Housing Secured!

We got up early this morning and made it to Steve & Sharon's cabin by 7:45. Sharon got us all geared up and we headed to the river. We had two great runs. Two rafts on the first one and one on the second. Mike was able to go on the first one. We both used our wetsuits and I ended up being so grateful for that! Sharon had Tage and Dallin each have a turn on the stick. That was great! Mike went back to the cabin after the first run. Sherry was going to be there before the second run was over. I decided to keep my wetsuit on for the second run even though multiple people told me I would be too hot. Usually the second run is pretty hot and I just wasn't sure what I should do. Well, it wasn't today. It was colder than the first run. (That rarely happens!) I was very thankful I kept it on because I was cozy the entire time! We hit some good waves the second run and we were covered! It was also fun to see Sharon enjoying the raft. The second run had a lot of people since we only had one boat and only two less people from the previous run. Sharon just got to ride and she enjoyed every second of it!

When we finished the runs and finished cleaning up, Tage, Dallin and I watched a video with Steve, Sharon and Ruby. (Ruby is a 12 year old girl that was at the cabin with Sharon's brother and sis-in-law. They were planning on staying until Friday, but their daughter called early in the morning to tell them that her water broke and she would be having her baby, five weeks early. Stockton style.) Ruby also LOVED Tage. She thought Tage was the coolest person she ever met. Tage was also super nice to her. It was really cute. After the rafting video, Steve took us back to our cabin. I ran in and got rafting pictures that had my mom in it. This was taken on her birthday in 1993. The last birthday she had before she got cancer. She probably had cancer in these pictures and just didn't know it. I snapped some pictures before handing them to Steve. It is hard giving up pieces of my mom, even though giving them to Steve & Sharon will be so much better than having them stuffed in a drawer. One of my favorite things about these pictures is my mom's handwriting on the back. It's awesome. I love looking at her name. She wrote the best cursive rs. Anyway, I gave them to Steve and Sharon for their collection. Crazy this was her birthday. I miss her. 

Mike was gone when we got back. He was at the lake with the Hardys. They had fun playing with the jet ski. Xander and Miah loved it! The Hardys also brought their dog Nagi. Bear and Nagi had fun playing on the beach. Luckily they are getting along.

Scoop and Cori arrived shortly after Mike got back from the beach. Perfect timing. This is the first time Mike's dad has been here and Mike loved showing him around.

We had hamburgers and played games. We had a giant Canadian Salad game. I thought I had tied Mike with 20 points (which is an excellent score on that game) but I missed a trick and ended up taking second with 30 points. Everyone else was in the 100s I think, but I still lost by 10. Fun that Mike won that though.

The best thing that happened today was Stockton and Alyssa secured housing! Alyssa noticed that housing was being opened again on July 6th at 9:00. Ten spots were available. They got everything ready and decided to send two emails. Stockton sent his right at 9:00 and Alyssa sent hers at 9:00 and 20 seconds. Stockton got an email saying he got in if the forms were filled out and the deposit paid in the next 24 hours. Alyssa got one saying that they were sorry, they got over 100 applications in 10 minutes. Wow! So thankful they will have a place to stay in the fall! They put a 1 bedroom as their first choice and a 2 bedroom as their second. They will find out in a couple of weeks which one they get. So relieved and thankful they were able to get in!!!!!

Rafting and Jackson and Dipping

We went river rafting today! It was so much fun. We met at Steve and Sharon's cabin. The other group ended up only having one couple show up. A 14 year old boy and his mom. We went in one raft. It was super fun. The girls loved Steve and Sharon. They thought they were hilarious and awesome. Sharon was explaining something before we went, Kate turned around and said, "I like her." Haha. Dessa said she felt much safer than when she went last week with her family. Steve and Sharon are amazing.

Jorja, Janelle, Jake, Lucas, Kate, Dessa

Stephanie & Jorja

We only took one run this time. The kids wanted to go to Jackson Hole today as well. I took my group and headed to Steve and Sharon's while they went and got the car from the drop off spot. Our plan was to help them unload. We waited for a long time. I hiked around the property and talked to my cousin Terry for awhile. (They are doing their best Uncle George impression and putting in a water slide at their cabin.) Anyway, turns out that Steve and Sharon didn't know we were waiting for them and they had gone to lunch. Haha.

Jorja

The kids still had plenty of time in Jackson. I know they got pizza, but I'm not sure what else they did. They seemed to enjoy themselves though. Meanwhile Mike took Bear out on the boat and I watched the Jazz lose in double overtime to the Nuggets. Weird game with some crazy clock mismanagement in the final seconds of the first overtime.

Kate, Dessa, Jorja

Jorja, Dessa, Kate, Janelle, Lucas, Jake

Dessa, Janelle, Jorja

Jorja and her friends wanted to have a bonfire at the beach. We got the 4-wheelers ready for them and Mike loaded one up with wood and fire making goodies. Once they left Mike and I drove to the boat launch place to pick up the car. It was crazy crowded down there. We filled the cars with gas and Mike switched the towing to go from the van to the pilot. Anyway, after awhile Jorja and her friends were back. Jorja had a mischievous gleam in her eye. I asked her what she did. She laughed and whispered she went skinny dipping. Yep, the four girls all did. Jorja said she has always wanted to go skinny dipping in that lake. I knew it was on her summer bucket list, but I thought she could just use our pool and be by herself! Jorja said the boys were down the beach, but then I saw a picture of the girls. They were all in the water and you could just see their heads. I talked to Jorja about it. She said that they called Lucas to take the picture once they were in the water. He grabbed Janelle's phone from the 4-wheeler, covered his eyes, took the picture and ran away. Sooooo, as you can clearly see, Jorja has more faith in teenage boys than I do. We will let her believe there was no peaking involved, but I highly doubt it. I just hope there wasn't any picture taking while they girls were getting out... I mean Lucas and Jake are really good kids, but they are still teenage boys.

Jorja, Janelle, Kate, Lucas, Jake, Dessa

Jake and Jorja

Jump Rock on the Snake

Today was an early day. We were supposed to meet Steve and Sharon at their cabin this morning. We realized that we couldn't drive the motorhome there. We were worried about being able to turn around. Mike hooked up a trailer to a 4-wheeler and loaded it with a mattress and bean bags. We had about four kids ride that way. I failed at getting a picture on the way there. We spent the day on the river. This was Preston's and Gage's first time white water rafting. Preston wasn't sure he wanted to come, but Stockton convinced him to come this morning. Preston LOVED it! He didn't complain once. Mike had him wear the GoPro and he took that job seriously. The second run down he had full control of it. It was great. These next pictures are from the GoPro. We stopped at Jump Rock and the divers had a great time! They had to change their dives. First, they are diving in a life vest, so spinning is different. Second, they have to go in feet first. Third, and this is one I told Steve and Sharon after they saw Connor do a back dive extremely close to the rocks, they are trained to dive close to the board. They had to adjust and do their dives as they were jumping out, not up. Steve mentioned many times how much fun he had at Jump Rock. The boats would float by and see the kids up there. They would yell, "Do a flip!" or sometimes they would count down. The divers were waiting for Steve and Sharon to give them the signal that the rope was ready. Then when they finally dove the boats would be stunned. It was really funny. I might have these labeled wrong, so Stockton will have to tell me what to fix when he gets home. I will do my best though. There are so many videos!

This is how you have to climb up to jump rock. I hate it. It is scarier than jumping!

Stockton double

Gavin backflip

Stockton reverse

This is now the second run, but still filmed with the GoPro. Mike convinced me to put my phone in a waterproof pouch he had bought awhile ago so I could take some pictures. I was a bit nervous, but it worked great. My phone stayed bone dry. When Preston looks back you can see the paddlers in the boat. It looks ridiculous because it looks like I am on my phone in the middle of this grand adventure. I promise I was just taking pictures! It was hard to do through the plastic.

There are some big rapids, but most of the trip is like this. It is great.

Big Kahuna ~ this video does not do this rapid justice!

I wish Preston or I would have videoed going through the Ropes. It seemed bigger than Kahuna or Lunch Counter. It was crazy! And fun! Okay, now to pictures from my phone. The kids had a chance to eat lunch and rest during the two runs. The motorhome was great for this.

Dani, Connor, Stockton

Gavin, Preston

 Mike walking to the river for the second run. I was practicing taking pictures with the plastic on.

I don't really have an order for the pictures. There was too many and I just wanted to get them up here. I was impressed that they turned out so well considering there was plastic over the lens!

Gage, Preston, Gavin

 Steve & Mike

 Gage, Preston, Gavin

 With Noelle and Dani

 Stockton on the stick ~ he is guiding the boat at this moment

 Preston is in ready position.

I was not a paddler. My job was to relay Sharon's instructions in the hope that the paddlers in front will understand what is needed to be done. I was not just yelling for no reason. Like Mike said, "I have one job. It might be stupid but I'm going to do it." That was a Galaxy Quest or Spaceballs quote. I'm not sure.

I think this is Big Kahuna ~ Preston's videos are much better!

I think this is Lunch Counter

I had one percent on my battery, but it took videos for a long time. The divers decided to do just one jump. Well, they couldn't stop themselves, they were having such a great time. It was a lot of fun watching them. It was also warmer this time too. That made a huge difference! Also, another funny thing. Noelle and Connor loved to say, "I boys!" in this sing song voice to ever boat that passed. One boat was confused and said, "Did they just say 'hi boys?'" I think the boat was full of girls. We also found a paddle on the way down. Sharon would ask the different boats if they lost a paddle when we were stopped at Jump Rock. Preston was the one who found the correct boat. Good eyes Preston!

Gavin back double with a boat counting . . . up?

Gavin double half twist

Gavin back double

Stockton back double

Gage front flip

Gage back flip

Stockton double

Connor backflip

Connor front flip half twist

Gavin backflip

Stockton back double half twist

Dani full twist

Noelle full twist

Preston, Gavin, Stockton, Dani, Noelle, Connor, Gage

 Preston, Stockton, Dani, Noelle, Gavin, Connor, Gage

What a fun day! We parked the motorhome back at the cabin and took the 4 wheelers to Steve and Sharon's cabin. Stockton is the only one riding the mattress this time! Still, I'm glad I have Mike's invention documented.

Gage, Dani, Gavin

 Stockton

Steve and Sharon took Mike and I to Alpine Market. We got pizzas. Steve and Sharon came over and ate with us. They brought salad and ice-cream. They also had a cool Snake River rafting crashes video. The kids watched it on the projector downstairs. That was fun. Steve and Sharon are going rafting with a new group tomorrow, they took a group down yesterday. I can't believe how much time they spend letting people have this great experience. And all for free. For us, it costs them a ton! So very kind of them. Mike and I got Maysen and Preston tucked into bed. (Maysen stayed at the cabin and worked on her writing. She had no interest in being on the river.) Stockton and his friends watched a movie. I think it was Hutch. Not sure though. I don't know what time they got to bed, but we didn't need to get up early so yay!

Jorja's on the Snake!

I can not believe I did not take one picture today!  What a blog fail! Especially since today was amazing!  I was a bit worried because it was projected to rain all day.  It drizzled a little, but for the most part the weather was perfect.  Sharon took us river rafting down the Snake River today.  We started at West Table and we ended at Sheep Gulch.  I always forget which one is which, so I thought I would write it down. This was Jorja's first time river rafting.  She got to be the hood ornament.  That means she was the front of the boat crouched down, no paddling.  Some of the raft companies have them sit on the edge. That is just crazy!  Maysen and Stockton also came.  It was the first time paddling for both of them.  Maysen was really worried.  She thought the paddle would be ripped out of her hand.  She told Mike that if she was depended on for paddling the boat was going to go over for sure!  As we pushed off I turned to look at her.  She had tears in her eyes.  Jorja was also really scared.  She didn't know what to expect.  I told her she didn't have to go, but she would probably regret it if she didn't go.  Turns out all three of my kids loved it.  Maysen was surprised you don't get as wet paddling as you do a hood ornament. She stayed toasty warm in her wet suit.  Jorja hit the first wave and turned around with a giant grin on her face.  The grin stayed in place for the next two hours!  Jorja's hands were pretty cold when the ride was over.  Maysen, Stockton and Jorja all went belly whomping. Stockton was the best at it.  Jen and Becky also came the first run down.  Mike had his go-pro, so he got lots of film.  I'm just not sure how to get it on here.

Maysen, Stockton and Jorja went back to the cabin for the second run. They watched Jack and Preston.  Nate watched the little ones for the first run.  The second run down was just as fun as the first.  Jen pushed Nate in once she got the go-ahead from Sharon.  Sharon had us pull over at Lunch Counter.  There Mike, Nate and Jen all got in as a swimmer and floated through it.  Wow.  I didn't have any desire to get in the freezing cold water, so I was in charge of the raft.  Worked out well for me!

What a beautiful, exciting day!  Thank you Sharon for giving so much of your time to letting us have this experience!  Awesome.  Once we were back at the cabin Mike made a ton of spaghetti and Texas toast. We played Telestrations for awhile.  Sharon stayed with us because there was no room for her at her cabin.  She is so generous.  We went to bed pretty early by cabin standards.  It was about 10:00, so past my regular bedtime.  I was exhausted.  Having fun is sure a lot of work!

River Rafting

Today was spent at the cabin!  Half of our group left early to go river rafting.  Rachel, Ange, and I stayed and watched the kids.  (Matt and Sam got to go together, so did John and Cassie)  Luckily we had Maysen (who focused on Anne) and Jorja (who focused on the toddlers) to help us.  They were great!  We did really well, with a few moments of chaos!

They got back around lunch and switched with us.  The afternoon boat was me, Maysen, Rachel, Matt, John, Bubs, Ange and of course, Sharon.  It was a crazy ride.  A giant tree fell right in front of us. Freaked Sharon out.  I guess newly fallen trees are super dangerous.  I will have to look up the pictures because Lunch Counter was crazy fun! I bet there are some good ones there.  We stopped at the jump rock. John, Ange and Rachel all jumped.  Ange jumped for the first time!  I had no desire to jump because it is incredibly scary to climb there.  I did it last year and had no desire to do it again.  We were getting rained on for the rest of the ride, but it was really fun!

We came back to find Mike giving 4-wheeler rides to just about everyone.  Cassie said he was out there for 2 hours straight.  The kids all flocked to him because he gave the most fun rides.  Sorry Brett, Matt and Bubs, that is according to the kids.  Not my kids, but all the little kids that would run to Mike and treated the others like leftovers.  (I'm sure they were okay with that.)

Anyway, I have lots of pictures in random order.  My camera was uploading them weird.  I tried to work with it, then just decided it is what it is.  Here is our Monday:

 Mallory with Elsa hair.  I have this picture twice.

 BRANDON!

 Larkin, Preston, Blake, Mike, Skye

I had to give Lincoln a lesson in photo bombing.  He loved to stick his hand in the camera and say, "Photobomb!"  After awhile that becomes annoying.  I explained to him what a real photobomb was.  Solved that problem for the rest of the trip!

Lincoln's photobomb

More and more kids kept adding themselves to Mike's 4-wheeler.  It was pretty funny.

 Preston, Larkin, Blake, Trevor, Mike, Skye, Mallory

 Preston, Larkin, Blake, Trevor, Mike, Skye

 Bubs demonstrating to Lincoln a photobomb

 Larkin, Preston, Blake, Trevor, Mike, Skye, Mallory

 Cassie with Trevor & Brandon

 (Ange & Matt) John

 Skye, Mallory, Blake, Mike

 Brett, Preston, Larkin

 BOYS!

 Mallory, Brett, Jorja, Skye

 Preston, Larkin, Blake, Mike

 Trevor & John

 Lincoln & Bubs

 Preston, Lincoln, Blake, Mike, Larkin

 Marie, Brett, Mallory, Skye

 Skye, Brett, Marie, Trevor, John

 Mallory, Brett, Jorja, Skye

Grace and Anne are less than two months apart.  They look so much alike to me.  I took way too many pictures of them together.  I couldn't help myself!

Grace & Anne

 Anne

 Grace & Anne ~ Anne loved exploring Grace!

Abby got so sad because I wouldn't let her use Jorja's toothbrush.  She fell asleep on the middle of the floor.  She slept for hours!  I was thinking, "I'm so glad I don't have to deal with that tonight!"

Abbs & Bubs

Ange gave Ella Elsa hair.  The other girls were so impressed!  Especially Mallory!

Mina, Ange, Ella, Sam

 Ella

Ange giving Mallory Elsa hair

Mallory & Ella ~ Mallory is so happy about this!

Mallory ~ she even let me take a picture!

Anne & Maysen

Stephanie & Brandon

LOTS of kids on Jorja

I see Lincoln, Blake, Marie, Larkin & Skye

Preston, Jorja, Mina

Jorja LOVES this girl!

Preston, Jorja & Mina, Mallory

I stayed up until 1:30 or so playing Dominion with my brothers.  So much fun!  Poor Bubs and Ange, their kids were up so late!  I am at a really good stage of life.  My kids are so easy.  I don't want this stage to end.  It's amazing how quickly my family is growing up.  I'm not ready!!!