Packsaddle

We rode from our house up to the "Big Holes" just west of Tetonia. The trails were nice and easy and the fall colors were beautiful. I wish I would have gotten some better pics of the scenery.

Lex's family (-minus a few) came also. It was fun, seems like we don't seem them enough. My girls have a great time with those cousins. This pic is at the top of the Big Holes. I think on a clear day, you can see the Rexburg side.

We survived the first thunderstorm by hunkering down under some trees and waiting it out. I was a little nervous and so was Indee. We huddled around grandma Jan. The lighting was flashing and the thunder was clapping right over our heads. It hailed a little and poured rain for about 20 minutes. We went the rest of the way down the trail to Packsaddle Lake. This is one of my favorite places around here. It's really pretty and the kids love to swing on this rope swing.

Indee and Alivia.

Pandora (like the box...well, not really)

So Val turned me onto this awesome radio station site online. It's called Pandora Radio.

The link is pandora.com.

You type in a song or an artist you like and it plays that artist plus others that are similar in genre. So you get a variety of songs.

Here are my fav's. My ALL-TIME favorite is Jason Mraz. I love this guy and could listen to him all day long!

Natasha Beddingfield...love her. Did you see her on the Bachelorette last season singing "Soulmate"...love it!
Jack Johnson...another fav...isn't he a hottie?
Gwen Stefani...She just gets better and better. Love her station.

Music just gets me going...hard for me to clean without it on. So this site is a great find. I usually log onto it and up pops Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers, or Selena Gomez (I don't even know who this is) ..it seems that the girls have learned how to get there radio stations on also.

Mammoth

Chad and I went on a little date to Mammoth, inside the Park. I went a long time ago and saw the elk buggling and battling. We actually had to hide behind our car in the parking lot because two elk were locking horns right there. It was awesome and I've always wanted to go back.

This elk that the rangers called "Six" was the big man on campus. He was buggling and rounding up all his females. I was wondering what would happen if one of them just decided to say "no..I'm not coming with you. I have this other young bull that I like better."

The Hiding Place

I finished this book and I can't quit thinking about it so I thought I'd write down what I learned from it.

1. Be grateful for fleas.
2. Always be honest.
3. Read your scriptures.
4. Love your enemies.
5. Sometimes suitcases are too heavy for us to carry.
6. The importance of relationships. I envied the relationship between Corrie and her sister, Betsie. Having a true friend like that in your life is a blessing that you can't take for granted.

What a great true story!

I wish I had one...

We went with my parents, Chad's parents, my aunt Karen and John, etc...four-wheelin'. We froze but it was so fun. I could really enjoy four-wheelin' on a regular basis if only I had one. I'll keep wishin'.
We went above Birch Creek kind of by Gilmore...by Leadore. There is an old town site called "Hahn's Townsight". They used to mine ore and lead there (Leadore, go figure). It was pretty cool but up in the hills and I couldn't imagine living there in these little log cabins. A different way of life for sure. We went as high as we could go. (Mia's cheesing it)
The old track where they would dump the ore into carts and take it down the hill...
Mia's tuckered out. This playin' is hard work.

Why do they call it "Labor Day"?

I think I know why....

We started off on the east shore of Jenny's Lake in Grand Teton National Park.

Now if you look at this picture, it doesn't look that far across the lake. You can kind of see where the ferrys dock on the other side and the mountain doesn't look that far away. It was a little windy and there were a few white caps rolling across the lake. So those of us who wanted some action decided to canoe across to the trail. Some of us were a little leary of the lake (the elderly and those with small children) and the effort it would take to cross and they turned back (cowards). They took there canoes back to the dock and boarded the ferry and got a free ride across that lake.

So let me tell you, it was a serious work out. And "the sea was angry that day my friend" (Sienfeld).

Note Jan...she's wiped out!

So everyone told us to go around the edge of the lake. It's safer to hug the shoreline instead of go straight across. So Val and Faren take off around the edge. Well we started to do that and then decided to just cut across. I said to Chad "either we're smart and going to save us a lot of time and energy, or we're idiots. If we capsized in the middle of that thing. It turned out we're smart (I think). When we finally hooked up with Val and Faren, they were red in the face, sweating, and frustrated. Val said he was this close to just throwing his hands up and walking away from those canoes and walking the rest of the way around. The wind was blowing them backward and they were paddling so hard to try and make some headway.

This is Val trying to bring his body temperature back down. This water was freezing. I wasn't worried about canoeing across that lake with my baby until I got to the beach and felt the water. It was so cold. We would have died of hypothermia if we would have capsized. Idiots! What were we thinking!

After making it across and regrouping...regaining our strength, we hiked up to Hidden Falls. We haven't been here for a few years and it was fun to do it again. It's pretty and a nice little hike. Mia walked the whole way. She didn't want carried. Last year we came to the park and saw a grizzly bear and a black bear. This year Jerry brought some bear spray and I was so glad and relieved. I stuck close to him. Jerry picked some wild raspberries along the trail and they were good. I'm sure the bears think so also.

We took a little side road home to the place where Chad parked to climb the Teton last month and we saw a bear up on the hillside. We also saw Sicilee's friend in the parking lot. She had just got done hike the Middle Teton that day and told us that we just missed a bear walking by the trailhead sign. My mom, Haddi, and I saw a bear walking through the trees also. I love to see them from my car.