Ali's Girl Scouts

This past Saturday Ali's girl scout troop planted a tree at her elementary school.  They did such a great job.  They actually were done before the older girls, what hard workers!

That's Ali on the right...putting some muscle into it!

Filling in the tree with dirt.

The End...5 hot tired little brownies!

First Day of School

Well, my little Ali is in 3rd grade!   I can't believe it.  And Sam's in first grade!  Where did the time go?

Wild West Relay

The beginning of August we ran in the Wild West Relay.  Another running relay that goes from Fort Collins to Steamboat Springs.  It was a ton of fun!  We were the Rubber Chickens and had lots of fun with our little mascots!  Here are some pics of everyone.  My brother Bert and sister Nicki, and Rachel, Greg and Esther were in our van.

Rachel and Nicki

Our masot strapped to the hood of our van

Our sweet decals...Thanks Rach!

Nicki and Bert at the continental divide sign.  Bert just got done running his hardest leg uphill for 8 miles and Nicki made him run a little further for a picture!

We love our chickens!

Rachel was the only trooper on our team who ran one of her legs with the chicken!

Nicki, myself, Bert

The Team at the finish!  We finished 29th overall and 8th in our category!  Not too shabby!

This is what I looked like after my last run, when some lady came and asked if she could take a picture of me with my "Snickers Marathon Bar" for their sponsers...boy do I look good or what...Let me know if you see my face....Am I famous yet?

More catching up

This summer we took a family camping trip to Jackson Lake.  We stayed on a little Island.  Thanks to Jeff's dad who let us borrow his boat.

The kids putting the hot sand(more like little rocks and dirt) on them after a cool swim in the lake

The last night we were there, there was a super big storm.  Lightning, thunder and the waves we pretty big.  I was actually probably the most scared I have ever been...wouldn't tell the kids that.  I kept telling Ali everything was just fine.  Anyway, Jeff stayed out during the whole storm and kept checking on the boat.  Well, in the morning......lets just say, we spent awhile digging the boat off of the beach.

Then as we were leaving, this is how beautiful the lake looked.....I guess it was the calm after the storm.
Sam found a black and red snake on our Island, which terrified him for quite awhile!  I never saw it, but he stayed away from that part of the island.

The kids were in the lake catching minnows, and were excited when they found this cool worm-looking thing....it was a leech.   Yeah, that kinda spoiled the water for me.  Oh well, we went swimming, and no one got leeches on them....Although on the way home Andrew found one on his finger and I was too chicken to get it off, so Ali did, then it stuck to her, and she flung her hand all over and it flew off.  We stopped the truck and Jeff got it out of the car....yuck!  Good to be home!

Catching Up!

Bert and Shilo and I took a hike up table rock.  Once you get to the top, you are right there by the top of the Tetons, it is beautiful.  Here is a panorama that I took looking off the other side.  We went up the face of the trail....not the best idea ever, but you can't say they didn't warn you.  There was a sign that said  "Very steep, not maintained, not recommended"  but dumb us, we did it anyway, and yes, it was very steep, and no, I would not recommend it!  Needless to say, we made it to the top...I was dripping with sweat, and Bert was just laughing at me and Shilo!  It was a great day though and worth all the effort to get to the top!

At the Top of Table Mountain

This rock chuck at the top of table rock, was a little too friendly!  As soon as we sat down to picnic he came right over and started stealing our food, so then we decided to share with him.  He did make me a little nervous and he licked my leg!  Good thing he didn't bite me!

This is Bert and Shilo with table rock in the distance....almost there!

On the way down we went down the backside and had to cross over 3 streams.  I killed my feet!  So this was the last crossing and I just went through with my shoes on, and was able to get these pics of Bert and Shilo

Towards the top of our hike with the Tetons in the back