Fall Adventures

The last couple weekends we have kept busy. The weather has been great; warm and sunny. On the 17th Jason's work had an open house. I got lucky because it was the first one they have had in like 10 years. It was neat to see where he works so I can visualize the labs and such. I still don't understand everything he does, but visuals always help haha. After the open house we drove out to Eastern Idaho to Redfish Lake where we camped for the night. It was so beautiful! I love mountain lakes. We camped right near the Sawtooth mountains. It got down into the 20s which was pretty cold for the sleeping bag I packed...next time I will pack the warmer one. We  had a nice fire, roasted some marshmallows, and played cards. On Sunday we drove to a hot springs before heading back to Idaho Falls. It was neat there is a wooden tub with pipes coming from the spring. It is a homemade hot tub. It was very relaxing. It was in the upper 40s when we went so the water felt really good. It got pretty warm after awhile so we cooled off in the creek nearby. Jason jumped right in but the water was like ice so I just stood in it for a minute. We got back Sunday evening and got ready for the week.

 School has been busy as most school years are. I have a great group of kids so that always makes the days go by fast. 

Yesterday Jason and I ran a 5k. It was my schools's fundraiser this year. We did pretty well for not training that much and it was a good time with all the kids and staff participating. 

Today we  have just been relaxing and watching football. I have taken full advantage of fall and the pumpkin that has made it to the shelves in the stores. I have made pumpkin yogurt cheesecake cupcakes and pumpkin spiced chocolate chip cookies. Sooo yummy. 

We are getting ready to do some traveling over the next couple months. We will be in Wisconsin for a wedding the first weekend in October, Jackson the first weekend in November and North Carolina for Thanksgiving :-) 

Pictures below.... I couldn't take any of Jason's work so we will start with our camping trip. 

clear mountain lake water

Little Redfish Lake. This is the lake we camped on

Views on the drive to the lake

Some of the Sawtooth Mountains

Our camp site.  Jason was looking at some trail maps

Little Redfish Lake as the sun was starting to get lower in the sky

Jason's sleeping gear. I was laughing until I realized I should have packed
one for myself...

Hanging out near Little Redfish before dinner

Our blazing fire.

Trying to stay warm near the fire.

making yummy eggs and bacon for bfast.  It was still very cold in the morning

Sawtooth Mountains from Redfish Lake

There is a red fish in this picture but it is very hard to see. It was
neat because we had just talked about why the lake was called Redfish Lake and then
we saw one. 

Redfish Lake

Staying warm near Redfish Lake

View on the drive to the hot springs

We drove down a dirt road for a few miles before we got to the hot springs

The water was very hot luckily whoever created the intense hot tub has
some cold water coming in too.

Jason was brave and got in the creek too cool off.  It was literally ice cold.

This is as far as i got....burr. 

The hot springs tub

There is a plug and you empty it when you are done.

Views on the drive home

View through the buggy windshield 

End of Summer

Well August has ended and time has flown by. We have been married for 6 months already! After getting back from NY Jason's parents visited. We went to Yellowstone and Tetons for our third visit this summer. It was by far the best weather yet. All the geysers and springs were very colorful with the bright sunshine. There was also a lot of activity so we got to see a lot more geysers going off. We stayed in the same cabins that we stayed in in June when my family came. It worked out well. We might be seasonal visitors hehe. We had a fire each night and of course s'mores. We did two days in Yellowstone and got to each lunch with Elk one of the days. They were laying and walking around the picnic tables we ate at. Unfortunately there weren't as many buffalo as there were in the past visits, but we got a pretty good view of a moose and a quick view of a bear. The third day we spent in Teton National Park sight seeing and hiking inspiration point. It is always amazing to see the Tetons. I could probably go every weekend and spend hours taking in the beauty.  We had a good dinner in Jackson and then headed back to Idaho Falls. We introduced Jason's parents to the goodness of Reed's Dairy and Smitty's Pancakes and they got to see Idaho Falls and our new house.

School started shortly after their visit and summer was over...booo haha.  We tried to relax a bit over the last few weekends in august. On the 25th we went to see Josh Turner in concert here in Idaho Falls. It was good and nice to see some live music. I think Jason and I were spoiled in Raleigh with all the live music and variety of concerts.  We take what we can get here haha.

Labor Day weekend Jason was in Denver to see some friends and I got time to clean the house.  I think I waited to long it was quite a task. The kitties like to get hair everywhere haha. Monday we got to go to the Eastern Idaho State Fair. It was a good time. We spent 4 hours walking around and seeing the animals and booths. The food was as tasty as ever and just as unhealthy as usual. We don't have any big plans for the weekend but it is supposed to be very nice weather wise so I bet we will be outside doing something. Jason and I signed up to do the 5k run fundraiser for my school on Sept 24th so maybe we will be doing some practicing hehe. Hopefully with a routine back in place I can keep this updated more frequently. Until next time....

My grandma and grandpa Luke at their 60th anniversary party. 

Elk we ate lunch with at Mammoth Hot Spring in Yellowstone

Lower Yellowstone Falls. The sky was so blue

More Elk

Grand Prismatic Spring 

Jason's parents in front of Castle Geyser 

More of Castle Geyser - it went off for about 20 mins

The colors were so bright

Jenny Lake from inspiration point

Jason in front of Hidden Falls on the inspiration point trail

another geyser going off. Lots of steam

Josh Turner doing his thing

And again

Lolly got tired of work on the computer haha

Snickers found a new resting spot in the "tv hole" we have not covered yet.

Eastern Idaho State Fair. There were lots of sheep

Big horses

and greasy food. They call these "tiger ears" here after Idaho State 

Fun times at the fair

New York

We made it to NY late Thursday without any problems. We flew into Rochester and Friday morning my parents came to pick us up to go to Niagara Falls. We drove to the Canadian side and had a great time. We bought the Adventure Pass that had 4 different things to do. We started with Niagara's Fury. It was a 4D movie that told the history of the falls and spit water and "snow" on us. The platform we stood on moved and shook. It was pretty cool. Then we did Journey Behind the Falls. You go down in an elevator and are actually walking behind the horseshoe falls. There was also a platform right on the edge of the falls where you can see the falls from the bottom. After that we walked up to Clifton Hill which is where all the tourist shops and food are. We had lunch and played mini golf. It was a Dinosaur theme. It was a pretty close game :-) We walked back down and rode Maid of the Mist. It doesn't seem like you would be able to see much when you get so close to the falls, but you could really see the whole falls through the mist. It was awesome! After Maid we took the People Mover (we all loved the name of the public transport hehe) to the Whitewater Walk. We got to walk right up close to some class 6 rapids. It told of all the people and rafting companies who have tried to go down. None of the trips turned out to be a success and now no one is allowed on the river. Despite the cloudy day we still got sun and it didn't rain. We also got to see a rainbow over the falls right before we left.

Saturday was the Pig Roast. Our family has an annual Pig Roast every year. It was the 8th year this year. It was a gorgeous day! Lots of food, family, and friends. There was a band and Dad did a great job with the fireworks as always. Jason has helped with the fireworks for the past two years.
Sunday we just relaxed and played some family games :-) Heather, Julie, Jason and I even played a basketball game of around the world. Lets just say I wasn't even close to coming 1st haha.
Monday I drove Jason back to Rochester to head back to Idaho. I told him to take good care of the kitties hehe. I'm staying in NY for my grandparents 60th anniversary party on Saturday and will be heading back to Idaho a week from today (next Tues).

Before we left for NY we got quite a few cherries off our tree. I think there are 6 or 7 quarts in the freezer. I made a cherry and almond cake which was very good. I will have to think of more cherry things to make. Next year Jason wants to plant tomatoes and jalapenos.
Can't believe summer has gone so fast!

Our cherry tree

one of the bowls of cherries we picked

First adventure in Niagara Falls. It told the history of the falls.

Mom and Dad ready to go!

Jason with his awesome Adventure Pass

One of the portals behind the falls. 

Jason on the observation deck at the bottom of the falls. We got pretty wet

Me and Jason on the upper observation deck

Top of the horseshoe falls

Dad, Jason, and Mom near the falls

American Falls

Canadian horseshoe falls

pretty flowers

Jason taking a swing

we were all so close

Mom and the dino

Jason and the baby dino

Ready for Maid of the Mist

we survived!

Mom and Dad on the Maid

Me in front of the  class 6 rapids

And Jason near the rapids. (not sure if his eyes are open)

It was crazy how big the swells got

end of the day rainbow over the falls

Mom and the aunts dancing with the band at the pig roast

some hardcore volleyball playing

the pig before we cut it

oink oink

Jason loves pig

Having fun!

More dancing and tambourine playing

the end of the night sparklers... haha