Howe, Aug 9-12th

Okay, so I've gotten a little behind in my blogging... sorry. Here goes on catching up.

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Chad, Sara, Nali and I recently took a wonderful trip to Howe to visit Bill and Patty who we hadn't seen in way too ridiculously long! It was a much needed trip.

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Our first night there (Sat) was very relaxing. We sat around visiting while we ate dinner on the porch and just talked the night away, telling stories and laughing. It was very nice. The next day (Sun) we went for a hike in a canyon up the valley that, believe it or not, even my dad had never explored (imagine that!) It was such a beautiful day. The weather was warm and sunny, the flowers were blooming like crazy and all kinds of butterflies were out dancing from flower to flower. In addition to this, the berries were ripe!!! We found currant berries along the trail and a humongous patch of wild raspberries up the canyon at the base of an old avalanche field. We (I) definitely ate my share of raspberries especially since they were perfectly ripe. Yumm! We hiked for a couple of hours and dad was tracking animals the entire way. He was able to find some very good bear tracks and followed them for quite some time. Then, on the way back to the truck, Chad found a young moose antler in very good condition which we brought home.

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Chad and Nali on the trail.

In front of an old cabin: Bill, Sara, Nicki, Chad (and dogs)

Some of the berries made Nicki feel funny... See ;-P

Forest code for "Bear was here!"

Here's Patty! Always smiling.

Look, it's Sasquatch in a raspberry patch! Wait... that's just dad.

That night we had a big family dinner at the house. Uncle Chuck and Aunt Joy were there and my cousin Chenoa and her husband Mike came over from Idaho Falls with their gorgeous daughter Rowan. It was so nice to finally meet Rowan (who is even more adorable in person than in pictures) and to catch up with Mike and Chenoa. Bill and Patty also had a few friends of theirs join us. It was a nice evening and great food.

Sara and Rowan. Aren't they adorable!

I can't tell whose smile is bigger.

On Monday, Patty had to work, so the rest of us 'found stuff to do' during the day. We visited the horses at Uncle Chuck's house for a bit. We took Sissy and Red out for some food (aka weed-eating) and combed them for a while. We then visited the old horse Sully and gave him some love and attention.

Sissy and Red with Saddle Mountain in the background.

Chad, Bill, Sara and Sissy

Nicki, Bill, and Sissy

Nicki, Chuck, and Sully

After this Sara, Chad and I took a romp (that's right, I said romp) up towards the mountains and went cactus hunting. We found a few very nice cactus (including a couple barrel cactus) and were able to transplant them nicely in our front yard when we got home. After successfully finding the cactus, we headed back to the house for a few intense games of bocce ball. And I don't care what Bill and Chad tell everyone - Sara and I kicked ass... Okay, okay, okay... the only thing Sara and I kicked ass at was losing! We were having an off day okay. Perhaps it was the wine?... We will seek our revenge next time.

When Patty returned home, we all took some time to plant a beautiful little Siberian Pea Bush in honor of Pax in Bill and Patty's yard. It should do fabulously out there as they are a drought hardy plant. It will be nice to watch it grow over the years.

Nicki, Chad, and Bill planting the Siberian Pea

After the planting, Chad and I started to prepare dinner. Because Bill and patty are always doing so much when we visit, we decided to cook them dinner. We (and of course by this I mean 90% Chad) cooked salmon fillets and halibut kabobs on the grill. It was amazing! On top of that, Chad made his first ever dutch oven Raspberry Cobbler. It was a fantastic desert.

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Chad grilling the kabobs and salmon fillets.

Yummy! Raspberry Cobbler!

Overall we had a fabulous trip visiting them. We can't wait to visit again, though we think it's high time they come to visit us in the big city :-)