Jackson Hole Getaway

Monday and Tuesday Scott and I went on a little vacation. My parents were here for Joshua's birthday, so they stayed a few extra days and took care of the kids while we were gone. Scott's office planned a sales meeting in Jackson Hole and they invited spouses to come along. We got up early Monday morning and drove to the airport. We got to fly on the company's plane, so there was no standing in lines for check-in and no security checks. There are 5 sales people at Scott's office, and three of them brought spouses, so there were 8 of us in all. The flight from Boise to Jackson was just an hour long. When we landed in Jackson, we got off the plane, and immediately a fleet of rental cars surrounded us. The drivers of the cars got out and loaded our luggage from the plane to our rental car (ours is the red one closest to the camera). It was really quite amazing--I told Scott I could get used to such fine treatment.


We then drove to our hotel and had breakfast at the hotel. Then the guys went to the conference room to start their meeting, and I checked into our room. I spent the rest of the afternoon dozing on the bed and enjoying the cable TV (we don't have cable at home). I spent the whole time watching the home and garden channel with all the house makeover projects. I joined Scott in the conference room for lunch, then went back to our room to sleep and watch TV till his meeting ended at 5. Then we joined up with the others from his office and went to a dinner/theater at the Jackson Playhouse. We had dinner and dessert, then moved into the theater to see "Annie Get Your Gun". It was great--very entertaining.

Tuesday was a free day for us to do whatever we wanted. Scott decided to ditch me and go golfing with a couple of the other sales people. I had to eat breakfast by myself, pack by myself, and load up the rental car by myself. Check out was at 11, and Scott didn't get done golfing till after 2, so I had 3 hours to wander around Jackson by myself. I was more than a little upset that Scott had decided to golf instead of spending time with me, and I let him know it when I met back up with him after golf (he still owes me big time). During the three hours I had to myself, I drove up and took pictures of the Tetons by the sign for Grand Teton Park.



Then I went to the Visitor's Center just outside of Jackson. I wandered around there for a while looking at the stuffed animals they had (and took lots of pictures to show the kids).





Then I wandered around town for a bit and got a picture of the big antler arch to show the kids.



Finally Scott got done golfing and we met back up. We had lunch at a pizza place in town, then drove into Grand Teton National Park and up to Jenny's Lake.




After walking around the lake a bit, we drove to a place called "Mormon Row". Five mormon families settled there a hundred years ago. The government bought their land when they expanded Grand Teton National Park, and the families moved into the town of Jackson, but most of their original buildings still stand there.






By then it was time to head back to the airport. But first we took the time to snap some pictures of Bison that were grazing along the road. Don't worry, I kept my distance from them and took all the pictures from inside the car (I just have a good zoom on my camera).




Then we drove to the airport, boarded the plane, and enjoyed the hour flight back to Boise.




We came back completely spoiled and wishing we could live that kind of lifestyle all the time. And although it was just a short trip, it was really wonderful to get away together without the kids. I found myself once again so grateful that Scott works for such a great company. They really do spoil us.

Darn Mosquitos

The mosquitoes have been really bad here this year. As evening comes, I have to bring all the kids in from outside so they don't become a feeding ground for the mosquitoes. Poor Nate has no concept of how to protect himself from mosquitoes, so he just gets covered in bites. Last weekend he got a bite right next to his eye and his poor little eye was all swollen. I took a couple of picture of his eye, but it looked a whole lot worse in person. For one of the pictures, Josh decided to hop in next to Nate for the photo. It turned out so cute of the two--what great little boys I have!

Little Fuzzy Visitors

I was doing dishes this morning, when I looked out the window to see a family of ducks making their way across our back yard. A mom and 9 little ducks! I called the kids and we moved from window to window watching as the ducks made their way all over our yard looking for a way out of the back yard. Finally they found the open side gate and made their way out into freedom. What a fun thing for the kids to get to see up close!

Joshua's Birthday

Joshua turned 7 years old yesterday. We've had a great time celebrating the whole weekend. Grandma and Grandpa Sorensen came late Thursday night. They babysat Nate for us all day Friday while Scott and I took the older 4 kids to Roaring Springs Waterpark. The kids loved it there. It was confirmed to us again that Joshua is NOT a thrill seeker, but his little brother Aaron is and so are his sisters. Josh did not mind high or fast, but he did not like anything that was enclosed or dark--he wanted to be able to see where he was going. We just learned which rides Josh liked, and one parent would take him on those while the other parent would take the other three on the rides they liked. We spent 8 fun packed hours there, then returned home all exhausted. By the time bedtime came around, I decided that I'm a bit too pregnant to spend 8 hours walking up cement staircases all day long (I was pretty tired and sore).

Saturday morning we sleepily climbed out of our beds to go to our Stake's Pioneer Day celebration (Grandma and Grandpa Sorensen came with us). We had breakfast there (pancakes and eggs), then the kids got snow cones, did the cupcake walk, and enjoyed seeing a lot of their friends. Josh loves that his birthday is on Pioneer Day because he thinks everybody is celebrating his birthday with him. After the Pioneer Day celebration, we took the kids to Bounce and let them play on the bounce houses for a couple of hours. Scott and I were brave enough to do a little "bouncing" around with the kids, and once again I decided I'm getting a bit too pregnant to be doing those things. After Bounce, we came home and started getting ready for more family to come help celebrate Josh's birthday. We had pizza, chips, and fruit for dinner. Grandma and Grandpa Howell and Uncle Marc and Aunt Kenna came for dinner and presents.


Josh got new summer shirts, shorts, and pajamas, and a new church outfit (including a new belt). He got a yo-yo, a big bubble wand, and a cool flashlight. Savannah made Josh a winter yarn hat (she worked on it for months on a loom).




There was a present for Scott, too. He and Josh got to open presents together, and I loved how excited Josh got when he realized what the presents were.




Baseball mitts and a real baseball! (Scott had to get one too, because what good is a baseball mitt if your Dad doesn't have one to play catch with you?) It was so fun to watch those two go out and play catch together after everyone went home. It was quite a momentous day--Scott finally has a son old enough to play catch with!

After presents we did cake. Actually, it wasn't cake this year. My kids aren't big cake fans. They eat the frosting off the top, and leave the cake part. So this year I made brownies and frosted them. Every bit of the "cake" got eaten this year.





We put 5 very happy and tired kids to bed last night. Josh told us that it had been a wonderful birthday, and we all agreed. Happy Birthday Josh! We are so glad you are part of our family!!!