September 27th 2008

Our 6th Wedding Anniversary

This year I took Jen to "The Roof" for our anniversary. Located on the top floor of the Joseph Smith memorial building. We have both eaten there before, but it has been so long that I think we had forgotten how good the food is. It was worth every dollar. In addition the view of the temple is amazing, this setting really helped us reflect on the last 6 years. We both agreed that it has turned out so differently than we ever had imagined, but for our good. My mom had originally agreed to watch Noah on Saturday ( which was our actual anniversary) but because of some responsibilities she had involving womens conference, she agreed to watch him on Friday instead. This ended up being much better in hind sight when thinking of the crowd's we likely would have had to deal with on Saturday night in down town SLC. Jennifer and I had such a good time. We were able to just kick back, eat plenty of REALLY good food and just talk. On Saturday I did the usual weekend stuff (yard work). We also took Noah to the pet store to look at all of the dog's and birds. Last night we decided to take a drive down Legacy park way (which is amazing). We drove to Bountiful pond and let Noah run around. I tried to show him the fish jumping, but I dont think that he saw them. When Jen broke the bad news that we had to leave due to the mosquito's Noah threw a fit. He wanted to go fishing!!! (LOL) How often do you see a 2 and 1/2 year old brought to tears over not being able to go fishing? Some where in heaven, you could almost imagine a smile crossing Grandpa Walters face at the display of his grandson kicking and crying at being pulled away from the chance at having his line in the water. We finally were able to pacify him by going to Grandma and Grandpa Smith's to get in the hot tub. It was a really good weekend.

Family get-together

Nick's Birthday

We celebrated Nicks birthday on Sunday. I think I remember him saying that it was # 62. It was really good to see the family, it had been some time. I think that it only took Nick a good second breath to blow out all the candles. Debbie quickly put Noah to work on the fly swatter, although I think he ended up sucking on the gross side of it more than he tried to swat the flies. He did however give it an honest effort and should be commended for at least keeping the bugs in the air, and away from the food. While we were there I took Noah on a stroll through the back yard. Debbie warned me to watch out for the dog poop, even though Nick had picked it up. Well, I think Noah must have stepped in the only piece that had been missed. It ended up going from his shoe to my pants and causing a mess. I had to run home to quickly change, but was able to make it back by the time we had cake and ice cream.

Jackson Hole Wyoming

Jackson Hole 2008

We took our annual vacation to Jackson Hole Wyoming in August. To say the least after our very long summer it was a much needed break. It is amazing to me, that as many times as we have been here on vacation, it just doesn't get old. Even after doing the same thing year after year, it seems to rejuvinate our lives. I think this year I came away from Jackson with an increased desire to look at the simple manifestations of God's hand in this life, and to not allow the confusion or the complication of each day to dictate weather or not I can accept his involvment in my own life. To explain how this is wrapped up into our vacation. We went to the Bar J corral one night and heard some true cowboys sing old western songs while we ate a chuck wagon dinner. It seemed for whatever reason that a good number of their songs spoke of God. I remember commenting to Jen that night that it was amazing that in today's world there was still the ability to not over complicate the existence of a supreme being that is directly involved in our lives. I was very impressed with how simple living with this faith can be, if we just make time for it. But, enough with the Sunday sermon and back to the vacation. We hiked both hidden falls and string lake in Grand Teton national park. The hikes were not too demanding. Noah was able to accomplish both of them on his own with the help of a hiking stick that grandpa made for him, and with a little help from being carried on daddy's shoulders. We also found ourselves taking alot of walks through town, looking through the local stores. We have also made it a tradition of ours to see a movie each year while in Jackson. Some of the movies we have now seen there include, The Village (OVER-RATED), The skeleton key (scary), The Borne ultimatum (awesome) and this year we saw Batman (very good). Aside from all this the only other major activity was going rafting down the snake river. We had not planned on doing this, but Dean was a last minute cancelation and didn't want to lose the money he had paid into it. He approached us and asked if we would like to go instead of him and Joanne. We accepted and I'm glad that we were able to do this. It was alot of fun. The water was so cold, and during the "mellow mile" our tour guide invited those of us who would like to jump in to do so. After some discussion, Andrew and I decided to go for it! We were only in the water for a few seconds before we were begging to be pulled back into the raft. Andrew was pulled in first, and then turned around to help me. After making sure that I was in and safely sitting, Andrew (being the funny guy he is) pushed me in again. Whatever energy I had preserved by the first swim was completely exhausted by having been pushed back in to the freezing water. Everyone got a good laugh as I was pulled back in, I slid across the bottow of the raft like a fat seal on ice. I think that the family would agree, we had a good time. We were given a good chance to spend quality time together, and to enjoy the beautiful landscape of northern Wyoming.