Before and After - blog challenge

2nd week blog challenge - Before and After Pictures

How the Lilies looked at Home Depot!

pansies from the front flower bed

front flower bed

Okay, so I know that I am a little behind on this blog challenge but things have been a little crazy lately. I can now say that spring has sprung in Idaho City. It has giving me the bug to plant flowers and do yard work. Last Saturday, Amanda and I were at home depot and picked up a couple of varities of flowers. A couple of years ago we had planted several colors of pansies in the front yard flower bed but only the purple/blue ones and one yellow one had come back up. So, we picked up some more yellow pansies. I also got some really pretty daisies which we planted in the planter in front of the shed. I planted impatunes under the large pine tree out back.  We have two planters on the deck which we usually fill with wave petunias but while at Home Depot I saw some really pretty peach colored lilies. I got one for each of the planters and then we got some purple wave petunias to go around them. They looked so good when we planted them! It really made it seem like spring was finally here to stay.

How the lilies look after the dogs got to them.

Impatuns under the pine tree

Then the dogs found them. It started out with the dogs just eating the petals off the blooms that were already out. But they quickly discovered the unopened buds too. Let's just say there are three dogs at my house who are being watched more closely when they go out to use the bathroom.

Spring Has Sprung - Just Not In Idaho

Sharing a birthday with a sibling brings you closer together even when you live miles apart. Joyce and I take a birthday trip every year. We try to go someplace that we have never been before. Sometimes we take other family members with us but most of the time it is just us.

This year, Joyce wanted to go someplace warm that didn't have snow. She still had several feet of snow and there were still piles of snow in my yard too. We decided that St. George Utah was as good a place as any. It was close enough that we could drive and it was warm enough. Since we drove and we didn't have any place to be at any given time, it was also the perfect opportunity to indulge in our favorite new hobby: Letter Boxing!

We went online to www.atlasquest.com and found that there are a lot of letterboxes to be found in Utah! Joyce printed out the clues for the ones that were along our traveling route (and some that weren't) and put them in folders by city.

We did a lot of hiking and saw some beautiful country during the week. While in Zion National Park we did the hike to Angel's Landing. Joyce made it all the way to the top! Unfortunately, I got a blister and it popped when I jumped down from a rock so I didn't go the last 1/2 mile up. Above is a picture of Joyce coming down the easiest part of the 1/2 mile that I didn't make it on. Notice the chain that they have to guide you up the trail? Joyce tells me that in places you had to use that chain to pull yourself up.

We were able to get some pretty pictures of the St. George Temple. It is amazing how white this temple is. There is so much reddish dust everywhere from the hills and mountains but this temple is extremely white. While visiting with Sister Yardley we asked her how they keep the temple so white and she said she had no idea but that it is always just perfectly white.

We found 58 letterboxes on our trip. My favorites were the ones on the Lagoon Trail (which I will not show you pictures of since we are taking Amanda and Ryder down there on Memorial Day to find them) and the ones that we found in Red Canyon. The ones in Red Canyon were not really spectacular stamps (although they are good). What made them so great was the time we spent together and the memories that we will have for years to come. We took one of Joyce's famous LONG-ADDS which are always a surprise. For those of you who don't know, a long add is supposed to be a short cut but instead ends up adding time or distance to your trip, hence the Long Add. This one added about 5 miles to our 2 mile hike. You may think that would have made this a bad hike but we really did have a good time and saw some spectacular views. We walked a ridge on a trail of red shell with gusts of winds trying to blow us over the edge. We would reach the top of a mountain, look down to try to find the road and realize that we were not where we thought we should be.  Below are a few pictures from our Long-add hike in Red Canyon.

This is me about 1/3 of the way through the hike. We found these trees to rest at and take pictures.

       Looking back up the stairs used to get off the ridge we walked along.

Looking back at the ridge we walked. If you look closely you can see where the stairs go down on the left. This picture was taken from the next ridge that we had to climb.





All in all we had a really enjoyable vacation. I am really glad we were able to go and enjoy such pretty places while it was not too hot.  Upon arriving back in Idaho City we found that all but one pile of snow had melted. That pile hung around for about another week but is now gone. Joyce, unlucky as she seems to be, still had a few feet of snow when she got back to Island Park. Well, I guess that is what she gets for living in "God's Country".


Note: Amanda - this serves as one of my posts for your challenge!

Got up and went to see Ryder. Forgot how tall he is. I feel like a midget next to him - and no I am not a midget. Midgets are under 4 foot 11 and I am 5 foot 1. Ryder has a beard and it is red! Wow how people seem to be different when you haven't seen them for almost seven months.

Ryder didn't want to explore parks with us so we took off on our own. We have seen some really pretty country. Roads here are all curvy and the speed limit is usually 55. Talk about people who don't obey the speed limit. It seems that even if you are going 10 miles over they still think you are going to slow. Don't know how they do it on these roads. If you aren't driving and try to look down at a map for any length of time you get carsick.

We spent too much time at some of the parks and didn't get to Cumberland National Historical Park until 5:30, which unfortunatley closes its visitor center at 5:00. Oh well, such is the life. We did spend some time looking around the grounds.

Yesterday we went to the two parks that I stopped at on the way back when I brought Ryder out here. The falls at Burgess Falls were more impressive this time. Probably due to spring runoff. Mom and Dad even took the hike to the Big Falls overlook which is about 1/2 mile of moderate hiking. Joyce and I went the rest of the way down to the bottom of the falls and took more pictures. That part is really steep and we thought we got a good workout until we got to Rock Island State Park.

At Rock Island State Park Joyce and I hiked or should I say went down the stairs, to the river. There is a sign there that says something like, Warning water rises quickly, when siren sounds move to high ground. The same sign says that when you enter the area you should be wearing a flotation device, which we somehow forgot to bring with us on this trip. The falls were beautiful and the siren never went off. The climb up let us know how out of shape we are when it comes to climbing stairs. But as usual we weren't done yet. When we went to the Twin Falls viewing area there were more stairs! What a workout. It was all worth it though.

Now we are in Nashville, with Ryder, who decided it wouldn't be too bad to spend a couple of days in the city with his crazy family. I think he almost changed his mind on the drive down here. We are up and getting ready to head out to see the sights. Should be a great day.

Ryder is coming home! Well, actually, I am going to get him and bring him home. Mom, Dad, Joyce and I left Boise friday April 16th at 5:00am. We drove clear straight through the night. Joyce suprised Mom and I by having us start doing Letterboxing. The way this works is people hide a box with a stamp and a log book in it and give you directions on how to find it. When you find it you put your own customized stamp that you take with you in their log book and stamp your own book with the stamp they left in the box. This is like a mini treasure hunt and has turned out to be pretty fun.

The first ones we did were just outside Evanstan Wyoming at Bear River State Park. The first box was hidden really well. It was buried in the leaves and debris under an overhanging rock. The other was under some debris near a tree. This last one had a bonus stamp hidden in a knot hole in the tree.

We found several in Land of the Lakes and even picked up what is known as a hitch hiker from the last one. The hitch hiker is now in the car waiting to land at its new destination.

We have seen a lot of beautiful country and are really enjoying our time together. We do not want to drive straight through another night however. We are currently at a condo in Fairfield Glen Tennessee and will see some of the state parks in the area while we are here.

Some of the other things we have seen on the way are Adam-ondi-Ahman, Far West, Independence Visitor Center, and a Nature park in Kansas City.

Amanda, Joyce, Mom, Dad, Becca, Mike, Sienna and I all went to the final re-enactment of the 3 Island Crossing. We had a great time! Nothing eventful happened while they did the crossing this year but we got some good pictures. Joyce, Amanda, and I had some fun taking pictures at the state park sign while waiting for Mom and Dad to pick us up. It was well worth the trip. To see more photos visit myphotoalbum page.

July 6, 2009

Spent the day in Idaho Falls working at the office. Thought I would be done in time to go back to Joyce's and get the dogs so we could go home. As usual- no such luck. So I will be spending another night here.

Mom, Dad, and Amanda left for home today after church. I am staying the night so that I can be in Idaho Falls for work at 7:00 in the morning. Joyce and I took a nap and then went for a drive with the dogs. We had only gone a little over a mile when Blew jumped out of the truck, broke free from her cable tie and chased cows. We tried driving off to see if she would follow but no such luck. Had to drive down the next road "Chick Creek" trying to see if she chased them that far. No - she wasn't there either. So we went back the way we came and found her about 1/2 a mile from the house. We loaded her back up and continued our ride.

Went down to Mesa Falls by-way and turned down to the boat ramp just above the falls. We came back to the house along the road to Pole Bridge Campground. It was really pretty. Didn't see anything but a heron on the whole ride - well and more cows of course.