CJ Strike ...and more

We took our campers, four-wheelers, and great expectations to a place near Mountain Home called CJ Strike Reservoir. Along with us were our friends, Gordon and Sherry. The guys had heard that the crappie fishing (pronounced croppie) there was phenomenal at a certain time in the Spring. It was a temptation too sweet to resist. The first two days only produced a couple of crappie, and a couple of bass. They thought they were going to have to return home disappointed for sure.

The third day, my sister, Di, came over from Boise to try her hand at fishing with us. It seems she brought the good luck with her! The fish started biting and she was able to take several home to have for dinner that night. Roy, Gordon, and Sherry were able to catch fish after fish. The guys kept fishing til way after dark, catching about 55 fish, and then were pretty late getting them all filleted.

The next morning they were up before dawn craving more of the same. The good luck stayed with them and they were able to catch another 35 in about 3 hours. It wasn't the hundreds and hundreds they were told they could catch, but it was good enough for them.

The weather stayed good long enough for us to get them all cleaned, filleted, and sealed in food saver bags before we packed up and headed for home.

On the way home, Roy and I stopped at Shoshone Falls. We neither one had been there before. We thought it was awesome...well worth the stop.

We were headed out of Twin Falls over this bridge and noticed some young people with helmets and parachutes standing on the bridge.

We pulled over and watched 7 kids jump off of this 400-plus foot bridge doing what I think they call base-jumping. It was really cool to watch.

How they have the guts to do that is way beyond me. They were from New York, Washington DC, and Florida. They said this bridge is one of the best in the country. Can you see the tiny red and white parachute here?

It was a fun little trip. Even though fishing is not on my list of fun things to do, I do love getting away. I read a book, bound a quilt, enjoyed a four-wheeler ride around the lake, and sometimes just sat and visited with the fishermen. Three cheers for fun times in beautiful Idaho!

Time for a Fix-Up

This poor little greenhouse was in bad need of some TLC. It had served us well the past few years...keeping our tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers from freezing in the lovely Bancroft climate. But the snow, wind, and rain had a done a number on it. The kids all pooled their money and bought materials for a remodel job for Mother's Day. I really loved the thoughtful gift. Roy was down for all the labor. That's what he gets for being so good at everything "construction." Val helped a lot, too.

Before....

After...
The vegetables are all planted on the inside. Some are planted outside, others will have to wait another week or so. Only the strong survive around here!

Indee's Day and Mother's Day

It was a big day for Indee and the Williams family last Saturday. She was so cute, and so excited about her baptism. Lataun did a great job of putting everything altogether, including this cute program.

Roy got sick that day, and didn't even get to go. What a disappointment for Indee. She and her grandpa have an extra special bond going on. Indee asked him to speak at her baptism, but Val had to fill in. He did a great job.

I made her dress. It was fun...I don't really get to sew clothes much anymore. She picked out the fabric. The bodice under the little jacket was sparkly...she loves sparkles.

The next day, Mother's Day, found all the guys stepping up to the plate and cooking dinner for the girls. They made breakfast, for dinner. It was yummy. Chad made meat and potatoes...

Val made pancakes and waffles....and Faren was in charge of eggs. I don't know about you, but I love to see men working in the kitchen! It does my heart good!

Taun was in charge of taking it easy! The rest of the women in the house were doing the same thing. It was great!

Craving a Little Chocolate?

Sunday evenings sometimes find us snacking a little more than usual. Tonight it was chocolate on my mind. Thought I'd share our favorite no-bake cookies. (None of those peanut butter ones for us.) Tonight I got a little creative and added a maraschino cherry to some of them...pretty darn yummy!

CHOCOLATE-COCONUT NO-BAKE COOKIES
2 C sugar
1/2 t salt
1 sq. margarine
3 T cocoa
1/2 C canned milk
Mix well in heavy saucepan and bring to good boil stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add:
1 t vanilla
2 C quick oats
1 C coconut
1 C chopped nuts (optional)
Stir well and drop on waxed paper or buttered cookie sheet.

Moab Madness

Taun and Chad, and Faren had a dream....to go riding at Moab, Utah during spring break. They invited us to go, too. And before long, there was a whole group jumping on the band wagon. It seemed like the perfect cure for the spring fever we were all feeling. Taun had been emailing pictures of the area to us from her facebook friend who had been there a lot. And Faren got busy and booked us a cheap place to rent. The group consisted of Val and Meg, Roy and me, Lataun and Chad, Jan and Jerry, Ron and Connor, Faren, and Tagg. We were excited. We left on a Friday morning, picked up Ron and Connor in Malad and drove clear to Green River, UT to spend the night. Then on Saturday, we drove the hour to Moab to begin riding.

The first trail we did was called Gemini Bridges. This funky rock formation looked like Foghorn Leghorn to us. It was the first of many incredible formations we were to see in the next few days.

We then went on to the Metal Masher trail. It was a trail with a few difficult places and more importantly was the "widowmaker," an 8-foot drop off that Faren decided he could do. He made the landing just fine but hurt his ankle pretty bad. He thought he had ruined his whole trip by making that bad decision, but after icing it for a time and putting back on his riding boot, he was able to get going again. The rest of the group found an alternate route and we all headed back to the parking lot. We found our place to stay (cheap, but less than desirable), and after having a run-in with one of the locals (with a foul mouth and a foul attitude), we moved to another location that seemed a little safer. It was only a slight step up, however.

On Sunday, we visited Arches National Park. It's only a few miles outside of Moab, and full of incredible and huge rock formations.

You won't be seeing anything like this in SE Idaho.

This is the famous Delicate Arch...what you see on the Utah license plate.

Landscape Arch

Monday we did trails called "Fins & Things" and "Hell's Revenge." Not long into Hell's Revenge, I got off the 4-wheeler and walked back to the parking lot to wait for them there. It was just too much out of my comfort zone. I was glad to let Roy have a good ride without me this time. I got picked up by a tour guide in a Hummer, however, so it wasn't all bad.

Tuesday found us on the "Top of the World" trail. And that's exactly what you felt like when looking out over this beautiful view.

It was very scary, though, and disorienting. The trail up and back down had some difficult and amazing stretches. And we were glad we had our long johns and plenty of layers on....a very cold day.

For the last hurrah of the day, there was a perfect place for the guys to show off their jumping skills. Roy got on Faren's bike and proved to us that he still has a little bit of what he had as a younger rider. And Jerry did a jump on his new 4-wheeler going a little too fast, and got thrown over the top of his machine. No picture of that one, but so glad he wasn't hurt...too bad.

We are so glad we have this fun thing to do together. What a ride!

Roy's Been Busy

I've been wanting to get flooring in the rooms in the back part of the house for some time now. Last fall, I even went as far as to have a guy from a flooring store in Pocatello come and give me a bid on some "floating vinyl" that I'd heard about and thought would be nice. It was way too much money. Roy has done plenty of tile in his day, but with his bad back and a shoulder that's been bothering him, he just never thought he had it in him do it. However, he has been talking more about it lately, and I dared to get my hopes up again. After attending the temple last month, we went to Lowes in Logan, and found some tile that we both liked on sale. Sold!

It took about 4 days to lay the tile last week, then another 4 days this week to grout, seal, and put part of the baseboards back on.

He did the two hallways, laundry room, and bathroom. I love it, and I'm so excited to have this job done. So instead of costing $1100, the cost was much easier to swallow at about $400.
Yay for Roy!

Business in Bozeman

Roy and I spent a few days in Bozeman helping the boys with some projects and helping Robert and Jane move into a bigger house a couple of blocks away. They had outgrown their previous home, and are now excited to have more room...for kids, dogs, and stuff.

The house had never been lived in before. It has a great floor plan, with an upstairs and a big garage. Jane will keep in shape running up and down those stairs several times a day!

While we were there, we attended the annual Montana Trout Unlimited banquet and fundraiser. One of the big ticket auction items was one of our boats. It's always fun to see the excitement of the auction. The boat sold for $6900. We were rubbing shoulders with some of Montana's high-dollar tree huggers.



Anne Marie came up to Bozeman for the occasion. Here she is with Seth, Robert, and Jane sitting across the table. We were served a great prime rib dinner with all the fixin's.
Jane put some money down and entered a drawing hoping to win $1800 worth of women's fishing gear. And when the numbers were read.....guess who was the winner!? Yup, it was Jane! I wish I would have gotten a picture of her....she jumped up and down like a high school cheerleader! Later, (after I had gone to bed) she tried on all the stuff.... which included waders, jacket, coat, hat, boots, a rod, reel, boxes, bags, flies, etc.... not to mention hooks, lines, and sinkers! Did I mention she really loves fishing?

This is Danni, Ryann, and Sydney. The little cousins had a blast together.

This is little Axel...he is 15 months old and the epitome of sweetness! After Jane saw pictures of Roy when he was a toddler, she thinks Axel looks just like him. I think I agree.
It's always fun to spend time with our Montana kids.