November 28, 2020

 

We had the best time spending Thanksgiving holiday in Thayne, Wyoming.  We rented a basement apartment that was great.  Star Valley was pretty and Thayne was the cutest little town. 

Wednesday -

The girls were so excited for cats and goats.

Thayne is so pretty.

We pulled out the dominos and played some Mexican Train.  Which oddly enough, Rylie remembered how to play better than D or me.

Watched Cars.  Such a good flick.  It had been awhile since any of us had seen it and we all chuckled throughout the movie.

Thursday -

We drove to the Tetons.

Taggart Lake was an amazing snow hike.

Hearing the water running even though you can’t see it was cool.

Mason got to throw some snowballs.

Way cool forest in black and white.

Ry and Mason blazed a trail to a rock through snow. Mason had on tennis shoes.  :)

We snapped a good family pic standing on the frozen lake.

The road to Mormon Row was made of ice.  We may have had to get pulled out of the snow by some people from Jackson in Land Rover. 

Time to buy a tow rope.

We saw 7 moose from afar, 1 bald eagle, 1 squirrel, and two hundred or so elk.

Hot chocolate from Maverick is a good choice for a Thanksgiving afternoon. People should really make sure their bathroom stall is locked.

Cats are definitely the favorite thing.

Evening was spent having Thanksgiving dinner while chilling at the Airbnb. Our feast turned out pretty good. Turkey and potatoes and pie for the win.

We kept with the Disney movie theme and watched Finding Nemo.

Friday - 

Girls still love the cats and goats. 

Increased our wildlife sighting today on our scenic drive. More moose - the 3 bulls were standing up plus we saw lots of moose sitting down from a ways away and then 2 closer on the way home.  We also saw 4 eagles, a couple bison, and 2 coyotes (we debated for awhile if they were fox but we're going with coyotes). It was so awesome to watch one hunt and ounce on rodents. 

Teton views were amazing. No clouds covering them today (like yesterday) and blue sky. They were showing off in all their glory.

Seeing the geese with bums up and heads in the water makes me chuckle again today.

Pizza, ice cream, games, and Guardians of the Galaxy 1 & 2 for evening entertainment. 

Saturday - 

Morning walk up the road with frozen trees. 

The girls apparently named the cats - Butt Cheek, Big Chungus, and Paul. They fed the goats before we left. 

We filled up at McDonalds in Evanston and made it home safely. 

 

So many pictures:

 

 

(I love, love, love this above photo.)

November 26, 2020

Such a good Thanksgiving in Thayne, Wyoming.  Turkey in the Tetons and just our little family was wonderful.

November 25, 2020

 “Ain’t it funny how the best days of my life was all that wasted time.” - Keith Urban.

November 23, 2020

Today was a quote kind of day.

“Nothing in nature lives for itself. Rivers don’t drink their own water. Trees don’t eat their own fruit. Sun doesn’t give heat for itself. Flowers don’t spread fragrance for themselves. Living for others is the rule of nature. And therein lies the secret of life.” —Amit Gupta

“Having different blessing than someone doesn’t mean God loves us less, it means He loves us individually.”  - Mary Stallings

“At this time of Christmas, this season when gifts are given, let us not forget that God gave His Son, and His Son gave His life, that each of us might have the gift of eternal life.” - Gordon B Hinckley

November 22, 2020

Happy Darren’s birthday. Sunday birthdays just aren't the best for celebrating.  I'm glad we were able to sneak away yesterday.

I gave a talk in the 3rd ward on mercy. I very much enjoyed pondering justice and mercy this past month. It is beautiful how God is both just and merciful. 

November 21, 2020

Convinced Darren that driving to Canyonlands and hiking for a bit would be a great way to spend his birthday Eve. 7 hours in the car was worth the 5 hours at the park.

We hiked Neck Springs. It had such a high rating on alltrails but it did not have a high rating from us. We both agreed on 3 stars. It had a cool alcove and old troughs, but that was it. We saw an arch with no trail to a lookout. Then when there was a trail out to a lookout it was of nothing. That happens. We said hiking a 3 star trail is way better than not hiking at all. 

We also hit Buck Canyon lookout, Orange Cliffs lookout, Grandview Point, and Mesa Arch. 

Mesa was way cool as we caught it at sundown. Great ending to a good day. 

Gas station in Wellington came through for some pizza for dinner that was surprisingly yummy. Good country music and chatting made the drive quite enjoyable. 

November 20, 2020

 “Counting our blessings is far better than recounting our problems.” - President Nelson. Oh how I needed his smile, his optimism, and his encouragement to be grateful. 7 days of thankful journal couldn’t have come at a better time. 

November 17, 2020

May have been the worst day of my life. 

November 14, 2020

Governor quarantine allowed D, Sadie and I to relax and watch movies this weekend. Friday was Jurassic World and Saturday was Jurassic World 2 and it was so nice to relax and watch movies.

November 12, 2020

When you only run once a week, it’s always painful. But listening to a good podcast helps. This morning was - Don’t Miss This, Ether 1-5. Good episode. “Faith = confident that He can, hoping that He will, but I trust that His will is good.” Also, God works in disappointments.

November 7, 2020

Pickleball at the church with D, Mason, and Rylie was a fabulous Saturday night event. Then pizza and Just dance for even more fun. 

November 7, 2020

Zion was way fun! I love that this may be an every year thing now that we’ve done it two years in a row. Hiking in beauty with friends for 4 days is awesome! So many smiles, much laughter, and such beauty. I especially love the east side of Zion.

Day 1 - drive to the cabin and quickly head out for a sunset hike to observation point. So pretty as the sun goes down. We chatted with a girl whose birthday is tomorrow. Hike back had the last mile in the dark. Way dark with awesome stars. Thankful for Sariah’s big light. 

Day 2 - we explored the main canyon since we thought ahead and reserved shuttle tickets. Hiked emerald pools. The upper pool was set in an alcove with way tall walls. We ate lunch on the rock pile. The middle “pool” was more of a puddle but it had such a cool reflection. Lower pool had awesome white and black stripes in the wall. It was fall in the canyon with yellow trees all over. So pretty. We saw the girl we saw last night at Observation Point.  We wished her a happy birthday.

We grabbed some ice cream before heading back to the cabin. We stopped at Canyon Overlook and did a quick Covid hike since there was a parking space. Amazing views. 

We also explored some more of the east side and spotted some big horn sheep! Wahoo! Then we ended the night with some game playing. 

Day 3 - long hike day to Deer Trap Mountain. This hike is a destination hike. Not amazing along the way but then you get such amazing views down into the canyon. The light this hike was awesome. There were clouds and then the sun would shine through, lighting the rocks. One time it lit up angels landing and some yellow trees behind it. So cool. We also saw where we hiked yesterday with the emerald pools. 

After our long hike we hit the hot tub at the resort. Ahh. 

More games and hanging out pretty much concluded our stay. 

Day 4 - drive home. We stopped for lunch at Ideal Dairy and my friends were kind enough to do a drive by and wave to my parents since there’s no covid visiting. 

What a wonderful time with friends in Zion. 

November 2, 2020

Started my new position at the library today. Finally took a clerk position. I’ve passed this up many times over my library years but now feels like the time for a change. I like working at the library. The pay stinks but the people are nice, the hours are good, and it’s a good environment.

November 1, 2020

Another good Sabbath. K and T came to visit and we had an epic jokers and marbles game down to the last card. Intense. Ha ha. We also had a visit from Russell.  :)  Also the Murphys (picking up Kaitlyn). It was a beautiful fall afternoon chatting outside. 

Darren feeding the two dogs whip cream was entertaining.