More Wyoming....

Good morning!

I am writing posts ahead of time and having them post over the next few days, as we will be taking Brooklyn home this weekend :-( It will be so quiet around here! So , anyway....I mentioned that I would write about Register Cliff and the Oregon Trail Ruts. My mom and I took the kiddos out there to see these. Wow, those places have really changed and been upgraded since my childhood. Anyway, it was interesting to them to hear about the Wagon Trains and people that traveled in them, seeing where they had traveled and where many had written on the cliffs. While out and about, we also saw the obstacle course that the Army National Guard uses for training, the river, the walkway, and many other things as well. I enjoyed seeing this all through the kids' eyes and hearing their comments.


We also spent some time in Hartville, of course. John and his brothers helped finish up the chain link fence around his mom's house, and we also did some other chores as well.


We enjoyed spending time with extended family, and especially our parents.

For a complete view of photos from our week, click here: Vacation Photos.

Thanks for listening!

Alvin and the Chipmunks

I forgot to mention the other family we visited while we were in Dubois...Alvin and the Chipmunks. This chipmunk family lives in Tina and Adam's yard. Ah, so cute....the little creatures are fairly tame....and seem to go thru a lot of food. We know, we know, they are not pigging out, they are hoarding it for winter.

Watching through the window in the sunporch...
Alvin?

Watchers....Sophie and Chloe

Yummy...

They were awfully cute, and in the mornings, I could look out my bedroom window and see them scampering around out there in the mountain beauty.

Vacation Part 2

After a day at home after our trip to Dubois, we headed to Guernsey/Hartville to visit our parents, which are Chloe and Brooklyn's GREAT grandparents, of course. (GREAT in many, many ways, that is!) Brooklyn loves to fish with his great grandpa. Chloe got to fish for the first time with them as well (last year she went, but just kinda hung out for a while). They had a blast.

They were surprsingly patient and enjoyed the area as well as the fishing. We could see the fish jumping in the lake as we watched. There were campers and other fisher"people" around to see as well. Chloe got to help reel in Great Grandpa's big carp....
and it didn't even scare her. She didn't mind touching worms either...but drew the line at the slimy moss that was on the line a couple times! (I can't say I blame her, although I bucked up and took it off for her!

Brooklyn caught two carp! (We didn't keep any carp, but it was fun for them to catch them...) and was proud because he "outfished" Great Grandpa...although Great Grandpa also really caught two because he also caught a "shad", which is a small fish about the size of a big minnow! (He must have snagged it reeling in..but it was so funny to see that tiny little fish on his line. :o) )

Awww...contentment...they had a lot of fun fishing. We had a full heart just being there with them. Who can resist these faces?




Coming soon---Register Cliff, Oregon Trail Ruts, Hartville, and more....
Also Coming soon---That Stinking Jackalope....

Vacation

We were able to take Chloe Bean and Brooklyn to visit Tina and Adam in Dubois last week. We headed out of Nebraska on Friday and came back on Tuesday. We had a wonderful time there. We got to see some wildlife, only not nearly as much as when we visited in April. We drove over to Yellowstone for a day, and saw Old Faithful and the National Park. We visited Jackson Hole. We saw Sinks Canyon near Lander. We had a blast. We enjoyed the mountains and the fresh mountain air. We enjoyed the scenery. We loved seeing Tina, Adam, Ruger and Sophie. The kids loved every minute. I think they loved being at their house just as much as the sites and places we saw. They loved climbing the rocks near their back yard, going out and finding rocks, hanging out with Tina and Adam (Brooklyn sang the song "Adam's Number 1" several times), and they said Tina was the best auntie ever. Chloe was quoted as saying "This is the best time of my life". She is 5. We made many wonderful memories. I can't cover all we did in my post, but you will be able to catch up with the photos. Later in the week, we went to visit their great grandparents...I will write about that part tomorrow. I will post the link to all of the photos soon, I have a few more to put on. But, here are a couple to see from the first leg of our vacation in the meantime.

Memories from last weekend...

I finally got my pictures uploaded from the trip to Wyoming last weekend where we attended our nephews graduation. We really enjoyed being with family, wish there had been more there. We got to finally meet some great nieces, and believe me, we fell in love with them...such little cuties! We had such a nice visit with all, and enjoyed the graduation ceremony and reception, too.

To Explain....

I have a photo in the slideshow on my previous post that shows some National Guard getting their picture taken. I just thought it was kinda neat, and yet kinda strange, that this gal had asked them to line up and take their photos! (Guernsey is a training base for National Guard, and these guys were going thru the Hartville/Sunrise area on Sunday.)....here is one of the photos up closer...just so you can see. I don't know why I thought that was odd, butI did! Maybe because I grew up with them around all summer?

Weekend Memories

We sure enjoyed our visit with our folks this weekend! We don't get to go do that nearly often enough. We spent the day Saturday with my folks in Guernsey. We got there mid morning. It was rainy there, just like at home! We called my sis, and we all went out for lunch. It was yummy, and we had a nice visit there too. The place we ate at is a place I worked at in high school...with many changes and renovations since then! We enjoyed just visiting at my parent's home all afternoon, and my mom made some of my hubby's favorite foods for supper...fried chicken and cherry pie! My sister came over for supper, too, and we all visited a while, which was really great..I enjoyed it all so much! Then, as I posted, we watched that movie (Disturbia) ...yikes!~ Sunday morning, I went to church with my mom...you probably remember how much I love my "hometown church", right? And, I did enjoy being there again. John had headed up to Hartville to visit his mom, and I went up after church. During the course of the day, we got to see and visit with three of his brothers and some of their kids, too. It was so nice. Of course, got more good food up there, pork chili, fresh tortillas, etc., and later, caldo (a soup). We had such a nice visit with everyone. Click on the slideshow below (click on lower left corner to view captions) for a small slideshow of memories of the weekend!

Favorite Photos from our Trip

Best Friends

KING

King #2

Which is your favorite? Mine is the first one, Best Friends.....

Easter Weekend

There were no dyed eggs this year!! I did miss my two little ones, Brooklyn and Chloe. They were not with us for Easter this year. I know they had fun, though. Chloe was with her other grandparents and her dad this year. Brooklyn just got home from a vacation to Maui with his mom...wow!!, and spent Easter with his dad, and our extended family in Denver. It was strange not dying eggs and getting up early to watch the big hunt!

We had an awesome time in Dubois. Tina did a great job hosting Easter dinner for us and three others, friends of theirs in Dubois. It was a nice day, beautiful outside, and a wonderful gathering inside.

It is beautiful in and around Dubois, the landscape is ever changing, and you can't tire of anything, because of the great variety. They have the most awesome view from their house all the way around. It is just heaven.


We missed our other children, and hope they can experience the beauty of Dubois as well sometime soon.

Click on this sentence to view Easter Weekend Photos of our trip.
(It is easiest to click Slideshow in the upper left corner to view photos. )

Big Horn Sheep In Wyoming

I will post a link to my pictures after I get the captions done.

Sammy Sighs

Silly Sissy and I got to go on a road trip to Wyoming this weekend. It was pretty fun, and I really did behave myself. I even rode in the car good. Sissy didn't. She was like a little waterbug...just like sometimes when she walks. Dad said she was naughty riding.

Anyway, Mom took us out for a walk there. Mom likes to walk there...she says it is so peaceful. She likes to go walk around the river.

So, off we went. First we walked a ways, before I thought we'd ever get anywhere special. Then we walked across this bridge. I never remember walking across a bridge before in my whole yorkie life. I looked through the railing and saw this great big bathtub.

See how big it looks here:

Mom told me I was silly, it wasn't a bathtub, that was the river.

We kept on walking and I saw a real pretty flower or plant that I should smell. Wow, that plant wasn't nice. All of a sudden, it had something prickly stuck in my poor little nose. I didn't even cry, though. I tried getting it out with my paw. Then, it stuck in my paw. Mom had to try to get it out, and a nice man had to subdue Sissy, who was obliviously trying to run on down the road on the leash, pulling on me and Mom. Silly Sissy isn't very thoughtful. Mom said Ouch because the prickly flower stuck her too. (Mom said it was a cactus...what the heck is that? .. We don't have flowers like that back home in our town.)

I was already doubting how peaceful this was supposed to be when I heard gunfire. I jumped and looked back at Mom "What the heck...is that a gang war out here? There is nothing peaceful about that!". Mom just smiled at me and explained that it was the shooting range off in the distance that the National Guard use for training. Yikes.

I calmed down and off we went on our "peaceful" walk.We walked on this dirt road, and Mom seemed pretty happy just enjoying the walk. Then, I saw it....a grave. See, Mom, I told you, it was not safe...all those guns I heard back there and all.... Yikes! (She 'splained that this grave goes back many many years to the days of the Oregon Trail.) Whew!

See how pretty the sites were. After I calmed myself, I even enjoyed them.

It was a pretty long walk, but I was relaxed and started to enjoy myself just a big too. Mom said it was only about 3 miles, but I was getting kinda tired and my tongue was a draggin'. Mom really liked this tree. I have no clue why. It looks pretty darned dead to me....




Oops, I relaxed too soon. We came to the end of the dirt road, and reached the highway into town. But, how to get there? There's this really big trap. Sissy and I will disappear forever. We just stood there in fear for our very lives. Mom laughed at us and picked us up and carried us over. Good thing Mom was big enough to not fall into that trap. (Mom 'splained that it was a cattle guard...whatever that is...).

Anyway, I did have fun visiting at Mom's parent's house. They have this great big yard, kinda like a park...really! I love running around there. The grandpa let me sit on his lap sometimes, too.

I hope they take me to visit again.

My Hometown Church

I have been wanting to write a post about my home town church, as i mentioned in a recent post. Whenever we get to our home town, I try to attend. It is the church I've known almost my whole life. It is the church I joined as a young teen. I even used to sing in the choir.

When I attend church there, I feel "at home". I so enjoy seeing so many of the familiar faces from my childhood. I miss the ones that are no longer there, and remember them with great fondness.

There is something about it that makes me feel welcome and embraced. I always feel loved, like I belong.

Don't get me wrong, I belong to a church where I live--have for about 30 some years now, and do love my church. It is beautiful, the people are good, and I feel like I belong. I tried to share some of the beauty of this church as well with you in photos I posted on this blog.

I remember many churches growing up. One of my favorite memories that repeats in my mind is of driving in a car with my grandparents to their little church. I remember sitting in the BIG back seat of their car with Grandma on the way to church. She carried a black purse that snapped shut. And there was always a package of gum in it...I specifically remember Beamans gum. Then, we'd get to their little EUB church and worship. And, sign the old favorite hymns. Later, they attended a church in their little town, instead of traveling to that one. I attended there with them at times as well, including attending bible school there a couple summers, if I remember right.

But, that was still not my "home town church". It is hard to explain. But, the church is not a building, it is a community. It is the memories within you and that community. It is the love that you share for God and each other. And, I cherish that community and I always will. I thank them so much for letting me continue to be a part of them every opportunity that I can take.

You can link to my home town church, but some of the links within their site are not working right now, as they recently updated there site...I am sure they will be working soon.

Last Saturday

Last Saturday my daughter was going out of town on a mission...to buy a different camera. She had listed hers to sell and wanted a more compact one. She invited me to ride along.

This was taken along the roadway: That was in Wyoming.

These are from Colorado...see the mountains. We always enjoy the mountains. Any mountains, anywhere.

First stop:

Tina had really researched the camera she wanted to get, and this was where to get it. NOT.

They didn't have what she wanted. Nor did any place we went to all day, and we went looking at a LOT of places.

We met my son and daughter in law for lunch....that was fun, and we were glad to see them.

We ate too much. It was good.

It was a fun day. We were gone all day, returning at night.


End result: Tina ordered a camera online.

And what was that burned up building photo?

This place, when I knew it was lived in by a local family, but had been vacant for quite a while. It burned a while back, yet it has yet to be torn down....

In the past, it had been a rooming house/hotel/apartments. In a recent letter to the editor to the Guernsey Gazette, a local woman wrote about staying there years ago. I think it would be a fun venture to go back to this building's beginnings, and read all the history about it. I believe it was known as the Nicola Apartments at least at one time.

Churches...

You may wonder what's up with all those pictures of churches in my recent post. Well, let me explain..

My husbands uncle is selling this house in Hartville:Included in the sale of the property:

(Yep, a church...) So, anyone interested?


And, then in Guernsey, there was another church about a block from my folks' place that had been for sale, and recently sold...
We wonder if it will be a church in the future, or it will be used in another manner now.


And this is the Catholic Church in Guernsey (St. Anthony's), in which we were married (over 30 years ago now...)


And finally...my "home" church:
I will be writing a post about my little home church soon...

More on the trip ....

We so enjoyed the visit "home"...

To explain these photos...

This is Teka, my "niece dog"...she and I have been friends for lots of years...she is a sweetheart...

She is starting to get stiff and move slower, but she sure still is a wonderful companion to my sis.

These are some beautiful nieces...


just love those smiles.