4th of July

 July is a good month. There's the 4th (which I love), there's our anniversary, and (if you live in Utah) there's Pioneer day. Pretty much there is a lot of food, a lot of fireworks, and a lot of family. Whats not to love?

For the 4th we went to good ol' Idaho Falls. I love the 4th of July in IF. It really is the best. From the parade to the fireworks they really put on a show. If you don't believe me, well, you should.  The weekend started out at Nic's parents house for a celebration of the June Birthdays. Food: Pizza, cake, and ice cream. Fireworks: none. Family: Lloyd, Gail, Lindsey and Shawn and crew, Ali and Chase, Nic and me and crew.

Mason and Abby.

If only that chub looked so good on everyone.

My mom's backyard. The backyard I spent much of my later childhood in. Food: Carrots for the horse. Fireworks: Still none. Family: Just us.

 Ah. The Parade. Mason loved the parade, and honestly who wouldn't? I'm pretty sure he came home with a pound of candy. Food: Donuts, candy, bagels. Fireworks: nada. Family: Nic's family sans Marci et. al., Jorden and Clay, and Ryan.

So patriotic.

Mason learned very quickly from the boys sitting next to us (Shawn's sister's kids) that he could yell "honk the horn" and semi-trucks would honk. So throughout the entire parade there was a constant, low and deep voice yelling "Honk da horn. Honk da horn." He was even saying it to bicyclists.

After the Parade we went to Nic's parents for the annual Pink's Hot Dog BBQ. Just like the famous Pinks, hot dogs can be ordered with a bazillion combination of whatever you want on them. I'm not a big hotdog fan, but cover it in guacamole, bacon and cheese and I can eat just about anything. I think the food, fireworks and family was pretty much covered in its entirety here.

The kids did some impromptu sprinkler time. I wish I had gotten a picture of Nic. He was the man of the day and played soccer, had Nerf gun battles, and set up sprinklers for all the kids. I think they kind of liked him.

 The fireworks. The Melaluca company in Idaho Falls puts on the fireworks and they really are the best in the area. They rival much bigger cities' shows and are always very well attended. In fact, I almost roller-bladed into Harrison Ford at the fireworks while Nic and I were dating. Unfortunately I didn't realize it until I skated away and Nic told me. I totally would have been one of those annoying fans and told him how my plan out of high school was to go to college and become Indiana Jones. True story. Food: Spray-able cheese and crackers and animal crackers courtesy of Lindsey. Fireworks: Tons and they were awesome. Family: Shawn, Lindsey, Chloe and Carson, Nic, me, and Mason. (Sage stayed home with Grandma KC.)

Lighting sparklers while waiting for the fireworks.

Some of the clan.

Pretty Chloe.

Carson

So excited.

For as long as I live I will never forget Mason's reaction to the fireworks. This was his first time actually seeing big fireworks like this and he went berserk. He was screaming, "Woo hoo! Yeah! Awesome! Explosion!" and he was literally jumping up and down. This picture caught the moment so well and might just be the awesomest picture ever.

Two very happy boys.

 After the 4th we headed up the cabin in Island Park. We 4-wheeled, we slept, we threw rocks in the creek (we threw lots of rocks in the creek). We also went up to the top of Sawtelle. I had never been up there and I don't really know why. You can see all of Island park with the Tetons in the background. Beautiful. (Though I didn't take any scenic pictures. hm.) Food: Great cabin junk food. Fireworks: Um...illegal in the forest. Family: My dad and Penni were able to join us for the first day, then it was just us for the next couple of days.

Throwing rocks. He could do this all day.

While we were at the cabin we decided to head into Yellowstone for the day. As always it was beautiful.

Waiting for Old Faithful.

This is outfit 1 of 3 of the day for Sage. There were some issues.

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Hands down my favorite part of the park.

Mammoth Hot Springs. (Which one of these faces is not like the others?)

In the park we saw Bison, elk, deer, and three bears. One black, two grizzlies. This bear was hanging out right by the road and people (or rather complete idiots) were out of their cars within 20 yards of this thing taking its picture. The park ranger's hadn't shown up yet and I was feeling pretty annoyed at the ignorance of it all. I hope they all felt pretty dumb when they later heard that that very day a man was killed by a grizzly in the park. (It was actually very close to the Grand Canyon and at the same time we were there. Very sad story). I can kind of get on my soap box about this whole thing, but some people. Really.

To end on a positive note, however, the weekend was wonderful and I left feeling very blessed that I have such a wonderful family. I am one lucky lady.

Alaska Part 3: Ketchikan and Victoria

On Friday of our voyage we arrived in Ketchikan. Unfortunately we were only docked here for a few short hours. I would loved to have spent more time here.  There is this awesome area here called Creek Street. All the buildings are up on stilts and the Ketchikan Creek flows beneath them. During salmon season you can see tons of salmon swimming upstream. Creek Street, actually, used to be the red light district of Ketchikan and there is a historic museum dedicated to this history. There is even a trail that leads to the street through the woods called "Married Man Trail." You can probably guess why it goes through the woods instead of through town. I guess in Alaska men outnumber women 7:1. We heard the joke a few times from the women here that "in Alaska the odds are good, but the goods are odd".

Creek Street

Nic and I got off the boat as soon as it docked to be able to browse Creek Street a bit (which is now mostly shops).  We didn't get much time, however, because Ketchikan was where we had decided to book our zip lining tour! Ever since my mom went to Alaska and raved about her zip lining experience we have wanted to try it. We were actually just planning on doing it without Nic's parents because Nic's dad has a serious (I mean serious) fear of heights. After mentioning it to them though they said they wanted to come along. It was pretty funny because the day we booked it Nic's dad kept calling me freaking out because he was watching the video on the company's website. In fact, we didn't really talk about it much until the day of so as to keep his nerves down. He did great though, and really loved the experience. One of our awesome guides tried very hard to distract him as he was crossing the rope bridges. So much so that she was pretty much rambling about nothing and at one point Lloyd looked up a her wondering what on earth she was talking about and she just said, "Hey, I'm just trying to distract you." Super nice people.

We rode the mountain to the base camp in an Unimog. This is the moment Lloyd saw the first zip line up in the trees.

Geared up.

Still looking pretty somber there Lloyd.

This was before our "practice run". We were about 8 feet off the ground for the practice.

This is after the practice run. Note that there is a walkway that goes right up to the platform.

135 feet up!

Victoria mastering the zip.

Some rope bridge action.

Nic in the trees. The shortest cable was 100 feet and the longest was 850! I wouldn't say I'm a lightweight, but my weight almost didn't carry me to the end of that one. Luckily I stuck my foot out last minute and the guide grabbed it. Otherwise I would have been hauling myself in hand over hand on the cable.

Very studly.

I see a smile! He loved it.

Here is one of our two fearless guides (I wish I had taken a picture of the girl). We all got medals upon completion of the course. Lloyd said he is framing this and putting it up at his office. We got some great video of the whole thing too, including one where Zach (pictured above) took our camera as he zipped down one of the longest cables. Very cool. If you are interested in the coolness of it visit alaskacanopy.com.

All alive and well!

At the beginning of the zip lining adventure we kept telling Lloyd that his reward would be the lobster night that awaited us on the ship that evening. It did not disappoint. This was formal night #2 and our last real night on the ship. Allow me to insert my plug for cruising here. Cruising is a really fun way to travel. Especially if you are traveling with someone other than your immediate family. You are "delivered" to gorgeous locations and you don't even feel like you are "traveling" to get there. We saw lots of singing and dancing, a magician, a comedian. We watched movies with popcorn, went to karaoke night, watched cooking demonstrations. We even went dancing one night. All of this while we sailed through one of the most beautiful places in the world. Seriously you'd be walking along and all of a sudden you'd pass a window and outside would be the most breathtaking view. It was perfect. Plus, we met some really interesting people. A lot of older people sail to Alaska (especially on Holland America). We met a Czechoslovakian woman who survived a concentration camp in WWII. She was alone on the cruise and we the opportunity to spend some time with her. At karaoke night we met a woman who use to sing on Broadway. She wowed us all with her karaoke performance. (Her cute husband was really good too.) So many interesting people and, to be honest, you begin to feel a sort of comradere with these people as you sail through such a beautiful and desolate place. Very cool. Anyway, that is my plug. On the negative (but also positive) side, the food is plentiful and by the end we were done. eating. 

Speaking of food. I did not eat ALL those lobsters. But as a table we probably took down 8-10 of those bad boys.

Not a great picture, but this is what a girl like myself looks like on dessert night.

Saturday we sailed to Victoria, British Columbia. I spent some time here in High School on a choir trip, and, I loved it so much that it lead to Nic and I spending some time here on our honeymoon. It is a beautiful city on a beautiful island. We were only here during the evening and Lloyd and Victoria decided to stay on the boat. So Nic and I set off to relive some newly-wedded bliss. Despite our food overload on the ship, we decided to eat at the restaurant we "splurged" to eat on our honeymoon. We are far from rich now, but as newly weds we were downright poor. It was fun to revisit the memories and we really enjoyed walking around the city for the evening.

Nic snoozing on the deck as we are en route to Victoria.

The Empress Hotel. It is the place royalty stays while visiting and faces the harbor. High tea is served here and is suppose to be quite the event.

The parliament building. 

And thus ends our Alaskan adventure. We docked in Seattle early Sunday morning, got off the ship and headed home. I loved every moment of this trip. It was stress free. It was relaxing. It was entertaining. It was stunningly beautiful. The best part, though, was spending it with three people whom I love very much. I loved going with Nic's parents and would travel with them again tomorrow if they'd have me. As for Nic, it was a much needed getaway for just the two of us. We talked, we laughed, we held hands, we stayed up late, we danced, we sat and did nothing at all. I can't think of anyone I would rather have experienced it with. Love you Nic.