Moose Sightings and Other Forrest Friends

We saw Moose galore this trip! Rod and I tried to go out early in the morning and then again at dusk to catch a glimpse of a Moose. The first one we saw was a momma and her twins! The mother looked small to me. I think she was very young and that perhaps this was her first birthing.

I spotted her as we turned into Harriman Park, right of the side of the road and down in a gulley.

One of the baby twins. They were so tiny and cute!

 The next Moose sighting was very early one morning as Rod and I hiked around Silver Lake. Rod spotted her down by the shore. We tried to sneak up to get a closer peek, but she spotted us and bolted. She actually ran right to the path that we were using and then trotted on ahead of us for quite a while.

Rod getting his Moose picture.

She turned around and looked right at us

As they trotted ahead of us, we could hear their steps on the wooden bridge. It was so cool!!!

This elk crossed the road right in front of us, then turned around and looked.

Rod is very proud of this baby buffalo picture.

The guys thought they owned the picnic area.

We saw a beautiful deer in the velvet one night by the river feeding in to Silver Lake, and other stags as we drove down some of the forest service roads at dusk. We also saw some amazing pelicans flying up the river in formation just like the Blue Angels. You could hear their wings beating the air. 

The mosquitoes were very bad! Wish we hadn't seen any of those!

One night we stayed up very late so we could take the girls out to see the stars. We drove out to the road that goes to Mesa Falls and parked in a pull out. It took our breath away as we looked up and could actually see the Milky Way. There were shooting stars. We all saw a great big one, and Ava said in the cutest little voice, "I see it. I see it!" We all laughed at her joy and delight in this experience of her first shooting star. I will always treasure this time with Rod, Becca, Julie and Ava.

S'more Fun!

 So Julie brought stuff to make S'mores while at the cabin. She got these GIANT marshmallows. Her vision of this whole thing was to make the S'mores in the oven so we wouldn't have to get smoky by the fire. She assembled everything and we stuck them in the oven. I told her the marshmallows were too big. She said no, they were just right. I still cut some of them in THIRDS and the S'mores were still very messy! We laughed so hard. Good Times at the Cabin!

Rod tried to be neat with his...

Did I mention the S'mores were ultra messy??

Gooey, Chewy, Sticky - and delicious!

I think we will always remember these GIANT S'mores and how much fun we had making and eating them!

Such a beautiful place!

I just want to post some pictures that I think are really beautiful of Island Park and Yellowstone. We went on some incredible walks and hikes and just drank in the beautiful scenes.

The swan was actually fighting with a goose - pretty noisey!

I love Mesa Falls!

Nature makes such beautiful bouquets.

The wild flowers were so beautiful!

Three happy campers - at least for a second.

More Vacation - water play

All it takes is some grass, a hose and a warm day.

Fill up the tub...

They took turns spraying each other with the cold water.

Then mom suggested the slip 'n' slide.

They loved it! Water was flying everywhere!

Oh, yeah! a perfect slide.

I love this kid's amazing smile. His whole face just radiates! Can't you just hear him laughing?

The perfect landing.

 Fun afternoon - filled with sun, water, Popsicles and laughing children. What a great memory!

My Summer Vacation

  THESE faces are why I drive from Phonex to SLC by myself every summer!

Luka is fearless in the water.

Cannon loves to play.

Cooper and Savannah play for HOURS with each other in the pool.

Ava was very excited about her hiking equipment.

I got to attend Karate class with Cooper. I was so impress with his careful attention to form and to complying with every request made by his teacher.

 Seriously... how does he do this??

Katie and Julie ran a special 10K in for pregnancy and infant loss. I took Savannah, Cooper and Ava with me to greet them at the finish line.

 Here are my two courageous girls - now runners! Years ago, when I was in my late 20s and early to mid 30s I used to run in 10k races. I loved it. But not any more. I guess it has been passed on to the younger generation...

 They ran this race in memory of Hayden Nys. This sweet baby boy was born to  Ryan's cousin a couple of years ago. He only lived long enough for his parents to hold him and love him before he slipped away. Katie and Ryan were there with them for that precious experience.

It was a fun morning and the moms did a great job on their run!  The kids enjoyed running across the finish line with their moms/aunties. I was so happy to be there with them. Brought back fond memories.

In fact, going to the race inspired me to try jogging again. BIG MISTAKE! Even though I had Nike running shoes, they were not right for my foot and I blew a tendon - I ran several mornings and then hiked in Island Park thinking it would get better. Wrong. I finally ended up going to the Dr. when I had been home for about a week. She said to wear an ace bandage, prescribed an anti-inflammatory. Three weeks later the swelling and tenderness has gone down and I an considering orthodics. I want to run again!

Look what I did!

 My Friend had a baby shower for her daughter on Saturday. I told her several weeks ago that I would help her. She asked me if I would cut up the fruit. When I went to pick it up there were two HUGE watermelons, 4 cantaloupe, 4 honeydews, 5 giant pineapples. 3 - 4 lb boxes of strawberries, 2 cases of mangoes, 2 cases of kiwis and two huge containers of grapes.

 Oh. My. Goodness!

 I did not know where to begin. I decided I wanted to do something fancy, so I sent Rod to the store to get some skewers. While he was gone, I cleaned all the strawberries and carved up one of the watermelons.

My attempt at fruit kabobs.

 When Rod got back from the store, I had him help me big time. He peeled all of the mangoes and the kiwis. I chopped up the pineapples and had already washed the grapes. I don't know if you have ever peeled and cut mangoes, but they are real buggers! I cut up the mangoes and kiwis as he was peeling. I also used a melon ball cutter on some of the melons. That was kind of fun! Once the fruit was all cut up, we assembled some skewers and stuck the fruit-kabobs in a cabbage.

This is the baby carriage I made from the watermelon. It was so much fun!

 I wish I had more time to do some more fancy stuff, but it took me all morning to cut up all that fruit! I never could have done it without Rod's help! (He is always so willing to help me in the kitchen - or anywhere -  no matter what I ask him to do! Thanks, Honey!) I just put the rest of the cut up fruit in every huge bowl I own, and in big foil pans and took it for them to refill the carriage, and make more skewers. There were some very capable ladies in the kitchen that actually had planned on just putting cut fruit into big glass bowls as needed, and I think they were a little shocked and what came. They did make some pretty bowls of fruit, though. It was all very colorful!

 I am glad I could help my friend and she was delighted with what I did - but I am also glad I do not cater for a living. Been there, done that - - too much work!