Morning of The Fourth

Sunday night my brother Matt talked a group of us into waking up really early the next morning and hiking or running the Elkhorn Crest Trail.  He does it at least once per year, and told us it was no big deal to run the ten (or  more) miles!  I knew that wasn't true for me, but I was up for a hike!  Kami and I both have bad knees and can't run too much on them, so we were good hiking companions.  Caden, Matt and Eli ran ALL THE WAY!!!

At the trail head, ready to take off:

The most insane part of this was that we woke up at 3:30 a.m. so that we would be sure and be home in time to get ready for the parade!

Once we got going, I didn't think it was insane at all.  It was beautiful watching the dawn happen from on top of the world:

purple mountains majesty as far as I could see:

On this hike you can look down at Sumpter on your left and Baker City on your right.  The sun was just rising over Baker Valley:

Kami looking down on Twin Lakes in the distance:

Heading back:

And seeing wildlife:

And getting incredibly close to a mountain goat:

Kami and I turned around early because we were worried about the runners having to wait for us, which would happen if we walked too far and they passed us going back.  We got back to the pickup and took a short nap...

It wasn't long before Matt came running in, followed a short time later by Eli and Caden.  I got a picture of Cade:)

We were headed home by 8 or 8:30, feeling grateful for this beautiful place that we have to enjoy and this great nation that we live in.  And so happy that we were able to pull ourselves out of bed early enough to enjoy it TOGETHER.

popular places to be

At any given time during this visit to Oregon, there were bound to be a lot of people out in the orchard scavenging for the yummy sweet cherries that were on:

Isabelle:

Abram:

Nolan:

Caden:

Many times there were big groups of us out there eating and visiting, while little kids (and teenagers) had fun spitting pits at each other...

Dad's lap was another popular place to be:

4th of July weekend part I

I never get tired of feasting my eyes on this!:

Pictures don't even do it justice (especially when they're taken with my cell phone!)

We arrived on a Friday evening. Saturday, we gathered up as many people as were able to go and hiked into Van Patten Lake:

I think we succeeded in getting a pretty good sized group together because Shawn and I were bringing up the rear with Pace and met some hikers coming down the trail.  They said, "It's just like a freeway going up there today!"  Hahaha - it took me a second to realize they were talking about our group:) Here was part of the freeway:

The only adults were Shawn, me and my sister Katie.  I am so glad that she got to come!  I haven't been able to see her as much as I would like to the last few years as she worked on getting a Master's Degree; she's been so incredibly busy.  She just finished though!  I don't know how she accomplished all that she did - she was teaching school full time, going to school full time and has eight children.  They definitely weren't easy times for her, and I am proud of her!

Anyway... there was a lot of this brown stuff hanging from the trees.  I don't know what it was:

But later I met up with my nephews Isaac and David, and they had completely transformed themselves with it! I thought it was pretty creative of them:)

Btw - I just found out this morning that Isaac got his mission call to the Nicaragua Managua South mission, and will be speaking spanish! He's got a great missionary look here;)

And all of the kids got to play in the snow:

Pace needed lots of rests:

Anne and Belle:

When we reached the lake we ate lunch and mosquitos ate us!

The little kids started climbing all the rocks; this is Nolan:

The older kids started leaping off of the rocks into the water:

Some of the cute observers:

Another birthday to report

We celebrated Jim's birthday with lots of family, as usual.  Suzette and Kory and some of their crew was there, and David was there with his kids (Kelley was helping with a wedding reception and couldn't make it.).  And the Anderson's were there because we celebrated at their house.

I thought Isabelle was really thoughtful to make this poster for her grandpa:

It said; "Hey grand (pops),
I just wanted to (take 5) and wish you a happy birthday.  Be (twix) you and me, you're the best grandpa around.  You are (M)ighty in testimony (&) (M)arvelous as a friend.  Even though you're a (graehead - a grapehead with the "P" crossed off) you're (mounds) of fun and you always make me (snicker).  From your (sweetart), Isabelle

Later, when we were all outside, I caught this picture of Belle with two cousins her age, Nicki and Ainsley:

Such Cuties!!

camping

We went on our first campout of the summer a couple of weeks into June.  We drove over to Driggs and searched for a great camp site close to Packsaddle Lake.  

Not having ever been there before, we started driving up the road towards the lake, but the trees were really close on either side of the road and we decided that there probably wasn't going to be a campsite further down that road.  We found out later that there was....but meanwhile we thought we had better turn around, trailer and all, and head back down the mountain and look for something else. This was a scary ordeal, that took place by a huge bank, and I was just sure that the car and trailer were going to fall over and roll down the mountain!  At one point, Shawn got out and walked a little further to see if there was a better place to turn around.  Moments after he walked off, our car started hissing, and upon opening the hood, we could see that all of the fluid was quickly leaving the radiator.

It was looking like an unfortunate start to what we had hoped would be a great camp out, but Shawn got back, and as usual, saved the day:)  We got back down the mountain and found  a great campsite.

Great campsites need several things:  good privacy, no other campers around, and water for kids to play in:)

While Shawn drove out to meet Kami, who was arriving later from work, and show her where we were, I cooked up the foil dinners.  They were good!:

The kids played some fun games- doesn't Caden look like he's having fun? Hahaha - He was though:

And cooked some biscuits:

We hiked into Packsaddle Lake that afternoon and some of the kids swam. That's Isabelle out in the water:

Nolan swinging into the water:

Shawn taking the plunge!:

The next morning, soon after breakfast, some men drove up to our campsite and told us that they thought we would like to know that they had an active bait site set up "about 50 yards" from our camp. Nice.  Apparently, bear hunting is legal in Idaho and they lure the bears in with stinky food and then hunt them.  It seems like they would have to post signs about that!  I guess it was okay though, because we never even saw a bear.

After breakfast we hiked up to Packsaddle Lake again and hiked around it to see if there were any good places to camp in the future.

Behind me: Kami, Shawn and Pace:

In front of me (Nolan, Isabelle and Abram:

Caden beside me:

We spent more hours jumping off of the rope and swimming.  Such a fun, relaxing day!

I didn't mention that every time we drove back to camp, one of the younger kids got a driving lesson.  They were so enthusiastic and cute and all of us drivers got a kick out of the way they kept that steering wheel moving back and forth until they got the feel for it:

I love camping with my family, we have so much fun!! Shawn has a lot of activities in the summer with the youth, with scout camps and youth conferences and I don't know what all, but we plan to grab all the weekends that are ours and go on a hike or a camp out.