Wyoming, Part 1

When we were younger, my family would always take a summer jaunt up to Wyoming. This 18 hour drive became a fond tradition for all of us to visit my mom's parents and family. Over the years, we collected quite the collection of wild fishing and camping stories, and sometimes there would even be some cousins to play with! ;) We always loved the Wyoming Trip and looked forward to it.

Well, the stars aligned this year, and all of my family was able to make it up here to Wyoming (except Tasha's husband Justin will be joining us in a couple of days. He's working in Oregon so he'll come over on a break) During this trip we have been making the most of our time!

On Monday, my dad, Nathan, my Uncle Wade, Adam, and I went Golfing. So, I must be getting better, because I beat them ;) Yup, you read that right! We had a ton of fun, but I think the mosquitoes got the better of us. They wouldn't leave us alone! We always joke that is Wyoming's state bird ;)

Tuesday we headed up camping and had quite the trial getting out of town. One car had troubles with the battery and then the truck had problems with the alternator! But we finally got up to the campsite and promptly started playing dominoes ;) I'm not sure when that tradition started, but we play dominoes everytime we hit those Big Horn mountains. We finished just in time, because it started to rain while we were cleaning up.
The next morning was a little damp, but my dad fixed a killer breakfast and we set out for the lake to go fishing. Because my brother was the last one to join us in our family, I was usually the child that went fishing with my dad growing up. I have several fond memories of us and our several fishing trips. We got into quite a few scraps and loved every minute of it ;)
My husband on the other hand, is quite new to this whole fishing experience! Adam decided he was going to do all of the rigging and everything by himself and wanted to fulfill the "teach a man to fish" parable. Well, after he cut himself on a hook when a fish was flopping around and then he caught this tree, he was done. He threw in the towel. Left his hook and bobber up in the tree and started his crossword puzzle! In his defense, it was wicked cold and not a lot of action was happening in the water ;)

Soon after that we had to leave, because the rain was coming down hard and the fog was rolling in.

So we headed down the mountain and got up early the next morning for a cool hometown parade the town was having for it's "Lovell Days". There have been some really cool events all week, which were concluded with a spectacular firework show on the lake last night. I loved it! We were able relax by the lake and enjoy the beautiful surroundings..... such a great week. Full of more wonderful memories.

The Bucket List

So I've been adding to this list for awhile (and I will continue to do so). Some of the things I have been able to cross off my list and so I will give them an honorable mention ;) Adam has agreed to cross at least one of these off my list every year or every other year...... we'll see how things go ;) Some will be easier than others and I DO (hopefully) have several years to do all of these ;)

To Do: (In no particular order)

1. Tour the Parthenon in Greece (For that matter, MUCH of Greece ;)

2. Ski in the Alps

3. Walk in Stonehenge

4. Go to a taping of the Price is Right

5. Walk in the Garden of Gethsemane and visit the Tomb

6. View the Grand Canyon (Yes, I know it's ridiculous that I have not seen that yet when I grew up within hours of the place ;)

7. Tour a real Pirate ship.

8. Go sky diving (but the closest I will probably get is one of those vertical wind tunnels. I HATE heights!! ;)

9. View the blue, blue waters of the Caribbean

10. Ride in a Hot Air Balloon (Reference #8 and realize I will be doing this clinging to Adam ;)

11. Walk on, and hopefully camp on the Great Wall of China.

12. View and tour the Pyramids

13. Participate in a marathon

14. Adopt a child (And NOT because all the weird stars are doing it right now ;)

15. Paint a real landscape picture.



Been able to do: (These have all been on my list for awhile)

1. Married my best friend ;)

2. Touched an iceberg

3. Toured the real Disneyland Castle in Spain!

4. Been to the location of the "Birth of the Renaissance"

5. Been through the Nauvoo Temple

6. Gone rock climbing

7. Gone white water rafting

8. Toured a village from an ancient civilization (Nothing makes you feel younger ;)

9. Been in 4 states at once

10. Enjoyed the cramped quarters of a Submarine ;)

11. Got kicked off a train in France/Monaco (Well, that might not have been on my original list, but I did feel like a rebel ;)


Quite a list to get done, but it will be fun checking them off one-by-one ;)

10 years

Where does the time go? I don't feel like a teenager anymore, but I swear it has not been 10 years since we all graced the halls of Pahranagat Valley High School! Well, even if it seems crazy, we DID have our 10 year reunion this past weekend, and I had a really good time just chatting with everyone (I had been up until 3 in the morning the night before..... I hope I wasn't too delirious... I had helped my mom with Grad-night and I think I might have been a little punch drunk at the reunion ;) We were able to just relax and catch up a bit. Some of my classmates I hadn't seen since graduation, so it was pretty weird seeing them married with children! It was a great BBQ and I was very grateful every one took the time to put everything together and join the chaos ;)


It really does seem like the time has flown, but I have been grateful for the several experiences and blessings I have had the opportunity to go through in the past 10 years..... I don't know what my Heavenly Father has ever seen in me, but I truly feel grateful for the time he has spent on shaping me and trying to make me a better person. He truly loves each of us and I appreciate his constant guidance..... Where would we be without him?

Up!

Adam and I decided for our date this week to go and watch the new Pixar movie UP. I definitly have to give it 2 thumbs up! I was hesitant, because Wall E was just "okay". I wasn't sure how they could make a movie about a man and a million balloons floating around, but I have to tell ya, it made me double over, full-belly laugh more than once! It starts out with a couple of tear jerking moments, and then I couldn't help but join in with the little kids behind us and laugh my head off. Over all, I think ya'll will like it.