Memorial Day

A few weeks back I got it in my mind to go up and see Shoshone Falls.  Because we had a such a wet winter/spring I figured the waterfall would be HUGE!  So we decided to make the trek up there on Memorial Day.  It was an 4 and a half hour drive so we started our day EARLY, 3AM to be exact.  Once we got off the I84 we crossed a bridge so I had Matt hop out and take a picture:

 
Then we headed to the falls.  As we rounded a corner we saw this:

Jenny and Justin stayed up with his Grandpa on Saturday so we waited at the entrance to meet them and we took some pictures in the meantime:


The kids wanted to take some pictures too:



Once Jenny and Justin got there, we headed down in the park.  There were tiny waterfalls all over the place:

Then we headed down to the bottom.  Shoshone falls is actually taller than Niagra Falls.  It was HUGE and the winter run-off made it even bigger.  The downfall was that it was super windy so all the spray got blown all over and it was FREEZING!



The platform takes you right out and you can look all the way down.  I tried to get a picture but you can’t see the bottom because of the spray:

We were getting pretty wet, but that didn’t get our spirits down:




Then we went to an over look up a little ways, but we still managed to get some of the spray:


It was still pretty cold:


At this point everyone but Me and Matt and Mom were waiting in the cars.  It was too cold for them.  But it was still really beautiful:


We then loaded up the car and headed up the road. 
Here is just before the falls:
 
And some houses on the other side of the river even had boat docks:
 
Then we started to head over to the Perrine Bridge and on our way we spotted a familiar sight:
 
The grounds were closed for the holiday, so we stopped outside the gates for some photos:
 


Then we were on our way.  Coming up…..more Twin Falls Fun!

Pre-Memorial Day

Thursday, leading up to Memorial Day the kids had baseball games.  I always get a hoot out of t-ball games.  Bailee was the catcher for one inning:

I don’t think she could see out of her helmet because the ball passed right by her and she was searching for it.  See:

Friday we went up to Tucanos to celebrate my birthday along with Dad’s birthday:




The kids LOVED playing with their tongs.  Whenever a server came, they wanted whatever they were offering just so they could use their tongs.  I love how they have re-done the design of the Riverwoods.  It is very cozy.  We told the kids that in celebration of school getting out we’d go see Kung Fu Panda, so we had an early dinner so we could hurry home and catch the 7pm showing.  It was hilarious and always fun to spend time with the family.

Riding The Pine

Last night was Jeremy’s first Pinewood Derby.  All month long he has been prepping his car:


He made a the design himself:


Once he felt it was perfect they put it together and we headed over to the church:

They went to weigh-in his car:

Then it was time to race:

And even though he took last, he was still excited and proud of his first derby car:


It was a great night and we are so proud of Jeremy and all of his hard work he did.

Storytellers

At work today, Matt and I wrote emails back and forth trying to out do each other in telling a story.  Here is what we came up with:

As the man walked, the soft sounds of rain hitting the window break the silence of the dusty murky hallway. A flicker of light cast by a brief lightening revealed a faint outline of person at the other end of a mistakenly thought empty house… 

He franticly searched the bare walls on the creepy hall for a weapon to defend himself.  He saw a silvery light coming from a cracked door and he slowly moved to see if he could take refuge.  He slowly pushed the door open only to discover…

A long and dimly light hallway seemingly leading to the front of the house and to freedom from the nightmare that has yet been endured in old house. The man, emboldened by chance of freedom, begins to run down the hall and towards his freedom. Just before his hand reaches the door handle, the floor opens up underneath him…

He falls and lands on a dirt ridden floor.  Franticly he searched for a way out.  He claws at the walls looking for any escape.  Suddenly he hears the loud deliberate footsteps up above him.  He remembers a lighter in his pocket.  He pulls it out and lights it up and sees...

The trap door being closed again, but not before he catches a glimpse of his tormentor with his fiendish smile and cold eyes. He looks so familiar to the man, though he can’t quite place where. He searches through his mind frantically trying to recall who this person is, but he can’t. If he could only remember something of this person maybe he could find a way out of this. Just as he was about to give up on the search, he remembers…

Last week he had to stay late at work.  Nearing midnight, he finished up and started walking to the parking where his car was.  The chill of the air prodded him to quicken his pace until he passed something that caught his eye in a musty and abandoned alley.  He stopped and strained his eyes to sharpen the image he was looking at.  The silver glint of a blood stained knife glistened in the moonlight and smell of leather gloves brought his attention to the man who was holding it …

And that’s when he realized that there was no escaping the situation he was in. Even if he was somehow able to escape the house, he would never be rid of the man with the blood stained knife. The situation grew in severity so quickly that it was almost a physical weight on his shoulders that was pushing him down to the ground. After a moment he realized that he was actually getting groggy and finding it hard to stand. As his strength was leaving him he smelled a slight chemical odor and realized, too late, that he was being knocked out…

Slowly he opened his eyes, still groggy and unable to focus.  He looked around and a silhouette of man off in the distance.  He began to breathe slow and more deliberate breaths.  After what seemed like hours he began to focus his eyes.  He could feel sweat start to drip down his face.  He began to wipe the sweat from his brow and then realized that his hands were cuffed to a chair.  He tried to kick out his legs only to discover they were bound to the legs.  A sense of panic began to rise again as he saw the man clear as day.  And the man began to walk towards him.  His face was distorted and scarred and sporting a menacing smile.  He looked around the room and realized he was in his own home …

Fear and panic set in. What of his wife? What of his children? When had he came across that awful scene that night? What was he to do? He needed to end this and he knew exactly how he needed to do it. His captor had made a mistake in bringing him home. The man was familiar with it and the captor wasn’t. Slowly he began to formulate a plan of how to get out of his bonds…

First he needed to know the fate of his wife and children.  He began to speak and the hoarse words began to form, "Wh-where is my family?"  The man slowly craned his neck to look right into his eyes.  The captor gasp at the sight of the man's dead blue eyes gazing back at him.  Slowly he smiled and said in a muted tone "no, not here, not today” …

The mans mind went racing. What did that mean? Did he already have his family captive? Was he going to get take them in front of the captor so he could witness it? Would he be rendered unconscious again? His mind was racing faster and faster and panic began to set in. He could hardly think as his captor remained cold and calculate as he was making some sort of preparations on the table in front of him. The man could hear clanking of metal and reflections of light when suddenly…there was the sound of a key being inserted into the lock of the front door…

**At this point in the story I got too scared and told Matt that we had to stop and that he had to end the story.  Here it is:

The man’s heart was pounding so hard it was ringing in his ears. Sweat was pouring down his face and he frantically tried find a way free to prevent what was going to happen next. The door slowly opened and a figure stepped through. The captor jumped out to take captive the person entering the house. Just then, a gun shot rang out. The man’s heart almost exploded as he shut his eyes and imagined what had happened. He was overwhelmed with emotions but all were consumed by a single one: rage. He opened his eyes to locate his captor. When he looked he saw something that he didn’t expect. There was another man standing over his captor with a pistol pointed at him. The newcomer introduced himself as a detective who had been tracking his captor ever since the murder had occurred previously. The detective informed the man that he had found his wife before she came home and had gotten her key to the front door. The man’s family was safe and his captor was no more. Relief washed over him like cool water on a summer day.

Father and Sons

This past weekend was our Ward’s Father and Son campout.  Jeremy was so excited for it.  He even managed to drag Grandpa up their Friday night.  I left every specific instructions for Matt to take the camera, but as it turns out, I only left those instructions in my head, and I never told Matt about them, so there aren’t any pictures from Friday Night.
Saturday morning the Elder’s Quorum was in charge of breakfast:

As Matt was cooking breakfast Jeremy comes up to him dripping wet and wearing an ear to ear smile.  Apparently he fell in the creek.  Ahhh, the things little boys enjoy.  So he tried to dry off at the fire:
 
After breakfast, Logan:

Matt and Jeremy went fishing at the pond by Hop Creek.  Logan caught a tiny fish:

So they threw it back and headed down the canyon.  Jeremy had so much fun at his first Father and Son’s outing.