Yellowstone & Virginia City

We are trying to take advantage of all the time Tyler has with us since he is unemployed right now. Also since Tyler is unemployed we are limited to what we can do since we have no income. This week we decided to go to West Yellowstone, Virginia City and Nevada City. All for under $200! We could have done it cheaper but we didn't plan meals very good and ate out twice. Yellowstone was fun but really crowded. Apparently September is when all the Europeans and Chinese come so we couldn't find a hotel anywhere in West. We drove to Ennis which is about an hour past West and stayed in a cute little hotel there. In the morning we drove 14 miles to Virginia City and checked out all the cool old buildings and shops. Virginia City was a gold mining town found in 1863 and the population reached 10,000 but by 1890 the pop was 500. Now its about 150. Most stuff was closed down for the season but it was still neat. After we walked down that street we went to Nevada City which is just a mile down the road. Here you can see passenger trains and a bunch of old homes where all the miners lived. Its exactly how I would picture a little town or village in the 1800's. If you haven't been there I would recommend going sometime. It's only like 2.5 - 3 hours away, depending on which way you go. During the summer there is an old steam locomotive you can ride from Virginia City to Nevada City. I was really bad about taking pictures but here are a few.






This is overlooking Ennis and Madison Valley. It was so pretty there!

PICTURES

I wanted to get the boys pictures taken but we are BROKE right now so I decided that I would just take them myself. They're nothin fancy but the get the job done I think. There are a lot, sorry.

THE LAST FEW WEEKS

We have had a lot of fun the last few weeks. We went to the Dance Festival Parade in Rexburg, we've been to the splash park a few times and we've spent so much time at Emily's house that everyday Jaxon asks to go "home to Emily's house"! We are staying busy and trying to enjoy the last part of summer as much as possible!

So Proud!

Tyler FINALLY graduated from BYU-I on Thursday! He received his Bachelors degree in Automotive Technology Management. We are so proud of him! He has worked very hard and is thrilled to be done. Now, we just need to find him a job!

Family Reunion 2009

This year our family reunion was at Stoddard Creek. Amy found this great campsite just outside the Stoddard Creek campground. We were only able to do it for a couple days but it was still really fun. Plus, it only rained on us a little this time! Matt and Amy were in charge this year and they did a great job! The theme was "Survivor" and we had some really fun challenges. However, we did not get to vote anyone off the campground. (okay there wasn't anyone I'd want to vote off!) We had great food and of course great company! I can't wait to do it again next year!


Linkon and Great Grandma Barnes

Group family picture




Matt is kind of our official "fire man". He is always the one keeping the fire going and stoking it for us and splitting logs. Thanks for keeping us warm, Matt!

Stratton, Jaxon and Samuel ready for a ride in the mule. This was actually the only picture without Jaxon and Samuel fighting over the steering wheel.


The babies had it pretty easy most of the time!

Fat & Happy

Linkon is getting SO BIG! He now weighs 12 1/2 pounds! Which means he has gained 5 pounds in 5 weeks! He also started smiling this week, the pictures aren't that great because he would get distracted by the camera. Anyway, here he is, fat and happy and loving life!

The Next Best Thing

Tyler and I have kind of been looking at houses just to get an idea of whats out there so we'll know what we want when it comes time to buy one. But lately we have been getting nervous about him being able to find a job when he graduates in July so we decided that the next best thing to buying a new house is to just fix ours up a bit. This way if we end up staying here another year or two I won't go crazy and if we get lucky and find a job and can get into a new house, ours will be ready to sell! When we bought the house the living room was painted this weird purple color which is fine, but not really my taste so after hearing me complain for 4 years Tyler finally painted it for me. Then we had our brother-in-law come and replace all the flooring in the living room, kitchen, dining area and guest bathroom. He gave us a really good deal and we are so grateful! We absolutely love it! The only problem is that now we are paranoid about Jaxon getting crumbs on the new carpet! But I figure it's bound to happen sooner or later so there is no point in stressing too much, right?