FiReHoLe!!

While in Rock Springs, we took a drive to one of my favorite places. Flaming Gorge! My family usually goes there a couple times a year but we go to the opposite end of the lake than we went this time. We went to Firehole and it was B-E-A-utiful! I loved it!! When we went down by the lake the first time, Mason was asleep in the car, so we let him sleep while Vance and I got out and walked around, skipped rocks, and played in the water a bit. We then got back in the car and continued down the road to enjoy more of the view. The gorge has never been so green before! It is always so desolate, but it didn't look so bad this time! I know you are all thinking I'm crazy because it looks very desolate in the pictures. I guess I didn't get very good pics of how green it was. I promise it looked green! Vance was very proud of the large amount of dust he kicked up (pic on the left)! It took a lot of speed and fish tails, but he sure enjoyed himself while I made sure he didn't get too out of control! Through it all, he even managed to almost keep Mason asleep! The middle picture is part of a boat dock that was floating in a bay. While we were driving, we came across a herd of antelope. There were 17 of them and they were all bucks! It was pretty cool. I usually don't see that many bucks in five years combined. Most of them were younger, but there were a couple big ones. The smaller ones were constantly stopping to fight eachother (pic on the left). It was fun to watch. Before we drove off, Vance had to make sure he made them run! It definitly got Mason's attention. One reason I loved Firehole, was because of all the prarie dogs! When I was little we used to see tons and tons of prarie dogs at the gorge wherever we camped. But over the last 10 years or so, they have been killed off by predators, and people shooting them for fun. I have missed seeing them around so much. Then over the last couple of years, we've slowly seen them make a come back. There was a big group of them at Firehole and it made me sooooo happy!! Before we left, we wanted Mason to see the water so we went back near the first spot we went because it was perfect for wading in. It was so fun to watch him explore and get wet and not seem to care how cold the water was. Although we didn't let him sit in it for too long, he sure enjoyed it!! We kept trying to get him to hold his feet still so we could take pictures of his feet with our feet, but he just loved moving his toes around in the water, so it didn't work too well. These are as good as it gets! We're excited to take him there more in the summer! Sorry this post was so long. There were just too many pics! I actually left a ton out, as I always do. We take TONS of pictures, as you all know, but we're very glad we do! Anyways, we had a lot of fun and it was good to see a different side of the gorge!

good ol' computers!!

Ok, so I have been trying to post the entry below for a very long time now. This is why it has taken me so long to blog something. Everytime I try, I get it all done, pictures added and everything, and the computer will not save it, and therefore, I cannot post it (I used to not call myself a computer dummy!) So here I will try again, with the highest of hopes that it will work this time. I am now so far behind in my blogging, that I have a lot of posting to do to catch up! The posting below it (weird toys) was one that I saved instead of posting it, and I just realized it. So I decided to go ahead and post it anyways. (by the way, if you look at the date of the postings, the wording is based around that date. That is why the Rock Springs entry says "This last weekend..." if that makes sense.

The Armpit of the Nation!

This last weekend, we took a trip to the Armpit of the Nation(Vance's nickname for it), Rock Springs Wyoming. We took Thurs and Fri off work to be with Vance's dad (Dave) for a few days. The whole purpose of the trip was to spend time with him and help him in his time of need. In doing so, we found out that Rock Springs is really not all that bad. Dave has a dirt bike to ride, and he's not far from some great trails. Vance got up early one morning and went by himself for a ride. When he got back, he said he had a huge surprise for me. So later that afternoon while Mason and Dave were taking a nap, we went for a ride. He took me to a waterfall that we had to hike a short distance to. It was BEAUTIFUL! I love waterfalls so much, and he knows it. I was so proud of him for keeping it a secret from me, and proud of myself for not prying it out of him. Usually, we don't keep surprises very well. We took tons of pictures, of course, and had a lot of fun doing so. We got up early the next morning and went back for more pics while Mason was still sleeping. If I lived there, I think I would go there 3 or 4 times a week. I LOVED it!! We didn't have the tripod so some of the pics didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. We are still trying to figure out our camera. It's quite complex to work with. Anyways, here are some pics of the waterfall. I decided to show them in a slide show because there are just too many to pick from. Sorry, there's a lot.

wEiRd Toys

So Mason's favorite toys are not even toys at all. His new favorite thing is to put the lid on things. Like a gatorade bottle, or a small juice bottle. He could sit there for hours and do that. In fact, we take a juice bottle to church for him to play with and he plays with it through most of sacrament. It's great cause it actually gives us a chance to listen to some or part of the talks. (I just wonder what everyone else is thinking about his entertaiment!) He also likes to try and put the two halves of a plastic egg together. It's so weird how kids can be so entertained by such random things. But hey, whatever works, right?! I'm not going to complain!

Climbing in Ferguson Canyon

Thanks for taking all the pictures Chloe!

Utah Weather

Where did our beautiful weather go? I was lovin' the great warm temps earlier this week, and the past few days have been freezing. I cannot wait for next week when it supposedly will be back in the 70's again. Most likely it won't last but I'll sure enjoy it while it's here! Soon it will be summer so it can't get too cold, right?

No 4X4, No Problem!

Since our jeep is not four wheel drive, there's not too much we can do when we want to go wheelin' but we make up for it in other ways! Vance has two weeks off of school right now, so he had the goal to find new places in Bountiful to go climbing. He saw these cliffs from the freeway in a canyon by the V and so we decided to go for an adventure to find out if they are climbing worthy. It turns out they are on "private property" so there wasn't too much we could do to explore that area. We were on the mountain above Centerville exploring (Vance was trying to pretend he was in a 4X4 to make him feel better!) and we came across these puddles. So I made Vance get out and take pictures so I could drive through them a few times! I love driving through puddles! There wasn't too much room to get a good start to have a huge splash, so I was a bit disappointed in the result, but looking at our muddy jeep now, I'm quite satisfied! I'm not quite sure what Mason was thinking the whole time, but Vance and I had fun!

Mason's New BeSt fRiEnD!

I have been working on this posting for weeks now, and I am just now finally getting around to posting it. So here is the updated version: So we got this kitten (pixi) about a month ago from Vance's family. It just so happens that the weekend we picked her up, was Easter weekend, so the whole family spent the weekend there. I was so glad that we had a couple of days to pick out which one we wanted for sure. There were four of them, and this one was the only one that was not afraid of Mason. All the others would see him and take off running in the other direction. But pixi not only wasn't afraid of him, she PLAYED with him, and it was adorable to watch! Half the time she wouldn't leave him alone. I knew this was the one I wanted! They are now best friends. It's either her following him around like she's his shadow, or just the opposite. She even wants to take baths with him! I have to make sure she is out of the bathroom during his bath, or I am litterally fighting to keep her from jumping into the water. Cats HATE water, right?? The first thing he says when we walk into the family room in the morning is "kitty cat!" as he's pointing around the room until he finally finds her. She is so gentle with him too, and I have to say, he's learning the whole "soft" thing pretty good now. One more great thing about her, is she has SILENCED our birds! I have been wanting to get rid of them for a while now because they used to always wake up the babies I watch all day due to their constant chirping. But ever since we got pixi, I can count on one hand the amount of times they have made a peep! It's so great! I feel bad for them though, so I still need to find them a better home. Anyway, pixi is a great addition to our home.

Girls "Night Out"!! (literally)

So on Friday, April 18, my girlfriends and I took the opportunity to celebrate our birthdays together. One is in March and the others are in April, so they are all pretty close. We decided that we wanted to go all out this year and spend the night in Park City without our husbands and kids. Just the girls! When we got there on Friday, we took our stuff to our hotel room at the Yarrow and left to eat and go shopping. Oh wait! First we ate about half of Shellie's bean dip in one sitting, and then we went to eat dinner! We ate at a resteraunt on Main Street that I wish to remember the name of only to warn you not to eat there. The only one that enjoyed it was Amy. Why? None of us know. But it was a good thing we only got two dishes to share instead of 4 individual ones! Then we left and went to the outlets where I went a little crazy with the shopping! After a fun couple hours of that, we went back to the Yarrow and sat in the hot tub with a group of people who probably had the time of their lives listening to us talk all about our "past experiences!" Looking back, it was quite hilarious! We then went back to our room and had the other half of the bean dip while some fell asleep at 3am, the others at 7am. We then got up at 10am and headed on home. It was a blast, even though I left Mason for the first time. But I returned home to find all was well! (Just so you know who's who in the picture, from right to left it is Amy, Shellie, Lindsey, and me)