Riverton, Utah Convention & Sara's Visit

I know I haven't updated in a couple weeks. That's kinda because we haven't really done anything too interesting. John and Ellen left for Ronan, ID Convention on Monday, June 7th and didn't get back till that next Tuesday so we had the house to ourselves. It was pretty fun playing house. It's not going to be easy going back to an apartment. It sure is funny how fast you can get used to the little luxuries.

So two weekends ago we really didn't do anything but chill, do laundry, and mow the lawn. I didn't think you guys would be too interested in hearing about all that.

One thing Philip and I have really enjoyed in Idaho are the sunsets behind the open fields and mountains. So here are a couple pictures of two nights we had the privilege of seeing.

Philip isn't going to want to use a push mower after using this. It makes the work a little bit easier. One funny thing that happened was Philip asked me to help him mow so I sat on his lap and we mowed together. And then this guy stopped by seeing if we knew this family who was hosting a wedding that day because he was delivering food. He must have thought we were two weirdos...

Last weekend we went to Riverton, Utah for convention. It is just south of Salt Lake City. Sara also came! She flew in Friday, June 18 into Salt Lake City International. It was so nice to share part of a convention with her. We heard some wonderful things and got to meet some more people. Philip loved that one day they served taco salad for lunch or dinner and they had donuts during snack time.

Another thing I learned is that Cottonwood trees do not like me. They really messed with my allergies. So I don't really like Cottonwood trees either.

Riverton was also the smallest convention I had ever been to. There were maybe between 300-400 people there. It was a really great experience.

Philip and I saw a double rainbow on our way to Riverton. At one point, we actually got to see the entire arch, but I couldn't fit it all in the camera screen. This was the best picture I got of it. I couldn't believe how vivid it was.

Mountain view from convention grounds.

Random horsey. I like how this picture turned out.

Sara wasn't feeling well enough to finish our walk so I picked these wildflowers for her to make her feel better. I thought they were so beautiful so I had to take a picture of them.

Sara & Jenn!!

More of the pretty mountains. On our way back to Idaho Falls.

I was so glad Sara came back with us to see Idaho Falls and to meet John and Ellen. We went out to dinner at Jaker's which is a steak and fishhouse. It was AMAZING! Sara and I split the seafood linguine with a pear and pecan salad.

John took this from his blackberry.

Us being super silly. I was the eyes and Sara was the mouth. Yay! I actually really love this picture.

Sara modelling with our mud pie. We had no idea how MASSIVE this was going to be. And they say everything is bigger in Texas. I would hate to see a Texas sized mud pie.

So then Monday, Ellen and I took Sara back to Salt Lake to the airport. After we dropped her off, Ellen and I took a look around Salt Lake City since I hadn't had a chance to look around. It's not much different than Dallas except for the mountains. And I think Dallas is much prettier. We did have fun looking through stores. Ellen had some wonderful luck. On our way back to I.F., we stopped and had lunch at Marie Callender's.

The rest of our week has been pretty standard. I'm working on schoolwork and Philip is working. He had training this week so INL fed him. He's bummed out that tomorrow he'll actually have to spend the time to pack his lunch. I have one more week of english! And then the day after english is over, math begins. Our prof for math claims we will have to spend 6-8 hours a day on her course. I really hope that isn't the case. I'm crossing my fingers all this business calculus will come easy to me.

Well that's about it. Till next time!

Pocatello, ID

This weekend we relaxed a little bit. Friday I got my new computer!! It is AMAZING! And not just because it works. :P I did end up getting the HP Slimline desktop. It's about a third of the size of Philip's desktop. It does not heat up at all because the fans are amazing and it's super quiet.

Saturday I went to downtown Idaho Falls which is really neat. It has an older look to it. It reminds me of what towns would look like in the 20s or 30s. I went to a thrift store there to look for some long skirts. Philip told me to pack summer clothes so I didn't bring any. It turns out summer has not quite gotten to Idaho yet. I did find a few skirts and they are awesome! I got a long denim skirt that looks brand new for $4! When I got back, Philip and I worked on moving our things from the trailer into John and Ellen's house because they're leaving for convention today. I also found out some interesting differences in what guys and girls find important that I thought were funny during our move. The first thing I brought over was my clothes and shoes. The first thing Philip brought over was his computer. Saturday evening, John and Ellen treated us to dinner.

Sunday we had union meeting and a potluck afterward. It was really nice being able to meet some more people around the area and getting to know the people we already knew better. Plus, there was some pretty fabulous food. After we got back to the house, Philip and I got ready to go hiking in Pocatello with John and Ellen's son Tyler. At the time I didn't know what I was in for. If I did, I probably wouldn't have worn heels to meeting that morning.

This is a stream at the beginning of the trail that is about 2/3 melted snow.

This is where we're lower on the mountain we were climbing. At this point, I was already starting to feel the burn in my calves. But of course I wanted to look tough to the guys I was hiking with so I tried to quietly deal with it.

Here's another view I believe at the same height.

We saw tons of gorgeous wildflowers so we started picking them and putting them in my hair.

Even higher up.

Tyler and Philip pointed at this part saying that I just had to make it to this point and I'd be done. After we got there, they decided we should just go to the top while we were at it.

Tyler's dog Sonny came with us and this is how I got up part of the way. Sonny gave me just the boost I needed to make it. And then he started going a little too fast and I had to let go.

The trail got more wooded as we reached the top.

Some weird bendy tree.

Tyler and Sonny at the top!

I made it! I almost didn't put this picture up because of how horrible I look, but the background is amazing.

Philip, Sonny and me with storm clouds in the distance. Oh and if you're wondering, Sonny is part German Shepherd part lab. I think he's gorgeous.

Mountains

Hurrying down so we wouldn't get caught in the storm.

It's hard to see and I don't know how to point to it here, but you can see part of the trail we came up. It's in the middle of the picture on the hill to the left right below the one we're on. It's a very faint line through the trees.

Me being goofy. Go figure.

Okay so when we were going down the mountain I slid a couple times and fell on my rear so we joked that this sign was posted just for me.

You know you're out of shape when a 32 year old is this far ahead of you...

Maybe I can still blame the altitude. :P

Done!

This was really funny. Philip told us there was a deer and I thought he was pointing to the deer sign, but he was pointing at the actual deer. If we had just backed up a few feet, I could have gotten a picture with the deer and the deer sign.

So after we went hiking, we were driving around and Tyler decided to see how his Montero did on trails so we did a little off-roading. But I don't know if it's actually considered off-roading if you're on a trail. Anyways, we drove over some pretty high bumps and splashed through some puddles. It was tons of fun. Poor Sonny didn't seem to enjoy himself too much though.

Part of the drive.

When we got deep enough into the mountains, Tyler let us try shooting his pistol into a tree. I had never shot a gun before, but I didn't do too bad. I was able to hit close to the same spot two times in a row. And I said I was aiming for this one spot and totally nailed it. It was awesome. Don't think I could go hunting though. I would feel bad for the deer or whatever else we were hunting for.

For your entertainment, I shot a little video of some of our drive on the way back. I should have started filming later because we hit some pretty big bumps in the road and it was great.

More Adventures...

Sorry I haven't updated in a bit. The days have been flying by and it's been hard to find the time to sit down, load pictures, resize them and upload them onto my blog and write. So last Saturday night Philip and I drove over to Aunt Jan and Uncle Paul's in Wyoming for Memorial day weekend. It was a good thing we were there for Sunday morning meeting because the four of us made up the meeting! After that, we went over to one of their neighbor's for lunch. It was a lot of fun! For one thing, they have horses and I've always loved horses and used to want a horse, but then gave up on the idea because I never thought I would ever get one. I don't think Plano is a very horse friendly town. At least in the suburbs. ;) Philip and I got to ride one of the horses named Oreo. She was probably one of the most stubborn horses I've ever been on. She didn't want to go at all. It was Philip's first time on a horse and he did pretty well. We're still going to go on a trail ride sometime this summer.

Here's Rayah feeding one of the horses. She was kinda scared of the horse biting her so she stood far away making the horse really have to reach for it. We all thought it was hilarious.

I love the horses with the mountains in the background. Sooo pretty!

Rayah on Oreo. My camera was dying so I had to take a really quick picture and her eyes were closed.

After we left the neighbor's house, we got all our gear together and went to swim in the hot springs. It was probably one of the coolest things I've done/seen so far. Being up in the mountains and swimming in a pool that is 96 degrees. And it's all natural! The other great thing was all the wildlife we saw on the drive there and back. We saw moose, elk, and deer.

Here's a moose crossing a creek! It was awesome!

Rayah didn't bring her jacket so I zipped her up in mine and she fell asleep on the way there.

This is the source of the hot springs.

Philip just getting out of the pool.

The hot springs spilling into the pool.

We stayed till the pool closed and they let us watch as they let the water out into the creek.

Man I'm smoking. Oh wait, that's just the water from the springs. :P

Water from the springs joining up with the creek water.

You don't get views like this in Texas.

We had the rare privilege to see a mama moose with her two babies. Unfortunately my camera was dying and I couldn't wait to focus it on the moose. :( But you can kinda see the light brown heads of the babies right in front of mama moose.

Sunday afternoon we went on a hike up a butte across from the Tetons. It was pretty awesome and I nearly made it to the top. I would have if I wasn't scared of rock climbing the rest of the way without gear. I probably could have climbed up, but getting down would have been the part where I would have totally freaked out. Philip did it though because he's just that awesome.

Here's Branson on our trail. Mom, you might have freaked out on this hike because the trail wasn't very wide and it basically was a drop off. There were some touch and go spots for me when I was going up and down.

A picture of our path.

I think we were about half way up at this point. Still have tons of energy.

This was the rock half way up. It was really windy up here. Philip wasn't scared (of course) and walked right out onto it. The Tetons are in the background.

Philip on the same rock and to show how high up we were look at the truck and trailer on the highway.

Rayah did such a good job keeping up with us. She almost made it to the top.

Here's the view from the top!

You can even see the Grand Teton poking out. From the ground you couldn't see it because it was covered by the clouds.

Philip on the very top.

After we made it back down, we drove over to a viewing site of the Tetons.

Tetons and the snake river.

Philip, Branson, Bear, and me

Philip found snow!

After all of our adventuring, Aunt Jan and Uncle Paul treated us to ice cream in Jackson.

Philip and I under one of the elk antler arches with our ice cream.