Camping with friends

Our family loves to camp but we only do it in the Spring and Fall because we tent camp and it would be WAY TOO HOT to camp in the summer!!!!  Oh and we camp at the lake so we can go out on the boat!

We got together with some friends and went camping a last weekend at our local lake! 

Aww...what a view from our tent!!!

View of camp from the water!

Had to go out and ride before the sun went down!  Aww...look at that smooth water!!!

Our oldest doing his front slide!!

There isn't anything better than sunsets and sunrises...especially over the water!!!

Hubby doing his back slide!!

Hubby doing a wake 2 wake (W2W) jump...He commented while watching our son how he doesn't like the sun at that level because it's hard to watch the rider...my comment, "But it makes for awesome pictures!!!"

Our friend's mom skiing!

Our friend knee boarding!

 Good morning...Love the sun shining through the trees and the fire going...perfect camping weather!

Sunrise over the water and tent!!  God is SO amazing!!

Our youngest and our friend tubing!!

Our oldest doing a toe side 1 wake jump!!

Me driving for my hubby!!! I  wasn't a very good driver...I haven't done it in awhile so I was rusty!!!

Our friend's son wake boarding for the 2nd time ever!!!

He popped right up and rode great...until the board caught and he face planted!! 

My turn!!  We were actually thinking that we were going to have to wetsuit it however as you can see we all were just fine without them!!  The water was definitely chilly...about 64 degrees!!!

I was trying to hop my board in the water and I was cracking myself up trying it!!!

Sunday morning there were hundreds of ducks on the water...being a boy in a man's body, my hubby had to drive through them!!  Oh my goodness it was weird...I thought we were going to get hit in the head by them!!!

Towards the evening on Saturday the camp director came and told us that this tent was too far off our site...so instead of tearing the whole thing down we all picked up a corner and moved it!!!



We borrowed a dutch oven from one of my hubbies co-workers and made chili cheese dog casserole one night and peach cobbler for dessert!  OH we so have to get our own dutch oven...it was nice to have something besides hot dogs, hamburgers, and s'mores!!!

We had a GREAT time camping with friends!!  Looking forward to Spring when we can do it again!

Summer Vacation

This year we took our first summer vacation!  We met Andy's parents, Lynn and Martha, and his brother, Rob, and family, Cathy, Chloe and Elijah in Yellowstone National Park.

We stayed in West Yellowstone, Montana.  The RV park we stayed at was only about a mile from the west enterance to Yellowstone.  Andy's parents stayed in their travel trailer. Rob & family along with us rented cabins that were close to the site where Andy's parents stayed!

 Andy and I in front of the Grand Teton's!

 The whole family in front of the Grand Teton's.

 We saw quite a few different animals while driving through Yellowstone!

 The hot springs and mineral pools were Awwmazing!!!  So crystal clear!!! They looked so inviting!!!

 Darn computer...This picture was rotated the right way before I uploaded it!!!  Oh well...Bryce and his cousin Chloe!

 Our family in front of one of the mineral pools!

 Andy's brother and family...Cathy, Rob, Chloe and Elijah

 This pool was the most amazing one...it had yellow, orange, green and blue in it!!  As you walk around you're on a walkway with no hand rails.  The steam is sooooo hot when it blows across you!

Pictures don't do the colors justice!!

 We over heard a man saying that this pool used to be a gyser like Old Faithful!  However, it just kept going off and ended up exploading! It created a hole...the water is so clear you can see it bubbling from the heat inside of it!!

 Here's another crazy sideways picture...of this one is of Old Faithful!  It was amazing to see all the water erupt from the hole in the ground!!

 It's a play date!!

 Darn it!  Here are the cousins together...Elijah, Tristan, Bryce and Chloe

 The water falls were so awesome!  There was a winding pathway down the brink of the falls!  Talk about power...you realize how much power the water has when you're standing right next to it!!!  The walkway was 3/8 of a mile (one way) and you drop 600 feet!

 Here we are at the brink of the waterfall...Rob, Cathy, me and Andy!

 The boys and I found a spot that we could get in one of the rivers in Yellowstone!  Boy that water was C.O.L.D!!!

 Bryce in front of the upper falls!

 Tristan in front of the upper falls!

 All of us at the upper falls next to the brink!

 Andy and I at Yellowstone lake!

 Family picture in front of the Yellowstone sign!!

We had an amazing time exploring Yellowstone together and spending the rest of the time with Andy's family!  We're so blessed that we could all make it to share this amazing time and vacation together!!!

Once we left Yellowstone we drove across WY to see my mom and Kirk.  It was a more blessed trip because we got to see them as well!!

 The boys with Papa and Rocky...watch out Bryce is driving!!!!

 My mom has an amazing garden going...Tristan got to help pick red potatoes!  He was in his element...dirt!!!

Papa and Nana needed a new firepit so that we could roast marshmellows for S'mores!  The boys dug the firepit in the rock solid ground and then used the ATV and the trailer to go get BIG rocks to put around the ring!  Boy they were in heaven with that ATV.  Bryce learned that it's not easy to back up a trailer...he got some instruction from dad and was able to make it work!!! 

 We took this picture of all of us up in the Big Horn Mountains.  They live at the base of the mountains!  Andy amazed me with his creative idea to get the flowers in the foreground!  AWESOME JOB BABE!!!

 I couldn't take enough pictures with my honey!  We don't get these pictures very often so we took advantage of the scenery!!

 Here is a view from the mountains!!

 Our last full day there was spent in the mountains shooting guns...Papa's favorite pass time and hobby!  I shot a 9mm, 2- 40 cal, 12 guage shot gun and a 50 cal rifle!  It's been a long time since I shot a gun...we all had an amazing day!!!

 I even hit the target a few times!!!

The boys enjoyed themselves too!  They love shooting and are looking forward to being old enough to go to WY for hunting season!!

We had the most amazing time with our family...we look forward to many more years of exploring new destinations with our loved ones!!!