Thursday, July 1, 2021

June 2021

The first month of summer!  We had such a great June, with the hi-light being a trip to Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park.

We flew into Salt Lake City, Utah, and spent the afternoon walking around the city.  It's pristine and beautiful.  We walked around the grounds of the Mormon Temple, explored the city a bit, had lunch at a great little spot, and then set out on our drive to our rental house in Ashton, Idaho.


Everything up in that area is so spread out, with beauty everywhere you look.  Our house was on a hill overlooking the edge of the Targhee National Forest.  It was beautiful and quiet, and we enjoyed the views so much!  This is right out the back door...


The next day, we drove to Grand Teton National Park.  The drive was insanely beautiful- we couldn't stop commenting on it, and pictures don't do it justice.  At one point, we just had to pull over and take pictures!  :)


We made it to Grand Teton National Park and did some hiking.




Preview of our Christmas card photo for the year.  :)  


The next day, we went to Yellowstone!  It's hard to describe the beauty of the scenery there...  it was like nothing we'd ever seen before.  I.e., a bison just laying around near a bubbling geyser.  :)



Old Faithful in action!




We did so much hiking and saw so much beauty...




Bison siting right from our car...


We spent the next day doing some hikes closer to our house. 





Eli got to do some fishing, which is his favorite thing.




Back to Yellowstone the next day for more hiking and more scenery...









The next day, we stayed local again and did a gorgeous hike at a state park close to our house.



More fishing!



It was Eric's birthday, too!  We enjoyed celebrating with little gifts from home, a carrot cake from the grocery store, and burgers and fries for dinner.  We couldn't love him more!!


Back to Yellowstone for our final day.  This is the "Lone Star Geyser," appreciated by these Texans.  :)


More beautiful hiking...




Elk siting!  This female elk was a stone's throw from us in the woods, just looking at us.




Sorry for the picture barage!  I assure you, I have many more where that came from.  :)

The rest of June has been spent just enjoying the slower pace of summer, with plenty of swimming and family time.  I have zero pictures except for this one of Eli and Cooper at Braum's, which is what Cooper picked for his fancy birthday lunch.  :)


On to July!  Much love to you!!!

 

Monday, May 31, 2021

May 2021

Summer is here!!!  We're so excited to be finished with school, and we're ready to enjoy the summer.  Here are a few pictures from May...

Eli got braces!  They gave us a big speech about not eating sugar because it's bad for teeth with braces...  and then we went straight to get ice cream.  :)


On Eli's birthday weekend, the boys all went on a guided fishing trip at Lake Texoma.  They had a blast and caught a ton of striped bass.



Eli turned 13!  We celebrated the night before with the family.




And then the next morning, on his actual birthday, we had waffles for breakfast and presents before church.


He got the ping-pong paddle he had been dreaming about for months.



His birthday fell on Mother's Day this year!  We focused on his birthday on Sunday, and they took me out to brunch the next weekend for Mother's Day.


We are so proud of our TEENAGER!


For dinner, we had crab cakes, which are Eli's favorite.


One more cake and birthday song...


Jacey and Cooper and CJ had their end-of-year band concert, and it was GREAT!  


Eli had his end-of-year guitar recital.  He played "Blackbird" and "Yesterday" by the Beatles.  


Rejoicing on the last morning of 7th grade!!  :)


This weekend we had a little pre-celebration of Eric's birthday, since we'll be out of town on his actual birthday.


Eric and Eli took their little boat out for a fishing trip and had a great time. 


And that's a wrap on May.  Much love to you, and happy summer!