She too is a dachshund but long hair and she is Dieter's best friend. They can hardly leave each other alone. Just chase and play with each other all day and then crash every night.
She is great to have except when she just decides to bark in the middle of the night and you can't get her to stop! That better not happen again tonight or she is in big trouble!
than have them hike to Havasupi at 5:00am? Look they even have smiles on their faces!
After about a 3 1/2 hour hike, there is never anything better than soaking your feet in the cold water of Havasupi creek. We sat here a while debating on a campsite and finally decided to move down the creek a little ways.
There had been another large flash flood only about 4 weeks prior to our hike and you can see the sand bags that have been placed to try and save some of the camping areas. I was amazed at how much things had changed since June - especially the campground. Most of it was gone. The river had changed course and now flows over the best camping areas. The area left to camp in is where the river used to be and it is rocky and uneven. We settled on this spot but moved the next day when our neighbors left.
After setting up camp, we headed back up to Havasu Falls. There were drastic changes here as well. Once again the river had changed course and now misses most of the travertine pools that these falls are so famous for. The boys had a good time going behind the falls and coming out on the other side of the falls. They enjoyed it so much that they did it both days a dozen times or so.
Could there be a better place on earth to eat lunch?
After exploring Havasu Falls we headed down to Mooney Falls. This has to be the safest part of the hike - not!
Again, more changes here. The pool under Mooney is very shallow (just like under Havasu) and you can walk right up under the falls. The problem is that the water is coming with such force that you feel as though rocks are being thrown at you.
We hiked down to what used to be the best rope swing in the world. The rope has been replaced and the rock to jump off of is still there but the river is shallow now. There was one spot that was deep enough to jump into but it was difficult to get the right angle to hit it. We had a good time trying though.
The next morning we finally found some food that Jip didn't like - instant oatmeal!
If you are familiar with Havasupi you may recognize this area where you go to get water. You can see the dead trees, that happened with the 2008 flood, but notice that one of the bridges is missing. We had found it down below Mooney Falls the day before along with a bunch of picinic tables. This area was completely different from when I was here in June. Notice how milky the water is as well. It was just like this below Havasup Falls, above the falls, it was clear and blue like you expect it to be. Not sure why that was the case.
We headed up to Rock Falls (not the official name yet) the first ones in the series and the closest ones to the village. They are difficult to get to (check out the boulders you have to climb over in some of the pictures) but so fun! Preston is behind a small part of the falls.
Here I am about half way up the falls.
And here are the boys up on the top. We were almost able to get to the top going straight up the falls but we to one spot where the current was too strong, so we found a little trail off to the side.
Next we went back down to the 'new' Navajo Falls for come waterfall jumping. About half the campground had left that morning, so we had the falls to ourselves. It was great! Here is Jip jumping 
and here is Preston
and here am I. At the end of the blog is a video of one of Preston's jumps and he does a little dance too.
We then decided to look for the cave that I'd been told about and we succeed in finding it. At one time someone had been mining in it and there were still rails for the cars. We only had one flashlight and didn't go too far. As we were coming out we met some people who know all about the cave and they asked if we had gone to the drop off. We realized that we had turned around right before the 50 foot drop off and were very glad we had, because our lighting was so poor we all probably would have fallen off.
Both evenings we sat on one of the many picnic tables that are now in the water and soaked our feet and played cards. Nothing could be better!
Our alarm didn't go off Monday morning and so we got off about 1/2 hour later than we had planned but we beat the sun and that was our goal. Here is Jip after his first backpacking trip where he saw his first waterfall, ate his first dehydrated meal, jumped off his first waterfall and saw his first Indian village. He did great - better than me that is for sure!
I decided that September is a great time to go to Havasupi. The weather wasn't too hot and the water was perfect. I could get in it and stay in it easier than any other time I had gone, because usually the water is just too cold for a cold blooded person like me. Plus, there were no scouts!
Almost a month ago, Jip came to live with us. He will be here the whole school year and we are so glad to have him. This isn't the best picture of him, taken as he got off the plane after about a 16 hour flight.
And even though Lonica hadn't played the piano in years, she was called upon to play a solo. Catherine had to listen and okay the number.
In the entry way to the church, Jill, Cara and Lora set up some pictures and memorabilia of Ralph's.
Garth and his brother, Keith, both spoke as did a grandson, Adam; they all did a great job. Lonica's solo went well too. The grandkids song was after Adam spoke and everyone was in tears and couldn't sing. So their singing abilities were never questioned because it just looked as though they were too emotional to be able to sing. Jason and Preston were the only ones who were able to help everyone out and sing the whole song.
It was really warm the day of the funeral but you can't tell that from the pictures. Here are all of my boys looking so handsome in their suits. Keith is also looking good in his new suit.
Since St. Johns is such a small place, the guys had to lower the casket into the ground themselves. Jason was on the corner and the soil beneath him gave way and he almost went in on top of the casket. You can see a man who came to his rescue and held on to his belt. Garth's cousin, Royce is a mortician and is always called on the for these affairs. He is so good and does such a wonderful job.
After the luncheon, I made all the grandkids get up and take a picture together. I think the last one they took, when everyone was together, was over 10 years ago. By the end of this year there will be 9 great-grandkids as well.
In the evening, Colleen, my mother-in-law, wanted to go back out to the cemetery and have another look. She had been holding up so well all day and just wanted one more chance to say good-bye to her husband of over 60 years.
For the last few years, Ralph couldn't make it much further than his kitchen table, unless he was having a really good day. He said he held down the command post right there and talked to everyone on his cell phone and kept up with the blogs and knew what was happening before most people in the family. 
She did bring her mom along and we like her as well. We are going to have a great time with them.
As usual, Preston was very grateful for anything he is given and he loved the movies, book, swimsuit, magazine subscription, Zune passes and especially the snow gloves. Yes, we know it is July but the kid has snowboarding on his mind all year round.
After present opening, we moved into the kitchen for the blowing of the candles and the singing of "Happy Birthday". Preston is not a big cake eater so Raquel made dessert crepes and we had to strategically place the candles in the crepe to keep them upright. In case you don't understand our unique numbering system for candles, the 1 represents 10 and then you have to add the 6 + 2 to get 8 to give you 18. We really don't see any reason to actually buy the numbers of someones age you just improvise with what you have from leftover candles from birthdays in the past.
Preston was able to blow out all three candles in one breath and we were so proud of him.
We also received his AP grades this month and had more reason to be proud of him and all the work he did in high school that lead to a scholarship to ASU for next year. But we are especially proud of the young man he is becoming - hard working, responsible, fun, dependable, caring and strong. We love you Preston!!!