July - one great vacation after another!

July was one crazy and fun month!

It began with a trip to Portland, OR for the wedding of my nephew Jarom in the Portland Temple on July 2nd.  Bruce & I, Mary and Libby were the only ones able to go, and it was a wonderful time.

The 4th of July was spent here at home.  We went to the parade and got in the "wet zone" where the firefighters have a heyday getting everyone soaking wet.  It was way fun!  We had my nephew Corbin with us all that week - from my side of the family - and he entertained us with his great sense of humor.

On July 9th we took off to Rexburg to see Joshua perform in the new BYU Idaho Center (a new building on the campus that is almost exactly like the Conference Center only smaller).  He sang in the Men's Chorus and was on the big screen several times for us to ooh and ahh.  The concert was great!  The next Monday we took off to Bear Lake for the reunion for my side of the family. 

Peter playing Ultimate Frisbee

We stayed at a Lodge for five days and had a wonderful time, especially because it was my Dad's 80th birthday and all ten of us siblings were there. 

Libby and cousin Hailey

Playing with cousins - Libby, Hailey and Alyssa

Bruce - in classic family reunion pose

We finished that week out with a quick trip to Utah for Jarom & Whitney's reception in Lehi.

Hells Canyon River Trip

Two days after getting home from that, we turned around and went on a 3-day River Trip to Hells Canyon.  We were invited by our friends, Dave and Shelly, who drew a tag for the first time in five years.  We have never done anything like this before, and it was amazing!  Josh couldn't go with us to that because he was finishing up finals week at BYU-I, and Joseph was down at EFY in Provo.  Hells Canyon was ruggedly beautiful.  We put in at the same visitors center that we went to at the Family Reunion years ago for Bruce's side of the family.  We traveled about thirty miles over three days and took the boats out at Pittsburgh Landing.  The oarsman for our boat was Steven, who is an Olympic downhill skier.  He is a long time friend of Erik, the son of our hosts, who is also a world cup skier.  Bruce was supposed to be the oarsman, but he broke his fourth metacarpal in his right hand, so he couldn't keep up the oaring without being in a lot of pain.  Luckily, Steven was able to step in and cover for him.

The week after the River Trip, we went on a pack trip with our whole family.  (Yes - the fun has not stopped - the whole month!)  We decided to go back to an old favorite - Langer Lake in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness.

 

It is a 2 mile hike in, which was "just about right" according to Bruce after we'd gotten there.  He had much higher ambitions in our discussions beforehand, but we were glad we opted for easier.  We took two horses - Lady and Sleepy River McGee, and two llamas - Achacachi an Huacuyo.  It was the first time we took horses.

They can carry a lot, but we found them labor intensive while we were camping, and also a lot more volatile while crossing rocks and streams.  Either they need to be trained better or we need to not take them again!  We found we much preferred the llamas.  Horses are more for riding than leading, that is for sure.

We thoroughly enjoyed the pack trip.  The highlight was the hike up to Ruffneck Peak.

We met Lookout Dave up there (the first time we have seen the Lookout manned), and had a fun time eating lunch and rolling huge rocks down the glacier.  Jesse was sick most of the trip and made a gargantuan effort to even attempt the hike, and she made it!  We treasured having all of our family together.

I'll have to post more pictures later of this trip - too many to put on right now.

Tomorrow we are off on another camping trip - I know - very crazy - to Sage Hen Reservoir, where we had the Family reunion many years ago on Bruce's side, and Joshua Wayne saw the moose swimming across the reservoir.  He also came with us another year.  I wish he and Rachel could come with us - maybe another year.


We have made many great memories this month.  Hurrah for summer, good friends and family, and beautiful places to visit!