September catch up - Bear cubs

I wanted to get these pictures up and finally have a few minutes to do it. My friend Ann had three bear cubs and a mom come play on their trampoline. Fun, until you think about it, then kind of scary when you have three young kids that also want to go play. It's kind of late to have such young bear cubs out, but there have been tons of them around this year. I mean tons of bears!!

I didn't get a picture of the bears on the trampoline, but here they are eating the neighbors berries. I'm sure Brian, the neighbor, didn't appreciate it. They also love his pumpkins. I think that is why he grows them. There are two on the left and one on the right, mom in front.

After this they came right up to the house, these pictures were taken from just a few feet away, inside the house however. They stayed and played for a good half hour, just while I was there, they had been there long enough for me to drive there when Ann called. I hope she posted her video of them on the trampoline, it was so fun to watch.

More Montana pictures

Just thought I would post some more of our Montana pictures. It's a beautiful place and we camped at a beautiful lake. Hope if gives you some ideas on where to go camping sometime. It's well worth the drive.

There were two lakes right together, one was called Wade Lake, but can't recall the other one. It is on the way to Yellowstone, leaving from Ennis, MT, where we had spent the night. It was gorgeous. Can you see the color of the water. It was even warm enough to swim in.

Here is our camp site. Isn't it beautiful! That's us!

This is from the camp site.

These two pictures are from the top of the hill looking down as we were leaving.

These pictures below are from Quake Lake, made by an earthquake in 1959. You can see in the second picture below where the whole side of the mountain slid down onto a campground at about 100 mph.

See where the mountain came down? I can't imagine being camping and having that happen, 28 people died that were camping along that area. Can you imagine! It's kind of weird to see all the tops of the trees still out in the middle of the lake. It is 190 feet deep and 6 miles long. Pretty amazing. And very beautiful. You find Quake Lake from traveling along the Madison River towards, or from too I guess, West Yellowstone.

For some reason I can't get all my pictures to show. If I can, I'll post more, but really wanted to get these up. That day we arrived in Idaho Falls for Chelse's wedding, a couple of days early of course.

Another Testament

Had to share this, hope you enjoy it. I did!

http://anothertestamentofchrist.com/

Montana travels

I'm sitting here waiting for Glenda to come get me and thought I would post some of the pictures we took on our way here. We decided to go through Montana, my favorite place in the whole world, instead of going the same way we always go to get anywhere. We have had a lot of fun camping and seeing old places I have lived as well as new places we definitely want to go back to. Just to let you know, the pictures really don't do it justice. We have been traveling through some amazingly beautiful country! I thought I would post some anyway. I hope you can see the beauty in spite of our lack of camera's ability to take awesome pictures.

Couldn't get the pictures to download for some reason, so will try again later.

It's now 9/15 and I'm just getting back to posting. Here are pictures of our trip. We both really want to get back. We loved it up there. Especially around Drummond, where we attended church.

This is in Drummond, MT. We thought it was a funny sign, but a beautiful little town. We continued to drive up the road, forget what it is, admiring the quiet beauty all around. We headed west off the freeway to find a campground for the night and just relax. Bill got excited when we saw this ski resort off in the distance.

Eventually (the next day) we started to go to check out the ski resort but the road was in horrible condition, it was pouring rain and lots of mud, so he decided not to do it, since we had the camper. Below are a couple of different pictures of the campground we stayed at. It was so beautiful, in spite of the hail that we had. That's Montana for you. August and hailing. Gotta love it!

We found out the next day that the lake was huge and very pretty all around.

Here is the view from the church. It was so serene I just wanted to sit for awhile. I guess it was still green because it has rained every day this summer, very unusual, but makes for beautiful green fields.

Then off we went towards Bozeman and the Gallatin Canyon, one of my favorite places. It is so beautiful. Here we are heading from 4-corners, which I have to say is barely recognizable it is so built up. It was kind of sad to see how much it has been developed, though the pictures probably don't show that, at least not here at the mouth of the canyon, but there were houses all over in the canyon that weren't there before. I know, it was bound to happen, but still sad.

Isn't it beautiful, even with those huge storm clouds!!! Those mountains. What a beautiful earth we have been given.

When we finally get to the Big Sky turnout, my mouth dropped open, I couldn't believe what I saw... A LIGHT!
I couldn't believe it. I hope it is temporary since there was road construction going on, but as we camped on the Gallatin River that night the traffic was crazy busy, so maybe not. Now for the really sad pictures of Big Sky. It reminded me of Aspen. It is so sad. I guess there is a place up there called the Yellowstone Club or something like that. It is a Billionaire's club. Heard about it talking to someone that works there. I guess it's horrible, though I'm sure beautiful. It's on some falls that we used to cross country ski to, it was a wonderful place.

Can you see all the condos and houses? There aren't even a fourth of what is now in Meadow Village and on the way to the Mountain Village. When I was there, there weren't any houses between the two.

At least this place is still there.

You know, sometimes it's best not to go back, keep it the way it was. I still love the Gallatin Canyon and I had a great time talking to my old boss, Mike Schultz, at Bucks T-4, but the changes were so drastic and very sad.


I'm going to start a new post with the rest of our Montana pictures. I'm tired of having to scroll down forever for every picture. Does anyone know how to make your pictures just pop right where the cursor is instead of all the way at the top and then adding tones of space between paragraphs? Would love to know if you don't mind sharing! Besides, forgot to add some of the Gallatin River, so will do that too.

Two More Elk Calves Tonight!

Just a quick note, we had two new Elk calves out this evening, still had their spots, they were so adorable. The kept nursing, it was so fun, we love watching them. It was too dark to get a picture with my little camera, just another time I wished I had a good SLR and a good telephoto lens. Soon they will be out jumping around and playing, now that is fun to watch! Video camera? Need one of those too! Maybe these ones will play in the puddles too.

Current Projects

Do you want to see some projects that I have been working on? Visit my project blog here. I'm trying to keep up with posting my projects, though admittedly, I'm not very good about it. If you see anything you want to do, come on over!

If I could just get the painting I want to do. I said I was going to do it "this summer", but it seems like I'm going to wait until fall or winter. The summer has just been too busy and besides, for whatever reason the thought of painting a wall or my bathroom really freaks me out. What's that all about!!! Want to come help?

cute little thing

Note this cute little field mouse. Now, none of us really like mice, I understand that. But if you know me, you know my love of all animals and this little guy is pretty darn cute, right? I don't even mind the tail. Now let me tell you how he came into my life.

This is Max: (hold on, temporarily outside somewhere and late for the photo shoot).....

Okay, here is Max. Not a great picture, but he works hard and is taking a nap.

The other day as I was walking through my family room when I see Max coming up the stairs, officially called "the cat stairs" (since as you can see...

there is no way a human can easily use them, unless they are very, very thin, about 3" thin to be exact), so here comes Max with some grass hanging out his mouth. Now, grass I say?, that is strange. Upon further examination I notice he is bringing me a gift, I scream NOOOOOOO as he heads for the cat door. He turns around and runs away. Dead rodent in my house averted. Yeah!! Do you hear the cheers?

An hour or so later, now madly knitting to get a gift finished, I look up to see Max coming through the cat door...

with the rodent still in his mouth (I assume the same one as he probably just went out and played with it for awhile, which they are wont to do). As I scream NOOOOOOOO again, instead of just backing out the door, he freaks out, drops the rodent and ...... it scurries away beneath my furniture. IT WAS STILL ALIVE!!!!! He tries to follow it as it looks for different places to hide, then, looses interest. Yes, that is right, he lost interest in this gift to me, it was successfully delivered I suppose. I run to catch Mimi, not easy to catch a cat when you are running towards them, they tend to run the other way, especially Mimi. This is Mimi

(she is NOT cooperating with the photo shoot so it doesn't show her full beauty) Anyway, I finally get her, grab hold of her, turn her face to the last place this "CLG - cute little guy" was seen (much more cute when they are outside by the way and I'm going to assume it is a boy since I don't want visions of a mouse having 100's of babies in my house), try to get her to take the scent and... she does. She tries to get it, but of course can't fit under the arm chair or couch, or where ever. So, off I go for a broom, a mop, anything with a long handle to slide under the chair so it will run right into Mimi's mouth, perfect plan, right? Max is still not interested by the way. So, as Mimi waits patiently where she saw CLG last, (Cat's are so patient when waiting for little things that move), when to my surprise, slowly the CLG exits the under part of the chair and sneaks around the corner, Mimi still patiently waiting. Cats!!! When did their keen sense of smell and movement, let alone their hearing go? Can't she hear or at least smell it getting away! As I jump up to see where it has gone, I notice it running and trying to leap up each stair into our bedroom. Not an easy thing for a very small CLG. No way CLG, you aren't going up there and I throw the broom ahead of it, like a broom with a long skinny handle is going to block the way, right! Now, some of you might ask, why throw it above the mouse instead of trying to smash the mouse? Do you know me? It was too cute to kill. I couldn't do that!!! However, it startles CLG enough that he turns and runs, only to find me standing there, the only out...down the stairs into the quagmire of Bill's shoes. (It's a scary place, it has every pair of shoes he has down there in that abyss, I'll even spare you the picture, it is too horrifying). I go running before it gets into our storage never to be found again, he's jumping, I'm jumping (I don't want him on my feet, however CLG's fear of that might be a bit more than mine, but not by much) Finally I think. Hey, If I can get him into one of Bill's shoes CLG will feel safe, I'll feel safe, neither of us will keep jumping, afraid the other is going to land on the other, good idea. What a great idea actually. It worked, I held a shoe over him, he jumped into it (I'm sure just so this giant would stop chasing him), went into the garage, opened the garage door and shook him out onto the driveway and shooed him off, reminding him of what a lucky CLG he was.

The rest of the story? The next day I come home from errands and find barf, specifically, cat barf. In the cat barf? One CLG tail. I hope it wasn't the one I chased. We kind of bonded.

Oh, one more thing. Don't tell Bill I caught a mouse in his shoe...he might not be too happy about it!

Catch Up....Again

I can't believe this summer is already half over. I have been so busy it's crazy. It's all been good stuff, you know how it is. I can't remember a weekend that we didn't have obligations, mostly church stuff, except on a weekend in The Dalles, OR visiting our DIL and granddaughter. Now that was fun!! We also got to enjoy Amanda's sister Marie's, wedding. Milan was the flower girl and so adorable. Check this out. This was on the dance floor. This girl loves to dance! She had a hard time keeping the dress up, but that didn't stop her. She would just pick it up, since it was too long, and keep dancing.

Isn't this just the cutest picture of her!
Because the dress was a little big for her, it was pretty long, she would pick it up just like a little princess and go running with the kids. Could it have been any cuter? I don't think so. Every once in awhile the dress would get the better of her and down she would go. As you can see, it didn't bother her much.

While at the reception I spoke to the grooms grandmother who had made these wonderful pretzels. They were so yummy! She adds spices to them.

It's hard to tell they have spices, but they do. All you do is combine a bottle of Orville Redenbacher (sp?) butter flavor popcorn oil, 1 package of Ranch Dressing mix and a heaping T. of Lemon Pepper. Mix that all together and pour it over 2 bags of pretzels and stir until it is all coated. Keep it out on your counter and keep stirring every time you walk by for a day or two, until it all gets absorbed. You don't bake it or anything, yummy. If you like pretzels, you'll love these.

On Friday before the wedding we took Milan for the day so the girls could do some final prep. We took her to the park . I think one of her favorite things to say is "cheese".

I love this picture. I have it as my wallpaper on my computer. Every time I turn it on, there she is swinging and smiling at me. It makes my heart sing!

Look at these adorable freckles! I'm not sure you can see them very well, but they are there and as cute as can be.

This was the view from the park of the Columbia River Gorge. Actually much prettier in real life, of course. Besides, I don't have a great camera.

We also took her to McDonalds for lunch and sometime during the weekend we took her swimming.

We just had a great weekend with her. Each night we got to take her with us to stay in the camper. It was such fun. We went for walks in the park and did lots of swinging and she just liked to be out walking. She even just loved staying close to camp and playing with the camp kitty and just talking and keeping busy. This has to be my most favorite picture for the whole weekend. I absolutely just love it. This is how happy she was each morning.

How do you beat waking up to this every morning. Did I mention how much fun we had with her?

We have had a busy weeks since then as well. More on that tomorrow (??). As for now, I'm going to go sit and talk with Bill about our schedule coming up. We just got home from a Youth Temple Trip and I'm tired. It was also my Temple weekend so I've been gone all weekend, I love the weekends I get to work at the temple, but I started working a 4 am on Friday and haven't stopped yet, (well I did get a few hours of sleep last night but it was so stinking hot in the house I stayed at that, well, it was just so hot it was hard to sleep. Beautiful old farm house with no insulation and 104* weather, must have cooled though, to at least 90*. So ...I'll be right back to share what a wonderful weekend we had last weekend on a Stake Trek. Totally amazing!

A Camper, finally

Well, we finally found a camper we wanted. We have been looking for a couple of years actually. Bill has wanted a Big Foot and they are not easy to find. But we held out and finally did find one. Here it is at the place where we bought it and also getting it on. I didn't want a big one, and this isn't, but is sure seemed big once it was on the truck. We got a camper so we could pull a boat or 4-wheelers.

We were so anxious to go camping and then we had church commitments every weekend for a month, between Stk Conf, which was wonderful (with Elder Johnson coming), out of town speaking assignments, temple trips, etc. It's just been busy. We finally got to go, it was kind of spontaneous (isn't that the joy of having a camper) when I realized I didn't have to work on Monday, so after we attended a funeral on Saturday, we came home, scrambled to get things ready and off we went. We had a lot of fun. We didn't go far, just up the McKenzie River, but it is one of our favorite places to be. The first night we stayed at Belknap Hot Springs, but got there kind of late in the day, early evening actually. Bill tried to fish, but the water current was so fast there was just no way.

This is the camper from across the McKenzie River our first night.
Bill fishing, of course. Below is a picture just up the river. It's so pretty up there.
Here is a picture of Bill's new friend that he made while there.

Then someone came along and insisted she get a picture of us both, ugh!

Sunday morning we got up and drove into Sisters for church. I can't believe I didn't get a picture, but seeing that the parking lot was full and realizing that we were late just didn't think of it, then or after. It was so fun seeing Nyle (Emily was in Az), Diane and Rick. They have a great little branch there and a very nice building. Nyle, who is the Branch President, said that they were working on the next stage of the building. I told him about when we were trying to get a building here and Floyd went around all the campgrounds playing Come, Come Ye Saints. It brought every member out of the woodwork. He would stop and ask them to come, no on cared that they didn't have typical church clothes, everyone just wanted them there. Because of that, we now have a building ready for 2 wards. I told him that when he picked his months to count, to let us know and we would try to get the whole ward there. Well, maybe the whole ward couldn't come, but a bunch of us could take turns and go all summer. (Good excuse to go camping too, right? Yeah, I'm thinking!)

After church we stopped at my favorite place, Suttle Lake, and had lunch. We stayed until thunder and lightening started and just a few drops of rain.

Met a new friend, shared our lunch with him, (or is it a her?)

or at least our Cheez-It's, and then off to find a place for the night. At Suttle there were 100's of these butterflies flitting about. They were so pretty. Just that time of year I guess, seriously, 100's.

I think we both wished we would have just camped at Suttle, but we didn't and that's okay. (Bill likes to move around) We stayed that night at McKenzie Bridge campground. We were about the only ones there. Seriously, I think there were about 3 campers that night, but it was very nice and quiet. I sent Bill to get pictures, but have no idea where they were, since they aren't on the camera. So, no pictures of that either. Oh well. It was relaxing, just BBQ'ed some steaks and zucchini and had a salad. Bill was boiling hot (for once he know how I usually feel, I was not hot, which is a miracle) and I had asked him to start a campfire. He thought I was crazy, but did it anyway, Good Husband! and within an hour it was cooling off and we had a beautiful night talking by the fire. Is there a better way to spend an evening?

Chip called and decided to meet us to go fishing the next day, so we got up early and met him, I don't know where, some park where you put in, he brought over the drift boat and they floated the river the next day and had fun fishing. They had a great time.

Here are a couple more pictures of them fishing during the day.

I just headed home after visiting Zach on the way and stopping at the garden store. Yes, I drove the truck/camper home all by myself. I'd only driven the truck once before so it was kind of weird for the first mile or so, but then it was fine, just big. I'm used to my Camry. All in all it was a great trip and we are excited to go again. Want to come along?

after 25 years...

On May 4th Bill and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. It doesn't seem like that much time has passed, but then we think about our kids, who are now adults and of course, time has passed. We went out to dinner and talked about how much we love our life and our family. We are so proud of each of our kids and who they are. We have got great boys that are just nice people. It is fun to be around each of them and our best days are when we can be with them and their families. Certainly it's harder when they live so far away, but we constantly look forward to the time we can go and spend time with each of them. We also talked about how happy we are together, we talk about this often in fact. There have been rough times over the years. Sometimes we wondered if we would make it. But there is staying power in these covenants we make that go beyond this earth life and it's challenges. (if you want to know more click here) One of the things I hope we have taught our kids is that when the going gets tough, hang on and don't give up, keep living what and how you know to be right, pray and do all the other things that we have taught them. It may be easier to walk away, but it isn't usually the best way. Honor the covenants you have made, work hard and hold on.

So, if you know me, you probably know that I LOVE the movie Fiddler on the Roof. I love everything about it. The morning of our anniversary that song that Tev sang to Golde'. "Do You Love Me", you know the one, popped into my head. Now I know there are some differences. We don't have daughters getting married (does a niece count?), there is no trouble in our town, (just in the whole country), I don't think he's upset, he can't come inside or go lie down (he's currently mowing our lawn that takes 2+ hours to mow). He might have indigestion. Sometimes he acts like a fool, but only for fun. Yes I know, it's sounding more and more like there isn't much we have in common with this song (I have been trying for weeks to just get the short part of this song in a format I could post, to no avail). For 25 years I've washed his clothes, (well, he's been doing his own laundry for I can't remember how long), cooked his meals, (well, most nights), I've cleaned the house (we clean it together now) we did raise three boys, I haven't milked his cow (does a goat count?) Well, there are some similarities, right? We didn't meet for the first time on our wedding day (we had known each other 4 months). I was feeling a little shy, I don't know about him, nervous, maybe. I know I was. His parents were at our wedding, but I think they figured he already loved me, neither my mom or my dad were there. For 25 years I've lived with him, fought with him (should I admit that :), we haven't starved. For 25 years my bed is his; if that's not love, what is? "Tev: Then you love me?, Golde: "I suppose I do. Tev: Then I suppose I love you too.

It doesn't change a thing, but even so, after 25 years... it's nice to know.

Oh, did I mention, we are singing this every day of our 25th year...just for fun.

Never see deer

We never see deer here. In fact we were just talking about that with some friends the night before. We see herds of Elk, bear occasionally, I've heard mountain lion but have never seen them, coyote more than I want to with cats and chickens around, but very rarely deer, maybe one other time in the 24 years that we have lived her, at least as I remember correctly. So, much to my surprise, I walked into my kitchen this morning, looked out the window and this is what I saw. Two young deer. Sorry, didn't zoom in enough, but here they are anyway.

I think this one is going to check out the horse. Decides it's quite a bit larger that he/she is and heads back to his/her sibling.

Now the horse wants to check out the deer. Gotta check out those foreigners you know. (they think nothing about a herd of elk in their pasture, but these little foreigners...gotta get to know them)
Now that darn horse is getting to close, so they decide to leave. Have no idea where their momma was, couldn't find her anywhere. Off they go into the trees. See the horse on the right side of the picture?

That was the last I saw of them all day. Timing is everything! We haven't seen much elk this spring, much to our dismay. Usually the babies come out and play in the puddles, it is such fun to watch. We need a camcorder to record it when we see it.

Just to make you smile

Okay, so I know I'm putting two YouTube links on back-to-back, but really, you have to see this.

It looks sooo fun. It may be added to my goals and even top my wanting to learn the Thriller dance. Wouldn't this just be a blast to do somewhere! I wonder where you hook up with people doing this kind of thing! (in this country of course)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UE3CNu_rtY

Simon what's his name?

Just need to say, this Simon guy drives me nuts! He is so rude! I don't watch Idol or whatever it's called, but my sister told me about this lady that she saw on the news (she doesn't watch the show either) and I had to share it. I hope it works. If not, search on YouTube for Susan Boyle and look for the long version, about 5+ minutes. It will be worth it, seriously! But the link should work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk

This unassuming woman that just goes about her day, taking care of her family and friends, hiding a huge talent. I had to watch it a couple of times. It brought tears to my eyes (I know, I'm a boob!) Hope you enjoy it. I hope she wins!

Easter

Just a quick note because I wanted to share this video, it is awesome and taken from Elder Holland's General Conference talk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpFhS0dAduc

We had a small but great Easter. Bill was still sick, so stayed home from Church, but Bud, his dad is here for awhile and so it was nice having him here for Easter dinner. Zach and Stefani came as well. We missed the other kids tons and wish we could have all been together. I wish we all lived closer so we could get together more often.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Why Cows don't jump on trampolines

This is Jeffery.

Emily named Jeffery, before Emily saw him, his name was "Cow". He was just the neighbor's cow that lived in our pasture. The other day Bill went out to leave and Jeffery had decided that the grass under the trampoline was the best grass in the pasture and had somehow gotten under it, so here is this cow standing with a trampoline on his back. Suffice it to say, Bill did not get a picture, he thought about it, but didn't. I would have loved to have seen it actually. Oh well. Today Jeffery decided he was going to try out the top side of the trampoline.

Now, this is why cows don't jump on trampolines.

I'm up in our bathroom window looking down, so to get his attention, I just yelled "COW!". (He knows that name more than Jeffery)

Then I realize that his little legs are in the springs and he could trip and break those legs. So quickly I take another picture or two and then keep trying to get him to walk towards me to see if he can get himself out without breaking any bones.


Again. . . COW! And out he walked, safe and sound... of course! You know me. I worry about these things. So, don't ever let your cow (or the neighbor's cow) jump on your trampoline. It just doesn't work. The trampoline is now at the dump and the Jeffery? Well, on Wednesday morning Jeffery is being taken to the that place where all good cows go, he'll be back though, just all wrapped up in yummy juicy packages of steaks. Thanks Jeffery, you've been a good cow.

Do you have a cow?