Fremont Indian State Park

This was the last weekend before school started and we wanted to go out and do something before we weren't able to anymore. But considering that this weekend was also a weekend full of family down for Katie's mission farewell, we decided to do something close(r) to home.

We are pretty lucky having so many state/national parks right close to us. The closest one is practically right in our backyard and, sadly, we've never been there before.

The Fremont Indian State Park is only about 15 minutes away from us so we thought that we'd go take a look and see what we've been missing.

There are a bunch of really short hiking trails throughout the whole park so we decided to take a few of them.

We started out at the visitors center/musuem and they pointed us in the direction of the closest and easiset self guided hiking trail/walk which takes you around the musuem and then back again. The walk then breaks off into other smaller hikes.

The hike ended at a pithouse and a grainery.

The pithouse was big enough to fit our whole family, Maria and Justin, and Taylor, Jared and Quintin. Very cool!

Our first hike out of the museum/visitors center was to the 100 Hands cave.

The cave was barred up because of obvioius vandlism on the walls.

...and if there is waster, you must stop to play in it.

Second hike was up to Sheep Shelter and a few rocks along the trail with petroglyphs

Sheep Shelter is also barred for the same reasons. But all the petroglyphs are on the other side of the rock inside so they put up a mirror so you can see them.

If you look closely, you can see them in the mirror along with all of us.

There was another sheep petroglyph just up from Sheep Shelter that was pretty prominate.

And the biggest highlight of the trip was seeing the Indian Blanket drawn on the rocks across the canyon. This is the one that the kids were most excited about, especially Daylon. I think that is was the legend of the indian blanket was what drove it closer to home for Daylon

It wasn't the most exciting of places that we've been to so far, but the history is intersting. I would love to go back and continue to go on the other hikes that we missed and see the rest of the place.

Daylon's Arrow of Light

After spending almost a week up at Fish Lake, my parents were gracious enough to stay another few extra days to stick around for Daylon's Arrow of Light ceremony. In fact, when Daylon joined Cub Scouts, my dad offered to do Daylon's Arrow of Light ceremony when and if he earned it. I was not about to let that opportunity fall between my fingers. So when i found out that Daylon was going to receive his Arrow Of Light, i snagged my dad and made sure that he he still wanted to do it. I've seen dad do several Arrow Of Lights while growing up and was pretty thick in the scouting thing. Nothing pleased me more than to have the honor of Dad sharing that milestone with Daylon.

Getting ready for things to start

Before the ceremony started, all the boys had to get their awards. Daylon and I worked our tail ends off and ended up earning ALL of his merit badges, a belt full of belt loops and several other awards. I'm quite proud of the little guy. I'm sure he did most of it to make mom happy but he sure did look pretty slick up there all decked out in his awards!

Getting the mother's pin for earning his Webelos award

The begining of the Arrow of Light ceremony.

Dad had all the kids gather up in front of him while he told them a story...

Dad was right on the ground interacting with them. They had a cool "campfire" going with indian music in the background and a teepee backdrop.

The three boys, Kyle, Daylon & Tyson, who received their Arrow of Light awards that evening, pinning on their mother pins
... and the big hugs (and kisses?) that go with it

The Weblos leader talking with the boys about what a great honor it is to receive this award.

... and being welcomed into the Boy Scouts

Our family and dad

(don't mind our faces... all part of the ceremony... although i'll never understand why Daylon thought it was so funny to put a green mustache on me LOL)

Thank you dad for making this such a special night for the boys.

It was special for not only us but also for the parents of the other boys.

Fish Lake - last 2 days (really 3 days)

The last two days of vacation were consumed with cousins.

Meeting new baby cousins, catching up on others, seeing some that i haven't seen in years, and meeting some that married into the family. There was only a few of my cousins there. Hopefully next year more of us will be able to join.

Most everyone left Sunday morning.

We stayed up there one more night with Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Gary.
Daylon getting his head buzzed by cousin Jake.

Daylon was quite impressed by this cool "cop" cousin he'd never met before. Needless to say, we've got to get to know my family much better. I finially got to meet his wife, Nattalie and their little guy Cooper.
Sam helping Great-Grandpa Mac working on the ropes to his boat.

I think Grandpa loved it just as much as Sam did.

Sam helping Aunt Connie "work". Everytime someone was doing something, Sam was there to help. In this case, it was cutting up potatoes and onions.

Charlie was pretty into my mom fileting fish.

He sat there and kept my mom company the whole time
The newest member of the family, baby Sophie. She was named after my awesome grandma. Only a few weeks old and she's a camping champ

The kids found a great lean-to that someone had put together.

If we couldn't find them, we always knew where they were.

One last trip out on the boat as a family Sunday afternoon.

Just a nice cruise up the west side of Fish Lake watching the fish in the shallows

One last trip fishing the beach with Sam while Rianne, Daylon and DarRell took the boat out on the lake to fish one last time. Sam was having no fun fishing with Gary until he started wadeing in the water. It all ended with him being wet from head to toe after tripping

We can't wait until next year. Next year it will be over the 4th and we plan on being there the whole five days. I can't wait! I hope more people can make it next year.

True Confessions Monday

apparently i need a bit more accountablity.

• remember when i said i needed to get back on that wagon. I must've missed the announcement that it was leaving and totally was left behind running after it
• if it's possible, i think i may have gained 4 pounds since yesterday. It had to have been Mt Dew i drank and king sized candy bar i devoured.
• today i started counting points again.
• because so far, i haven't had any fruits since my "wagon" post
• However, i have still been living off salsa so i have been getting in 5 servings every day, it just hasn't included fruits of any kind
• exercise hasn't been part of my vocabulary in quite some time. That really needs to change
• my garden is finially starting to produce RED tomatoes. LOVING THAT! The chili peppers are starting to get big enough to pick if the wind doesn't wipe them out first. And the speghetti squash is about right. Carrots are being devoured and i'm enjoying watching the artichokes grow. Next year i'm definately growing a bigger garden if i can find the space for it
• i'm addicted to the lo-carb monster energy drinks. Not a good thing
• to help keep me on track, i'm going to spend the afternoon planning out meals on Weight Watchers. I'm paying for the subscription, i may as well use it.
• i really gotta finish up posting about July. It's already mid-August and i'm getting further behind
• i hope to finish up those last few scrapbook layouts sitting on my desk taking up space on my desk and room in my brain. They've been there WAY too long.

Fish Lake - Day 3 & 4

July 23rd and 24th were the busiest for us by far. Most of our time these two days were spent away from Fish Lake than at it. Kaye and the kids had to leave early on the 23rd. Some time over the course of all the excitement, little Hunter ended up sick. I hated sending them out the door with Hunter feeling so rotten but knew that Kaye had to go back to work that night. All my pleading and begging couldn't change that.

I headed back up to Fish Lake after sending Kaye on her way. It was a bit of a lazy day on the 23rd. I was greeted by the kids and Uncle Gary with a "Happy Birthday". We headed out on the lake to do a bit of fishing, which was a bit of a bust with only two fish caught that whole day. We lazed around the rest of the day at camp and headed back home before it got too dark.

The 24th was filled full of 24th of July festivities and fireman duties. I was over the firetrucks for the parade and DarRell had his usually duties of firetruck rides at the park and fireworks that night. It was non-stop from sunrise to sundown. DarRell was up early with six o'clock salutes with the fire department to start off the day. Off to the parade and park activities. Home for a double birthday party for Kole and Tucker. And DarRell was off with the fire department for the rest of the night with firework duties.

We took Daylon out on the boat and taught him how to drive it.
The view of the Lodge from the Lake. I can't wait till fall when the aspen leaves start to turn. We are definitely going back if only for a day trip.

I told the kids we could let off fireworks in honor of my birthday the night of the 23rd.
Being kids, they didn't forget and after getting home from a lazy day up at Fish Lake, we set off a package full of firework we had laying around from a few years ago.

My hottie of a fireman during the parade

The evening of the 24th turned out to be a bust. It was windy and rainy that evening when it was time for fireworks. The two oldest kids were wiped out from a day of running. Daylon never even made it to the start of the fireworks before he crashed. Rianne gave up half way through it and went to the back seat to lay down. Sam wanted to get out and run around in the rain. Needless to say, it was pretty much a bust.

We all went home and crashed hard. Another 24th of July over and done with FINALLY!

Fish Lake - Day 2

The actual start of Vacation!

Everyone was up bright and early that morning to get packed up and off to Fish Lake. It's super nice that it only takes a hour tops pulling campers to get there from my house. Since i had to work, Kaye decided to give the kids a taste of country life and joined me at work. I'm guessing it was a bit of culture shock for them with all the comments LOL. After work we headed up to Fish Lake to meet up with the rest of the family. We spent the afternoon setting up camp, fishing at the beach for yellow perch and roasting hotdogs and smores over the fire. Later that night, I took Kaye and her kids down to my house for the night. They had to be on the road back home the next morning.

Tattoos galore... my mom has always got something great for the kids. Last year it was butterfly nets. VERY cool Grandma!

Kaye behind the camera... always. Howerver, not complaining at all

Uncle Gary and his one eyed wookey dog

my dad teaching sam on how to pull apart worms...

...and Sam NOT liking it one bit!

Uncle Gary showing Daylon where fish are supposed to go

... showing Sam where worms should go

... and how to properly kiss a fish

The evening fishing for yellow perch with the kids... absolutely priceless

Fish Lake - Day 1...

...which turns out isn't even the first day of vacation for us

The biggest thing in July is our annual vacation/family reunion type of thing that gets planned every year in advance. Every year my Uncle Jim and Aunt Connie reserve the big Doctor Creek campground and we go out and camp for 5 days. It's always during July and it's always nice to get away and still be close to home (i really love that part). This year it was over the 24th of July which made for and especially busy week for us.

But before the big camp out at Fish Lake, my parents and my grandparents, and every once in a while my Uncle Gary and Aunt Becky come to stay at my house for a day before going up. Everyone parks their camper trailers in front of the house for the night and we have a day of catching up and relaxing before the big week of R&R. This year was a special year. My oldest sister decided to come out for a visit during the same time as the family get together. She showed up with her two youngest just as my parents and grandparents pulled up. I spent as much time as i could catching up with my big sis (that i miss SO much), letting cousins get to know each other over again, and, more importantly, reconnecting with my grandparents that i never get to see except for these few days in July every year. The day was full of pizza, swimming, laughing, reminiscing, and just plain wishing i lived closer to my family.

A few of my favorite shots from the day, that my sister took. Did i mention that i loved that she has such a GREAT camera and she's not afraid to use it????

My Dad's Mom. I love this woman. I don't think I've ever really heard her say anything REALLY bad about anyone. Most times this woman has nothing but nice to say about everyone.

My dad and his dad. It's amazing how much they are alike. I love watching the two together. I can see so much of my dad in his dad from the way they talk to the way they hold their hands. My grandfather... he rocks. He's a great man and he's hilarious in his grandpa kinda way.

My dad... i can see him getting to be more and more like my grandfather. It's weird seeing him through other peoples eyes. It totally gives me a new appreciation for him. Makes me love him even more and more.

My mom. She hides from the camera way too much, and when you do get a picture, she's never smiling. This is my mom... and how i always think of her, with her smile. The smile may be hard to find sometimes, but it's there. And she puts up with so much of her kids crap! And yet she doesn't call us on it... what a woman.

This is my Sam. He's a spitting image of his dad. It's not often that i get him to myself when he's calm and wanting to snuggle. He's a daddy's boy all the way. Thank you Kaye for getting this... it just didn't last long enough.

The two girls, BobbyJo and Rianne. The kids, i swear they were twins separated at birth. They are so much alike it's unreal! I love that Kaye got his picture of the two girls with the horses. Oddly enough, i hardly seen either of the girls the whole time. They were off doing their own things together. Amazing how much calmer Rianne was with another girl around. Apparently all the boys around here makes life tough on a little girl.

and who could forget the two older boys? or well... three older boys.

Lets face it, DarRell is just as much a boy (with responsibilities) and they two youngers are. Hunter and Daylon got along great. I love that the kids think that DarRell is so cool. Someday Daylon will appreciate having a dad that's cool. The two younger boys ran wild and loved every minute of it. I love it when my family visits... i wish it would happen more often. I'm missing out on some very serious family bonding time and so are my kids.