Frollicking in the Forest!

Over the past 2 weekends we have decided to become one with nature! We had another sluffin' church moment the weekend before last and we went to Cave Falls (sort of in the Idaho/Wyoming side of Yellowstone Park). This time we didn't try to fool our bishop neighbor by driving around the block in our church clothes, we just stayed gone really late so he thought we went out of town or something-we are so tricky. We went with my parents and we went exploring high mountain lakes, tons of water falls and we had a fun pic-nic. I of course forgot my camera, so I have to go steal pictures from my mom's camera and post them soon.



These are the Mountains behind our house (Taylor Mountain). We took the kids for a fun drive in the hills the day before we went to Cave Falls, it was really pretty.


CABIN:
Then this last weekend we went to our cabin in Island Park for a weekend "family reunion". We went with my parents and my siblings. We had fun fishing, 4 wheeling, going to Yellowstone (the town) and exploring. We love trips to the cabin, I want to move there! It was sad to come back home, it is so peaceful in the mountains. James and I are going to try to go back in a couple of weeks with the kids during his 16 day vacation-yahoo! Oh except, we did find some "bear poop" behind our boat house which totally freaked me out (I know this because my dad is a poop expert and pointed it out to me)! I have a huge problem with bears because they see me as a food source. This was a bad moment for me, and it had hair in it (the poop) I don't know who it ate, but it was definitely a mammal eater and I just happen to be a mammal.



Our trip to to Yellowstone Imax-We saw Bears (the movie). Averi rode in Grandpa's truck.




This is Sawtell Mountain with some sort of power/something shaped like a giant soccer ball. I'm sure you have seen it if you have drove through Island Park. We decided to drive to the top of it to look out over Island Park. It is a VERY STEEP NARROW road to get there! We were all very nervous! I don't close my eyes because I think that by me watching the road I can have some kind of magical power to keep us from falling down the steep ravines or something.



This is the view of Sawtell from the river by our cabin-our fishin' hole.
Thanks to "Big Red" for getting us there safe!

We saw snow on top of the mountain, and this is how warm it was there.
It was 81 at the bottom.



The road to Sawtell Mountain was so freaky! This was my Dad's truck right by a cliff! And that wasn't the worst part either!



These are all pictures from the cliffs at the top of Sawtell, they are straight drop offs. It was sooo windy up there and it made me dizzy at the edges, so I was freaked out! James wouldn't even go by the edges, he gets too dizzy (more like too chicken). I was freaked out having my kids so close, I kept yelling for them to get back, and I never once let go of my kung foo death grip on Averi' s arm! But it was so pretty. You can see Henry's lake, Island Park Reservoir and Mt. Roosevelt from the top. Click on the pictures and you can see how steep it was a lot better.


The worst part is my dad kept having me look through binoculars at the edge to the bottom of the cliffs and it made me sooooo disoriented. I am truly surprised I did not fall off.

Peeing at the top of the world! Boys are so lucky!















FISHING:
We love to go fishing! It is so fun! I love to fish! We caught 6 fish, Taylor caught 4, Christian caught 1, and I caught 1-literally with my hands. I got mine to shore and it got off the hook and tried to swim away. Before it could, I ran down and grabbed it and threw it onto the shore before it could get away! Yahoo. Here are some pictures.

Here is our fishing hole! I have been fishing in this same spot pretty much since I was born, so it is so fun to bring my kids and remember what it was like to be a kid again! Here are my little fishermen/women! It would have 10 times more fun if all of the water skiers wouldn't have kept driving over our lines! So if you are a water skier, please respect the people fishing on the shore! That was so annoying!






What a weirdo!

And a good dad!




Here Taylor caught her 2nd fish and it was flipping around and it scared her and she was jumping away from it! It was too funny.




This is my dad the "master fisherman" helping Christian with the first fish he caught.

Here is the first fish-Christian's and the second-Taylor's.

James was being so patient and helpful.

I personally hate ripping the hooks out of the fish, so I made everyone else do it! It makes the worst ripping guts sound-GROSS!

But I actually like to clean them to see their guts, it is fun to cut open their stomach to see what they have been eating and it is fun to pop their air sac lung thingies-it's like bubble wrap! I let James do it this though. Yes-I know I am demented, that's just how I roll!

Anyway, it was so fun! I am getting the worst cabin fever at home with the kids right about now. Either school must start, or I must go away from here. This is good therapy for my insanity!