Miss Lea

...was given The President's Volunteer Service Award for giving 8 years of service to St. John's Hospital in Jackson, WY!! She was invited to a volunteer luncheon last week and she invited her provider for the day, Katharine to attend with her. When Katharine brought her home, Katharine went on and on about how Lea was honored. (along with 4 others as well) We had not realized that she'd volunteered for 8 years! Way to go Lea Bo Bea!!

ANNOUNCING..... the new

SKY!!!! She decided to get her hair cut and this is what she got...

...the opinions in our house range from one extreme to the other!

...what do I think? I say...as long as she likes it, I'm happy. And yes...she loves it.

Yellowstone

Teralyn came for a visit this past week and we had a great time showing her around the area. Tuesday was slated for visiting Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone. Here's a picture of the lineup taken from Jackson Lake Lodge.

Kirk and Mel at Jenny Lake in GTNP.

Kirk and Teralyn cooling their feet in the water at Lewis Falls in Yellowstone.

Bison...one BIG BOY...he's crossing the road in front of our car!

Probably the most spectacular view of all in Yellowstone...Upper Falls.

This elk was just grazing on the side of the road!

Old Faithful...we drove into the parking lot and it started to blow...we walked towards it as it was spewing. We didn't have to wait at all...next blow time was @85 minutes later!

Naturally have to go inside the Old Faithful Lodge and take a peek. It's an AMAZING structure.

one thing leads to another...

...because I had decided to make this strawberry tart! and because my oven was already on...

I decided to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. and because my oven was STILL on and I had leftover pumpkin...

I decided to use it up by making pumpkin bread.

ALL IS WELL

Lea had a lump in her breast...it looked very suspicious on the ultrasound. She underwent a lumpectomy on Thursday morning. We got the results and it is only a fibroadenoma, which is noncancerous lumps in the breast tissue. Lea is doing well and was a very brave young lady. Here she is BEFORE the surgery....not very happy and pretty anxious. I gave her my cell phone and she called her grandma and grandpa and Ty. Talking to them calmed her down.

Daddy snuggling with Lea after she came out of recovery. She still doesn't know that she has an IV in her hand! They put it in after they gave her a "mask". She's still bundled from surgery and hasn't seen her hand.

With the IV out, she's ready for a breakfast of french toast!

Here we go again

Time to put braces on the bottom teeth!

the weekend

We had a FULL house this weekend with a bunch of Kara's friends and roommates up to visit for the 4th of July. The group was a lot of fun and everyone had a great time. Here's Kara and Taylor after a visit to Haagan Daz.

This is the sweetest young man alive on the planet. Not only did he participate in Kirk's weed-a-rama one morning, but he was so kind and darling to Lea.

They went to town and got possessed by all the tourists!

They must have just visited the candy store..they look too SWEET.

Your visit here is not complete until you've had your picture taken next to the elk antler arch!

Lea's Life

Lea goes to Jackson Hole Therapeutic Riding Association every Tuesday afternoon. She's been riding with JHTRA for a good 10 years. She loves it.

In the summer, she gets to ride outside when the weather is nice.

Lea is "supposed" to be standing up in the stirrups...

Lea with her red vest on and ready to go to work! And where does she work?

K-Mart!! Yep, she works Thursday and Friday from 9-1 pm. What does she do there? Ever seen a Walmart greeter...you get the picture.

Happy 18th Birthday Mari!

Mari's 18th birthday coincided with Father's Day this year. Since Kirk and I had just barely gotten back to town...we waited a few days to celebrate. She wanted to have a nice dinner with her friends. She set the menu, I cooked and then we set a very nice table outside on the patio. Thank goodness the weather cooperated.

Mari's 5th birthday...we had just moved to Jackson!

Mari's 18th birthday!!

ROAD TRIP: PART 3

From Port Angeles, we took a ferry over to Canada and docked in Victoria in British Colombia. The ferry was a bit wavy at first, but I got used to it.

The main purpose of coming to Victoria was to go to Butchart Gardens. These gardens were constructed under Jenny Butchart many years ago and are still privately held by her granddaughter today.

The gardens were extensive and incredibly beautiful. Here's Kirk in an area of the japanese garden.

We took the ferry from Sidney, B.C. to the San Juan Islands of Washington State. There are quite a few islands in this area, but only a few are inhabited. We stopped in San Juan Island at Friday Harbor and went and whale watched and visited a very cool lavender farm. Incidentally, this area of Washington grows the most lavender outside of Provance, France!

Here's a not so great photo of the whales...but we were able to watch a pod of like 10-11 whales! So awesome.

After San Juan Island, we stayed overnight on Orcas Island which is probably my favorite. It was also very green and the island had the unusual shape of a narrow horseshoe. It had beautiful lookouts and many hiking trails. From Orcas, we island hopped to Shaw Island...would NOT recommend visiting here....there is only a tiny general store right at the dock and no restaurants! What does that tell you? they don't want you there! Next stop was Lopez Island...I think this was Kirk's favorite island...full of hippies! It was rather interesting....lots of people come here to bike ride cuz it's the flattest terrain of all the San Juan's. Here's a pic of our last ferry ride as we went to Anacortes on Fidalgo Island. From Fidalgo Island, there are bridges to everywhere else.

And the last stop of our road trip was Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. It really is a very beautiful area, but it paled compared to what I had already seen! From here, we basically took EVERY scenic road and followed water on our way home to Jackson. So, one week and 2700 miles later we were back in Jackson.

ROAD TRIP: PART 2

We arrived at the Oregon coast at dusk and stayed the night in the quaint little town of Seaside, Oregon. Actually it's a tourist destination, particularly in the summer and has a darling downtown (darn it if all the shops were closed!). I'd never been to the coast in Oregon and found it absolutely delightful.

Early the next morning, we drove to Canon Beach, Oregon and found this incredible sight...it's called the Haystack. It had an UNBELIEVABLY LOW TIDE this morning....like the 2nd time it's ever done this! We were able to walk way out on the beach.

This lump of "stuff" is typically completely submerged and we found it fascinating to observe. You would poke on it and these creatures would suck in and out...it was so cool.

we saw tons of starfish, but this beauty is a sunflower starfish..

We continued heading north up the coast into Washington and entered the Olympic National Park. This is taken at Ruby Beach with this cool rock.

Then we headed inland for a bit and entered the Hoh Rain Forest. This place was AWESOME and absolutely UNBELIEVABLY so GREEN!!! Moss grew everywhere and it was like we were in another world. Obviously, to be this green it has to rain a ton, but we were fortunate and never got rained on!

me in the Hoh rain forest
After the Hoh rain forest, we headed in the direction of Forks, Washington...yes...where Bella lives from Twilight. The guys thought it would be fun for us "gals" to stay in Forks, but I nixed the plan, because, it is literally a dump of a town! We did drive on and stayed in Port Angeles (yes, that's in the Twilight novels as well) and the adventure continues....

ROAD TRIP

Kirk and I embarked on a road trip with some friends. I know...Kirk and I on the road trip...sounds funny, I know. My kids sure thought we had reverted back to our hippie days. ( maybe Kirk had hippie times, but I was just a baby!) The goal: the northwest. We sort of "knew" where we'd like to go and jogged around here and there on the map. Never knowing where we would spend the night...we drove till we liked a particular place. From Jackson, we drove to Boise, Idaho to drop off our friend's daughter. Then, we headed through Oregon..always heading west. Stopped for lunch in Hood River, Oregon....loved the town! Saw Mount Hood in the distance....several of my kids have been there for ski camps. Below is a photo of Multnomah Falls.

This waterfall is called Horsetail Falls.

This photo is of the Colombia River taken from the vista house. We followed the river for a bit.
Next stop: coast of Oregon.

our UN-invited guest

Kirk and I were on a road trip (more on that to come) when we get a "frantic" call from the girls saying that we have a BEAR in our yard. No, he is not a grizzly bear, but a black bear. He's what you would call a cinnamon-colored black bear. A couple of years ago we had a baby bear roaming around, but this is no baby!

He is trying very hard to get at my bird feeders! They are regulated around here to be 12 feet up in the air. Mine are actually way higher than that.

He takes a break and then heads out for another bird feeder.

this is one determined bear

...uh, maybe I shouldn't go out on that limb!