August 2018

We had a blast in Jackson Hole with my family. Tyler and I were the only ones able to go this year. Ally had soccer tryouts she had to go to, Byron stayed home to get her back and forth to soccer. Carter had to work at the car dealership to save money for his mission.

Matthew had a good time leaping into my photographs at Schwabachers landing. The beaver pond is always a big hit.

We took a dip in the Firehole River on our Yellowstone day. The kids had a great time floating through the rapids in their lifejackets. I took a little dip, the water was pretty cold! Why is it that kids can't even feel temperatures and don't get cold. I have definitely passed those days.

Tyler at String Lake. Floating on the kayaks and SUPs is a big hit. The younger boys were serious about catching a frog this year. They  spent lots of time and got significantly muddy in their quest for a frog. It was fun to watch them. Charles brought up these SUPs that had a step machine on them. It was fun riding around on them even though I got tangled in the water lilies. Gorgeous day on the lake.

River day! The Snake River was kind and didn't eat anyone alive this year. Many of the kids jumped off the rocks, low dive and high dive. A bunch of them also floated Big Kahuna in their life jackets. Luke  and Kate were in our boat and were seriously nervous about Big Kahuna. I didn't even realize it was the Big one and then we were through the worst of it. Fun day and everyone stayed safe.

Lots of hugging good-byes at Bubbas after breakfast. Parting is the hardest part of the week. Jake's kids were seriously attached to us by this point. They pretty much wanted to come and move into our place. Blue Roof catches the heart of many and by proxy they love us too. It's a pretty sweet deal. We can't wait for Jake and his family to come and see us again. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

Me and my doppelgänger of a niece Rachael. My parents, especially my Dad has the hardest time calling Rachael by her name and not mine. She is a sweetheart and doesn't mind it to much. Isn't she just the cutest!

Cute Kate and Lisa saying by. It was fun bunking up with Charles and his family this year. They make good roomies.

I love this family of mine. We are not perfect, we fight, we argue, we play, we laugh, but they are mine and I'm glad I have them.

These at all these cute blondies! Rachael, Sonja, Lydia and myself. I'm the only one who has to dye my hair blonde at this point. Maybe Rachael and Lydia will have to join me someday but for now they are all natural beauties. Those lucky ladies!!!

Jake, Marie, Tommy, Joey, Greg and Will came for a visit to Blue Roof! We were so excited to have them. We had so much fun playing with them and hanging out with their cute boys.

Joey loved hunting up toads and turtles on the pond. Who wouldn't though. Ally showed him the trick and he was a quick study. Lots of wildlife was pulled from the pond during their stay.

Greg, ohhh sweet Greg. He just LOVED Lucy. Really  loved her. He wanted her to enjoy in all of the activities we were doing. Most of them are not appropriate for a cat. One morning Greg snuck out of the house and brought Lucy with him to the pond. He launched Lucy out on her own kayak, then launched himself in another kayak. I happened to be out on my morning jog, lapping the property is about .5 of a mile so I can get a good workout in by jogging our loop. I was rounding the far corner and started hearing a little voice calling out. Greg was crying and the cat was meowing a the top of her lungs. I got to be the hero and launched myself out to rescue Greg. I figured I would just grab his handle and drag him to shore. When I got close he grabbed onto me and lunged onto my kayak. It was the sweetest thing, he really was scared as he thought he could just row himself back to shore but it hadn't worked out that way. Luckily the kayaks are steady and we didn't tip in. Greg was rescued, then I saved Lucy who also hugged onto me for dear life. Successfully rescued the two pirates and after Greg had a talking to with his Mom. Didn't take much for her to convince him to not go out on the pond alone again.

My strawberries in the rain gutter are having a tough year. This is one of the better looking ones. I love the wildflowers that I planted below them. They are looking awesome.

We decided to check out Big Fork and it was a cute little town. We found a hike and walked up the dusty trail in the heat for a bit. Unfortunately not much shade. The river we were hiking near is the site for the Wild Mile a popular kayaking course. Looks like it would be a tough run. The kids were much more excited to finish our hike when we mentioned getting ice cream from Sweet Peaks after we got back. Well, all except Tommy - he doesn't like ice cream. WHAT??? Who doesn't like ice cream.

Cutest little Sweet Peaks shop ever. I love the tudor style buildings in Big Fork.

So, this is a common sight. Not Jake under the mower but definitely Byron. It seems we are good at breaking the mower and Byron is pretty awesome at fixing it now.

Byron and I have been having a friendly garden competition this summer. His Mittleider Gardening Method (sawdust and sand) versus me growing in the good old fashioned dirt. It took a bit for Byron to get his fertilizing/watering technique down but once he honed in on it his garden started growing pretty well.

Byron's first cherry tomato. He planted a chocolate sprinkle variety and a yellow variety, in addition to the traditional red cherry tomato. They were all tasty. I would say in the end we probably ate more produce from my garden but had we been given a little more time Byron's garden might have overtaken mine. Game on for next year though!

Hiking through Glacier Park with Jake and his family. So much fun! These boys have energy galore. It even nearly wore out Ally and that's hard to do.

The kids enjoying this tree stump. We tried to get a photo everyone looking-gave up.

Carter's friends from AISU came for a visit. Thomas and Jackson had just gotten their mission calls to Taiwan and Japan. It was fun for Carter to get to hang out even if it was just a few days. Old friends are the best friends.

Look who joined us on earth! Jason and Amber's baby boy was born. Connor Benjamin Pollan. We are so excited for them to be parents. Connor is one lucky little baby boy.

Every now and then Ally and I stop working and take time to enjoy this gorgeous place we live in. We packed a lunch and went on a kayak up the river. Ally loves walking around the sand and looking for minnows. She caught a few on this trip and made little swimming hole out of a cup holder. She really is a fun daughter to have around.

Cleaned the church this morning and stole away with Ally's friends after to get a treat. We deserved it! That church is sparkling.

Weymouth's got goats! Ally is having a turn milking this mama goat. She got some milk out. When I gave it a go I couldn't get anything. Probably not in my future to become a milkmaid. Disappointing I know. I can do a lot of things but apparently I have no future as a milkmaid.

More photos from Jackson Hole. These boys had fun on the FireHole River.  I am surprised at how daring the younger ones are getting. Seems like it won't be long before we run out of little cousins. Everyone is growing up so fast- stop just stop it.

Yellowstone dinner at the Lake Lodge Cafeteria. We needed a large table this year. We had a group of boys decide they wanted to set up hammocks and sleep in the trees by the stream at the condo this year. Tyler wanted to join in but I wouldn't let him as it's a frequent moose trail right through where they wanted to sleep. I made him stay in the condos with me. But some of the older boys slept out. Well, they started outside. But by two they were freezing and they came back to the condos but the doors were locked. They finally got Troy to open a door for them but their unit was packed with people so the boys all slept in a hallway on the floor for the rest of the night. Live and learn. I was just glad nobody got trampled by an angry moose getting tangled in their hammock.

You can literally watch these boys growing. It' like a sunflower, turn your head away and they are all a bit taller.

The volleyball game we had going one evening was seriously epic. I had no idea we would be so good at it. Thanks to a few serious players like Josh, Marie and Heather we were able to remember all the rules. The neighbors were out on the decks watching our matches as they were seriously amusing. Also we were really good. Even my mom played and she rocked it at serving. Fun addition to the week. The neighbor condo asked the next night if we were going to play again, they didn't want to miss the game.

The cuteness that is this boy Will is beyond goodness. I'm so glad they got to come hang with us for a few days so  I could get to know how sweet and amazing Jake's kids are.

I am lucky to have been flanked in this life by these two brothers of mine. They have always been there for me. Jake remodeled my bathroom in VA and Chuck spend many a mornings clearing snow off my driveway in North Salt Lake. Most of all though I know if I need them I only need to pick up the phone.

This is a forecast for the next solar eclipse crossing north america. It is April 8, 2024 and will be crossing Dallas. We plan to be there! We were all still talking about how cool the eclipse was last year as our final vacation day after Jackson. Got us talking and planning...I'm totally committed to this next eclipse. Can't wait to see another one.

Having only Tyler in Jackson this year left a little more spending money so he really wanted to try this mountain bike course so we went for it. Ty gathered a crew of brave cousins and we hired them a mountain guide to show them the ropes. None of them had done a big ride like this before.

I was grateful the rental company took the safety business seriously. They had helmets and back braces, knee guards, wrist/elbow guards....the whole nine yards. At one point or another they all took a crash but nobody was seriously injured. James took the worst of it with a skinned up thigh that was pretty painful.

If you judge a good time by the amount of sweat you create then they had an amazing time.

Look who I got to meet!!! Jonathan and Heather brought their newest little one up to Jackson. Hailey was born premature back in March. She was something like 1.4 pounds. She is doing pretty well and we were all so excited to spend some time with her. What a beautiful girl she is growing into.

Great Aunty Deborah is having a turn with Hailey as well. She did get passed around a bit but there was lots of hand washing.

The Mountain Coaster! This was my first year riding the mountain coaster. The installed it at Snow King a few years ago. We raced down the coaster and then we did the alpine slide for old times sake. Turns out the alpine slide is more of a thrill than the mountain coaster. They have brakes on the mountain coaster that automatically engage if you're going to fast. No such thing on the alpine slide. You are free to ride as fast as you want-nobody tipped this year and got slide burns though so it was a win.

The view from the top of the mountain coaster. I know I said the alpine slide is better but the coaster was actually a lot of fun.

Look at this little Jackson dude trying to drive away with my car. Jonathan and Heather's oldest child made me a great aunt. I can't tell you how much I love being a great aunt. It's so much greater than a regular old aunt.

Schwabachers landing selfie!! The views of the tetons from here just can't be beat.

Tyler and James having a little ukulele rock out. It's good to see these two jamming.

Tyler got a little spending cash for Jackson from his Grandpa and he found this laser engraved kit at the toy store. He had a good time assembling it when we got home. It is a business card holder and a little lid lifts up and down with the gears. It's pretty sweet.

This guy got his driver license and not a moment to soon as early morning seminary starts asap! I am so grateful he will be able to drive himself to seminary. Carter and I will be sharing my Honda until he leaves for his mission. The important part though is that Carter and I will be not driving to early morning seminary. Tyler will be driving our neighbor Hayden with him. It's good to have motivation to get out of bed. Being responsible for someone else making it will really help Tyler be there on time. That's the theory at least.

Combined youth rafting float day. The rafts are all brought by people in our ward and the kids get to float down the Flathead River. I had just thrown my back out the day before so I skipped the float but the kids said they had a great time. Unfortunately my back didn't heal up in the next week so I had to find a chiropractor. Luckily the one I found is amazing and is doing a great job keeping me aligned and upright.

Spokane Temple trip with Sarah was awesome. This is also the first time I've been to the temple with all three of my kids. We did baptisms and really had an awesome time. Changed clothes in the parking lot. Met with a counselor in the temple presidency. He came and talked with us a minute when he learned Sarah was a recent convert. They really treated us special and we had an amazing time.

Found this statue harden on the way to Spokane. Very creative-too bad it was closed when we came through town. We did find a burger joint open and had a little dinner before we ran out of towns to eat at.

Tyler had a great summer gathering friends and taking them boating. The diving board and the swinging rope are favorite stops along the river. The water really is cold though even in August.

Found a weekend to sneak off to Many Glaciers and go on a few new hikes. They have the coolest lodge and we hiked around the lake. Luckily we didn't find any bears while hiking.

On the trail we started hearing a hooting sound in the trees. Byron was thinking it was an owl. I was thinking it was my brothers pretending to be an owl. I can't tell you how many times they hooted at each other to let us know their location. It was how they talked on the trail. Byron kept trying to convince me it was a real owl but I was certain it was just people. Finally we did a little off trail tracking and Ally spotted the owl in a tree. I couldn't have been more surprised. Tyler is taking a photo of the owl through the binoculars. It worked pretty well but the owl is so camouflaged you can't really even see it in the photo.

Throwing rocks into the lake at this gorgeous spot was amazing. What a view! It was perfect hiking weather, but terrible standing around weather. Too cold if you're not moving.

We snuck off for a fishing trip. Byron is showing Ally the ropes on the fly rod here. She got the hang of it and had fun.

Driving the boat is so fun! It's sad to see the summer coming to a close. I wish we had a few more months of playing in the sunshine.