Quite a Contraption

Can you only guess what is going on in this picture?
I will say this. I will have pumpkins sprouting up EVERYWHERE next summer!

Work So You Can Play

Saturday SIMBA had a trail maintenance day. Darren took the boys and met some friends to work on the infamous "Smitty" Trail. Yes, it is named after us! Darren and Brady mainly. The year Brady was in Kindergarten he and Darren spent countless hours building this trail. I've only ridden it a couple of times, it is pretty far back in this system of trails. But it is dang fun!

Cross Country

Justin and Paige ran Cross Country this year. Paige got to run in one meet (she is only in 5th grade) but they let them practice with the Middle School. She loves to run!

This was Justin's first year with the high school.

Justin is a "little" on the small side. Can you see him? HINT: he is behind the fro and is wearing red.

Here comes Paige. She took 20th out of 70 6th -8th grade girls! 4th on her team. As a 5th grader that is pretty amazing. I was SOOOO proud of her. Before the race I tracked her down so I could remind her that IT IS A RACE! I pulled her aside and whispered in her ear that she was to do her best and run her fastest! That means you don't wait for your friends! Girls! They practically hold hands at these things, she had been known to slow down and wait to cross the finish line. She is a bleeding heart. I'm glad she is a kind person. But it is OK to beat peolple, that's why they call it a RACE!

Justin coming down the finish he did awesome. He was pleased with his race. Magic Mtn. is the toughest race in the district. They run straight up the ski hill! I am so happy to see him doing so well. He and his body have had rough year.

Kimberly made it to State. At districts they race and take the top seven runners. The eighth runner is the alternate. I told him to take 7th or 9th. I didn't want to drive to Soda Springs to watch him not run! Terrible parent. Maybe so. He gave it his all - and 9th place it was! Whew! He had a great season and made some fun friends. The older boys really took the freshman in and made them feel important. Kimberly is full of great kids!

Favorite Girl

My kids are pretty healthy eaters. I just had to post this picture so I would remember Paige and some of the bedtime snacks she comes up with.

Avocado and tomato. A girl after my own heart.

Go 'Dawgs

Brady finally got to play football this year. He was dang excited. He was a receiver and free safety. He learned a lot and even scored a few touchdowns. I really enjoyed watching his games and now I have someone else in the family who will sit down and watch a football game with me!

A few more Middle Fork pics

Happy girl.

Fisher girl.

Me drinking "Gilbert" water. (You'll have to ask Paige about that one. She wouldn't touch it if her mouth were caked in sand and she was dying of thirst in a desert.)

Per request of "the boss" I did a write up on our Middle Fork trip for Frontierplay's blog High Water Lines. More of the same, just a little different. Read it here.

Middle Fork of the Salmon

Every fall for the past 10 or so years Darren takes a trip down the Middle Fork of the Salmon River with his river/hunting friends. They are quite a group, and have many stories to tell. This trip is affectionately known as the "Cast and Blast." There are rules that go along with this trip. Many people have tried to "get in on" this trip. Darren does a lot of river trips, and it is a lot of work. This one is meant to be a trip where he is responsible for NO ONE, or their stuff!

First rule of the trip = a one person, one boat.

Many people fly in to the Middle Fork at Indian Creek this time of year. By many it is considered not possible, or at least, not very bright, to take a raft from the top at this water level. Hence, the one person, one boat rule.

Three years ago Darren started taking the boys with him. They look forward to it all year. He solved the the one person, one boat dilemma by adding a second pair of oars to the back of the raft. This served two purposes. One, more momentum helps to get over the shallow spots, and two, they got hands on oaring experience. It was a success on both accounts. I now trust Justin's read of a rapid more than my own. Brady, being a kayaker feels the river. Justin knows the river, Brady is the river. Kind of matches their personalities, don't you think?

This year the school didn't give us the two days off in October that we usually get, enabling the kids to only miss two days for this trip. After much arduous, painful deliberation the boys opted to not miss school. As parents we played devil's advocate and begged them to come on the trip. They wouldn't budge. So Paige and I headed off with the guys for our first cast and blast.

We arrived at Boundary Creek a little before midnight. We rigged the boats and lowered them down the ramp.

We slept outside, while the rest of the group stayed inside the trailer. BRRR! Paige was all snuggled up and right in between mom and dad to protect her from bears! I'm glad she actually got to see a bear on this trip. In real life they are not as scary as she has imagined all these years!




The morning we put on was a little chilly. 30 degrees maybe? The rest of the group claimed this was super warm compared to years past. I was grateful!



Paige and me all bundled up at the put in.






Brandon and Paige fishing in what they call "Dolly Lake" because they usually catch a lot of Dolly Varden fish at this spot in the river.







I bought a fishing license for this trip because I knew Troy was coming and I wanted to learn to fly fish. Darren's brother has loved fishing since he was 12, and is very good at it. I learned a lot and actually caught a few fish. Fly fishing is really fun, it is such a challenge just getting your line in the water at the right place. It was very addicting. Troy taught me how to watch for smooth water, variations of color in the water, and changes in currrent which bring food to the fish. There is a lot to being a successful fisherwoman. I think I got my line tanlged at least a million times, and stuck my own finger half that many times!

Paige caught a big one at Sunflower.

Zach taking a shower in the hot spring shower. We had hot springs at our camp the first three nights!

The guys lined up to go hunt chukkar.

The kids swimming across Loon Creek. This is unheard of in "normal" weather years. The water was still ice cold, but the air temp was so warm! When I showed the boys this picture they could not even fathom doing this. Last year it hardly got above freezing for them!

This pictures doesn't do justice to how beautiful this was. A strong wind had just blown a storm through above the Flying B.

Our summer weather didn't last. It rained and rained on our second to last day.

Pete is a great sport. He is skinning a chipmunk. River trips are very educational. I can now add chipmunk to the list of things I have eaten. BLECH! I love the three 10 year olds looking on in pure curiosity, and disgust!

Camping at Cradle in the rain.

Once again, I find myself counting the blessings of simple things. A shelter to stand under to keep me from the rain, dry pants to change into, a sleeping bag that was only a "little" wet at the bottom, fire, and those awesome neoprene boots I have blogged about before - I love those things!

Petroglyphs

The Middle Fork was home for many of the Shoshone Indians. Particularly the group known as the Sheepeaters. These are the coolest petroglyphs I have seen. We love making up stories about what they mean. Our favorite this time was the goat making friends with the kanagaroo.....boy things must have changed a lot since then!

Some of the group on our last day.

I am so glad I got the chance to see the Middle Fork in the fall. It was so pristine. The water is crystal clear. The air feels just as clean. It feels like you are truly on an adventure where you are on your own. Very remote feeling. As the Middle Fork spilled into the Main Salmon we could smell the change. Exiting the canyon of the Middle Fork we joined a bit of civilization. Trucks, fisherman, boat ramps. The wet part of me was relieved, even anxious to get to the take out and put on dry clothes! The other part of me, the part that doesn't care about being wet and miserable, wasn't ready to leave the river behind and give my husband and daughter back to the world. I wanted to keep them all for myself.