Happy 80th, Grandpa Jones!

Grandpa Jones turned 80, and we decided to celebrate in style. After all, that's quite an accomplishment! We rented a cabin in Island Park and settled in for a weekend of fun. We enjoyed the great outdoors (I came home with three mosquito bites on my face and six on one ankle), floated down the river, rode 4-wheelers and took some family pictures.

We also drove over to Jackson Hole to listen to the Bar J Wranglers perform. Let me expound. The Bar J is a working cattle ranch. Every night (literally seven days a week) from May - September, they host a chuckwagon dinner for their guests. They serve up steaks, ribs, sliced beef and BBQ chicken, complete with dinner rolls made in a dutch oven. After dinner, some of the cowboys perform. The Bar J has between 75,000 - 85,000 guests per year. Someone made the comment that the Bar J singers are like The Wiggles for old people, but they really do put on a good show. Cory and I got to drive over to Jackson with Grandma and Grandpa Jones and we learned some neat things about their courtship and family history. Thanks to all who helped to plan a fun weekend!

George Strait

We went to see George Strait in concert at the Usana Ampitheater last weekend. Ben, Shayla and Riley kept us company. Riley got to go see George Strait for her 4th birthday. She wore out her parents' George Strait CD's and she even passed up Hannah Montana to go see George in concert. I wasn't really sure what to expect - people say you either love to see George in concert or you hate it. We were told that he doesn't put on a fancy concert with tons of bells and whistles; he just stands up there and sings. Well folks, that singing was absolutely mesmerizing. He played for 1 hour and 45 minutes and I didn't move the entire time. George is absolutely timeless and his music is amazing. It was a great concert!!

Blake Shelton was one of the opening acts for George Strait. He did a really good job too! We didn't get home until 2:45 a.m. (soooo glad that we live so far away from Salt Lake). *Ahem* I CAN.NOT remember the last time that I was voluntarily awake at that time of night. We both felt like we had been hit by a truck for the rest of the weekend. Guess that means we are getting old! Boo!

For some reason I get the urge to pick up a banjo whenever I see...

...this. Our duplex doesn't have central air, so this is what my office window looks like now. Note that the cardboard even has a mailing label with my name on it. Someone has already suggested that I string some tinsel and Christmas lights to finish off the look.

4th of July

I hope everyone had a great Independence Day! We spent part of the day riding around in the mountains of Wyoming.

Cory insisted that it was our civic duty to pull fallen trees out of the path i.e. he just wanted to use the winch (we could have easily gone around the trees). Below, Cory asked if he could take a picture of both of his winches. Now that's true love.

My family joined us at our campsite on Friday night. Right before they arrived, it rained for about an hour. The campsite was down a little hill off of the main road. My dad pulled the boat up because we were planning on going boating on Saturday. As soon as he pulled off of the road into the campsite he knew he had made a mistake. The ground was soggy and he got stuck. Cory hooked up the tow strap and hit the gas. Both of those diesel engines were roaring, black smoke was billowing everywhere and mud was flying like crazy. My dad didn't get his window rolled up fast enough before Cory hit the gas, so the inside of his truck was full of mud too. I tried to get my camera out in time to film the whole event, but I was too slow.

After the rain storm, the firewood was kind of soggy. Cory messed with it for a while and then he decided to get down to business and pour some gasoline over the wood. Voila! Instant campfire.

This is my mom peeling potatoes for dinner. They were fabulous! There's nothing like cooking in the great outdoors. Everything just tastes better. We stayed up late roasting marshmallows and playing card games. My dad found an old piece of wood that was actually an ant hill. He threw it on the fire and the ants scattered everywhere. Cory took care of them with gasoline too...

We did get to go boating for a little while on Saturday. Everyone needs to have a mug that is the size of their head.

Cory took a little nap on the nose of the boat - notice the Mountain Dew bottle that is subbing for a pillow. You'll also notice those dark rain clouds in the background. We didn't get to enjoy the sunshine for very long.

And we ended a great weekend with a great fireworks show in Idaho Falls. Afterwards we soaked in the hot tub with the Morton's. Ahhh!

FHE at the Sand Dunes!

It was Cory's turn to plan FHE this week. The activity that he chose: playing at the sand dunes that are just outside of Rexburg. The sand dunes were a first for me and Cory said that he hadn't been in years. It took both of us a while to get used to driving around the sand dunes vs. driving in the mountains. It was a little unnerving to come to the top of a dune and not be able to see what was on the other side. It especially freaked Cory out - he would stomp on the brakes every time we were about ready to go over the edge. I drove for a while and he stomped on the brakes (or tried to) from the passenger seat several times. He finally announced that my driving was making him sick, so he got out and let me go play for a while. Fun times!