The Tetons...

After we left the Dale and Jill, we went south to the Tetons.  We camped at Colter Bay for 2 nights and just went up and down and all around the area. 

It was so absolutely beautiful!

This guy got in a TON of his required driving hours. He drove through the Teton Pass, where there are no rumble strips or guard rails and beyond the white line on the side of the road is a HUGE drop off!  He did a great job and is a very good driver!

We brought 2 tents, but forgot the tent poles to the smaller tent so we all slept in one.  Which, turned out to be a blessing, since it got so cold some most of the nights!  There was not one inch of extra space, just beds!  Nice and cozy!

They saw a moose!  The wild flowers were AMAZING!

This is at the top of Signal mountain, it was the most stunning area.

This is another moose we saw pretty close on one of our drives.  They are so huge!

Of course a camping trip would not be complete without one of Grama T.'s famous bedtime stories!  Friends from church were with us at the same campground and got to enjoy the story as well!

The boys thought maybe this was the safest place to stay, in the bear box!  We were thankful they had these things, since we couldn't keep any food or cooking supplies in the tent{not that there was room in our tent!}It saved some room in the vehicle.

I love this picture, they are both sitting the same way!  So cute!

The sunroof came in handy when trying to spot animals!

We spent a few hours in Jackson Hole window shopping.

I wasn't sure how much Lucy or Anaya would get out of this trip, lots of driving and looking at the scenery.  But, they both loved it, Lucy kept saying "it's preedy!" or "look mommy it budiful!"  She was also great at spotting and yelling "BUFFALO!"

Montana...

Between internet issues and busy schedules, I have neglected my blog...But, we just came back from an amazing adventure out west and I want to share a few memories before I forget!

This is the great group of people we were privileged to travel across the country with! 

It was so great to see our good friends again!

We took several of the youth and some of their families out to Clark Canyon Bible camp in Montana where our friends Dale and Jill Stewart serve as missionaries. We worked on several work projects that are going on at the camp this summer.   Some of our group also held a VBS for the children in a neighboring area.

Lots of various demolition and tearing things apart, then a lot of cleaning up and putting things back together again. 

Of course we did take a little time to fish, and have a little fun too!

The camp from the road, and our beautiful surroundings for the week!

We ate well!

The girls and their new friend Jakoley!

Anaya LOVED helping Jill milk the goat!  Lucy, not so much!

Dishes were much more fun with the super fast industrial dishwasher!  All the kids asked why we don't have one of these at home.  Umm we have a big family, but not that big!

The VBS team got a flat on their way to the one room schoolhouse in the valley.  This trip was all about rural missions, and they got to experience what really rural is.  The team had a handful of kids show up which was nearly 100 percent of the children in a very large radius!  The community felt blessed that people cared enough to come to them, and our team was blessed by them as well!

Our last adventure with the group was a back packing trip up in the mountains.  I was going to stay back at camp, but Jill volunteered to take the girls so I could go.  Normally this would not be my type of trip, I camp, but with flush toilets, showers and campsites!  This was not that kind of trip!  But I was feeling adventurous and decided to give it a go, and I am so glad I did, it was AMAZING!

Gods creation is so absolutely amazing, it was beautiful out there.  We hiked up and back in the mountains for about an hour or so and finally came to our destination, a valley with a stream running along the side.  As we arrived, I kept feeling like I had been there before, and sure enough, I had.  When I came out in high school with my family we took a horse back trip up the same path!  {For the record, I prefer horseback riding!}  We crossed the aforementioned stream several times and on the very first crossing, I slipped and got both feet soaking wet for the rest of the trip!  I must say, I was amazed at how fast my feet warmed up and it was much less annoying than I thought it would be hiking with wet feet.  It was to my advantage really, I didn't have to wait in line to cross on the rocks, I could just trudge right on through!

Those would be my shoes drying by the fire!

Our beautiful camp site!  {Beautiful, but not comfortable, not many of us slept well directly on the ground!}

The sunsetting and shining on the mountain was breathtaking...

The snow we woke up to the next morning was breathtaking too!!!

That night it rained and there was one big crash of thunder and lightening! I couldn't sleep, there was a rock right where I was laying so I was awake thinking about Dylan and his friends in a tent without a rain fly, hoping they weren't too wet.  Then, after several long hours, I started getting cold.  So I began thinking about Jayden and Spencer and wondering if they were warm enough, I checked Easton who was in the tent with Ryan and I and noticed he was pushed way into the side of the tent so I tried to pull his sleeping bag closer and it wouldn't budge. I slid my hand between his bag and the tent and realized they were FROZEN together!  So the snow was not surprising to me, but it was funny to hear everyone gasp when they opened their tent in the morning!

Pastor Ryan started a few snowball fights!

This is the Stewart family {missing a few more kids and one cute grandbaby!}

The kids and I and another family who was with us stayed in this cabin, which used to be the Stewart family home.  16 years ago Ryan and I came out and worked on this cabin before they moved in, it was fun to come back and stay in it!  After our work week was done, the rest of the group headed toward home and my parents came out and joined us in Montana.  We spent a couple of days with our friends before heading out on our family vacation to the Tetons and Yellowstone. {to be continued...}

Happy Birthday Anaya!

 Anaya turned 6 on Sunday, on Friday we had a princess tea party for her and some of her friends.

The girls dressed up and had fun playing together, lots of giggling!

We made bracelets..

played pin the tiara on the princess...

I think their favorite game was sifting for treasures in the sand.

 

On April 28 we celebrated Anaya's 5th gotcha day, hard to believe, time is going by so fast.  We are so blessed to have this little chatterbox in our lives.  She adds quite a bit of spice to life, and we are so thankful God placed her into our family.

The newest addition...

to our little farm is Easton's calf Bullseye.

Not sure why he choose that name, but Bullseye it is!

Bullseye and I got acquainted fairly quickly after the boys brought him home from the auction.  He was in the back of Ryan's truck and Easton and his friend were looking at him when he decided to jump out of the truck!  I happened to be nearby and heard Easton yelling something about him getting out, so I ran over just in time to pretty much catch him mid air and tackle him to the ground!  He only weighs about 80lbs, but he is a fiesty little fella, and got up despite my best efforts to keep him down, so I held him around the neck and was trying to not let him go as help finally arrived in the form of my 15 year old son, who stood there and laughed at me and turned out to be no help at all!  I was out of breath as the little bugger was trying so hard to wriggle free from my grip.  I really wanted someone to put a halter on the dumb thing so I could stop fighting with it!  Finally the rest of the boys and Ryan came to my rescue and put the halter on it and I was able to limp in the house and catch my breath!  So, I guess I earned the badge of 'good farm wife' with my rodeo worthy calf wrestling skills!

Welcome to the farm Bullseye, and let's not do that again!

The gloomy wet weather this week has been very similar to the mood here in our community.  We lost a great guy early Monday morning when Ryan Prudhomme died and it has literally been raining and dreary ever since.

 I will never forget the first time I met Ryan, we had just moved up here, and it was the middle of winter.  My parents were up so we took a drive to see the area. We found the one restaurant that stays open year round in a neighboring town, and went in.  It's a very small bar/restaurant and when we walked in we saw 2 cowboys sitting at a table and I remember thinking..."where do I live?"  It seemed like a picture from out west!  Well, my dad, who never knew a stranger, decided to talk to these guys.  He goes on to tell them who we are and that we had just moved to the area.  They were both very kind and said they worked at the Ranch at Grace Adventures.  So I wondered if they were just dressed that way because of the ranch or what, I mean they were in full get up, hat, bandanna around the neck, big belt buckles, vests, leather slicker coats, the real deal!  I had seen several cowboys out west, and even knew one, but most people in Michigan, just wear the boots or hat or whatever not the whole shebang!  After living here a while I came to realize that indeed they were true cowboys. And not only that, they had a passion for the Lord and used their love of all things cowboy at the camp to help others grow in their faith and knowledge of the Lord.  It was a blessing to get to know Ryan, yes he was a great man of God, he was also a lot of fun and quite mischievous, he shared some great stories around campfires about his growing up years. He will definitely be missed!

 Today we went to the visitation and were once again reminded that we have a living God who cares for us and gives us the grace we need to deal with the difficulties of this life.  His wife, parents and brothers were all a picture of this kind of amazing grace.  While we are all so very sad that he is no longer with us, we are not like those without hope.  I cannot imagine going through life without the hope that is found in the Lord. 

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 NIV

¹³ Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. ¹⁴ For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵ According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.

There may be some who read this and think this is 'hogwash' so to speak, but I urge anyone who thinks that way to think about something: What if you are wrong?  I mean, if what I believe is wrong, and when we die, we die and that's that, then at least I had hope{don't worry, I'm not changing my mind on this} But, what if what you believe is wrong, and what I believe is right?  Then what?  Just something to think about.  Ryan left a legacy of faith and trust in God, and I can't help but share that with you.  If you've never read Ryan and Kendra's blog, please check it out.  It will be sure to bless you, stretch you and make you think.

Please keep Kendra, Colton and their families in your prayers.

Basketball...

Is over, and baseball is starting, but, I wanted to post a few pictures of Dylan playing basketball.

While they didn't have the best record, they played hard and we cheered loud!  Dylan has improved greatly over the last few years playing basketball and it's fun to watch him play!  My boys even got me into the whole March madness bracket thing, who knew I would end up getting more of my first round bracket right than this guy!!

My favorite part is that he had to 'dress up' on game day, I loved to see him wear a tie.


Spencer was on a team this winter too and did an amazing job.  Dylan's team helped teach and coach the younger kids. Great to see the older kids investing in the younger ones.

Now we're on to baseball and soccer!