Yellowstone

August 15th, Chris and I along with 14 other people headed to Yellowstone.  We took the Sonrise Youth.  We had a wonderful time and saw amazing sights!  This was our first time and we can't wait to take our girls someday.  It was hard to choose the pictures since we took so many.

We had just walked back to the parking lot and were ready to pile into the vehicles as one of our kids pointed to this bison.  I actually didn't look at first, because I thought he was joking since we just walked from there, but sure enough, there it was walking down the road.

There were many times that we were on high places or bridges.  Many of you know that I do not like neither.  This view was one of my bravest moments.  I was overwhelmed with standing over this rushing water fall.  I actually had tears from fear combined with awe of this powerful beauty.

We saw a lot of these animals.  I was just getting, maybe a little, comfortable camping with the wild animals until we saw a bison standing in the middle of the campground with people all around!  It looked like someone photo shopped it into a picture.  It wasn't near our camping area, but still, close enough.  Then minutes after seeing this we had to stop our car on the main road so a bison could walk right by to our car.  If it moved it's head toward our car it would have smashed the window.  Crazy!

There was loads of laughter playing games at camp, our group even played them in the car.  There was lots of driving.  Have you ever played Apples to Apples in the car?  I have.

On our longest travel around the park day, we stopped at this beautiful location for dinner.  I love this picture.

Have you ever had a roasted Starburst?  They are yummy!

Embarking On A New Adventure

Here we are again starting another year of school.  Emma started her fifth grade year and Madi her third.  They both had a great time and wonderful teachers.  For those that don't know, I am homeschooling Emma this year so that was funny.  Are you laughing?

Our Vacation Week

Here are some of the highlights of our July vacation week that we spent in town...

We went to the Great Salt Lake.  We ate our picnic in the car because of all the flies.  The second picture shows them a bit better.  See the black lifting in front of Madi and Chris?  Those are flies.




One of the days we took a day trip to Silver Lake, Doughnut Falls, and Storm Mountain.

While Chris was reading the sign on moose, I spotted one in the bushes.  This was the first time any of us saw a moose.

We also went to the farmer's market and the zoo.

5-Day Club

About 120 CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) workers came to Salt Lake City to share the Good News of what Jesus did for us.  They partnered up with 29 churches and did over 80 5-Day Clubs.  Our church was involved with three parks.  We had 11 children except Christ as their personal Savior!

I had to share these last two pictures.  A boy that wanted to join the club had two puppies and asked if we could watch them for him.  Of course.  The girls did for awhile and then I and other workers helped out.  The boy came back the next day, but thankfully didn't bring the puppies, because as you can see they are a distraction because of their cuteness.

Day Camping

It has been years since we went camping.  We don't have the vehicle or the equipment to go.  We have stayed in a cabin when we went to Arches two summers ago, so that sort of counts.  Anyways a couple of weeks ago we were invited to go up to the mountains for a picnic.  We haven't been to the mountains except to go to Park City and Chris and I for our church retreats.  We thought a picnic in the mountains sounded like a great idea.  This place had sites that you could choose and even a Camp Host, but no overnight camping.  What a fun concept.  I think Oregon should have some similar places, especially for non campers that love smores.  We went on a hike, played horshoes, played on the playground, watched the roaring river, ate hot dogs and smores.  Then we were encouraged to leave when a storm started blowing in.  It started raining when we drove onto the road.  That was a close one.

The city is to the left of the picture.

Guess who?

Madi burnt her marshmallow; Chris rescued it and she loved every bite. 

PandaMania

The girls with their leaders

The girls were invited to a VBS at a church near our neighborhood. It kept them busy all week and they had a blast! On Thursday Emma excitedly told me, when I picked her up, that two girls in their group excepted Christ as their personal Savior!
This week we are participating in a 5 Day Club.  We have over 130 people here from all over the United States sharing the Gospel of Christ.  Our church is hosting three clubs at parks around the neighborhood.  Friends of ours are here from Oregon; we got to visit with them this evening.