vacation day 6 pix con't

pika!

hidden waterfalls

this was the highpoint of our hike!

we cheated and took the ferry back to the visitor's center.

vacation day 6 pix

first catch of the day

my little fish

chris is such the fishing stud!

snake river scenery

chris and me at jenny lake

vacation day 6

believe it or not, we still have 3 more days to go!

today we woke up super early and went fly fishing on the snake river. we met our guide in the hotel lobby and walked over to the rec store to get our single day wyoming fishing license. after that our guide drove us through jackson to an entry point on the snake river. he launched the boat and we were off. it was still pretty cold (in the 30's) but it actually felt pretty good as long as were in the sun. cpt johnny miller gave us about an hour of instruction and were off! chris caught an 18" cutthroat in no time at all! there was a lot of drag time and then he caught a 19" cutthroat. i caught some really little ones and we caught 2 at the same time! that was pretty exciting! we called it a day about noon and the guide drove us back to the hotel. chris and i cleaned up a little, packed our backpacks and headed out for teton n.p. we went to the jenny lake center for some provisions and took off for a hike in the woods. it wasn't so bad until we hit the mountain slope. we hiked and hiked and hiked and finally made it to inpiration point. it was very exhilarating but also very tiring. our original plan was to hike around the entire lake. we made it about half way and opted to take the ferry boat back. the hike was right around 5 miles and took about 3 hours. we drove back to the hotel, took showers and went out for dinner. we went to pica's- a mexican food place that the fishing guide recommended. it was okay. i think more than anything we are just really tired.

since we got back from dinner i have been doing laundry and working on this blog. tomorrow we will check out of the hotel and hit the road for idaho. we will be driving through rexburg to see where chris was born. that will take us through idaho falls and chris also promised that we would go to the sand dunes that were featured in napolean dynamite. we will meet up with will and katie in lava hot springs for some fun in the sun and water.

vacation day 5 pix con't

we have some video but it needs a little editing.

gunfight in jackson square! but there was also dancing and singing.

the sun set just before the rodeo started so i didn't many pix.

vaction day 5 pix

chris is taking a pic of me when i take a pic of him!

it was cold and windy! approx elev. is 9500 feet.

riding the lift for the alpine slide.

vaction day 5

today we rode horses, took the gondola up the mountain, went into town for the alpine slide at snow king resort, shopped around in jackson and bought hoodies, watched the gunfight in the town square and topped it off with a trip to the rodeo. the only thing of note is that the girl chris had a major crush on in middle school was riding in the rodeo. the love was unrequited so he didn't want to say anything to her.

vacation day 4 pix con't

bmonkey at old faithful

seriously, we walked for like 500 hours just to get this pic.

sunset over the tetons.

vacation day 4 pix

chris at jackson lake lodge, grand teton national park

we finally got to use our little flexible tripod at lewis falls!

yes, i am a geography nerd.

chris is using his mind powers to bend this spoon.

vacation day 4

we kind of slept in this morning. we had the buffet breakfast at the hotel. it was actually very good and like most buffet meals, it turned into the michael phelps breakfast. we decided that today would be the day to drive through teton and yellowstone national parks.

i have been looking at the map for teton n.p. for the whole summer. i had it tacked up on my office wall. what i thought was a highway running through the park is a two lane road that is dirt at some points and has a max speed of 35 mph. we made a few stops going through the park. mostly it is a lot of spectacular views of the mountains- it never gets old though. we stopped at jackson lake visitor center and colter bay visitor center. the lobby at the jackson lake stop had a great view of the mountains from its floor to sky sized windows. the colter bay center has a museum area dedicated to the arts and crafts of native americans. i was most impressed with the bead work pieces they made. we couldn't take pictures but i doubt they would ever show the true detail of the beads- it really is something you have to see for yourself.

we got back on the road and headed up to yellowstone. we made a lot more stops. we got out and walked up a path to see some waterfalls. i got so winded walking uphill. i guess a difference of 7500 feet in elevation can make a difference on my cardio-pulmonary system! we finally made our way to where old faithful is located. the area is under construction for a new visitor center but it was all still very impressive. we ate at the cafeteria there- it wasn't super great but we were pretty hungry so we would have eaten anything at that point. we hung around and waited for old faitthful to blow. i have to say- i thought it would be bigger. maybe iceland spoiled me. we did walk around and look at the mud pots, hot springs and geysers. we made a super long march out to see the daisy geyser. the things i will do for that dog. . .

we spent a lot longer at old faithful than i thought we would. by the time we got back to the hotel it was after 9pm so we decided to eat at the hotel.

vacation day 3 pix con't

wyoming towns love the antler arches

chris at the snake river in the targhee national forest

antler arches in jackson, wy

not all cheney's are dicks

vacation day 3 pix

leaving slc

entering wyoming with daisybones and bmonkey

chris with the cow tail hat

wyoming/ idaho

vacation day 3

today we drove from salt lake city to jackson, wyoming. this trip took longer than i thought it would but we also stopped a lot and we had some trouble getting out of salt lake. it amazes me how we can have not 1 but 2 gps units and still not be able to get to where we want to go. the gps wanted to send us the route we didn't want to go. once we figured out we were not going where we wanted we decided to turn around and also try to find a place where we could pick up a couple of items (a flexible tripod for the camera and an aux cable for the mp3 player). an hour and a half later, we were on the road. we drove i80 east through park city and north out to wyoming. we hit evanston, wy around lunch time. we stopped at a little thrift store. the lady running the place had a sprite bottle but i think it had more than just sprite. she wouldn't let us leave the store until we took a picture of chris with a super gross cow tail hat. we ate next door at a place called michaels. not bad sandwiches but there were weird naked lady pix on the bar side and weird surrealism circus pix on the table side. we got back on the road after lunch and drove in and out of wyoming and idaho. we hit the edge of the national forests around 2:30pm and the scenery changed dramatically. my ears started popping as we drove up and over the mountain passes. we stopped and took a few pix on the banks of the snake river. we got to jackson around 5pm-ish. we got checked in to our super sweet hotel room, unpacked and then drove into jackson proper. there was a lot that chris remembered about living here but it is also very different- a lot bigger and a lot of new places. we did some souvenir shopping, walking around and had dinner at the million dollar cowboy bar. it was kind of a fancy pants place. our waiter was really nice but no matter how hard he tried, we did not get dessert- we were stuffed!

pix vacation day 2

vacation day 2

we slept in for a little bit then when everyone was awake and dressed we ate breakfast at a place called park house. i got pancakes and chris got the full breakfast. it was all very yummy! my pancakes were as big as the plate!

by the time we got done with breakfast (okay- it was really brunch at the point) we went back to will and katie's and put harry down for a nap. we chilled out until about 3pm. once harry was awake and fully functional we drove up to park city to go ride the alpine slide. now that was a lot of fun! you have to ride the ski lift up to the top. that took forever! i'm sure that when you are all bundled up and have on skis that the slow movement is a good thing. chris and will went first and then katie and i went. katie is very petite so she flew down the slide- i was just a bit slower. plus, i didn't realize you had to push the handle all the way forward- otherwise the breaks are still engaged a little. even though i came in dead last, i still had a good time.

we went to wasatch brewery to eat dinner. it was good- we had some fresh brewed beer and fish and chips. harry was doing great until the very end. i have to say- i am really impressed with this kid. we strolled down main street and did a little shopping and picture taking. at one point chris and will were each holding one of harry's hands and flipping him around. they looked like the perfect modern couple. katie and walked behind them and laughed the whole time!

salt lake bees!

vacation day 1

i stayed up super later late friday night trying to finish packing. i ended up going to sleep well after 1am and got up right at 5am. we were out the door by 5:40am. we got to the airport with no problems. a shuttle bus was right there at the stop after we parked the car. we got our bags checked and headed to security. i went right through after i had to show the metal detector guy that the id checker guy did in fact sign my boarding pass. then chris went through. and then 4 different people got called over to look at the xray machine. and then the supervisor came over and made the executive decision to pull chris's backpack. they go over to the special check area and the guy starts pulling everything out. flipping through books, feeling through things, he swabbed the bag and then pulled out chris's little plastic compass.
"why do you have this?" he asks.
hmmmmm chris thinks to himself- how do i answer this without being a jerk. . ."umm that is a compass"
"i know it is a compass, why do you have it?"
"so i know what direction i am going?"
"fine"
the dude takes the compass and a couple of other things to the xray machine and everything gets cleared. wow. i love the tsa.

so, after that we got some really gross breakfast tacos and got on our flight. we had to do a layover in vegas. the flight was full of people going to vegas- including 2 bridal parties. even at 7am these people were ready for vegas. so, what happened on that flight, stays on that flight!

the flight from vegas to salt lake city was uneventful. we got our bags and picked up the rental car. it is a super pimp altima with a rf clicker. no key for the ignition- you just push the start button! it came equipped with the hertz neverlost gps. it is a pretty nice car- except for the smokers that had it before us. . .

so we got to will and katie's place with no problem although chris almost missed the hairpin turn- again. we also turned down the wrong street for their house. "neverlost"- more like "most of the time you know where you are but we can always guarantee that statement".

we hung out for a little bit and got cleaned up. we headed out to the ballpark about 5:30pm. we saw the salt lake bees play the tucson sidewinders. salt lake won 6-2. we stayed after the game to watch the fireworks show. i gotta admit- the fireworks were super cool. unfortunately, i have no pictures. i forgot the camera in my backpack.

pre vacation

so it is almost midnight- am i completely packed? of course not. at least i have everything out of the dryer!! since we are taking the laptop with us, i am backing up all of our pix to dvd and i accidentally picked the slowest speed possible- i mean we are talking late 1990's speed. i need to be awake in 5 hours so we can get to the airport by 6:15 am. why did i let us pick such an early flight? what was i thinking??? i think i miss daisy already.

equality

this now equals the number of posts i made in 2007.

wookie

hmmmmm.. . . it's amazing how much faster the water drains out of the tub now that i evicted the slimy wookie living underneath the drain trap.

jesus at the gym

starting last april chris and i have been waking up at 6am and going to the gym. we really try to stick to a monday- thursday schedule. monday and wednesday are cardio and tuesday and thursday are weightlifting. when we first started going the guy that worked the front desk was nice enough, not really engaging though. however, a couple of months ago, they hired a new guy. his is a nice looking, clean cut young man named jesus. he says hello to us every morning, asks how we are doing, what were doing today, he lets me go through when my keytag thing won't scan correctly. we have developed kind of relationship with jesus. we really like him. if we wake up feeling like it isn't going to be a gym day- we say to ourselves- jesus will be disappointed in us if we don't go. so we make ourselves get out of bed and go to the gym. we always feel better when we go- even if we didn't want to in the first place. so, i guess it is true, jesus saves.

i ain' hatin'

if you do a google search for "how to make a pimp cup" the tyler family blog shows up around #43!!!! i love sitemeter. thanks gould family!

crochet

so, here is a link to what i hope to be able to do someday. Creepy Cute Crochet.
here is where i am currently:



If money was no object, I would probably purchase all the books published by quirk- starting with lawnscapes and gnome and garden.

socks

why does this keep happening?

springtown

so i wanted to post something so you didn't think i disappeared again for 6 months. okay- 8 months.

we visited chris's mom and sister in springtown, tx this past weekend. we had a lot of fun hanging out on the farm. the chickens are laying eggs now and the turkeys (named thanksgiving and christmas) are looking nice and plump! the pond was looking low but the bull frogs were keeping it occupied. the ducks, well, the ducks are the ducks. bonnie has started working on writing down some duck stories. i never knew ducks could be so troublesome. bonnie and cassie are both looking forward to borrowing some neighbor's cows. after they get some gates installed and the neighbor checks out the fence, they will be getting some "temporary" cows. this is a win-win thing because bonnie claims an ag exemption, she doesn't have to mow so often, her neighbor gets relief from having to feed the cows and he gets a little more acreage for his stock.

bonnie taught me some basic crocheting skills this weekend. one of my friends and i want to take a crochet class so we can make some cute little crochet figures that i saw in a craft book. i'm pretty slow at it but i am having to crochet right handed since we couldn't figure out how to set it up for a lefty. oh well- it makes me stronger! so chris made cookies saturday night while bonnie, cassie and i all worked on various crochet projects. he was feeling super manly. . .

on sunday morning, bonnie and cassie made us a farmer's breakfast of eggs (straight from the yard!), bacon, home fried potatoes. it was delicious! chris's grandmother came over to join us. after breakfast, chris mostly successfully installed a new ceiling fan in cassie's room. i sat on the front porch and crocheted. the weather was absolutely gorgeous! my mom sent me an email last week that was like- you know you are in texas when. .. . it drops below 85F and you get cold. well, i have to admit, all i had were shorts and a short sleeved shirt and i was feeling a little chilly at 80F!

the drive home was mostly uneventful. i got us a little lost. the one time we forget the gps unit is the one time i am feeling adventurous and full of false directional instinct. we made it home- only 30 minutes later than normal. . .

alright- i was going to post a couple of pix but blogger doesn't seem to be working correctly.

fat dog

this morning she woke me up at 6am ready to be fed. she woke up chris 2 hours later for her second feeding. is she a hobbit or is she a beagle? we are thinking that she has been waking us individually on the weekends and getting fed twice!