Yankee Fork & Main Salmon

We did a quick trip to Stanley and beyond for Memorial Day. The rivers and streams are running and they call out LOUDLY to Darren. We ran Yankee Fork and part of the Main Salmon daily (Shotgun through Sunbeam). We took a great crew and had a great day despite the clouds and cool temperatures. We were all dressed for any kind of weather or an unfortunate swim, which fortunatley no one took! Darren coming out of Yankee Fork. It was a fast creek run, not too pushy, but certainly many obstacles to avoid.

The crew with Murray as the guide.
Scott
The brothers Williams (Don and Monte)
David is oh so hot on this toasty morning.

Darren kayaking Shotgun - he is actually in there, I promise.
The boys going into Shotgun. This ride wasn't as exciting as the first one when Murray was shot to the front of the boat, high enough to clear Norene and I, and make a clean landing down the center of the boat! It ain't called "Shutgun" for nothing!
Tad surfing Shotgun.
Murray discovering his paddle problem, the rest of us playing dumb.
The remnants of the paddle Norene brought all the way down Yankee Fork. The paddle was brand new in the plastic on the first run of the morning! An unfortunate accident led to its demise. What a fun, beautiful day on the river. It was awesome to be on the river with snow still in the mountains, and no other groups in sight! We couldn't have asked for a better group to paddle with! More river running to come!

Zipline success (Welcome to Darrenland!)

Success! After trial and error - it works! At first it was too slow, then while trying to tighten it to speed it up, a chain broke. Bummer. But the kids are persistent enough, and Darren determined enough, and now it works! To ride it you have to wear a climbing harness, we've taken all the precautions, now we just have to be willing to put in the time to be out here when he kids want to ride it.

Justin's first driving experience - the very necessary task of tightening the zip line. Do you think he could pass for 16? I don't think he'd fool anybody!

The youngest rider of the zipline. We now have a new way for our cliff top neighbors to get to our house! Now I can't tire Jill out with the extra half mile down the road to my house, she can just zip right down!

Earrings!

Paige has wanted her ears pierced for a long time, but I made her wait until she was eight (that's when I got mine). We finally did it today, I thought she might not do it, she was a little scared. In the end she didn't even flinch!

Patio Pouring

We picked the windiest day of the year to pour our patio. Well I guess that could have been any day the past few months...(It helped the cement to turn out a nice brownish color) We are so blessed to have good family and friends. Grandpa Smith and his good friend Ron May came over to help pour the cement for the patio under our deck. We could not have done this house without the help of Ellis. We appreciate his time, and other good people that have helped us out. We really do feel so grateful and lucky!! Thank you!!!!

When the wind blows...

44 mph winds with 54 mph gusts at Wilson Lake..... do you have to wonder where Darren is?

Why does Darren look exhausted, yet happy? When the wind kicked up he was out of here with board and sails within 10 min. You have to take it when you can get it. He says if he could have guaranteed wind all the time he would give up all other sports for windsurfing. (Even kayaking, wow) Paige was worried about him the whole time he was gone and left wind update messages on his cell phone. Just like he could whip his phone out of his drysuit and have a conversation! Wilson Lake is ideal for windsurfing and on windy days you can find a few other guys out there. There are only a handful of sailers in the valley (who would think windsurfing in the desert? But can you think of a windier place than here?) Tonight Darren was the only one brave (stupid) enough to be out. Even with his smallest, 3.0, sail he was catching too much air with his big board. The board he wished he'd had with him is hanging on his office wall. It hangs there with his kayak nearby to remind him why he works - so he can play!

Justin is the man - Part II

Friday when Paige got off the bus there was a snake leaning up its neck (these are Paige's words)! She screamed and it hissed at her. Justin, Brady, Abbey and Ali quickly came to see what was going on. The bus driver asked what was wrong. They told the bus driver to "Drive! Drive!" because the snake was under the bus's tire. you can see the bullet in its eye if you look up close. (Lisa speaking now) All I heard was someone grab something from the house and then "pow pow." I look out the window and all the kids are surrounding Justin as he's looking down the barrel of his pellet gun. Even the air conditioner repair man was wondering what the commotion was. The next thing I know Brady is running in the house looking for the camera and they are all talking about winning money on "America's Funniest Home Videos" when dad comes home and finds a snake on the back porch! (Darren is VERY afraid of snakes) Good thing Grandma Smith was out of town - we would have had to call 911 if she had happened to drop by. The best part is as Darren was driving home from his mtn. bike ride he called and said that he had seen a lot of sticks that he thought were snakes. It was a perfect set-up! He was primed perfectly! But to Darren's good fortune, and Brady's dismay, Justin got to dad first and warned him. Justin earned some brownie points for sure!

Brady - next stop Hollywood!

Brady's 3rd grade class put on a musical production of "Peter Rabbit". The class voted Brady to be Mr. McGregor. We got to go watch it today as they put it on for the school. He didn't like me taking picures, but I couldn't help it - he's so dang cute! We're so gratefulf for his teacher, his class scored the highest on the State testing, she's tough , but Brady thinks she's the nicest teacher in the school. He started baseball practice this week and was quickly recruited to the position he had told me he didn't want - pitcher. He told me he was afraid of hitting the batter! I think he'll do great. I am so excited for the season to start - baseball brings back so many good summertime childhood memories for me! Those were good times we spent as a family as each of us, including my dad, played on multiple teams. Church ball was the best - and the most intense! Hopefully I won't follow in my mom's footsteps and I won't get myself into trouble with the refs and opposing team's parents! (oh my) Everyone always says that Darren must have spent a lot of time playing ball with Brady! We hardly ever do and when we do it is me. But mostly it has been my dad and brothers when we are on Provo. They have taken many trips to Westridge to the ball fields. The other day Brady came and asked me to play catch because Paige couldn't take his pitches anymore! I feel for her, I played catcher for years for Steve until I started to fear for my life, I wanted to keep my teeth, thank you!

Justin is the man

The 6th graders at Kimberly Middle School went fishing at Dierkes lake to study fish biology. Our neighbor Ali Heider brought her fish over to ask what Justin had done with his. He quickly said he would clean hers for her. What a stud. The girls were pretty grossed out by it and Abbey quickly said she hated fish. Justin is growing up so fast. He pretty much takes care of everything he needs, I think he takes care of us some of the time too. When we left town the other day, he promptly got a neighbor kid and showed him how to take care of the chickens. Just to brag for a minute - he tied for the highest 6th grade score on the Idaho State Standardized math test, scoring at the 10th grade level. I actually found this out from my mom who found out from her sister from Yuma, AZ, who heard it from her sister in law, who is the 6th grade math teacher at Kimberly!

Marsh Creek - Middle Fork of the Salmon

It took less than 24 hrs. from the time Darren first got the call to come along on a Middle Fork trip as a safety kayaker to the time they were on the road! He also had his friends Eric Newell, from Logan, and Dave Weber, from Shoshone ready for the trip. A group of friends had planned to fly in to Indian Creek, but had to change plans and put in from the top. Since the put in at Boundary Creek was still snowed in, it meant they had to launch from Marsh Creek. Marsh Creek can get pretty hairy during spring run-off! (if you haven't heard Darren and Dave's story of a few years back, it's one for the record books). The group met in Twin at 4:00 a.m.
Brrrrr! Some of the guys on the trip had bought dry suits from Darren for this trip. Best money they ever spent! This is the launch site. The spring run off had not hit hard yet. The creek was fairly clear of fallen trees (a big danger!!!!) One of the guys had actually flown over the river the day before looking for blockages in the river. There was a big fire late fall and that can pose a big problem come run off time when all the dead trees get flushed down the river. He didn't see anything too major. Darren and Dave kayaked ahead and indicated the way around any obstacles.

Darren kayaking Dagger Falls. He's now in the "I"ve run Dagger Falls Club" - very exclusive!

Eric and the Super Puma joining the club.
The others watch from above, then they join the club as well, everyone had clean runs.

More MarshCreek/Middle Fork of the Salmon

Dagger Falls

Nice toasty camping spot
Eric and the super pumaLooks like Alaska. That should be fun when the melt off hits!

Happy Birthday Paige!

Happy 8th Paige! There is excitement in the air today! She got to open some presents this morning from Grandma Harrison and awoke to find the Barbie cake Deidre Edmunds made for her. It's party time later this afternoon and then she wanted an "appointment with Grandpa" to ride the horses! She said she wished Autumn was here so they could ride the horses. Is there anything more fun than an 8 yr. old on their birthday?

Dad bought HOW many trees?

THis is Justin by his apple tree. This Paige by her Cherry tree. We will watch and see how much it grows. She planted it herself. She hopes it doesn't die so she can get the cherries off of it!

Really now. How many? Darren will not be able to use his arms tomorrow after digging so many holes. We probably planted 250 trees. It took about 4 1/2 hrs. tonight. This doesn't include the others planted a few weeks ago. We ran the water line and poked the holes for the drippers. Every one pitched in. We really hope the trees all live. If you're thinking you're going to get a deal on a tree in a few years, you probably don't want to go through the kids - they'll be charging thousands after all this work! I'm realizing that providing opportunities for the kids to work is A LOT of work. (i.e. the chickens... how much does a dozen eggs cost?) I'm having flashbacks of childhood, the paper route our family did for years...my poor parents. Right now we are waiting for Darren and Justin to STOP working so we can eat. He promised the kids we would go out to eat when we finished. We are all ornery and tired and STARVING!

The other day Darren came home from Home Depot with two beautiful flowering plants. He admitted, sheepishly, that he couldn't leave Home Depot without buying a plant! I told him the first step is admitting you have a problem. I actually think he believes me. Twelve steps here we come!