June's End to July 4th 2020

 SUNDAY - After Josh finished working at the golf course, he and I drove to Jefferson Lake in Rigby. We took the truck and his enclosed mowing trailer so that we could pick up a golf cart in Pocatello on Monday for his grandma. Unfortunately, it rained most of the drive and was rainy when we arrived. We were camping with my Terreton dominoes friends (we usually do one thing together each summer, and this was our summer plan for this year). Tanis had taken her camping trailer and reserved our space. I reserved a spot right by hers. We got there about the same time. We had a great spot with a beachfront access to the lake, but sadly we never used it due to the rain and cold. Josh and I talked to Tanis for a while in her trailer. When Lidia and Rosalba arrived, Josh left to go visit Pup in Rigby and we ate lunch. Soon after, Val and Angie arrived. We talked, laughed, and played dominoes. When Josh came back, he grilled us hot dogs (and Angie's carrot dogs because she's a vegetarian) for dinner. We sat around talking, laughing, drinking, snacking, and asking/answering questions from a book that Val brought of a hundred different deep questions. We had a hilarious time together, and discussed some pretty deep topics, too! Finally, Josh and I went back to our trailer to sleep for the night. Josh had laid out our mattress pads, foam pad, and sleeping bags on the floor already. It was the first time we've ever slept on the floor of the mowing trailer! It worked out pretty good. We used a propane heater to warm it up, and we stayed cozy all night in it. 

MONDAY - Josh and I slept surprisingly well in the cargo trailer! I wet over to Tanis' trailer to hang out with the ladies in the morning. We ate breakfast and they had coffee, and we talked and laughed some more. We helped Tanis clean up the trailer and then Josh and I left around 10 to head for Pocatello. We picked up the golf cart for grandma and then drove the long way home--turning off at Blackfoot and drove through Arco and Challis on the way. We stopped at Arco to eat lunch at the Pickle Place--Josh had never eaten there before! The burgers were delicious and it was a nice stop. When we got home, Josh took the cart down to Grandma's house. She was SO happy! She loved it and giggled and beamed like a schoolgirl; it was so cute! Josh taught her how to drive it. She's going blind, so she can't pass an eye test to get her driver's license, but this is an easy, safe way for her to get around the neighborhood and not make her feel like she can't be independent. 

Such a cold day!

TUESDAY - Kanyon and I got our teeth cleaned at the dentist. Thankfully, everyone in our family passed this round of cleanings without needing cavities filled! Josh bought a nearly-new BBQ grill on Swap Shop. Ours basically died on Father's Day, so it was nice to have a replacement found so quickly! He got a great deal on it, too, which is nice!

WEDNESDAY - I drove down to Idaho Falls for my permanent eyeliner appointment. I was kind of nervous how it would go. The lady who applied it was very nice and we had some pleasant conversation. She used a needle similar to the one tattoo artists use, and made small cuts/inserted dye into the upper eyelids and just the crease area of my lower eyelid. She went over each eye about 4 times--putting a numbing cream after each application. It definitely burned and was such a weird sensation! The worst was when she stretched the eyelid and it forced my eyelid open: the light above was so bright and it made me want to blink, but I was unable to. Finally, on her last application, I couldn't take it anymore and started crying, which was embarrassing for me. She was very kind about it, though. I was so happy with the end result! I got a couple of things at the store, met up with Ms. Blake from work--she brought me a gnome that she specially ordered for me, and then drove back to Salmon. By the time I got home, the numbness had worn off. I showed Josh my make up and he couldn't see it or figure it out! He's all, "Where is it? What color is it? Are you happy with it?" I took an up-close photo and pointed it out, because he thought I was getting eye shadow, not eyeliner! It made me laugh! 

Ms. Blake bought me a lady gnome. I put it out
front on the other side of the steps from the other
welcoming gnome. 

Josh took these photos at the golf course after a rainstorm
blew through that morning. 

I tackled staining the floor of the deck after I got home. Josh did some of the railings, then he sat and watched me for a while to keep me company. It took me almost 3 hours to get the deck floor done. The flooring is a barn red stain, and I chose to get a cedar-colored stain for the banisters and railings. Thankfully, I had exactly the right amount to get the flooring done before I ran out! It looks SO good! It was hard on my back and I wanted to quit several times, but it was essential that I finished it that night since family would be coming for the 4th the following day and it needed to be dry enough for everyone to walk on.

I used every last drop of the red stain!

THURSDAY - When I got up, I started staining the rest of the railing, the steps, and the banister around the deck. this was much more detailed than the floot floor I did the previous day, so it took me another 3 hours to get it done. The final product looks amazing, though!

I didn't have enough red to do the vertical edges
of the flooring, so I finished those off later. I 
sanded the edges and then added a cedar coating.

Tabbi and her friend Pete came to visit our family for the 4th and arrived about 3:30. It was fun to have company for the holiday! My family rarely comes to visit. Gideon and Alyssa's family also came on Thursday for the holiday, but they stayed with Ed & Kathy. We showed Tabbi & Pete around for a bit, and sat out in the Triple S for a while. Josh grilled some steaks for dinner. We'd originally planned to go golfing, but Josh wasn't feeling it, so the twins went to decorate a DFY float for the parade, and Josh and I took Tabbi and Pete to the Royal Gorge Hot Springs. It was a bit hot, so we only soaked for about 20 minutes. 

FRIDAY - I got up early and made some food to get ready for the family lunch. Tabbi & Pete went fishing on the river after breakfast and I got ready for the parade. Thankfully, Salmon decided to do most of their annual celebrations for the 4th unlike a lot of towns that cancelled festivities due to the Coronavirus. Kanyon and I stopped to pick up Grandma on the way. She was so excited for her first July 4th parade in Salmon! Kathy saved us a spot by the hospital parking lot. Tiffany's family got to town in time to watch the parade, and Josh and Micah came from work to join us. It wasn't as long as parades in years' past, but it was so nice to have something that felt "normal". I enjoyed it! We ate lunch at Kathy's afterwards of grilled hot dogs. Tabbi and Pete came back for lunch and Jonah was able to be done with work and eat with us, too. We celebrated Teddy's 5th birthday after lunch. He's so cute! Tabbi and Pete went fishing in Tim's pond and we stayed and hung out with family for a couple hours. We caravanned with Tabbi to town so it could charge faster at a designated Tesla charging station at the Stagecoach Motel. Josh and I got some hospice ice cream cones, which I was so excited about, because last year they sold out and I was upset I never got any. Even better, there was shockingly no line! We'd gone to town right after a thunderstorm had swept through, so I'm sure that's why. When we got back home, Tabbi & Pete took a 4-wheeler ride up Perreau Creek, and Josh and I got everything ready for this evening's festivities. We set up the board for fireworks in Kathy's yard and I took down all the fireworks I'd purchased earlier in the week (good thing, too, because the firework stand ran out again like last year!). Josh made a fire in Kathy's firepit and I took down the sticks and all the supplies for s'mores and starbursts. It was fun watching everyone cook over the fire--it really brought everyone together. When it got dark, we started our fireworks show. The fountains I bought were awesome! I was shrieking with excitement--I just LOVE fireworks! Gideon's kids actually joined us for the first time this year, but they got scared and went inside after a few went off--partially because I was screaming, and partially because the fireworks were too much for them. Josh lit all the mortars, they were beautiful! Tabbi was impressed, too! (We could never do fireworks as children). On the last mortar, Josh decided to do a "grand finale" and put two other bottle rocket fireworks in the tube with the mortar, too, which made me nervous, because we've had it go wrong in the past when Ammon tried it. Sure enough, the bottle rockets exploded on the ground. One shot right towards Josh & Edward and exploded under a stool. The other one went whizzing right past me, literally 2 inches from my face, and exploded through the basement window. It was a very exciting moment! Thankfully, everyone was okay!

 

SATURDAY - I made bacon for Tabbi & Pete's breakfast--she'd never seen such thick bacon in her life! They went fishing at the pond again this morning. Pete taught Jonah how to fly fish while there, too! I made some food for the family lunch of hamburgers. After lunch, Pete and Tabbi left to go back to Utah. I drove to the Amish store and they shopped there with me before leaving town. I showed Tiff's kids our frisbee golf this afternoon, and they played several rounds, which was fun. Kanyon was so happy to play with cousin Isaac again, that I hardly saw them all day! Gideon and Alyssa decided to leave this afternoon instead of Sunday. I took some board games down to Kathy's house for the Entrikin's to play. It was truly the most relaxing 4th of July weekend I've ever had with Josh's family! Pete and Tabbi said they had a good time as well. Josh and I took the twins to the Hobbs' BBQ that evening. For the first time in forever, we chose not go to go the Demo Derby, because it hasn't been that great of an experience the last few years. There was less people than expected at Hobbs' but David's smoked brisket was the best I've EVER had and we played Telestrations with some of the Raegan and Hobbs families after everyone else had left, which was fun! We watched 2 thunderstorms blow through, which made things exciting for a bit! We left before it got dark and drove up Discovery Hill for the Salmon Firework Show and watched it with Josh's parents and Tiffany's family.

 

June 2020 - Week 4

SUNDAY - Happy Father's Day to Josh! I surprised him with new sleeping bags and his current favorite soda: Dr. Pepper/Cream Soda. He cooked steak on the grill for dinner, and we ate outside at Ed & Kathy's for the first time this summer. It was delicious! Josh taught the lesson at home church (I made him, since he made me teach the lesson on Mother's Day). We watched a video and he discussed some of this week's lesson from Come Follow Me and then he had me read a story that connected it all and also tied it to Father's Day. It was a great lesson! He wanted to get away to relax after working nonstop for 2 weeks, so we decided to go jeeping/tent camping to the Deer Gulch access area again, but in a  slightly different spot. We sat by the river for a while; he read and I journaled. Thankfully the geese weren't around like they were when we went camping there for Mother's Day. We had a memorable, interesting night together! 

MONDAY - We both slept good in the tent, and then packed up everything in the morning and drove the jeep home through back country. We went on Hat Springs Road, drove past his grandparents' old ranch, drove to Sheephorn Lookout and walked around for a bit (by the way, the BEST view from an outhouse is at that lookout!), and then came out on Iron Creek Road. It was a pretty drive that's not ridden on very much. It took us about 3 hours to get home (the campsite is only a half hour from our house along the highway). About an hour after I got home, I drove to town to meet up with John Franson's sister. I rode with her and her family down to Corn Creek, and then I shuttled their van for them back to Salmon while they went on a river trip down the Salmon.

TUESDAY - I worked on the deck for the bulk of the day. I got some stuff that helps lift paint and sprayed it on the two boards closest to the house and also on the steps, where the paint application was the hardest to remove. It sat for an hour, then I began the process of scraping it. It was SO hot outside, so I held an umbrella for shade with one hand, and scraped with the other hand. I worked for over an hour. Some of it came off quickly, but there were a couple of spots that it was really hard to peel off and I couldn't get it all. I came inside all afternoon since it was too hot to work, and after the sun passed the house and I had the shade of the house to cover me, I worked on the deck again. Now that the deck was all scraped as best as I could get it, I began the process of sanding using the electric sanders that we borrowed from our friend Phil. I sanded one quarter of the deck, and it looked so good!  

WEDNESDAY - Josh has never been to Riggins or seen where the Salmon River comes out of the wilderness, so when John Franson's sister asked if we could shuttle her car for her from Salmon to Riggins, we accepted the invitation! I rode with her from Salmon to Corn Creek on Monday, then drove the van back to our house that night. On Wednesday morning, Josh and I started our trip to Riggins. I drove the 12-seater van, and he followed behind me on his motorcycle. The motorcycle only has a 3-gallon fuel tank, so we had to stop every hour or two, which was good for him to keep moving his legs, too. We stopped in Challis and Stanley, and we ate our sandwich lunch along the side of the road while we were stopped for 15 minutes due to construction. My favorite stop of the day was at Pine Flats campground between Lowman and Garden Valley. We walked for about a half mile on a trail and soaked in some hot springs right next to the river. We'd never been there before, but it was nice! There were several pools and waterfalls over rocks and it wasn't very busy. It was a relaxing stop in the middle of our long drive. We changed, hiked back to the campground, and drove on, stopping in Garden Valley, Cascade, and New Meadows for gas. When we got to Riggins, we checked into the motel, then drove the van down the river road. It wasn't very busy, and a rainstorm had recently blown through within the hour, because the gravel road was wet, which helped it not be so dusty. It was probably the best conditions I've ever driven in on that road! I rode with Josh on the motorbike back to Riggins, and watched the sun set behind the mountains and saw the reflection on the river as we drove which was amazing! When we got back to the hotel, we decided to walk down the street to dinner instead of drive, since Josh's butt was so sore from riding all day! We ate at a cute hamburger joint and walked to a nearby grocery store to get some snacks and drinks for the morning. Our hotel room was pretty cheap, but thankfully it had A/C, and we laid in bed the rest of the night, with the cool air blowing on us, grateful for the day's journey in good weather conditions. 

Leaving our driveway

Stanley is so beautiful with the Salmon River
and the looking Sawtooth Mountains!

Josh is in a pool above me--I didn't hike
up the slippery rocks to get in that one.

Can you spot Josh?!

We made it to Carey Creek on the other end of the Salmon River!

THURSDAY - We left the hotel in Riggins about 9am. We drove north to Grangeville, Kooskia, and then east towards Lolo Pass in Montana. It was such a beautiful drive--not a lot of traffic, the MPH was a little slower, and the surrounding mountains and rivers were so scenic! We stopped about halfway between Kooskia and Lolo at the Jeremiah Johnson Hot Springs. We walked across the bridge that connects the highway to the trail, and followed a mile-long trail to the springs. We stopped along the trail and ate our lunch on the way. It was a pretty hike! We passed several people on the hike and when we reached the springs, there was only one other couple soaking. Josh and I had never been there before, but it's known for people soaking nude, and that couple certainly was, so we followed suit! ;) We laid in a shallow pool by the river and relaxed, soaking up the sun's rays and listening to the cascading water. After a while, the other couple left and we had the place completely to ourselves...for about five minutes! Then a family with 3 young children came, and that was a bit awkward, so we decided to get dressed and leave. Thankfully, Josh had his towel close by, so he was able to keep it PG while he got out to get mine (which was a bit further away on some rocks!). We got dressed and hiked back out and continued on our way. We both loved that hot springs and it was a wonderful stop to get our legs moving and help with our butt cramps from sitting on the motorbike for so long! We made a few more stops for gas at Lochsa Lodge, the Travelers Rest State Park, Hamilton, and Lost Trail Pass. We stopped for dinner in Gibbonsville at the River's Edge and got some of our favorite pizza there. By this point, even with all the stops, our butts were so saddle sore and we were grateful for a longer break. It was a yummy dinner, and just what we needed to finish our drive home. We'd covered 700 miles in 2 days and saw so much beautiful country! Going on a day ride on the motorcycle with Josh was something I'd dreamed about for years and I'm so glad we made it happen! We were sore for a few days, Josh had a sunburned head, and I had sunburned arms and chest, but we both decided it was totally worth it!

See where my clothes were in the background? That's where
my towel was, too!! Not the brightest move I've ever made...

FRIDAY - For the first time in my adult life, I had my carpets professionally shampooed! I got the living room and the sitting area of the master bedroom done. Josh and Micah helped me move the couches and furniture out of the living room the night before and Josh cleaned his stuff off the floor in our bedroom, too. The appointment was for 9am, and the plan was for me to move the couch in our bedroom after Josh went to work in the morning because he always sits on it to put his shoes on. However, when he left, I fell back asleep and I was jolted awake at 8:45 when I heard her van pull up! I quickly put on my nightshirt, answered the door, and showed her what I wanted and then got in the shower. Michelle and her employee moved my bedroom couch for me, which was so nice! The floor looked so much better when they were done! We've lived in this house for 10 years and it needed to be done desperately! She was only there about an hour, and I was so impressed how quick it was for them for how nice the floor looked afterwards. I want to do the other bedrooms next summer. After they left, the carpets weren't supposed to be walked on for a while, so I went outside to work on the deck. I sprayed the paint remover stuff on the boards that are under the outer railings and worked on scraping it off in the afternoon as Kanyon mowed. Josh and the boys helped me take off the patio furniture and BBQ grills from the deck, too.

SATURDAY - I got up and sanded another quarter of the deck: halfway done with the floor portion! When Josh came home from work, we got ready for camping at Jefferson Lake on Sunday, and then we went to his Grandma's house with Jonah to mow her lawn and get some boxes moved for her. Josh and I looked at our schedule and the weather forecast for the next week, and we realized we needed to finish sanding the deck that same day in order to have enough time and good weather days for the staining. So...I finished sanding the last 2 sections which took over 2 hours, and then we went to town, purchased stain to be ready for next week, and borrowed Phil & Darcy's power washer. When we got home, Josh power washed the deck, railings, and steps. It looked SO good! I hated this deck project profusely, but the transformation was definitely fulfilling!

Haha! Doesn't Josh look THRILLED that
we're accidentally wearing matching shirts?!