What We've Been Up To...

First off, I am going to apologize for the plethora of pictures. I hope they are not too boring. I placed the license plate picture first, because this was the beginning of our journey...pulling up our roots in Arizona to move to Montana and Idaho. It has been a wonderful move, and we have been blessed to spend time not only together, but also with our families and friends. I was unable to capture all our moments on camera, so I might add in a few details toward the end, but these captions will be reserved for pictures only. Enjoy our journey...

This is a quilt we had made of all our travel shirts we've collected over the past five years. Enlarge the image to see where we've been!

To start off with, this is what Ted and I enjoy doing on Sunday evenings. Since Sunday is the only day Ted has off, we will spend the whole day together, usually on a day trip through the park or something, and then we end with a fire. We've had family and friends join us on several occasions, and it is one of our favorite activities.

Ted likes to man the fire. I am cool with that. He does such a great job, no help is needed. So, I perch on the table while he keeps the flames hot.

Random out of place picture...you will see a few throughout this slide show. But, we visited Old Faithful a couple weekends ago, and it was a blast walking around the geysers and seeing the different formations and colors they make.

Tippy and Patches have been with us on this adventure. Smokey and Tom Tom got sent to my mom's farm, where they are enjoying the sunshine and attention of mom.

We were delighted with a misty morning drive as we headed south to Heise Hot Spring's Zip Lines on Ted's Birthday. I will post zip line photos when I get them.

Another misty morning shot.

Island Park and Ashton have some of the best sunsets. We typically miss most of them, since our cabin is located deep in the trees, but when we are on the road, we are treated to scenes like this. I know this photo is a little fuzzy since I was driving and taking the picture, but this is of the Grand Tetons.

Here is another sunset photo. It is just inside Island Park, and yes, I am driving, hence the reason it is blurry. But, the moon and clouds were incredible, so I had to take a picture.

Speaking of incredible sky creations, here is one Ted captured in West Yellowstone. During May and June we had lots of rain and snow, and beautiful rainbows.

Old Faithful is still faithful. Erupts every hour or two with a breathtaking display of water and steam that tourists will travel from all ends of the earth to see.

Waiting for Old Faithful

It was a warmer day, and we drank our water within minutes of arriving at Old Faithful.

Crowd waiting for Old Faithful. Look at the faces and see how many nationalities you can pick out. My friend Anna and her family came up from California a day before Ted and I went on this trip, and she said they saw a car from every state, except 7 eastern states...which is incredible. She even saw cars from Hawaii and Alaska.

The walk around the neighborhood of geysers.

Buffalo at Old Faithful

Ted and I walked around the boardwalk. It was fun, except I got six blisters from my flip flops. Probably should've planned ahead and wore more comfy shoes for the trek.

Our favorite photo spot at Old Faithful. When we went on a tour of the park a couple years ago during the winter, we found this little river. Now, we have to stop and take a photo every time we visit.

Island Park back roads are wonderful treasures of scenery. This is just behind our cabin.

Another Island Park treasure. If you look at the photo close enough, you can see the stream flooding has created a little heart shape in the grasses.

Island Park Meadows. The flowers bloom in colors of white, yellow, orange, red, and purple.

Me enjoying some time in the driver's seat, which doesn't happen very often. That's okay, I like the Venza, and Ted loves the fresh air drive to and from West Yellowstone every day. The mustang has been a great investment. We've loved every minute in it.

Sawtell Peak from behind out cabin.

We decided to wake up really early one morning and take a drive up to the top of Sawtell Peak (see previous photo for reference). The peak is 10,000 feet high, and you can see 4 states from the top. The big ball is for some sort of military aircraft navigation. The drive is only 15 miles to the top from where we live, and in 11 miles, you climb almost 4,000 feet. Some people hike it, which is amazing!

Snow still on the tops of the mountains. Ted likes to sing the song from "The Sound of Music." Imagine him singing, "The hills are alive with the sound of music..." at this very moment. It is a common theme whenever we go for Sunday drives.

View from the top of Sawtell.

Henry's Lake under Sawtell Peak.

Ted on top of Sawtell.

Another view from the drive up Sawtell.

Random Chico Hot Spings Photo...Relaxing on the front porch of the cabin. I love the view behind me.

Back to Sawtell...We live in the valley where the trees have a split in them (center of photo).

Henry's Lake Sawtell View. I love this photo. I think it captures almost everything Island Park is known for.

Ted's family loves to come and visit. We love it when they come up! This is when Zach and Karleen came up for an evening, and we went to The Playmill to watch Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. It was a blast! We had front row seats, and our feet were literally on the stage. Poor Zach got pulled onto stage once. Too fun! I haven't laughed that hard in a while. If you come up to West Yellowstone, definitely check out the Playmill. Oh, and this bear they are posing with is one of many bears Ted sells at his kiosk for a local in West. They are so cute! Ted has a little bit of everything at his store. Cell phone accessories, stickers, chainsaw carved bears, rental equipment, bear spray...hey, you never know when you might need it.

Chico Hot Springs...one of our favorite places on the earth!

Ted at his relaxation station on the front porch.

Drive to Chico is incredible. There are photo ops like this the whole way.

Here is the cute cabin we stayed in while at Chico. If you want to experience a unique and relaxing trip, this is the one for you. The food is the best we've ever tasted, and the accomodations are great and affordable. The hot springs are wonderful too!

Need I say more?

Ted taking a cat nap after dinner.

We inherited a little pet.

And some not so little pets. There are a pair of bull moose that like to munch on the grass behind our house. They are massive animals, bigger than a horse, and quiet intimidating. The other day, Ted went out to feed and water the dogs in their kennel, and the two moose were standing next to the kennel, looking over the fence at the dogs. Ted said the dogs' eyes were huge and they were huddled down like they were petrified. I would be too if that happened to me. Needless to say, Ted stayed inside the cabin until the moose found some breakfast behind the cabin. Who knows, maybe moose like dog food too.

Another shot of the two moose behind out cabin. One is kind of hiding behind the trees, so you really have to look hard. It is to the left of the one in plain sight, between us and the other cabin.

We like taking photos of the moose in our backyard. They make great yeard ornaments.

Moose staring us down. This picture makes the moose look like it's a long ways away, but it was actually really close.

Elk inside Yellowstone. Signs say not to feed or touch the animals, so we stayed inside our car.

Elk finding a pond to cool off in. It was really hot this day. Around 100 degrees by the time we got to the north end of the park.

A tree fell across the road in front of the car ahead of us. Luckily, a guy had a tow rope and pulled it off the road.

Big bubba buffalo in the park.

This buffalo was about 2 feet from the car when I took this picture. In the next photo you will see why. He held up traffic for a half hour by walking from one side of the road to the next, and liking the middle of the road best.

Yellowstone traffic jam. Ted and I prefer these way over Phoenix traffic jams.

We took a trip to Mesa Falls.

Ted leaning on the railing. We brainstormed what we would do if we were caught off guard in a canoe, about ready to go off the falls. I would prop myself inside the canoe as best I could and hope to survive the fall. Ted would jump out of the canoe onto the trees that are lodged just above the falls and hop from one to the next until he could jump to shore. It would take some swimming, and he would hope to be strong enough to swim against the current. We hope to never experience anything like that, but at least we know what we would do if the situation did arise.

Mesa Falls is the largest undisturbed falls. They are beautiful.

Posing in front of the falls.

I wanted to capture the falls in a way seldom people did. I hope this does justice.

The steam from the falls create a unique ecosystem, and moss grows from the cliffs. It reminds us of Hawaii instead of Idaho.

Yes, we did come straight from church, and Ted had a spare shirt in the back of the car so he wasn't in his white shirt and tie, although I enjoy seeing him dressed up.

Rocks right before the water falls off the edge.

Ted and I went on a guided horse ride with Diamond P Ranch, and this was the view from the continental divide of Idaho and Montana.

There were huge meadows full of wildflowers like these. The camera couldn't capture the beauty.

There were eight people on the ride with us. A couple of us were from the United States. Others were from England and Holland. Very fun group!

Here is another random one, but it breaks things up...If you look closely, you can see Ted's store in the back of this picture. Ted's store is in the Park West Mall in West Yellowstone, right on the main street. One of the other shop owners owns this jeep and they decided to put a bear in it for fun. You wouldn't believe how many pictures were taken of it that day. All the shop owners in West are like this, fun and very community driven. We have made some strong friendships over this summer.

Ted on his horse Arthur. He is a big draft horse...with maybe some mule in him. We couldn't tell.

Me and Ted. We got matching horses, sort of. But, it made the photos fun. We had so much fun on this couple hour ride, and the views were unbelievable. I got so many pictures!

Me and Cheyenne. I love the mountains in the background.

Going across a little stream.

One of the many fantastic pictures I got from this ride. Our guide was from Idaho Falls, and loved talking to Ted.

Me and Ted before the ride. I often wonder how I got so blessed to marry a man like Ted.

This is another horseback ride I went on the day after Ted and I went with Diamond P. My mom, Morgan, Adam, and Pierce came up for a ride at Harriman State Park. It was incredible! Pierce is such a tropper! We were riding for about 5 hours, and he didn't complain or fuss once! He is too cute!

Mom rode Cisco. We had our cell phones out most of the ride, snapping photos.

Missy after the ride. I think she was sleepy after the long ride, expecially since she isn't used to trail rides.

Henry's Fork Ride. There were views like this throughout the whole ride.

This is Silver Lake. Cisco wanted to take my mom for a swim.

Random Bill's Island Photo. But, this is a beautiful area. Many of our friends from Blackfoot have cabins on this island. Yesterday I went tubing with my old ward, Thomas 2nd. It was so much fun! I miss all of them so much! You will see more photos later.

Back to the ride with my family. This is at Harriman State Park. We were shocked at how the park was empty. We only saw one other horseback riding group the whole time we were there. It is an undiscovered paradise.

Adam took the lead. Perfect day for a ride, 78 degrees, sunny, and shade from the pines. Who could ask for more?

Missy and Me at Silver Lake. I kept trying to get her to look at the camera, but she's not photogenic. There are lots more exciting things to look at besides a camera.

Adam and Morgan next to Henry's Fork.

Okay, here are the tubing pictures. This first one is of Katie. Me and Katie have known each other since high school, and we were neighbors when Ted and I lived in Pingree. She is a doll! We were also young women leaders together when I lived in Pingree...ha ha! She is the one who invited me to come to the Thomas 2nd Ward Young Women Island Park Trip yesterday. It was like old times, and I felt like I'd never left, except I'd missed a year of the girl's life, which was sad. I love the Thomas 2nd Ward. Ted says that when things get rough, we are moving back to Pingree so we can be with the people we love so much. :)

Kira kicking it like a pro. Kira and I used to pick rock together on the farm. We would spend 13 to 17 hours working each day in the hot sun for 3 to 4 weeks, picking rock from the ground. We don't miss those days.

Alex got the best ride out of everyone. She had surgery on her shoulder a couple years ago from an accident, so we have to take it easy on her. I don't even think she got her hair wet.

Okay, here is Megan. I think this is right before she took a tumble...a big tumble. She hit a huge wave and flipped three times in the air before she got flung off the tube. It was insane! And, she got back on the tube for another ride after that!

Another Megan Photo, before she knew what was going to hit her. Ha ha! She's a trooper!

Well, I hope you enjoyed the photos. They pretty much tell the story of what we've been up to.

For some stuff I didn't capture on camera:

Karleen, me and Elisabeth, went to BYU-Idaho Education Week this last weekened. It was spiritually enlightening, and I learned so many wonderful new things. Here are a few of the things I learned that I needed the most:

Our will, Thy Will, it’s as easy as flipping a switch
When you make people laugh, you make them teachable.
Soul: Body and Spirit
Service! Gratitude=builders, progression, service
Earth Life 101: We will not be passed onto the next grade until we learn the lesson from the grade we are in.
Gratitude and contentment create miracles. They flip a switch for people on the other side of the veil to help us. It mobilizes them. They are twin sisters to humility.
Judah-Lion, Ephriam-Ox. Ox is slow and steady, and dependable. Ephriam to gather Judah.
Saints come with Christ when second coming happens.
The sealing covenant authorizes and empowers us. Power comes when we employ faith.
It is a sacred trust the Lord has bestowed upon us to love our families and those we are closest with. We know their weaknesses, better than anyone else because we are close to them. But, we must look over those weaknesses, and build them up so they can become strong.
What goes “on hold” when we don’t get along? Story of Joseph and Emma having a quarrel, Joseph not being able to translate until he prayed and smoothed things over with Emma. Whole restoration was on hold.
We never progress without sacrifice.
Angels minister unto children of man. Bring word from God. World offers fallen things. Only angels and God offer good things.
Angels empower us. Ministering of angels is a gift of the spirit.
If we live our religion and let the spirit reign, the mind of man will not become dull and stupid. As the body approaches dissolution, the spirit takes a hold on the enduring substance behind the veil, drawing from the depths of that eternal fountain of light, sparkling gems of intelligence, which surround the frail and sinking tabernacle with a halo of immortal wisdom.-Brigham Young
Think the best of each other, especially those you love. Assume the good, doubt the bad. –Holland
The spirit of the gospel is optimistic. –Orson F Whitney
Balance in life: Service, Prayer, Fast, Family, Avoid Debt, Education
Nelson: With us, education is a religious responsibility
Seek not for riches, but for wisdom, D&C 6:7
Where your treasure is, there will you heart be also.
Avoid distractions
Do we really believe the Lord will take care of us? Test of faith

It was Ted's birthday on Tuesday, and we had the best day together! I made him take the day off, and just party all day long. We did. First, we woke up early and went on the Heise Hot Spring's Ziplines. There are 7 ziplines, and they got for over a mile. It is one of the funnest things I've done all summer. We had 8 people that went with us: Ted, Ranel (my mom), Steve Reed, Karleen (Ted's mom), Zach Garling, Elisabeth Garling, Alex Hepworth (cousin), and me.

Then, Ted, me, my mom, and Steve, went swimming in the hot springs. Steve's son, Brennan, manages Heise, so he gave us a sweet deal for Ted's birthday, and went on the ziplines with us.

After that, we had lunch with Karleen, Zach, and Lissa at Cafe Rio. Never been there before, but it was delicious!

Ted and I headed to Blackfoor after lunch and had foot zoning treatments for a couple hours. So relaxing! I love how zoning balances your body so that you can heal from the inside out. Incredible!

We stopped and visited Adam (my brother), for a minute, since he couldn't make it to celebrate Ted's birthday with us.

And then, we were off to Idaho Falls to have dinner with my mom (Ranel), and Steve.

We caught the 7:00 showing of Harry Potter with Ted's parents, and my mom and Steve. It was a great ending to the story, and I am glad that good conquered evil. It always does, which is good news for us. :)

When the movie finished, Ted and I headed up to his family's house, and had cake that my mom made for Ted and Karleen for their birthdays. It was sooo good, and a perfect way to finish off the night before we headed back north to the woods of Island Park.

Overall, an excellent day! I think it is one of the best birthdays we've celebrated together.

All in all, we've been having the time of our lives here in Island Park, Idaho. Since we've decided that life is worth living happily, and we've made the tough choices and decisions to get us here, it has been beyond incredible. We live every day in celebration of life, and we are blessed with gratitude, happiness, and contentment. May the Lord bless all you who read this with the deepest wish of your heart. Love you all! :)