Unplanned family reunion

Ben got some time off and came up to Lander to go backpacking with Rohan and Bruce. Everybody that was nearby wanted to come and see him and Shanna and family. We had a great trip up Silas Canyon and made it all the way up to Upper Silas Lake one of the days.

It takes a bit of planning and a bit of packing to take twelve people up in the wilderness.

One of these times I would like to continue up past Upper Silas Lake. It sure makes a beautiful backdrop for our family picture.

All the kids liked playing with uncle David the best.

Before the hike we went to check out the sinks before heading underground to see the river.

We ended up taking sixteen of us into Boulder Choke Cave. All that partook in the some of all of our activities included: Ben, Shanna, Rohan, Bruce, Savitri, Maria, David, Joe, Ethan, Malcolm, Daniel, Becca, Gordon, Rachel, Devin, Tyanna, Anton, Zackary, Isabel, Amelia, Jennifer, Edwin, Grace, Anne, James, John, and Robert.

Epic Horsepacking Trip

My friend John and I have been talking about taking a trip in the wilderness probably since medical school started about 12 years ago. To celebrate John finally finishing his fellowship we planned a horse packing trip into the Gros Ventre Wilderness with our new friend Jimmy and Wyoming Country Outfitters.

Funny how lazy doctors get over the years. It took 12 horses and mules, 2 dogs, and 3 people to take care of us for our six day trip. The night before the trip Jimmy was good enough to let us sleep in the hunting cabin at base camp and even fed us breakfast.

We headed up the crystal creek trail and made it 13 miles the first day. The second day we continued up the crystal creek trail to head over the pass. On the way up we had a little bit of an eye-opening incident we will call horse crash gulch. I'm glad the horses were OK and that we got to continue our trip.

We had some stunning views at the top of the pass above the treeline.

We saw a lot of watermelon snow up that high. We discussed a lot about what makes it, but it turns out it is red because of an algae called Chlamydomona nivalis which works like a laxative if you eat it. I'm glad we decided not to partake.

We camped about a half mile downhill from Shoal Lake which was full of cutthroat trout.

The first rain of the trip hit us, but it only lasted long enough to give us a small rainbow.

The next night we made it to Chateau lake and ended up spending two nights there. Jimmy and John caught a mess of fish. Including the biggest cutthroat of the whole trip.

We made a day trip out to Ouzel Falls and back and did a little bit of breaking our own trail.

It was quite a view.

The last night we slept at Jimmy's base camp on Jagg Creek and got to stay in one of his teepees. 

I spent 5 out of the six days atop cowboy. He was a pretty good horse. John split his time between a couple of horses.

The Tetons were beautiful on our way back to civilization.

And we had to check out the sinks.

Random photos from the summer

The circus came to town early this summer and a friend gave us some tickets. John, James, Anne, and cousin Kaylee got to ride the elephant.

Our first harvest of sour cherries. We made it into some delicious cherry syrup and jam.

Our Christmas present to Grandma Peggy was a whitewater rafting trip down the snake river. We didn't take our camera with us down the river, but we did get a great picture in front of one of the elk antler arches in Jackson.

Jennifer went to an organ conference at BYU this year and got to play the conference center organ.

Jen took us and her cub scouts out to sixth crossing for a day of pulling handcarts and learning some church history.

Uncle David took Jen and I on a date to go rockclimbing. It was really fun.

Big Family Trip

 We took a road trip to Oregon over Memorial Day and had a great time. Our first day we drove to Boise. We stopped for dinner at the fudge factory in Glenn's Ferry Idaho. It was so good that we ate too much and got tummy aches.

 The next day we drove all the way to Uncle Richard and Aunt Jessica's house. We stopped for a rest because Robert couldn't stand being in his car seat for one minute longer. While playing we found a stink bug. It stunk up the whole place.

 We made it to Richard and Jess's, but they were still on their way home from church. Johnny couldn't wait another minute so he decided to water the flowers.

 On Memorial Day Richard, Edwin, and Anne went out fishing on a charter boat while Jennifer, Jess, Grace, James, Claire, John, Scott, Robert, Brooke, and Grandma Reaser went to the Forestry Center and the Tillamook cheese factory

 Then we drove up to Indian Lookout beach to play.

 I'm not sure what part was the best. Playing in the tidepools with the anemones, building a sandcastler with a moat that had running water, or getting feet wet in the ocean.

 The next day we went picking strawberries at a berry patch. I'm not sure how much uranium was in the soil but we found some pretty strange berries, and lots of regular ones too.

 Brooke was contemplating which berries were better, the multifruits or the singles

 Later that day we took a short hike to a beautiful waterfall in the Tillamook State Forest.

 Before we knew it it was time to head home. The Columbia River is beautiful.

 Multnomah Falls was beautiful. James wanted to hike all the way to the top, but we stopped at the bridge and took some pictures instead.

 We also stopped at Shoshone Falls on the way home.

We had a great time at Lava Hot Springs during the Arsenault Family Reunion. We even go to bring Kaylee home with us for an extra week.

Before Summer Vacation Begins

We spent a warm Saturday afternoon on Rattlesnake Hike.  That's not the official name for the trail, but when we ran into four rattlesnakes all within spitting distance of each other we decided to turn tail and head back down the mountain and play at the park without the snakes.

Anne's friends from third grade.  We are all glad she has come out of her shell and made friends this year.

James joined the soccer team this spring and loved it!  We are requesting coach Ken again next year.

Cub scout gardening project.  We spent the day preparing the pumpkin patch.

Grace sang, "I just haven't met you yet" for the school talent show and she did AWESOME!

For the kids' piano recital they decorated sugar cookies.  We were good parents and neglected to take pictures of the kids while they were performing.  It was our first formal recital.  The kids played and I had my students perform so it was nice to see the progression.

Lander had flooding this spring.  For living in a high desert area, and not having good potable water, we certainly have a high water table that wreaked havoc in our community.  We discovered our foundation had a crack in it and there is no vapor barrier around the house.  It was good to know this now and I will stop hinting that I want to refinish the basement.  

Grace was given a tree from one of her field trips.  Dad is opposed to blue spruces growing in our yard, so Grace's tree is living at the neighbors.  We will be checking on it periodically.  

Summer is in full swing now and we will be on many adventures.  Edwin has committed me to blog before I finish painting the family room, so here's your update, and I'm going to be painting soon!