rafting on the Snake River in Jackson Hole, WY

Here we are on the bus that took us to and from the water.

We are getting ready to go into an exciting part of the river.
Aubrey, Marci, Kendal and Dad are on the same side and I am on the other side to the back, near the guide.
We went on an 8 man raft where each person has to paddle.

Dad just about fell off the raft.

Dad trying with all he's got to sit back up on the raft.  Kendal helped out a lot!

Rejoicing to be completely back on the raft.

These pictures of  being on the water are from a company that takes your picture at an exciting part of the trip.  The whole thing is quite commercialized.  They tell you that everything will get wet and that is the truth--but with a bit of common sense a person could get their own pictures and not have to pay high prices to someone else.  But, not of the rapids ,   just at the beginning and the end.

You can rent wet suits before getting on the bus and we should have gotten wet suits for Marci, Kendal and maybe Aubrey--they were cold while on the raft.  The water was very cold and they did supply a windbreaker type jacket before we put on the life jackets.  You get totally wet from the waist down, for sure!

This is for Curtis

This is for Curtis.  This is the bottom front view.  It took me a few days to  remember to take the camera to the storage and take a picture.  

Curtis was wondering how we were able to fit all of our stuff in one storage unit. 

This is the far top view.  The size of the area is 12 x 30, and we fill it to the brim!  

Curtis and his Dad, Ralph, helped load all this stuff, very compact, in the biggest Uhaul truck and the biggest trailer they allowed--for the better of 2 days!!  They were awsome.   THANKS again.

4th of July in Malad

Malad Idol is a big part of the July 4th celebrations.  Friday, July 2nd was when all 19 contestants performed.  11 people in the group age 14 and older and 8 in the group age 14 and under.  Marci sang the country song "Kerosene".

Saturday night 5 people performed from each age group.  Marci sang "Unwritten".  This night papers were passed out for random audience members to vote on their favorite. Country songs are a better idea, with some of the audience voting, but we did not know that small detail.  Marci had a good time and added some spice to the Malad Idol competition.  

 Dad in the pie eating contest.  The pie was a traditional shorting crust with a fruit raspberry filling and whipped topping.  All the pies were the same.  This was Dad's first pie eating contest.  You could not use your hands and all the pie had to be eaten, even any that spilled on the table. Dad said he ate about 1/3 of his pie. 

We celebrated the 4th on Sunday.  Marci worked until 6pm.

We set things up on the "pretty" side of the house.

Malad does so much fireworks that I actually got very tired of hearing and smelling the fireworks.  You can buy all kinds of fireworks right here in town and you can buy anything you want in Wyoming--the police don't enforce any of the illegal stuff, so days before and even as I type right now, people are still playing with fireworks.  

Dad sang the National Anthem before the parade on Saturday morning and then again before the final evening performances.  The parade route went right in front of our house --it was a very pleasant parade with plenty of variety and lasted an hour.  

 Kendal wanted me to put this picture of him with white cream filling from the fruit pizza on his lips.

explaining previous post

So, sometimes computers do things I don't understand, so I could not write about each picture in the previous post.  I tried to get at least one picture of  those who went from our family.  Marci and Kendal could not go because of work and church responsibilities.  It was Dan's  (Chelsea's husband) first Bluth reunion.  Uncle Bobe was in charge and did a wonderful job at planning the activities and meals. 

Bluth Reunion in New Mexico

summer stuff

Aubrey and I went to Olympia for a few days to help Dan and Chelsea prepare to move to Minneapolis.  They gave us their plants.   The flowers and herbs  seem to be doing fine in the Idaho weather.

Marci talking with Caleb or Coe, (Caleb Ory Elliot) on the phone.  

Flying kites successfully, for the first time--for Marci and Kendal, anyway.  Aubrey has a kite she made in school this year and it flies great.

Marci's kite flying high.  The wind was very gusty and  challenging for kite flying.

Kendal actually got tired of holding the string and held it with his feet for a while.






 

flowering bushes

Malad yards have wonderful flowering bushes--or trees, they are 3 times taller than I am.  This is the typical lavender colored lilac--and smells  amazing!

 A white lilac.  There also are very dark purple lilac bushes here, but not in this yard.  The three colors looks so beautiful together.  

This is a "snowball bush"--that is what I have heard it called all my life.  There probably is a better  "gardeny"  name.  You hardly see these anymore--they are very old fashioned. 

They look a lot like the popular hydrangia up close--but hanging all over a  bush!  SO PRETTY!

We had a good laugh during scriptures the other night, when  I  noticed that Marci had started to "tear" up her bookmark.  Silly girl.