The Travel Bug Hit!

The last few weeks we have been on the road again. After traveling 3 weeks out of every 6 while serving in Romania, it has taken us a year to have the desire to hit the road again! This past year has been spent moving into our new home, spending a lot of time with family and spending time at our cabin. However, this summer it was time for us to go to Seattle and visit our son, Curtis and his family, in Everett, Washington. We decided to drive up there and enjoy the scenery along the way! We ended up spending 8 days with them (which included the 4th of July and some crazy fireworks with their neighbors) and then going up into the San Juan Islands. In the San Juan Islands we stayed in a beautiful home on Lopez Island for four days where we relaxed, collected shells, and went whale watching! It was awesome! After that we went to Victoria, BC for a few days and among other things visited the famous Butchart Gardens. Sadly, we got a call at this time telling us one of our senior missionaries had passed away and John flew home to speak at Kris Johnston's funeral. I was sad I couldn't go with him but we had our car and some friends with us and I had to stay with the vehicle! After the funeral John flew back to Portland, Oregon and met us there. We continued from there down the coast, exploring and staying wherever we felt like it. It was very beautiful and again, we explored the beaches and watched a lot of Sea Lions lumber and play around. From there we spent a few days in the California Giant Coastal Redwood forests. Wow! It was like being in a fairy land or maybe "middle-earth". We hiked and had a lot of fun exploring that area. On our trip we bet each other who could be the first to find the most wildlife.....we saw a cute little green frog, deer (that came up to us and ate our of our hands), killer whales (who didn't eat out of our hands!), elk, a fox, bunnies, Sea Lions, Seals and fish! Maybe more....I can't remember! We topped our trip off with stopping in Nevada City on our way back to SLC and participated in the baptism of three of our grandchildren.....Alex, Raistlin and Aurora Ashby. That was a real treat and we were so happy to be able to again be at a special event like this with our family.
The trip was great, but as they say "There's no place like home!" and it is good to be home again. Below are a few photos highlighting the trip! Curtis, Giovana, Marcus and Juliana.....our family in Washington!

Our good friends, John and Bonnie VanderVeur joined us for the last two weeks of our trip.
Bonnie and I go off on the "Sea Lion" to see if we can spot any whales!





















Brandon Ashby and his kids . . . Alex, Raistlin and Aurora

Bringin' Home the meat!

Well, yes, John did make up for five years of NO Hunting! Besides getting his elk this past fall, he got a buffalo in January and couldn't resist stuffing the head. We recently got the big guy back and John was happy to tell us that this scruffy looking animal was the leader of the pack. He had been in many fights in order to dominate his herd and thus his horns were chipped and scarred and the hair around his face was not the pretty look of a proud, young bull. John loved getting a fighter! By the way, this bull and several others were marked to taken this year because of their age and the plan that had been put in place for herd management. If John hadn't gotten him someone else would eventually have done so. That made it easier for him to shoot such a majestic animal!

It was a monster but boy did it give us a ton of meat! We ended up having to buy another freezer. However, our kids now think our garage is the local FREE butcher shop and they don't hesitate to drop by to fill their shopping carts!
Now, what to do with that monster head! We ended up putting it in our cabin in Fairview, Utah. It was too big for any wall but one bedroom. He's quite a site to be laying in bed and looking up at!
It took our son, Brandon, and John a good hour to struggle it up the wall but they finally made it and now anyone who walks in that room in the dark better beware! Mostly because it might scare the pants off you if you don't know its there! :)