We had all our "kids" home for the weekend.  We sure enjoyed it a lot!

The day 3 of them arrived, we went golfing up in Gooding. 

On Saturday we went to the BSU game, which is the reason the kids came in the first place. 

Folks really get into the spirit of the game and really dress up in fun ways for the event!  It's fun!

On Sunday we drove up to Stanley and hiked 9 miles, with a 2,000 foot elevation gain.  I can't believe we did it!  I'm definitely glad we did it, but it was hard!  Not on the kids, but on us parents!

On the way up, we had excellent views of Iron Creek.  Here and there we saw red and yellow leaves of autumn. Lodge pole pine trees lines the paths for awhile.  Tne the trail climbed steeply up the mountain side.

Alpine Lake, the first of 3 lakes we saw.  After leaving Alpine Lake, the trail again climbed steeply via a series of switch backs, with spectacular views of the Alpine lake and the eastern wall of the Sawtooth Range. 

We finally arrived!  The first view of Sawtooth Lake was impressive - with rocky shores and towering peaks. It was quite cool/cold at this elevation.  But we stopped long enough to eat our lunches and enjoy the view.

We sat on these logs to eat.

After a roundtrip of around 9 miles, we made our way back to the trailhead and piled our tired muscles into the car.  Ahhhh!  But it was sure a wonderful day spent in Gods awesome creation!  God is sooooo good to us!

We went camping this week.  The above picture shows us heading up 4th of July Lake trail. 

We arrived!  Lots of mosquitoes. We weren't able to stand still for long.

John & Rhonda came along with us.  We had a lot of fun with them.

This next picture is fuzzy, but hopefully will give you a bit of an idea of how beautiful it was with so many wild  flowers.

A view from the boat of the mountains by Redfish Lake

He caught one!  And released it. 

Yesterday we had a fire just to the south of us in the canyon.  We saw it's beginnings just as we were coming home from our camping trip.  Here's what it looked like as we were coming home a mile or so from our house.

It quickly exploded.  It was quite windy, and the wind fanned the flames. This was taken from our back porch.

It traveled east.

We jumped into the car after awhile to go see what we could see.  They had the road blocked where we walk the canyon.  But we found another road just west of that.  The canyon floor was all consumed.  But it was all on the south side, or the Twin Falls side.  Nothing was on "our" side.

After awhile, they got a helicopter and 2 water planes to drop water.  Here's the helicopter landing to get refueled.  You can see the jet fuel truck parked in the field behind our house.

It was an exciting few hours watching this thing. 

On May15, 2010, Steve and I began a trip that neither one of us had any idea what lay ahead of us. One's perception of distance can be influenced by the short distance on a map between point A and point B. Steve and I got schooled in inches on a map to say the least. What we learned in four days was both spacial and spiritual. I won't speak for Steve, but I think he would agree, I witnessed God's Majesty. With Steve's Corolla loaded to the max, we left Jerome on Saturday morning and arrived in Anchorage at 10pm ADT on Tuesday. What happened in the 3024 miles in between will be difficult to fully transcribe here, but hopefully you will get a little taste of what we experienced. It seemed that everytime the road would take another turn, there would be another fantastic scene in front of us like the picture above. I took so many pictures out the front window, bugs would seem to target our windshield just to get in the next picture.  On the third day traveling through northern Alberta, Northeastern BC, and Yukon we saw 13 bears. After a while we wouldn't even slow down, "Oh, it's another bear, ho hum". Except for this guy!

 This was the only Grizzly we saw as all the others were Black Bear. However, unlike the Black Bears, that were rather camera shy, this guy wanted to get closer. Now you might be asking why there's a pop bottle behind him; it wasn't Steven trying to get him to stand up, I have no idea. We're only about 12 feet away in this picture, and inside the car!  We saw so many animals, Buffalo, Red Fox, Bald Eagles, Bighorn Sheep, Caribou, Elk, Deer, Moose, many times they were right on the road a million miles from anywhere!

At the entrance to Banff Nat. Park

These Caribou were just some of the many we saw.  The highway was in pretty good shape until we got further North.  Frost heaves were plentiful, testing the shocks and our b__ts.  We couldn't have had better weather the entire time, highs in the 60's and 70's and only used the wipers about 5 minutes and that was in Montana.  The second day we drove through Banff and Jasper Nat. Parks and the Icefields Highway. We stopped at the still frozen over Lake Louise and also took a snowcoach ride on a glacier with a long name I don't remember.  The next picture is taken on our way out of Jasper Nat. Park looking South.

More scenery below.

After traveling through Idaho, Montana, Alberta, British Columbia, and Yukon, we made it to Alaska!

The next picture was taken between Tok and Anchorage.

We visited Matinuska Glacier about two hours Northeast of Anchorage. This was an unbelievable experience, walking on a glacier.  The next picures are only two of the dozens that I took while exploring.  Steven is in the second picture being dwarfed by a giant cravass.

The next picture is the reason for the trip, Alaska Eye Clinic, Anchorage, AK.  Steve will be working here and at another clinic in Wasilla for the next three months. We drove through Wasilla and asked somebody where Gov. Palin lived. This local was really reluctant to tell us and actually didn't; they try to protect her privacy.

More Photo's

Lake Louise

Jasper Nat. Park

Another Black Bear...Ho Hum

Glacier in Jasper Nat. Park (We walked on this one too)

Same Glacier from a distance

The ellusive Stone Sheep, like a Bighorn but smaller. We saw Bighorn also

Haines Junction, Yukon. This was a very beautiful area.

Steve's car in front of Fast Eddy's in Tok, Alaska. We had lunch here because it's famous...don't know why.

Steve's apartment in center. Yes, it's close to downtown Anchorage.

Almost Doctor Koning in front of Alaska Eye Clinic

Seward, Alaska, Halibut Fishing Capital of the World

Exit Glacier near Seward (There's a story behind the name)

We traveled to the Northwest to help Steven move and to visit our Oly family.  A very nice weekend. The flowering bushes and trees are absolutely beautiful this time of the year up there and we thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the colors and variety.  My favorite is the dogwood.  Spectacular!

On Saturday we took in a Mariners game. The Mariners lost, but it was fun being together.  I think I did more grand-kid watching than watching the game.  I sure love those kids.

Sunday after church we went outside to enjoy the BEAUTIFUL weather. 

Sitting out back on the deck while Brian made us some yummy Salmon and Steak!

The moving trailer made it safe and sound.

Much cooler and wetter here!

Last week we took a couple days and went to Oregon. On the way we stopped to see Bonneville Dam.

We took a tour.

Fish viewing windows.  We didn't see any go by.  Too bad.  they had 600 the day before.

Fish ladder

Then we met Kristin at Multnoma Falls.  We walked the mile and a quarter up to the top.

Then the next day we went with  Kristin and Steven to the coast. It was a beautiful day with not a lot of wind. 

Evidence of a history of a lot of wind, however!  Love that tree!

We took a frisbee along.

Haystack Rock.

We stayed at Steven's apartment.

And celebrated Kristin's birthday...a few days early.

On the way home we stopped at Aaron and Serena's house for supper and to see ALL our grandkids. 

Aaron started a little bonfire to roast marshmellows with the kids.  They had such fun!

Bailey.

Then today Melissa stopped for a couple hours on her way to SLC.  Fun!  Love Brenna's smile!