Finally

We finally made it camping this summer. We've been so busy with house projects and then the fire that we haven't really been out to enjoy one of our favorite summer activities. We had a great time eating tin foil dinners and banana boats, seeing some wildlife, catching a couple fish, and sitting around the campfire despite the rain.






The best part of the weekend was berry picking. The raspberries were in full bloom and we couldn't resist stopping at every bush we saw to pick some delicious little treats. I was amazed at how many berries there were. Here's a shot of just one of the bushes.



We picked and picked and picked and came home with so many berries I had to freeze some because we couldn't use them all.





We had a great time this weekend and Sunday afternoon we reaped the benefits of all our picking with delicious raspberry shakes!!

Catch a fish

That's what B says when he wants to go to a lake and have Rusty catch a fish. Well, we entertained his little wish last Saturday and took the boat out.

Bridger loves everything about fishing; the fishing poles, the tackle, the net, the boat, but the fish...not so much. He was so scared when Rusty caught a fish I was worried he was going to jump out of the boat! I guess he'll learn the slimy little things can't really do much harm.

This little guys is so lucky to have a daddy to take him out and enjoy the outdoors. They are going to have some big adventure together!!

Highlights

Since the 4th of July has come and gone, I just want to share a few of the highlights from our FUN weekend!!

Meeting Elder & Sister Kaiser (Grandma & Grandpa), Aunt Amy, Uncle Casey, and Cousins!!! in Lander, WY for one of the best ice cream/watermelon/fireworks shows I've ever seen...plus it was all free!!!

Loving the ice cream cone Grandma & Grandpa scooped for me.

Having front row seats for an amazing fireworks show...way to go Dr. Bills. If you ever have a chance to make up this way over the 4th, Lander is the place to be. This guy puts on this fireworks show all by himself, and it's better than anywhere I've ever been, even Stadium of Fire.

Spending time with Grandma and Grandpa on their P-day.

Walking on the original Mormon Pioneer Trail.

Catching a horny-toad with my cousin Caden.

Listening to handcart stories in the grass (actually playing with Chase while everyone else listened).

Watching dad catch a fish.



Playing with cousins in an original early 1900's ranch school house.

Taking a trek with the family and enjoying a little snooze in the handcart.

Escaping the relentless mosquitoes at the Willie Center and cooling off at the Lander park.

Listening to Grandma & Grandpa share the pioneer story of Ephraim Hanks and Thisbee Reed. Aren't they so cute in their costumes!?!

We had a wonderful time with the Kaiser's over the 4th. Although we were plagued by mosquitoes, it was an amazing trip to spend together as a family.

Shrooms

This is one of the times of the year that Rusty lives for...mushroom season. Here in sage brush hills of Pinedale, there is a 2-3 week time frame when wild mushrooms sprout up in bunches and bunches. Now these aren't the wild mushrooms that you may be thinking of...giving you some psychedelic high or killing you dead on the spot...these are mushrooms that are fresh, healthy, and delicious (if you are a mushroom lover).










When I first met Rusty and we went looking for mushrooms the very first time, I remember thinking of the toadstools that would come up in the grass of my front yard growing up. Mom warned me and warned me not to touch or eat those things. They were always fascinating to me, how they would sprout up over night...but nothing I would go searching the yard for. Well, now here I am, married to the MOST OUTDOORSY MAN IN THE WORLD, and I'm walking the hills looking for the special shine of his beloved mushrooms.








Saturday we hit the mushrooms in full bloom, (or whatever you call it) and we hit the jackpot. We probably collected between 50-60 mushrooms and filled 2 grocery bags!! Rusty was thrilled and couldn't wait to get home. We washed, chopped, and sauteed the mushrooms; freezing them for later. Now Rusty can have mushrooms on everything he eats; hamburgers, steaks, pizza, spaghetti, etc, etc.








Now, many of you are going to read this, and think we're crazy, you would never do that!! But when you marry someone like Rusty you learn there is a whole new world out there just waiting for you to discover it, and that's the beauty of life, now isn't it!!

Snot Bars

So the name doesn't sound all that enticing, but let me tell you these yummy treats go down as one of my favorites. My roommate Mandy shared this recipe with me and it will always be a favorite in the Kaiser family.

1 cup Karo syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter

7-8 cups Rice Krispy cereal

1 pkg. chocolate chips

Combine Karo syrup and sugar. Heat until sugar dissolves, but DO NOT BOIL!! Stir in peanut butter. Pour over cereal and mix well. Press into a greased 9x13 pan. Melt chocolate chips and spread over cereal. Cool and then cut. Store covered.

These are delicious warm but very messy!!

New Scenery

I spent last week in Missoula, Montana with Rusty and Bridger. Rusty was there for a wildlife conference, so I decided to tag along. We had a great time shopping, eating out, and just enjoying a change in the scenery. Missoula really is beautiful, but kind of quirky. Here are a few shots of our fun time.

This is a playground in town. Bridger had a blast running through the mazes and going down the slides. Pretty creative huh?!

There is a carousel in the same place as the dragon playground. Rusty and B took a ride on it, but I couldn't get any great shots because the thing was moving so fast!! B really liked it!

I found my new favorite ice cream joint...too bad it's 8 hours away from me! The Big Dipper has homemade ice cream that is delicious. They have some really funky flavors...to please the college/coffee house crowd, but White Mint Oreo can't be beat!!

B learned how to relax and enjoy life on a big bed while in Missoula, check him out, isn't he funny!!

Messy, Messy

Last week I had playgroup at my house. We like to have a little activity for the kids so I decided to use a Preschool favorite...playing in shaving cream. It was a hit with the kids and the mom's too. Here are some shots of the happy kiddos.

These are some of the nicest girls here in Pinedale. I'm so lucky to have met good ladies, who have great testimonies, and are wonderful mommies. It's good to know that Bridger will have good friends to grow up with. Thanks Mindy, Heather, and Michelle!!

Trout, Trout, Trout

That is the name of Bridger's new favorite book, "Trout, Trout, Trout (A Fish Chant)" We were given this book by some friends last Christmas, but Bridger has only recently taken to the book. It seems like he could read it over and over and over every day. It's been really fun because he has caught onto some of the words and can fill in when I am reading to him. He has also learned a few new words, including the most important, trout.

Since Bridger has been infatuated with this book, Rusty really wanted to take him out fishing Saturday. Now as much as I say I love ice fishing, Saturday wasn't one of those days. It was freezing (barely 15 degrees) and I didn't want to be out in the cold, and I especially didn't want my little babe out there either. But I reluctantly loaded up the truck and headed for Dollar Lake with my boys. After a beautiful drive in the forest (and 3 poopy diapers) we got there and got bundled up for our trek out to the lake.

Luckily, the fish were biting and we were able to catch something right off for Bridger boy to see. He was excited to see the "trout" as well as the "water" and enjoyed saying "bye bye" to each fish we caught as we threw them back in the hole. He settled into the camp chair as we continued to fish and eventually he looked like this. What a good boy, he definitely has his father's blood in him...he's a true outdoorsman!!

Tis' the Season...

So I thought I should finally make some sort of holiday post. My nativities are up, the house is decorated, the tree is up, lights are on the house, presents are wrapped, and there are even delicious chocolate chip cookies made, but I haven't felt like making a post lately, am I a Scrooge or what?!

Last Saturday we had the hunt for the perfect Christmas tree. We loaded up the truck and headed to the Bridger-Teton National Forest. After driving to the forest and up and down the snow covered road, we decided to take a short hike to find THE ONE. To my dismay the hike was unsuccessful, we couldn't find anything good enough for my liking.

So we hopped in the truck again to make another drive, just in case we missed one. Well, I don't know how to explain it, but somehow while Rusty was driving he saw an amazing tree out of the corner of his eye. It was about 50 yards away, a lone pine tree in a bunch of Aspens, just waiting for someone to find it and fulfill it's Christmas tree dream. So we hiked up the hill, took a good look at it, and Rusty cut the masterpiece down. Here it is....

Bridger had a great time! He was in awe of all the trees and loved the snow.

So the story doesn't end as magical as it sounds. We put the tree up on Saturday night and wanted to decorate it on Sunday evening. Well, our plans quickly changed when Sunday morning we walked into the front room to find the tree laying on our loveseat and water all over my new carpet!! Oops! Needless to say, the tree spent Sunday and Monday on our porch until Rusty could fix our tree stand. But after all that, here is it, our PERFECT Christmas tree.

TURKEY LURKEY

OK, Justin, this is for you!!

If you're not interested in hunting stories or pictures go ahead and skip this post...sorry. This weekend we made a state-wide road trip to Aladdin, Wyoming for some deer and turkey hunting. It was a LONG DRIVE, 10 hours, filled with Rusty quoting lines from "Jeremiah Johnson" and "The Cowboys". Now, I love Rusty, but you can only take so much when it comes to Robert Redford and John Wayne impressions!! The only compensation for all the movie lines was the beautiful scenery we saw along the way.



The town of Aladdin is like something out of a book. It's population is 15, FIFTEEN!!! The only buildings there are a Post Office/Bar/General Store (all in one building) and a small motel. Inside the store it was like "Little House on the Prairie", it had everything you needed, even candy in big ol' barrels, (I could just see Half Pint asking Pa for some candy). It was fun to take a look inside and we bought Bridger a "wooden nickel" for a little souvenir.

Now, my expectations for this hunt were not too high considering my last 2 turkey hunts and the disappointments I had with them. Some people may say that turkeys are dumb, but I would have to disagree. These birds are pretty smart and won't let you get near them. Hunting these little guys is more difficult than you could imagine. To make a long story short, me and Rusty hid in the trees while his little brother Andrew pushed the turkeys right to us. It was amazing, almost like a cartoon, with the turkeys running down the hill, their heads bobbing up and down!! They came right to us, I stood up, aimed the shotgun, and with one shot I got my turkey!! It was amazing, sort of a miracle. I was so happy and Rusty was so proud of me!




Now, hunting really isn't my thing; I got my Hunter's Safety a couple of years ago because Rusty really wanted me to. Even though I go bird hunting reluctantly with Rusty every year, I always have fun and find myself growing a bit as I do something out of my comfort zone. Thanks for all you do hun, I love ya!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

For any of you who really know me, you know that holidays don't get any better than Halloween for me. I just love everything about it...candy, dressing up, carving pumpkins...you name it, I love it. So last night in all of our moving/unpacking madness we brought in the pumpkins and had a little carving party. I was a little worried about how Bridger would do, considering 1-he doesn't like to sit in one place for more than 30 seconds 2-he can't stand it when his hands get dirty 3-he hasn't seemed all that interested in the pumpkins that have been on our front porch for the past 2 weeks. But I guess he's a chip off the ol' shoulder and he took to carving pumpkins like he was a true artist. Here are some shots of our pumpkin fest!

Look at those eyebrows, now he means business!!

Rusty looks hauntingly similar to his mean jack o' lantern.

Me and my little skeleton boy.

They're Coming to America...

We had a great 4th of July this year!! We spent it here in Rawlins with another(and probably our last) trip to Seminoe. This time there was only a little bit of fishing and lots of playing on the beach! We found this little beach next to a gigantic sand dune. No one else was there and the water was nice and clean. Me and Rusty were brave enough to get into the cold water but Bridger wouldn't even get close to it.





We ended the night with a BBQ at home. Rusty grilled up some mean burgers with Pepperjack cheese and I made homemade fries and fry sauce. We ate dinner and relaxed, waiting to watch the fireworks from our front yard. It was a wonderful day and a great memory of our last 4th of July in Rawlins.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

We took Bridger out on the boat this weekend. This was his first time on the boat since he began walking, so we weren't sure how it would go. We packed up the truck, loaded the boat and headed to Seminoe Reservoir. I was excited to be out on the boat again, but a bit nervous about how Bridger would react to wearing a lifevest...and my instincts were right.

Bridger seemed to think it was ok until he wanted to walk around the boat, then he realized he couldn't walk or bend over with this humongous jacket on. I don't think he liked the roar of the engine either. As we were driving across the lake there was lots of screaming and crying. We were about ready to turn around go home but then he seemed to settle down (crackers, his sippy cup, and a rock seemed to help).

We drifted the boat in a little cove and me and Rusty traded off casting for fish and watching Bridger. Of course, Rusty caught couple walleye, but I was left with nothing! So it turned out nice and Bridger ended up having a great time.