Island Park July 2008

We were able to spend 5 days with our wonderful friends Steve and Deb W. at their cabin in Island Park, Id. We went last year with them and enjoyed it so much they invited us back. The pictures below are of the things we had so much fun doing. The only thing I didn't get pictures of was all of us golfing. (forgot my camera) We rode the 4 wheelers, fished, golfed, looked for wild life, went into West Yellowstone, floated down the river, and ate good food. We're so blessed to have such good friends that love to do the same things that we do.

One thing we love to do is go 4 wheeling. Twice we went on a big ride. Each consisting of about 25-35 miles in the mountains. This is Elk Lake and it was huge but so hidden way up in the mountains. The scenery was spectacular.

The day was so beautiful for us to enjoy the river and some fishing. Rog caught the most then me and then Steve. We would float down the river then find another good spot to fish.

I just had to post this picture of Roger as he fell in the river. The water was so darned cold. Debbie was trying to get into the boat and then dropped her expensive sunglasses in the river as she bent over the boat so I jumped in to find them. As I turned around Roger was falling

in the water also. I had my camera out just in time to capture the look on his face.

We ate lunch at this really nice lodge. The food was awesome. Notice the sign at the top says "The Pines at Island Park"..haha..

Here's one of my little fishies I caught along the way on our float trip. They were so small so we just threw them back in the river.

Rog and I relaxing and enjoying our time away from home and work. It was a much needed vacation.

For the second year in a row we floated down the river at Macks Inn. This time we took our fishing poles and caught a few fish along the way. If you've never had the opportunity to do it you should. It's so beautiful.

We all went fishing at Henry's Lake. It's just down the road from their cabin. Debbie read her book while the rest of us fished. We didn't catch anything but we had some good laughs.

All over at Island Park the fields were filled with these gorgeous wild flowers. We came at the most beautiful time. This picture was taken right out in front of Steve and Debbie's cabin. Other colors you could see were orange and yellow. Fields and fields of them.

Here's one of the moose we saw while on our trip. It only had one set of antlers. Crazy huh? Almost every night we went looking for some kind of wild life. We saw deer and moose.

We are so blessed to have these two as our friends. We always laugh so hard and we can just be ourselves around them. Thanks Steve and Deb for such a fun 5 days at your cabin. We love you!!

A Sunday in the Pines and Quakies

We spent a few hours on Sunday visiting Jared and Kristi up on Skyline Drive on Fairview mountain. The rest of us couldn't go camping but we could drive up on Sunday for a little visit. The flowers are all out in bloom, everything was so green. Even though our visit was cut short by a rainstorm we enjoyed their company and had a nice time.

There are areas just full of beautiful flowers right now. July is an awesome time of the year to come to Fairview. Look at the bright yellow!!

We were fortunate to see some deer when visiting Jared and Kristi camping at Fairview. The foliage is so green that the deer stick out like a sore thumb. Everything was so beautiful!!

Brayden always is taking care of his little cousin Gentry. Look at her camping hair!!! Gotta love it..lol

Shana and I always get teased about taking pictures of ourselves but what you don't know is that no one ever takes pictures of us so we have to take our own..hahahaha..

Jared and his family went up to Fairview yesterday to stay for a few days in their trailer. He always gives me dirty looks when I take his picture..lol

Jakes always a good sport to haul the boys around on his shoulders. He's got the muscles to do it though. lol. Look at the beautiful quakies and foliage!! We were looking for deer and we got lucky.

It started to rain so we had to come and take shelter in Jareds trailer. Gentry and Papa are enjoying a cookie. Jared looks bored..lol

Jared and Kristi brought our 4 wheeler with them camping. While we were visiting ,the kids of course needed to ride. This picture would have been complete if I could have had little Colby with us in the picture!! My grandkids are the best!!

Look at the way Gentry is looking at her mommy. Gentry looks so much like Shana when she was a little girl. It's crazy!! We got tired of hiking so we sat on a log and took pictures. I sure love these two girls!!

Jared and Roger wanted to go scout out some deer where they hunt each year. Well, we didn't want to stay at their trailer so Kristi, Makinley and Gentry and I all came along. Jared was a good sport. Even though we were supposed to be quiet we were quite noisey and we were even able to see two deer and a little fawn. Makinley loved riding on her daddys shoulders.

Best Friends

I have the worlds best friends!! I love each and everyone of them so much. I'm so happy when we all get together. I've been praying so hard to meet some married friends because all of our friends are divorced. But now I can say Heavenly Father blessed me. Mike and Teresa on my left have been married for 28 years. Steve and Debbie for 29 years and Lora and Scott are engaged!! Now I have to find someone special for my Cindy. I just want to say what a blessing each one of them is in my life. What fun memories we have through the years. I love you all!!!

We had wonderful food. We barbequed, had several salads and baked beans. Yummy!!! What a perfect night for a fun barbeque. After we ate we played Catch Phrase and I about pee'd my pants laughing so hard.

What can I say? These women are the most important women in my life (besides my beautiful daughter and and daughtersinlaw) Debbie on the left has been my wonderful friend for 24 years. I can't tell you how much fun we have had over the years as couples with her hubby and Rog and I. Our kids have grown up together and we still laugh and laugh when we get together. I love you Deb!! Teresa is next to her. I've only been friends with her for 3 months. She and Mike are the friends I've been praying for to have. She and I also have a lot in common and she has the funnest personality. I look forward to many more fun times together. I love you Teresa!! Cindy is on my right. Ok, I've known her for 20 years also. She's been through things with me through thick and thin and we'll always be there for one another. She's a hoot to be around and I love her so much. Then there's Lora. What would I do without her? She's been by my side for 20 years. We've helped each other through many things. She's my twin..we're so much alike. She once gave me a little figurine that said "You'll always be my friend because you know too much". I love you Lora!!!

Lora and Scott are engaged!! They have been dating now for a couple of years. I"m so excited for them. Lora has been my bestest friend for 20 years. She trained me at my job at Orem Co. Hospital and she now works at a sister hospital. I couldn't ask for a better friend. We've been through many trials and tribulations together but also many wonderful times. I love you Lora!!!

Everyone is just relaxing and having a good time. It's so nice to get together with best friends and enjoy each others company.

While we were eating Cindy attracted all the dogs. She was feeding them steak behind our backs..haha..no wonder they loved her.

It looks like Steve is making fun of Rogers "limp wrist".

Roger and Steve have so much in common and have been friends for 24 years. They have hunted, fished, and rode horses together.

Weekend Trip To Lagoon and Cherry Hill

We had the funnest weekend. Shana and the boys and Rog and I drove to Cherry Hill camp ground in Kaysville, Ut. We stayed there for two nights and while we were there we had a blast at Lagoon and the water park at the campground. There were batting cages, rock climbing wall, waterslides, lazy river, miniature golf etc. At Lagoon the boys weren't hardly afraid to ride the "big" rides. Dax had a hard time getting on some of them because of his heighth but we got him through on a few of the scarey ones. The weekend was so fun. One I hope they'll remember for a while.

Brayden wasn't afraid of climbing the rock until he got about 3/4 of the way up then he decided to come down. I couldn't believe how awesome he did. Dax climbed about 2 feet then decided it wasn't for him.

Brayden did pretty darned good in the batting cages. The balls came at him pretty fast but he didn't do too bad.

Here's Brayden and Daxton under a water fall at Cherry Hill water park. They had so much fun going around the lazy river about 500 laps. And going down a water slide with a tube. It was a little rough on Daxton. Shana said he was under the water most of the way. lol. He made it though and so did Brayden.

We spent all day long at Lagoon on Friday. Shana and the boys are taking a break. It was really hot that day but we still had a great time. The rides were only like a 5 minute wait so it was awesome.

Ok..good thing we went on this ride almost last because we all got DRENCHED!! It was the Rattlesnake Run. You're on a huge tube and it goes down a river type thing that is like running rapids. We were laughing so hard and just having a blast but didn't realize we'd get so wet!! What a blast!!

Daxton and Brayden are on the roller coaster. DAxton is in the green and white striped shirt with his hands up and Brayden in the black shirt. They loved raising their hands on the roller coaster rides.

At Lagoon there's a train ride that takes you through places where you can see tigers, ostriches, elk, deer etc. The boys loved seeing those things up close. The boys loved sitting with papa on the ride.

Daxton was quite the miniature golf player. He did his best to get the ball in the hole. Way to go Dax!!

You can't say this man is too old to climb a rock!! Rog almost got clear to the top of this rock but his hands started cramping so he had to give up. I couldn't believe he did it!! Way to go honey!!

Shana and I with our wind blown hair on the sky ride at Lagoon. It was neat looking out over the valley because you're up so high.

Our California Trip

We had a really nice time in Oxnard, California with Troy and Kori and Colby. We went to Santa Barbara, Long Beach and drove up the Pacific Ocean coast. Drove by Malibu beach. Ate at some really nice places and just really enjoyed ourselves. That was until everyone ended up with the stomach flu. Something must have been going around because it started with Colby and went to Kori then Rog and Troy and I didn't feel well the next day. But other than that it was so nice to see them. Troy is working long hard hours trying to make some good money this summer. Kori stays home and takes care of their son all day and 6 days a week. She's very supportive and loving but I know that has to be hard on her day in and day out. But hopefully it will all be worth it in the end. Here are a few pictures of our stay with them. It was so nice to get away for a few days.

I love this picture of Troy and Colby. Colby loved seeing all of the fishies in the aquariums. Troy is an awesome daddy.

Ok. We have to admit that this was the biggest reason we went to California. Even though we missed Troy and Kori we missed this little stinker even more. I had bought little Colby this summer shirt and it said "Grandpa is my hero" What a good baby he is. Such a joy to have him in our arms again and making him laugh and smile. I can't wait til he comes home in August.

This is where Troy and Kori are staying this summer. They've got a beautiful apartment complex and a nice pool to enjoy. Very comfortable place to stay. They have two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Kori, Rog, Colby and I drove to Santa Barbara one day to shop and go to lunch. Troy had to work so we took advantage of the day and enjoyed getting out. Colby is quite the little trooper. Never fussed just went along for the ride. We walked out on this pier and saw lots of ships and beautiful scenery. Thanks for showing us around Kori!!!

While we were at the aquarium in Long Beach we saw this fabulous and fun restaurant called Bubba Gump Shrimp so of course we had to go there. We all love sea food and it certainly was the best I've had. Yummy, yummy

This is beautiful Long Beach California down by at the aquarium we visited. This place also is where a lot of the cruise ships dock. We walked around there and took pictures and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Kori and Troy are petting the sting rays. You had to be sooo careful to only use two fingers or the worker would scream at you. Of course Troy had to be defiant and try to get them all mad by using his whole hand to rub down the sting rays back!!!

Kori and Troy and I at the aquarium. There are so many species of fish it's crazy. This was the biggest aquarium in the United States.

Papa and I loved spending as much time holding our little grandson Colby. It had been 2 months since we had seen him and he had grown like a weed. Laughing and smiling and trying so hard to talk. What a doll!! We love you Colby!!

Colby woke up from his nap and came out and laid by the pool with us. We didn't get to spend much time by the pool because the second day we were there a little child pooped in the hot tub and so they had to close everything down for a few days. Dang kids..had to mess up my ability to get a tan while in California. hahaha

These next two pictures are of how rog spent most of his trip. He was either sick in bed with the stomach flu or he was so tired he fell asleep anywhere he was. hahaha. j/k actually, he was so relaxed out by the pool that he fell right asleep and snored like a hog. I couldn't resist taking a picture of him. He needed the much needed sleep.