July 2017 - Week 3

Eve Whall and her mum Amanda visited us in Salmon after she checked out of BYU-I for the semester in Rexburg, and arrived on Monday, July 17. Kanyon began his second week of swim lessons that morning, and when we arrived home afterwards, Eve and Amanda were just a few minutes behind us in their arrival. This was Amanda's first trip to Salmon. They stayed in our camping trailer for a few days, until it was time for them to leave to fly back to the U.K. Josh and I went hiking with Eve and Amanda that afternoon to the Gold Bug Hot Springs. Us ladies were pretty slow hikers, but Josh was patient, and the hot springs was a wonderful pay off! It wasn't too busy, so we got our pick of the pools, which was nice. We soaked for a few hours before trekking down the mountain side and returning to Salmon for dinner. 

We saw a few snakes along the hike!

Love the views!

What a hunk!

We soaked in the pool with the waterfall
for  half the time, then went to the bigger pool
right above it for the rest of our soaking.

On Tuesday the 18th, we took the family, as well as Amanda and Eve, to Williams Lake for the afternoon. It was wonderful! It was the only the second time most of us had made it to the lake this summer, and unfortunately the last time, too. We stayed for several hours, floating, relaxing, and swimming.

This photo cracks me up! It looks like Kanyon is Ammon's own Secret Service man!

This was the view of the old one-lane bridge as seen from the temporary bridge
as I drove home after Kanyon's swim lessons on July 19th.
It was officially no longer in service! Exciting day!

On Wednesday, the 19th, Amanda and Eve left in their rental car for SLC. They left Eve's car in Salmon until she returns in January. Josh and the 3 older boys left early that morning to hike into the Crags with Grandpa Edward and Uncle Malachi--their first time into the Crags. Josh really wanted to take them, and head to an area that he hadn't hit up yet. They hiked in and set up camp that night.

Fish Fin Ridge

Edward had a rough night, and was very uncomfortable and couldn't sleep well, so when morning arrived, he decided to hike out and hitch a ride home. Josh and the boys and Malachi hiked around Ship Island Lake, and to see a different part of the Crags. They had lunch, and rested a bit, but the mosquitoes were absolutely terrible and were making things miserable, so they too decided to hike back out and come home late that afternoon. They got home about 10:00 that night. They had originally planned to come home the next day, so all they basically missed was another night sleeping on hammocks in the great mosquito-strewn outdoors!

A giant rock face in the shape of Idaho!

Ammon took the plunge into freezing water!

Kanyon's last day of swim lessons was also on Thursday the 20th. He passed Level 5. He had a great class--5 boys and one girl. Aidan Oliverson was in his class, which was a fun surprise, as well as Daniel Davidson, Cache Nelson (a few years younger than him), Justin Auwen (my previous piano student), and the little Schroeder girl. Kanyon was a fantastic swimmer, and passed off all the requirements. He was a stellar diver, and that was definitely his strongsuit! I could never dive, so it was so exciting to watch! I felt so proud to see him do it every time, and so flawlessly, too!!

Kanyon and I worked every morning together in July weeding the garden. It was definitely in its prime the week that Amanda and Eve came to visit. It was SOOOOO nice to have just the garden by our house this summer, and not the pumpkin patch. It was much more managable, and I enjoyed spending the time out there every day instead of dreading it, which is how I felt when I weeded the pumpkin patch! 

The view of the garden from the house--NW corner. The raspberries
grow best on this side, then there's onions and peach trees that nearly died
in the below-zero temps of the winter.

SW corner--the smaller raspberries, strawberry encasement with netting
(to prevent the birds from eating them), and rhubarb. 

SE corner--potatoes, mini pumpkins, and regular pumpkins (the pumpkins
didn't like the new soil this year--only half of the seeds came up!)

NE corner--corn

The stake had a family day at the 28 Building on Saturday the 22nd to celebrate Pioneer Day. There was food, booths about preservation and food storage (and I learned that I've been storing our water wrong), and games for the kids. The younger 3 boys went with me, and Josh came over after work to help out with some of the games, as a representative of the Stake YM. The boys had a great time, and watching them do the relay games was especially comical!