Family Reunion

For the 24th of July, we went down to Enoch for a family reunion. The girls had planned to get together to sort out Grandma's fabric, so Grandpa asked everyone to come. We sorted and divided up Grandmas cloth, visited with cousins we don't get to see often enough, and we were also in the Enoch City parade. It was a good time, and I am so glad that Brian supported me in this even though it meant missing his family reunion.

The fabric!
There is a lot of us, but Grandma made sure there was more than enough fabric to go around. We even had to make a sign that said this wasn't a yard sale. We had SO many people stop.

Piles & piles of wonderful fabric.
Many of us recognized
scraps from things that she made for us.
There were also many scraps from things that Granny wore for years.

Heather loves horses.
There aren't usually horses on the farm but thanks to Bryce & Sara, there was one this time.

Before we divided the fabric, Mom told a story of my Great-Great grandfather, Alexander Matheson. Supplies were getting low after an early winter ruined crops, so Alexander, along with 6 other men were sent out to get supplies. The snow got so deep, that they had to abandon the wagon, but the men kept sinking deep into the snow. After spreading out a quilt to pray for help, the men realized that while on the quilt they didn't sink into the snow. They proceeded by walking on quilts for the rest of their journey, taking the one from the back of the line, to the front, and were able to return to their families with much needed supplies for the winter.

This is only a small portion of the stash that I got. I think that I got most of the supplies I need to make 2 quilts, as well as the fabric for the back of a few more!
I am so excited to start on another quilt.

Caleb....I'm not sure who took this picture, but it is so cute, I had to throw it in.

HP Loving the lace! It looks like heaven for a baby.
(Again, a picture I didn't take)

Steph & M

Dad & Mark in Dad's hat

This picture was taken from the one above, and doctored a little.
I love it

My cute Grandpa. Thanks for bringing us all together Grandpa.

Greg & London

Tyson playing with the pitchfork.
The toy of choice for all 1 year olds!

Everyone made good use of Grandma's fabric.

I love this picture of little London.

Kurt & Shadoe

The Float. Also in remembrance of the quilt walk.

Bryce & Sara

My kids with Grandpa.

We had such a good time. I'm so glad that we went down. I just wish we could have stayed longer.

Les's Cub Scout Day Camp

This week we were asked to help take the cub scouts up to day camp. It was a great time. It is fun to see that age of boys totally wrapped around the finger of their camp counselor. This camp has got little boys all figured out.

We started at waterfront. the boys had the opportunity to work as a team to get their row boats around the lake. there were balls that they tried to collect, and Brian and Les's boat won!

For some reason, Brian can't keep dry in the water!

Maybe, it's because I ask the staffer to throw a bucket of water on him! Hehehe.

Les got out of the water totally soaked. And with a smile from ear to ear.

After water front, they had time to go to the trading post. Les chose an eagle head sling shot.
I'm starting to see a theme with my boys the last few posts. Are you?

Next, they did the obstacle course. The boys love the monkey bridge.

And what little boy doesn't love to shoot a BB gun?

I love this shot. It was unintentional, but I love how my camera focused through the fleur-de-lis to the tree and trail behind leaving the subject a little out of focus.

Brian got in on the action at archery. The boys had a little harder time here, but they were still in little boy heaven.

After lunch, we went to Arts & Crafts where Les made a bear claw necklace. Isn't it funny that if you put bear claws on a necklace and call the beads bones, that 8,9,and 10 year old boys will wear them?

Les, Dominic, Spencer, Carter & Braxton

All the boys at the camp gate.

Les on top of the fort wall.

Our Pack

Star Valley Fishing Trip

After the kids camping trip, Brian and I sent the kids to various cousin's houses to spend the week while we had a little get-away. Brian hasn't been fishing at his fishing hole for a couple of years, so that is where we went. He has bought me all of the gear to fly fish, and has tried to teach me before, but with young kids, the opportunity to do it has been hard to find. Needless to say, I haven't caught a fish while fly fishing either. I told him that as long as I could take all the pictures that I wanted, I didn't mind going fishing. After all, it really is a beautiful stream.

When Brian goes to Star Valley on a fishing trip, there is one particular stream and lake that he fishes. It is here that he feels close to his dad. This picture makes me think that his dad is probably close to him too.

And of course, I had to try my hand at some beautiful flower shots. I love the way that flowers glow when lit by the sun.

And to every ones amazement, I caught the first fish. Yay for me! As it turns out, the small stream that Brian usually fishes was quite a river. There is still snow melting up there, and the rivers are fast and high. Above this point, we struggled more to just stay upright in the stream than we did fishing.

The bushes are so thick around the river that there are only a few places to get in and out. The water was so fast in some places that I couldn't move my feet. Every time that I would try to take a step, my feet would almost wash out from under me. It was a little scary at times, and I'm sure stressful for Brian. But, good news....We made it out alive! We heard a motorcycle go by on the road and knew that it was really close except for the bushes. We ended up climbing through about 10-15 feet of fairly dense wild rose bushes to get out.

Brian caught 2 fish on this first day. One was small so he turned it loose, and the other one was so small that he managed to fling it right out of the river and off of his hook. But, somehow, he managed to catch a rather large bug. We are still trying to figure this one out! He speared it with a fish hook!

At the lake, Brian was float tubing while I took dozens of over-exposed pictures, but I truly do love this one of his rod and tube. I was busy taking pictures while he was busy cooking me the most delicious breakfast in the world. Do you see now why I agreed to go fishing. He lets me be lazy and do nothing while he does everything for me!

This little chipmunk caught me by surprise as much as I caught him by surprise. He was eating breakfast too. Too bad we didn't see any moose either morning that we were up there. That was the whole reason I wanted to get up at 5:30 AM. Does that moose know that I'm not a morning person?

The Lake

The Flowers

The stream just below the Dam

Tuesday afternoon, we drove to a nearby canyon to go see Intermittent Springs. This Little lake is caused by a dam in the river, but it was gorgeous. The cliffs around it, and the turquoise water almost made me forget that there was an ugly cement dame that made it. Even the river water was turquoise.

And while Brian let me take all the pictures that I wanted, he found ways to entertain himself (I know, like father, like son)!

And a beautiful waterfall in the same canyon.

And another waterfall up near the trail head for the spring.

Again.....finding ways to entertain himself!

This is the spring that we hiked to. It is actually a geyser that comes out of the wall of the cliff. Here, you can see the water at the top, and again at the bottom. It is covered with about 15 feet of snow still unmelted. But the snow is covered in fallen greenery, so it was hard to recognize at first. The water carved its way underneath. It was really pretty. Unfortunately, because of the high water still, it just ran continuously. In the late summer and fall, it goes from a small trickle to a small river when it erupts. We'll have to go back.

More flowers. This one on our hike into the uninhabited woods above the lake.

Also on our hike.

On Wednesday, we went back to the only spot that was fishable on Monday, and Brian finally caught 4 fish worth keeping. It turns out the river had dropped about 6 inches from Monday to Wednesday.

The cutthroat trout were beautiful. Look at the bright orange cut on its gill.

Because the fish here are all natural, no stocked, they are much smaller than fish in other areas, but who cares when you can usually release three times more than you can keep.

Thanks Brian for taking me fishing. I loved it.

Thanks Marsha and Tami for taking the kids. We needed the get-away.