Wonderful Wyoming

It's no secret that we love Wyoming. We were able to spend another wonderful weekend at the cabin. We attempted a hike along Boulder Creek, but were driven away by mosquitoes. They were terrible in the trees and along the water. Surprisingly though, they weren't bad at all at the cabin. It made working on the fence more enjoyable, even though it was still very hard work.

This is Boulder Creek.


This is a flower I saw along the trail. I'm not sure what it is. Mel, I was hoping you could help me with that.
Another question, do male butterflies die after mating? I think that's what happened to this guy. The female laid eggs and took off, but the male just died. Hmm...
Kaia and I spent most of our time around the cabin playing, stoking the fire in the hot tub, cleaning up, etc. Here she is in various moments of discovery.





She LOVED the tractor. Here she is giving Paul and Mike instructions before they went down to work on the fence.

Paul driving the tractor.

Colin preferred to take the bike down.

Here everyone is down working on the fence. 40 acres is a lot of land. When it's lined with a fence you can really see the distance.

Kaia and I walked down to join everyone. This is the view looking back at the cabin.

Workin' the fence line: Kaia, Colin, Paul, Mike, and Jenny.

Kaia investigating one of the post holes.

And with grandma on the tractor.

Happy dogs: Haus and Otis

Birt's 40th

For Birt's 40th we went to the Uintas. Talk about a good time. Kim and Eric found an awesome place to camp right at Sheep Creek Lake. Jeff and Christina put together an amazing contest/competition for Saturday. The feast Saturday night was outstanding. Props to all the chefs. But seriously Chuck. Best brisket ever! Thank you Salt Lake friend family for being who you are. Happy Birthday Birt!

Kaia and Ruby had a great time.

And so did we! The games were awesome! Way to go Jeff and Christina. There were eight games to participate in with varying points. Some points were earned with a partner and some were earned individually. Here is a sampling.

Classic cornhole and horseshoes were two events.
Ruby, Amie, and Amanda


Flip cup followed by a three-legged race were two more.Paul, Amanda, Dan, Birt, Zak, Julie, and Amie.

Birt takes one for the team while Zak, Christina, Julie, and Todd look on.


Erik and Connor dominated the foot race. This was just practice though.


Knife throwing and bb shooting were individual events.Zak and Birt were a powerful team.

Dan
Michelle


Tug-o-war was partner versus partner. The final event was a canoe race. Sorry, no pictures of that. It was Dan and I against Paul and Christy. Paul cheated of course, but still won. Darn! Dan and I were undefeated until then! It didn't seem to matter though because my awesome partner Dan won the competition! Way to go Dan! Fun was had by all and we all look forward to Chuck's 40th so we can do it again!

Todd and Paul

Paul's new beer holder, Michelle.


Kaia loved the chocolate pudding. She had actually fallen asleep and was eating the pudding with her eyes closed and just kept opening her mouth, but then decided to wake up and really enjoy it!


Sharing berries.

Cabin over the 4th

Aah, the cabin. I LOVE the cabin. It is one of my favorite places on Earth and we were able to spend the 4th there with family. We had a wonderful time and were able to spend some quality time with Mike, Jenny, Jessica, Stephen, Stella, Craig, Sarah, Colin, and Will. We celebrated Sarah's birthday, ate amazing food, built a fence, played with the tractor, went boating, hike a peak, rode bikes, soaked in the hot tub, and watched the cutest girls play and splash. (See why I love the cabin?!)

Hangin' at the swing. I don't think we have a fire going yet.

Mike and Jenny made steps for the girls.

Buddies.
More hugs. (Way to own the grass Stella girl!)


Mike and Jenny built a wood burning hot tub, but the girls can't use it. So they were out and about and came across this gem! A wine barrel that had been cut in half and finished off. They set it up with some of the warm water from the hot tub for the girls to play in. They LOVED it!

The guys looking out for them.

It took them awhile to realize they could sit down!


Success!

Hiking to Lookout Peak

So I'm pretty proud of myself. As we planned to go to the cabin in July we knew the mosquitoes could be horrific. So we went to look into getting Kaia a mosquito net to cover her backpack. Off to Kirkham's we went only to discover that the Kelty cover was $50! So what does my industrious husband say? "Let's just make one ourselves." I take that to mean that HE will make one. So we get the materials and head home. Well as time escaped us and I am home for the summer, guess who got put in charge of making the cover? Yep, me. And here it is! I can't believe I pulled it off. It is far from perfect, but it kept the critters off our kiddo!
Until she had to get out and do some hiking of her own!

She figured out how to drink from my Camelback.
With grandpa Mike.
The view.


One big happy family.

Nicole's Wedding

Nicole and Nathan cutting the cake.

Gabe

Stella and Stephen

Josh and Judy
Boot Scootin' Boogy

Tree hugging and wine tasting

Before leaving San Francisco we went down to the pier and saw the sea lions.




My parents were able to join us in San Francisco. Here is Kaia with her grandpa checking out the sea lions.


We also went to a redwood forest that wasn't very far from the house we rented.
With grandma in front of the oldest tree in the park.Climbing...as always.

Us
My parentsBecca, me, Jessica, and Celeste. (We missed you Judy!)

Kaia and her cousin Stella became best friends over the past three weeks and just LOVE each other. They gave each other hugs and kisses and tickled each other and held hands. They played together and learned from each other. It really was the coolest.

They learned to entertain themselves while the rest of us were wine tasting.
At the Stryker vineyard for lunch and tasting.