of
bbq'd pork (sort of a sweeter softer version of jerky) and also brought
Fred mango pudding and me a beautiful necklace and silk table runner. The
Mormons are big into food storage. They are asked by the church to have
about 2 years worth of canned food in case of a disaster. (Watching
Nightline last night I heard that with the possibility of a flu pandemic,
we'd all be wise to store about a month's worth of food and water). You
will find a picture of the Shoell's storage room in the album.

One of our stops while in Vegas was to a Timberland outlet store so
Florence could buy a pair of hiking boots. I warned her I was going to
make her sweat!  So first thing Monday morning we headed up for a short
hike to the Dog Lake area (this closes Nov 1, so it was the last day for
the doggies to go there) with Syd and Story. One of Florences hopes was to
see snow while she was here. She's never seen it before. She actually had
never felt temps of less than 60 degrees!  So we stopped at Walmart to get
her gloves, scarf and hat (wishful thinking on our parts) in case we found
snow at the upper elevations.

As we got close to the top of Millcreek Canyon, we starting seeing a
dusting of snow on the ground. She got so excited and we actually found
enough on the trail for her to make her first ever snowball.

Monday night, 31st, we dressed up in some costumes borrowed from the
Shoells, and went to a neighborhood party. We were a little late in our
excitement to get her face painted green, and missed almost everyone. All
the kids had gone off trick-or-treating already. Florence commented that
Singapore doesn't celebrate Halloween and she sure would like to try going
door to door.  The teens at the party grabbed us up and dragged us up and
down two streets with them. Not one person gave us a hassle as we screamed
'trick-or-treat' at their door. Florence was thrilled! The next day we
went in search of a plastic pumpkin for her to take her goodies back to
the office in.

Tuesday we ate breakfast up Big Cottonwood Canyon at Silver Fork Lodge.
Its got great views and just feels real mountainy. We then visited
Solitude so she could see a ski resort. Not much activity there since they
don't officially open for skiing until Nov 18th.  Late that afternoon we
headed to Mt. Timpanogos to the Sundance stables so Fred could go
horseback riding with Kelli, our hostess friend from Sundance. Her family
is ancestors of the Stewarts, who originally owned all the land up there
and sold a good portion off to Redford for his resort and home. Redford
has since donated 800 acres back to the state as a protected wildlife
area.  Anyway, since Kelli's family knows him, Fred and she were able to
ride onto his property to go to a really nice lookout over the Sundance
Resort.  Florence and I hung out at Kelli's family cabin and then went
over to Sundance to check out their little general store.  After the
riders returned, we headed back down the mountain and had dinner at Café
Rio (great chicken tortilla salad w/creamy lime dressing). Kelli surprised
me with two Sundance coffee mugs and fluffy marshmallows as a welcome to
Utah gift.

Wednesday, we headed up to Park City to shop and try Buffalo Burgers at
the No Name Saloon. Florence has this thing about taking pictures of all
the foods she eats while on vacation (you'll see some in the pic link at
the bottom of this email). While we were eating she gave a slight shriek
and said 'what's that big animal on the wall?' .  Ha ha, a huge buffalo
head was mounted above the jukebox. It was funny for her to realize that
that was what she was eating in her burger!!

When we got home we started working on dinner. She had been telling me
that she was dying to cook and she loves pasta. I offered to show her how
to make homemade ravioli. It turned out great and we sat at in our new
dining room and toasted to a great 4 days so far.

Thursday, we took the Trax (light rail) into Salt Lake City to see the
Mormon sights (temple, Beehive House, Tabernacle, etc) and some of the
Shoell's asked if they could go along. The Mormon's pioneer history is
fascinating. We got to see one of the original log cabins that had been
moved from up in the canyons that they first descended when coming to SLC.
The cabin has been preserved down at Temple Square with some original
furniture.  Fred met us about 6:30 so we could go see the Mormon
Tabernacle Choir practice in the Convention Center.  We then went out for
a Middle Eastern dinner of hummus and pita, along with shishkabobs.

Friday, we hiked again with the neighborhood ladies up at City Creek
Canyon. It's a trail that is completely paved (well actually its more like
a road) but no cars are allowed, just bikes and people. We hiked for a few
hours then left the ladies so I could take Florence back up Big cottonwood
Canyon to see if there was anymore snow. There had been clouds looming
over the mountains all morning so I suspected we'd find more.  WOW, when
we got close to Solitude the pines trees started turning white and by the
time we got to Brighton we found 4 to 6 inches of snow! Florence was dying
to throw a snowball and I told her about making angels in the snow.  We
got some hot chocolate from the café and took a walk around Silver Lake.
We finished up by stopping at Silver Fork Lodge again and getting a
snapshot of her similar to 3 days earlier but this time with snow all
around.

Friday night is pizza night (ha ha, most of you know that's Fred's
tradition) so we went to the PIE. They have a great salad and pizza.
Florence and I ordered a beer. We laughed as the guy had to see my ID too.
Utah is very careful about serving alcohol.

Saturday Florence and I went out for bagels at Einsteins. She'd been
talking about bagels all week for some reason so we finally got that
craving taken care of. Florence had 3 things she didn't get to do that she
really wanted;  be in a heavy snowfall, stay at a cabin and go skiing.
Maybe she'll be back again so we can help those wishes come true.
Take a look at all our pics!

p.s.  There is also an album called Parley's Nature Preserve-Dog Park.  We
found a fantastic place to take the dogs. Its HUGE!!
http://community.webshots.com/user/fredschub