Zion August 2009

So it seams I end up in Zion at least once every year in August this year was no exception, though not with my normal group and not planning my normal down and back in a day and a half trip it was awesome. I was able to play the part of the good Uncle and take Jake with us and show him a few of the things I love about Zion.




I went with Joe Jacob his brother Don and my Nephew Jake. We had an awesome time had good food and made it home in one piece!




One of the best spots to cool off in Zion is in Pine Creek there is an awesome swimming hole that has about a 10 ft boulder to jump off of and other features.



This Video is how not to do this wall run


and this is how it should be done


We went down with the intention of getting permits for The Subway, but showed up at the permits desk and saw there was no hope for us, so we did the standard tourists hikes on Friday, Angels Landing and then hiked a few miles up the Narrows to cool off.








We did a nice little canyon just outside of Kannarrville that proved to be a fun little adventure that any family can do, including a nice swimming hole.

once again Don shows us what not to do. He went against the instructions he was given and paid the price by bouncing off the walls and hitting a rock with his foot.


Luckily Joe redeems the Jacob name

Meet the Boss Lady

My sister Steph is in a word AMAZING! She is very ambitious and extremely talented. A while ago she got the idea to buy an old vintage Airstream trailer and fix it up. She searched for a very long time until she finally found one that was worth the task. She ended up getting a 1970 Silver Streak Atlas (not an Airstream but pretty close). She soon began to work on the renovations which included a new floor, re- upholstering the cushions, a new awning and lots and lots of darling pillows, curtains, quilts and decorations. She chose a cowgirl theme and went to work making all of the quilts, pillows and curtains with her very own talented hands. I'm sure that there was much more work that she put into it that I am not remembering but it went from flat to fabulous in just a few short months.In celebration of her new trailer and it's first campout, she threw an amazing party. There was a delicious dutch oven dinner followed by a concert put on by Dyer Highway and to end the night we had smores by the fire. It was such a blast! There is nothing better than good food and music in the mountains.I must do a little plug for Dyer Highway. My neice Kambree is dating Tel Dyer. He is a singer/songwriter and he and his sisters have a band. They put on an awesome show and are very entertaining. Tel is 16 and his sisters are 12 & 13. I'll tell ya now, they are going places.Steph you are the hostess with the mostess! You really now how to have a shindig! Thanks for inviting us!

Stewart Falls

My family decided to go for a hike to Stewart Falls last weekend. It was so HOT(not to mention the extra poundage I've so easily gained) that we were glad to be able to cool off in the water.

Ok, so the water was REALLY cold but it still felt good!

It was a beautiful hike with amazing scenery everywhere that we looked!

New Home Sweet Home

We moved! We were sad to give up on our old, little house. But everything just kind of fell into place with the new house and we felt like it was meant to be. Marc has done a beautiful job of remodeling our old house (pictures will be saved for another day when we can show the finished product) and we hope that someone will move in and love it as much as we did.

We are currently enjoying our new digs with closet space, air conditioning and a DISHWASHER!

Montana

We took a last minute roadtrip to Montana this weekend to deliver my friend Cort and her cute boys to Omi and Kug's house (Cort's parents).

They live in Big Arm and have a beautiful home with amazing views of Flathead Lake.
We loved being able to "help Cort out" but really we feel spoiled to have been able to spend the night in such a beautiful place with such wonderful people.

While I was there I found a scruffy Montana man by the name of Ed. He was so handsome I couldn't keep my hands off him all night.

We had to make this a quick trip but we stopped at the Cherry Festival in Polson and hung out for the morning. Marc grew up visiting Flathead Lake where his grandparents lived and had a cherry orchard. Marc was so excited to get fresh Montana grown cherries that we bought five pounds so he could bring some home for his family.


I have always been a picky eater and had never actually even tried a cherry. I know, I'm ridiculous. I figured that there was no better time to give it a try and I was pleasantly surprised!
But more than the cherries,I LOVED the cherry Lemonade!

Also on the way home we made a point to stop in Butte. What does Butte have to offer you might ask? Well Marc has raved for years about Pork Chop John's and we have never actually gone there. We looked it up and Marc claims it was as good as ever. As for me, I am not big on pork chops or sandwiches and I had already tried one exotic food that day so I stuck to eating his french fries.


Marc is a great chauffeur. He drove the entire 20 hours while Cort and I chatted in the back and then on the way home I tried to keep up conversation but would often drift off into a little nap. He really is the best. So as you can see, we made the most of our little trip. We had a great time and would do it all over again!

Roadtrip!

My sister Steph invited me to go on a roadtrip with her and her boys to Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone. We stayed in Jackson Hole the first night where Tanner was asked to be in the "Shootout" in the street. He was so cute and did a great job!We also found some pregnant art in Jackson so why not stop and imitate?

Tanner (9) and Carson (5) were mostly good boys with a few minor disagreements. Carson can be quite the little drama queen but it made for some good laughs. Steph has trained these boys well on how to smile for the camera. One second they would be screaming at each other and all you had to do was tell them you were gonna take a picture and on came those photogenic little smiles. Here they are at Jenny Lake right before our hike to Hidden Falls

Hidden Falls

Then we were off to Yellowstone!

We stayed at the famous Old Faithful Inn

Which just happens to be right across from Old Faithful

The geyser in the background is Beehive Geyser. We were lucky to see it go off because it is unpredictable and can go up to 5 days without doing anything.

The boys worked hard to earn their Jr. Ranger patches but we would have had to see every aspect of Yellowstone and we only had 2 days. But we still participated in in some fun Ranger chats and visited the Junior Ranger Station.

After dinner we decided to go see the waterfalls. It was getting dark, hence the dark photos, but they were beautiful none the less.

Our last night we stayed in the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. It was beautiful and our room looked out over Lake Yellowstone.

As you can see we took A TON of pictures and had A TON of fun! Thanks Taylor's I love you!

Hey Look 99 days of Pregnancy on the wall