Camping at Sunlight Basin

We went "camping" to a cabin in Sunlight Basin last week with our friends the Pattersons. I use camping loosely because the cabin was pretty dang nice, 3 bedroom, living room with fireplace, dining room, bathroom, stocked kitchen, washer and dryer. It was definitely luxury camping compared to what we usually do. I told Scott that he was setting the bar high for what I am going to be willing to stay in now.

It was a great trip and the 6 days seemed to fly by. I guess that is a good indication that we had a great time, not counting the days until we could come home. We ate way too much of some excellent food, enjoyed the scenery and the company and look forward to going again with the Patterson's.

Our only campfire picture

The front of the cabin

The Neff's

The Patterson's

Alexis

We went into Cody one day to act like tourists. We walked main street and looked in all the little shops and had lunch. My niece, Alexis, lives there with her mom. I called early in the day hoping to take her to lunch with us. School had already started for her, so she called us back when she got out. We met at a park across the street from the high school for about 1 minute. The girls were so excited to see their cousin.

Yellowstone

We went in to Yellowstone one day for a quick tour of the best sights. Janae was keeping a tally of how many and what kind of animals we saw. After getting to 147 buffalo, she quit counting. We saw a few elk, several antelope, deer and lots and lots of buffalo. No bear or wolves because we didn't go into the northern part of the park where they apparently live and are seen.

Janae's favorite part of the park was the paint pots, but not the geysers. Addsyon liked the cow elk we saw and the waterfalls. She also, at the time, but not now, liked the rotten egg smell of the mud pots.

In the truck on the way back to the cabin, sound asleep. I guess after a 15 hour day she was tuckered out.

Since she was awake when I took the picture of her sister, Janae wanted one of her too.

Snakes Alive!!

While we were camping near Cody, we went on a little drive down the dirt road that our cabin was on. We stopped a ways down the road for a picnic. Scott and Jake went to check the river out for fishing and came back carrying this snake. It is little, but it is still a snake and I didn't want my girls touching it! Addyson, being the tomboy that she is, was all about touching and holding the thing, yuck! Janae was more cautious, as usual for her.

The Fair

We went to the fair as a family one night while it was here. The girls favorite part was the petting zoo. How many goats or sheep can a kid feed before it gets old? We aren't sure, they would keep going if we would continue to buy them feed. Janae was a little scared at first because when she put her hand down to feed one, 23 more would come running trying to get in on the food. Once she got past her fears, she didn't want to stop. They also liked to brush a big cow. I'm sure that the cow would rather not be brushed 5000 times each day, but it didn't show any signs of caring. We watched a shark presentation where a guy jumped in the tank with 2 different kinds of sharks. Afterward, the girls climbed into a cage like scuba divers use to film sharks in the ocean. They thought it was neat.

After watching a bit of team penning at the rodeo arena, we needed a snack. Who can go to the fair and not get an elephant ear, pizza, nachos and lemonade? Not us apparently. The girls look forward to going every year, even though it is always the same stuff to see and do.

Cake Decorating 101

Janae signed up for a cake decorating class a few weeks ago. She was so excited to learned so that she could come teach me. The first day, they practiced on a board with the different tips they would be using.

Day 2 was decorating cookies

Day 3 was cupcakes followed by a field trip the next day

Day 5 was cake day

She did a great job and can't wait to help me decorate the next cake we need. Maybe I should let her do it all, seeing as she has actually been taught how to do it, unlike my self taught self.

Kelly Guard Station

We camp every summer with Scott's entire family, 11 adults and 5 kids, minus one adult this year. Scott found a cabin near Cokeville for us to go to that turned out to be pretty nice. It was MUCH cleaner than the one we stayed in last year, which was an added bonus for me. The kids loved playing with their cousins all day long, reading stories with grandma, playing badminton and just hanging out in the hammock. The first night, we had put the girls to bed and were sitting around the campfire when we heard a loud thud in the cabin. We ran in to find Addyson, who had been sleeping in the top bunk, on the floor. She never cried, just whimpered a little. We put her back on a bottom bunk instead. In the morning she asked how she had gotten to the bottom when she had been on the top. She doesn't remember falling, which is a good thing, and thankfully she didn't get hurt, the ride to a hospital would have been on a long dirt road. It will be fun to get together next year again.

Love Birds in the Mountains

My little brother Skyler is leaving for Iraq tomorrow for a year. He had a 2 week leave in July before he was being deployed. He decided that getting married during that time would be a good thing to do. We're glad he did too, Carrie is a perfect match for him. While they were here visiting after they got married in Texas, they stayed at our house and then decided to join us one day while we were camping. He used to hunt in the area where we were, so he decided to show Carrie his old stomping grounds. [ If you're thinking that we hogged time with them, yes we were, at least we were accused of it :) ]. Skyler decided to show us how to eat a roasted marshmallow the proper way. Carrie, not to be outdone, did the same. We're glad they came for the day, it was fun to be with them and cook dinner for them. We'll have to camp together when Skyler comes back.

What A Mess!!

What do you get when you mix 4 adults, 7 kids and 5 pounds of powdered sugar? If you guessed a big mess, you're right. Christine decided to make a wedding/birthday/birthday cake for Skyler and Carrie when they came for a visit recently. She asked if I would help her because she had never made a layered cake nor worked with fondant before. I'm always up for a challenge, so I agreed. The morning of the project, I called my friend to ask for any pointers on fondant because she had just made and used some recently. When she asked if we wanted her help, I didn't hesitate to say yes. Making the fondant was the easy part, no worries. Rolling it out, mixing the colors and getting it smooth on the cake is an entirely different story. Thank goodness she volunteered to come "help" (i.e. do it all) because with out her here, who knows what the final outcome of the cake would have been.

Pictures of the counter when we were done.

There was at least this much sugar on the floor also. Keeping kids hands out of the sugar was a challenge, it is so inviting to little ones with nosy fingers.

The finished cake. Bottom layer is for the new bride and groom, middle is camo for the Army boy and pink is for Carrie, her favorite color. No need to go into detail as to why the top layer has camo covering all the pink, suffice it to say I was in charge of rolling out the pink fondant and I didn't pass the class.

The happy couple getting ready to cut the cake. Aren't they cute?

Water Fun

I have a couple of little fish on my hands. They both LOVE the water, whether it's the pool, water slide, lake, whatever the form, they spend hours in the water. We spend a lot of time at some water park several times a week during the summer. We went out to the lake with my brothers one Saturday and the girls, especially Janae, spent almost the whole time in the water. Her swim shirt was the color of dirt before we left because she played so much. They both love the water slides in Rock Springs too, especially the one at Century Pool. You can find us there often,so feel free to join us.