Summer of '16

So many fun things...
We spent a week touring Yellowstone and the surrounding areas- it was so beautiful. We stayed with Christian’s family in a cabin literally on Henry Lake. We went fishing, kayaking, and boating on the lake, we drove through the park, walked along the river, and did some white water rafting.
Probably my favorite memory of the trip was when I walked out to the lake shore to hear that a leach had bit Andrew (Christian’s brother) just a few feet off the shore. I was determined to not get bit by a leach so I put on a pair of slip on shoes thinking hey would protect my feet better than flip flops. We decided to give the kayaks a try so Brooke (sister-in-law) and I jumped on a single persons kayak with two broken paddles and started rowing off shore. The entire experience was a little comical...i started of by sitting in the back area where one might keep their personal items. Turns out I weigh too much for that and its especially detrimental when the plug is missing. Pretty much our kayak was full of water which makes steering and paddling difficult not to mention we both had one half of a paddle. We could not go straight for the life of us! After I realized we were taking on water I moved up to the seat part of the kayak and Brooke was sitting between my legs. We were just floating waiting for the rest of the group to get ready and I asked Brooke to take off my shoes so I didn’t get a weird tan line…to my horror when she took off one of my shoes, we found that a leach had attached to my heel. We both started screaming and I was yelling at her to get it off because I couldn’t reach it being in the back. She wouldn’t get it off for me and just kept laughing and yelling at me not to tip the kayak over. I finally got it off, no thanks to Brooke! I felt violated and couldn’t help wondering where else those nasty suckers (literally) might be!
Another great moment of the trip was when we finally got the boat in the water, we had not been pushed off the dock for more than 30 seconds when a HUGE storm blew in. Waves were coming over the front and we came right back to the dock. That was the extent of our boating that trip but  I bet no one will be forgetting that little adventure for a while!
 
One of our favorite weekend trips...the annual Neeley Lava Hot Springs camping trip. We love that place and always hike to the ‘L’, float the river, soak in the hot springs, socialize with the locals, get some delicious ice cream, BBQ, dance party, and our latest addition has been uncle Jason's Razor. Those things are CRAZY and so fun. 

We love our fruit trees! Peaches, cherries, plums, mulberries and more to come! Summer fruit and veggie filled dinners are my favorite-yumyum!