Grandpa and Grandma

We are enjoying the mountains again with Grandpa and Grandma at "the cabin." Grandpa took us on a few hikes to visit neat places like the beaver dens and ponds.


Everything is soo exciting with two little boys. These are moose tracks across the front lawn....


Our first visit was early enough in June that it felt like spring still in the high canyons. I am catching up on my seasons and I was so excited to see the new growth of all the plants.


Tessa is a big girl this year for all our adventures! It is so fun to introduce her to places and things, kind of like it's her first time: snow, forests, etc.


We never seem to get photos of Grandma in action. If she is around, the boys are glued to her. They love being involved in her projects!

Miracle

The squash and beans are growing!


This is Grandma's peaceful haven, the backyard of her home where we get to live this summer.
We planted some things in the garden plot located in the back corner of this photo.
We are really spoiled here with a backyard, lots of space, and family upstairs for "neighbors".

Rocket Science

Grandpa Clark took us out to his work place at ATK last week. It was a beautiful drive and we saw where they design, build, store and test rocket engines. Stan knew everything about every model on display. I visited this exhibit/"rocket garden" five years ago, but this time we had a great tour guide!

I think this model is one of the boosters for the Shuttle Discovery that we saw launch a few months ago.



It was an "interactive" exhibit I guess....


Teresa is a pretty cute Grandma! (at nearly half-a-century old too!)

Remembering Day

We spent some time over the Memorial day weekend looking at a few family history books and talking about the family members' graves we were able to visit. I was really glad for the opportunity to look at our family heritage in this tangible way with the boys. It is great for them to be closer to family!

More Fishing & Botanical Garden Bliss

It was so beautiful!
The boys were so proud to catch some rainbow trout--fairly independently! Several were big enough to take home for dinner.


Jared "let" Grandpa do a lesson in filleting the fish.


Steamboat locals call this time of year "mud season." Snow is melting and runoff floods the river. Fishing the river isn't even an option.


While the boys fished, Tessa and I explored and walked around. The river walkway went right by the fishing pond and a short way down we found the Yampa River Botanic Park. I was enthralled with all the plants.
Because of our late-spring visit, it was pretty wet and not a lot of growth aside from bulbs and perennials. But after Florida's many varieties of palm tree and our well landscaped tropical neighborhoods, everything in the Colorado Rockies was such a novelty!



There were wonderful sculptures mixed into the park. The tall white one in the center of the above photo was called "Cherish" --a mother holding her child.



Tessa was a gem while I wandered around....





Now that I've been back in Utah for a few weeks, Aspens and Pines aren't quite as amazing. But they will always be wonderfully home to me!

Steamboat-- Back with family

What a cute bunch! It was so fun to have the kids together again.
The last stop on our trip was in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Jared's family had a condo reserved for a family retreat!

Our first few days in Steamboat were pretty rainy and cold. Susie had some neat projects for the kids to dig into. Tie-dying!



We swam a few times! Uncles are great!!


We walked across the street to a carnival and tried a few rides....




Grandma with two bachelor uncles...
She did her favorite ride -the "Tilt a whirl!"

Cam isn't a bachelor for long. One of the biggest moments of the trip was learning the news of his engagement! Cam skyped Haylee and we "met" her. Then she waved her hand on the camera wearing a big sparkly diamond ring! It was a very exciting surprise for me --another sister in law! They are a very cute couple!!

Then we had nicer weather for a few nice days and took a hike to a waterfall called Fish Creek falls. We really enjoyed being in the mountains again!


Grandma knew how to make the hike fun. --The kids had a special snack to bring in their lunch boxes.


We went back to the botanical garden with the whole clan. (But without good batteries in my camera. Hope to get some of those cute pictures later.)


Our last big dinner before we left to meet the moving truck in SLC was lobster and two kinds of delicious fish. The Clarks love seafood! My pictures may not be wonderful, but it gives you an idea of the feast!

The trout were fresh from the boys fishing trips that weekend.


good food, family, and fun.

Our Trek West

Our first stop on the road was in Atlanta with the Dance's. My cousin Tina took us to the park and made a really nice dinner too. We played "the foot game," the bag game, and the stick game! Three really cute girls!


Then day two, in St. Louis the kids played at the park again (anything but sitting in the car!) and ate up kids meals from McDonald's. We loved seeing cousins, Scott, Faith, Monroe and Beckett! Our family is so spread out that it is usually years in between visits. They were great to host us!


On day three, I was so glad that we were able to stop along the way to the Independence Visitors Center and Liberty Jail in Missouri. They are some great places in the history of the Church where the plan of God unfolded.

To sum up the significance of those sites I want to include a quote we read from Elder Neal A. Maxwell.
"It wasn't until the prophet (Joseph Smith) was physically confined that his mind was fully liberated ...The double walls, four feet thick, kept Joseph and his companions in, but they could not keep the spirit and revelation out."

That third night of the trip was spent in the middle of Kansas --at a Roadside Inn... nothing really exciting. But all the in-betweens were so nice. The kids did well and Jared was even able to study a bit along the way.
then (a little slower) into Colorado!