Disneyland

We all had an amazing time!  I hope to be able to share more later.

Thanks Nana, Papa, And all the cousins!  Ciao, Ti Amo!

Frigid Bathing!

After being on the road for 2 full days Ryan had enough with feeling grimy. Our campsite was without shower facilities but was right along a river.

Ryan decided to attempt a "bath". Jared shortly joined him.

It was cold enough to keep them to just wading for quite a while.

Dad waded in a joined them to give his tiredlegs some relief. This picture shows the extent to which Ryan and Jared got wet. Ryan to just about belly button, but Jared fully dunked himself just for a moment. They said it was pretty cold, but there was stil a little bit of sun to help warm them post "bath"

The morning of the 19th, I woke up needing to feel clean. So I put on my "bathing" suit and after encouraging my sisters to join me, went and got in. Amy and Michelle joined me, but only I got in past my waist. In fact I stayed in chest deep for around 5 minutes! It was so cold that I found it hard to breath. And 3 hours later I was still feeling cold. Silly? Yes. An experience? Yes.

More Animals

Elk Cows (female)

Buffalo, we saw lots of these!

Play Break

After we watched Old Faithful blew we all had a refreshment break and when I found Ashby, this is what she looked like after playing in the black, incredibally difficult to dust off, sand.

Old Faithful

Ashby was thoroughly entranced by her first visit to Old Faithful. This was a first time visit for Ryan too. It was a beautiful day and all of the family enjoyed it.

Ashby had been asleep less than 15 minutes prior in the car. I had to run her over. Kind of a fun memory.

Grand Teton National Park

Here are some of my favorites from this beautiful park:

My Muscle Man

When we were down on the shore of Lewis Lake, I saw this awesome, huge, old log

I asked Ryan if he could pick it up for a picture

He did it! It was deinitely taller than him. Like a walking stick for a giant!

My Muscle Man! Look at how thick the end is! What a fun way to experience his first visit to the Grand Tetons!

Driving to the Reuion

July 16th was largely spent in the car. Here are some of the highlights:

At a gas station pit stop in a rural area this nice guy was the neighbor. Ashby really was amazed at how big he is in real life!

We had a blanket picnic under the trees for lunch.

Jared, thanks for the funny expression! :)

Stopped to strech our legs and take in the view:

We enjoyed the Grand Teotons National Park Visitor Centor
It was a very modern building and center!

Ashby liked comparing her hands to the paw prints of animals.

And before we set up camp we saw this fuzzy black bear, the first of many animals we would see.

Loveless family trip and reuion!

July 16th and 17th

It may appear that we packed as many of the Loveless family and had a wonderful holiday on the coast, but you would be decieved. All of these beautiful sences were taken while walking the "mudpot" loop near Yellowstone Lake (the water viewed in most of the pictures).

The weather was hot but not killer and there was actually a breeze during all of our touring at Yellowstone National Park. I hadn't been in a while and it was Ryan (and Ashby's) first time! I think that all of the National Parks that I've visited to be amazing, but this time Yellowstone seemed particularly great.

Father's Day

This year for Father's Day we joined my parents and siblings on a relaxing Father's Day campout! We went up Southfork campground in the the Ogden Valley and enjoyed the beautiful weather, the hikes, campfires, books (mostly The Host), the river and each other.

Daddy and Grandpa

Ashby and Grandma enjoyed playing together!We all started off together on our little hikes...

...but before too long, Ryan'd be off on his own finding the paths to the top.

Yes, we are all pretty much Stephenie Meyer fans! My good friend Laurel let me borrow it and I ended up reading it out loud like it was story time at the library! For those of you who havn't read it, it was good. It had it's intense, sad and funny moments. She did an excellent job reminding us that there must be opposites in all things for us to appreciate the good. I recommend it to you.

Growth of Ashby

A good friend of mine, Sam, just started a blog (Yippee!). And she showed pics of her husband, Rick, with their kids from every year. Thanks for the idea, hope you don't mind sharing. Here are some from Ryan's first 3:

2006: First Father's Day, just 9 days old!

2007: Our little one year old, again in the mountains

2008: Camping for fun!