Saturday, August 28, 2010

Roughing It

We camped out last night . . .

. . . and awoke to a hearty Dutch oven breakfast.

We then took a horseback ride up a short trail.

Here's a rider's-eye view of my horse, Pepper. The ride up was fun, but coming back downhill was a pain in the toosh. I'm still pretty sore. Not that you wanted to know that.

Oh yeah--and Steve caught a baby weasel.

Well, Idaho, it's been fun! Catch ya later!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Simple Pleasures

This morning we attended a session in the Idaho Falls Temple. I always enjoy temple worship with my sweetheart, and it's a special treat to visit new temples and see how their layouts and murals compare.

In this temple, I love that the world room mural included a picture of a wife handing her farmer husband a cool drink of water. It was a nice reminder that although mortality is full of hard work and trials, it also offers many opportunities to comfort and cheer each other, especially within our families.

This afternoon we attended a cattle auction, then took the kids to Reed's Dairy for some "squeaky" cheese curds and ice cream cones. I'm told they mix potatoes into their ice cream there to make it extra creamy. Whatever they're doing they should keep it up--the ice cream was delicious.

We usually buy Joy's ice cream in a cup, but today we decided to let her get her very first cone (which she opted to share with Daddy). She and Daddy surveyed the flavors and agreed that they wanted . . . licorice ice cream. I would have thought they were the only people in town who would choose that flavor, but when we left I noticed that the woman holding the door for us had grey ice cream on her cone, too. Wild.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Yellowstone

I have wanted to visit Yellowstone for years, and since the Boyle farm is just a few hours away from it we decided to take a day trip there.

It was cool to see wild buffalo up close (but not TOO close).

Joy thought it was fun to wade barefoot in a stream near a hot spring.

My favorite area of the trip was the Fountain Paint Pot Trail. It had all the things I associate with Yellowstone:

Colorful springs . . .

. . . bubbling mud pots . . .

. . . and of course, geysers. As we walked past this geyser, its egg-scented* steam wafted over us. The steam had cooled by the time it reached our walkway, but it was still a little unsettling to be surrounded by vapors that had just erupted out of the Earth.

Speaking of geysers, we figured no trip to Yellowstone would be complete without a visit to Old Faithful. As we approached the geyser, I asked a ranger when the next eruption might be. "Oh, about 2:04pm," he replied, "but you ought to be there ten minutes early just in case." Old Faithful was punctual this afternoon--at 2:04pm it shot tons of water and steam over 100 feet into the air. The spectacle was impressive, but I was most struck by the fact that its massive eruptions can be so accurately predicted.


* The egg smell comes from the sulfur in the steam. Apparently eggs have sulfur in them, too, which is why geysers smell like scrambled eggs (and vice versa).

Monday, August 23, 2010

Huckleberry Hike

This afternoon we went for a hike in Grand Teton National Park.

More specifically, the adults hiked while the kids rode.

Along the way we found some wild huckleberries. They are the size of peas and have a lot of flavor for such a little fruit. Usually I wouldn't bother harvesting something so small, but these tasty little berries were worth the effort. Yum.

Our destination was a lovely waterfall. We found a rock nearby where we could eat lunch and admire the view, then we headed for the ferry landing to catch a ride back. Joy said the boat ride was her favorite part of the outing.

Our final stop of the day was the Bar J Chuckwagon in Jackson Hole, where we enjoyed a hearty ranch dinner (take my advice: spring for the steak), and great entertainment by a quintet of singing cowboys. It's hard to say which I enjoyed more--the biscuits or the hilarious song about Noah's Ark.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Temple Square

Nicole's niece is being blessed tomorrow, so we drove down to Provo for the event. We decided to stop by Temple Square on the way, since Phillip had never seen the Conference Center.

We toured the building, with its magnificent organ . . .

. . . and inspiring artwork . . .

. . . then we went for a walk around Temple Square.

I loved the Salt Lake Temple display in the South Visitor Center. Part of the scale model is cut away, and you can see what the inside looks like, right down to the paintings on the walls. I've been in some of the lower rooms, but I've never seen the upper ones before. You can even see the small room where the First Presidency and Twelve Apostles meet every week or so. I'd love to be a fly on the wall in those meetings. :)

Our last stop was at the Christus statue. I've included the picture of Nicole and Jackson because in all the pictures of our family, we and our kids are facing the camera. Nicole has her son turned toward the Savior, so she can tell him the whole reason Temple Square, the Church, and life itself matters. If you keep your focus on the Savior, you'll never go wrong.

Friday, August 20, 2010

We Can Can

In our quest for the Idaho farm experience, Phillip spent the day helping Steve with farm chores while I joined the womenfolk for a canning session.

Here's Nicole, her mom Susan, and Steve's grandma Doris snapping beans from Grandma Joy's garden.

Yours truly snapping away with Doris and Grandma Joy.

Little Joy wanted to join in the fun, so Grandma Joy helped her make applesauce. Good stuff.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Joys of Idaho

Our friends the Boyles recently invited us to join them on a road trip home to Idaho before the fall semester starts, and we decided it sounded like a fun adventure. We arrived yesterday, and Joy has already found a lot of things to love about the Gem State (or Spud State, depending on who you ask).

For example, Steve's mom has a cool garden (Joy was particularly pleased to discover that she grows carrots). His mom also has a cool name: Joy. We've taken to calling her "Grandma Joy," and our daughter "Little Joy."

Nicole's family doesn't live on a farm but they still have lots of fun things for a little girl to do, like make a drawing ten yards long . . .

. . . or bounce on a giant trampoline with Jackson.

More Idaho fun to come . . .

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Constant Gardener

A friend with an underutilized garden offered to share it with us this summer.

Here's how it looked in June.

Flash forward to August with a stand of corn, a tangle of melon vines, pumpkins, zucchini . . . basically all the things we don't have space for in pots outside our apartment.

This morning I harvested a jumbo zucchini for dinner. We also have discovered that one cucumber plant produces more cucs than we can consume. Anyone wanna take one or two off our hands?

My little container garden is doing pretty well, too. The tomato has been very productive, and we even got a few bell peppers.

My hardy thyme plant is putting out new growth, and it's nice to have green onions outside the door whenever I need them.

I think I need to weed the cactus. :/

Monday, August 9, 2010

Three Fish and Two Chickens

Joy began taking swimming lessons last week. Her five-student beginner class consists of three fish and two chickens. The three fish enthusiastically do anything the teacher asks, and he sometimes has to remind them not to jump in the water when he's helping someone else. The two chickens are extremely reluctant to leave the safety of the pool steps, and occasionally cry when asked to do so.

Any guesses which group Joy falls into?

Yup--she's a chicken. But she's gradually becoming a more confident chicken. When the teacher invited her to do things she used to say "No" and cry. Now she says "No!" and laughs, whereupon he helps her along as she giggles nervously.

I don't know whether Joy will be a proficient swimmer by the end of the class, but she's making progress and hopefully as we keep practicing in our apartment pool at home she'll become more comfortable and capable in the water.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Anonymous Reptile

I'd like to introduce a new member of our family.

No, no . . . not the bear. The critter under the log.

During last week's visit to the nature center, Phillip and I agreed that it would be fun to get a pet snake. (Apologies to any family members currently shuddering.)

Today we took a family outing to the pet store, and brought home . . .

. . . a baby corn snake.

Corn snakes are docile, inquisitive creatures who can grow to be about 4' long. They supposedly got their name because farmers often found them in corn cribs and assumed the snakes ate corn, though they were actually after the mice and rats in the crib. I repeat: corn snakes eat small rodents, not people. Our snake will not harm you. :)

We don't have a name for our little snake yet, and we welcome any suggestions. I proposed "Spot," but Phillip was, um, less than enthusiastic about that idea.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Carry a Big Stick

Phillip volunteered to help on a Boy Scout outing this week.

In addition to the usual hiking, swimming, and tent pitching, . . .

. . . they climbed a really big rock . . .

. . . and had an epic stick fight.

Good times.