They really saw me coming.

The kids daycare went ahead and had pictures taken the other day. I told Nat that we weren't going to buy any of their pictures because it was a waste of money & we had pictures taken of the kids a couple months ago. I stopped by and said I would take a peek at the proofs even though I wasn't going to purchase any of them. They smiled and proceeded to take me to the cleaners. I am just impressed that they got the boys to dress up and sit still. I thought they turned out pretty good & bought the proofs. The packages they had were outragous. I didn't know pictures could cost that much. Unfortunately they will do this each year. Next year maybe I will pay the kids to not cooperate. That would be cheaper then buying the pictures.

I will admit that they did a good job catching the personality of the children in their pictures. That is probably the only reason I opted to buy them.

Family Picutes

I can't believe that I forgot to post these family pictures that we had taken earlier this year. A good friend of ours from Tooele came over twice to take them because we kept getting rained out. She did a fabulous job.

We really should have pictures taken more often. We take a bunch on our own, but it's neat to see different angles from another persons point of view.

We really liked this picture of Corbin. He isn't usually our most photogenic child. We thought that it turned out really cute.

The kids keep growing like weeds. Unfortunately mom and Dad keep getting older as well.

A summer with Sand!

Ok, it's been forever since I have got online and updated my blog. Things have been crazy lately.

We had a lot of good trips to the dunes this year. Mike and I really lucked out this year. We spent time at St. Anthony, Little Sahara, and the Knowles. These pictures are from St. Anthony & Little Sahara.

Natalie, Becky, & the kids came with us to St. Anthony. They have a cool little pond that they played in while we rode the dunes.

Little Sahara ended up being quite an adventure. Mike's bike started heating up and we spent half the morning trying to figure out if it was going to blow up or not. It ended up just being a late riser & started running right in the afternoon.

This trip was actually a really wierd one because Natalie & Becky decided that didn't want to come and suffer at the Sand Dunes. It was the first time we just went on our own. It was fun put I think we both missed our wives watching what we were doing and worrying that we would kill ourselves.

We will have to see what next year brings & if we will end up at the dunes very much. Mike's getting old & can't ride the dunes like he used to.

Got Sand??

I am just about blogged out today. I really don't like playing catch, but I have saved this for last. Since I got the new ATV I have been hunting around for paddle tires with no luck. We have been to Little Sahara, Knowles, and St. Anthony so far this year and she has performed exceptionally well with stock tires. On our last trip which was St. Anthony I couldn't get to the top of Choke Cherry, which is the first hill I haven't been able to get up with the stock tires. I talked Mike into coming up this weekend and going to St. Anthony with me and set out on a mission to locate these paddle tires that everyone said couldn't be found. Low and behold after calling a number of dealerships, several wheel manufacturers, and searching the internet I found a possible solution. I got it ordered in to a local dealership and installed. I am way excited take it out to the dunes this weekend. Natalie still doesn't think that I can make it to the top of the hill.

Ibapah?? Where the ???

We once again made the jaunt to Ibapah to place a dance for their family reunion. Just as a side note these past couple of posts all took place in a weeks time. We went up to Island Park for a couple days, came home, I went backpacking, Natalie went to St. George to hang out with Becky, we met up in Salt Lake Saturday morning & zipped out to the all night dance. Natalie's friend Kami her friend Ben came out and joined us for the dance. It was fun to have them come out. Kami is a nurse and took a look at my poor feet. Her only diagnosis was a laugh though so a lot of good that did me. The turn out was good and it was fun to see people that we haven't seen in a while. They danced the night away. Natalie and I even got a dance or two. We now have one more tale to tell about our band adventures.

What was I thinking????

I have come to the conclusion that a person should learn from the past & that once in a lifetime experiences should only be endured once in a lifetime. That isn't to say that I will take my own advice and never do this again, I'm just saying that it would be in my best interest.

As a Varsity group this year we planned a 50-mile backpacking trip through the Sawtooth National Forest in Central Idaho. I came back with a few new insights. 1)-50 miles is a lot further than one thinks it is. 2)- 60 lbs. might not seem like a great deal of weight when you are carrying it from the house to the truck, but 13 miles down the trail you begin to consider every item that's bearing down on you back. 3)- While walking 50 miles you are left with a great deal of time to consider what's in your backpack, why you aren't in better shape, why you wanted to walk in a 50 mile circle, & who ever came up with the idea of backpacking anyway. 4)- When you stop thinking about how bad your feet and you back hurt you will be amazed at how beautiful the area is that you are traveling though and wonder why you have never done this before.

I really did have a good time. The temperatures were a bit cold for some of the group, but perfect for me. I like weather a bit cooler. It did hail on us a couple of days, but once again I have come to expect snow and hail on any scouting trips I take during the summer. The other that I went with were not used to such fortune. We made the full 50-mile loop even though the forest service did not recommend or even feel that it was possible to do so. Some of the snowy passes were pretty trecherous and they might have had a good point. The mountain peaks & lakes were amazing, some of the most beautiful places that I have ever been. Hopefully I will have the opportunity to take Natalie & others part way in on this trail. I am not sure that I am up for the full thing for quite some time. I do recommend that everyone should try and do a full 50-miler in their life. It is quite an accomplishment.

Chillin' at the Cabin

Our week at the cabin landed over the 4th of July weekend this year. Everyone we invited seemed to have things come up this year so we ended up there on our own. It was fun to just hang out and not have much of a schedule. We took the ATV's up this year and found some really cool trail's to go riding on. Natalie was happy to do some trail riding after spending the previous day at the dunes. It was amazing how green and pretty everything was. We went and saw Mesa Falls which had a ton of water going over it with the wet spring we have had. We spent a day in West Yellowstone, saw Johnny Sacks cabin, Big Springs, & watched the fire works out over the lake. All and all it was a great place to relax for a couple of days and get ready for my next adventure. If only all vacations could be this simple and wonderful.

Lovin' the Sand

I absolutly love my new ATV & have grown to love the dunes. July 1st, ( I know I haven't posted in a while), we went to the St. Anthony sand dunes and had a blast. We were on our way up to Island Park so we didn't have a whole lot of time & since it was just Natalie, the kids, & I things didn't get too extreme. Sara & Corbin absolutely had to ride with Dad while we were at the dunes. This made me question the areas that I would be able to ride. I was shocked & amazed that Corbin kept asking me to ride up, down, and around things that I questioned if I really wanted to do. Sara hung on behind me and we had a blast. Choke Cherry is the big hill climb spot at St. Anthony. You can't see the bottom half of this hill, but I only made it about 3/4 of the way up with my stock tires. It was pretty steep, rough at the bottom, & very fine dry sand. My sweet wife, after large amounts of coersion, let me buy some paddle tires and we are going to go up there and try it again. I am hoping to come back with some more pics. I love the sand.

Wet & Wild

So for Combined Youth this month the Youngwomen scheduled for the whole group to go out to a farmers house in Raft River & use their slip & slide if you can call it that. It was sweet. They have built up a hill beside their house & have plastic & a zip line ran down to the edge of the road. It's about a quater mile or so. The youth had a really fun time, the leaders had a blast also. We would have four man races to see you could get down the first and go the farthest. I am need to talk Natalie into letting me build one of these in our backyard It would be awesome. Downside would be that it's only warm enough to use it two months out of the year. No biggie though.

Family Home Evening @ Independence

Since I am trying to get back in the habit of posting I might as well get to it and post again today.

I am planning on taking the youngmen backpacking up to Independence Lakes this weekend so we decided to take the family up last night & see where the trail was. We weren't able to leave till I got off work so we didn't make it all the way up to the lakes. Corbin & Sara were quite the hikers. Keagan took backseat in the pack and we made it 2 miles up the trail. It was a really pretty area. Natalie and I both agreed that we wanted to bring the family up there again and camp over on a Friday night and then hike up to the lakes Saturday morning. It got a bit cold on the way down & Cobin fell a couple times with his hands in his pockets, not a good scenerio. On one of his falls he broke his lip open, other than that the hike went without incident. Hopefully the backpacking trip this weekend will go as well.

Guess it's been a while...

I apparently have missed out on a bunch of the stuff that we have been doing so far this summer. We took a sweet trip to the Little Sahara Sand dunes and had a blast. Cheb came in and joined us for a bit and that was awesome. The kids enjoyed grandpa bringing his trailer and taking them for rides. Sand mountain was a blast, but we didn't get any good picture of that though. We took a quick weekend trip up Hegler Canyon for the first time and found it to be a really fun place to go and ride the four wheelers. We rode down to Sublett Res. and had a great time. The kids have spent a lot of time playing in the yard and wishing that the weather would warm up a bit. Natalie has been busy out in the yard and the place looks amazing. We enjoy having her home from school.

Pictures of Duke

Here are a couple pictures of our dogs. As you can see Duke is growing quickly and already caught up with Cody. They are both good dogs and the kids enjoy them. Natalie reminds me that neither one of them is as good a dog as Edes was. Neither one of them will come in the house to clean up the floor under the table, what a bummer. I really don't like dogs in the house anyway.

A love of Music

So Natalie has been spending a good deal of her time with school work this past semester. She loves it so much that to her it doesn't feel like work and to me it just looks like she's goofing off. Her teacher had a violin made & shipped from Chicago for her to play & see if she liked. He then recommended that she go to a violin shop in Utah & try two other violins in the same price range. It has been fun to hear her play & observe the different sounds & charecter of each of the violins. Luckily these violins are not worth the same amount as the Strad that Nat was playing in an earlier blog. We are grateful for Natalie's love of music & her determination to share it with the rest of us. I can't figure out if I am just getting older or my brain has been warped, but some of that classical stuff isn't quite as bad as it used to be. Natalie has had some amazing concerts & made some great friends. Now that schools over hopefully we will both try to find our yard and get it cleaned up.

Welcome home Duke

So here's a picture of our new pooch Duke. He has been really cute to watch. He likes to climb in the back of Cody's dog house and sleep with her. He is really good with the kids and the other animals. I think he will be a great dog, hopefully Natalie will warm up to him soon enough. I feel a lot safer letting the kids play outside in the backyard alone with two dogs out there instead of just the one. He is an Australian Shepherd / Golden Lab mix aka mutt. I don't think that he will get too big. The kids were way cute when we went to get him. This is actually the one that Corbin picked out.

Warm weather & family picture time.

So the weather in Idaho has finally warmed enough that we spend a considerable amount of time outside. W decided that we needed to have a new picture taken since the kids keep growing like weeks. This picture will have to do for a while. We keep talking about have one professionally taken, but we haven't got around to that yet. Life is good though and we are well.

Man's best friend.

This past weekend I went back packing with the varsity scouts. We had a great trip. When I got home Cody, our australian shepherd/border collie dog sat by my truck door wimpering while I climbed out. She seemed sad and afraid, but I thought that it might have something to do with her possibly being pregnant, but we never know. I didn't think too much of it and went inside to see how the family was doing. Later on we cleared the garden spot and a couple other spots around the yard. Cody stayed close by and moped the whole time.

After lunch Natalie and I decided to go out to the forest and clear some of the trees that had blown down with the heavy winds we had this spring. There are probably a hundred dead pines that have tipped over and need sawed up. While we were figuring out where to get started noticed something on the ground. To save the gruesome details, Nat's Shitzu was eaten.

He had been a part of our family since the start. A great deal of the time he caused trouble, like marking all the carpets in the house & jumping out of the jeep while driving down trails hanging from his leash. He ate pine cones, liked to paw on the window in the middle of the night, and licked himself while you were sleeping till it almost drove you nuts. He was Natalie's friend and protector. He would always sit in the same places and she could count on him to protect her while I was away. He liked to tricks and loved banana's. We miss him cleaning up food under the table and tearing around the yard, just because he was excited to be outside. We will miss our little friend Edes.

Life in the big city.

I finally got all of the cool things that Mom and Dad Jackson gave me for my birthday mounted on my 4-wheeler. They all fit perfectly and I am way excited to go out and give them a whirl. I also had a tray built on the back so that I could carry a small gas can with me when the family decides to go for an endurance ride. An oversized tank would have cost a fortune.

As you can see the grass is finally starting to turn green and we were able to spend a little bit of time outside for Easter. We set the trampoline up while my family was here, minus four springs that wandered off over the past winter, and the kids have been jumping on it daily.

That was until the freak snow storm that has kept the kids indoors once again. We enjoyed having Ashby's come up and visit. It was just a quick trip, but we really enjoyed the visit.

My wife was really into drooling over my four wheeler as you can see. This is the way that we see her most of her waking hours. We might have to have the violin surgically removed once she gets done with school. She loves what she is doing and is excited for the upcoming break. I doubt she will be excited about it for long and she will be ready to go back to school after a week or two. I am just ready for it to warm up enough for us to do some camping and wheelin'.

Birthday for a Princess

Our princess has grown a year older and wanted a pink castle cake. Even though mom didn't think it resembled a castle I thought it looked pretty darn good. It passes Sara's approval and that's all that matters.

Due to the business of the day she opened presents in the morning before school, played out in the yard while we made dinner, and then had cake and colored easter eggs for family home evening. Her dinner of choice was macaroni and cheese. Yum Yum. It was fun. We still need to find the present from grandma Ashby. She sent it up about a month ago and we hid it good. Natalie and I had even forgot that we had it. That will be a project for tonight. We love our Sara and enjoy her being a part of our family.

Sunday Afternoon Drive

Sunday Morning we decide that a captive audience is better than a disruptive one. We take to the streets for a Sunday afternoon drive through Northern Idaho, a region we haven't spent any time in up till now. It was amazingly beautiful. The kids listened to the conference speakers and we were surrounded by some of the most beautiful country we have traveled through. The Salmon River was gorgeous. There were many people fishing along the edge of the highway. The temperatures were pleasant, but there is still quite a bit of snow in the mountains. The kids had a great time getting out and playing in the snow. I am always amazed as we travel through the craters of the moon area. It is some of the most amazing lava formations that we have ever seen. It is a bit scary to think that lave once covered this whole area. We enjoyed conference, a great drive, and some family time.