July In Wyoming!

I should probably break this into a few separate posts - but think that one long one will suffice.

July was filled with family, friends, fun and adventure in Wyoming!


Shane had 10 days off and spend them in Lander with the boys and I.  We went to Grandpa's Cabin, we hit the Lander rodeo a couple of times, we saw the Lander Parade and - we did not have any fireworks.  Much to our chagrin.  The whole country has been so desperately dry that a fireworks ban was called just days before we headed north. 

The most memorable day, whilst in Lander, was the day the Petty and Barney clan went to Boysen to go boating.  The highlight, for me, was that Nathan and Olivia, once in life jackets were free to swim from the boat!  They were independent little swimmers without need of a parent attached to them!  They both swam to and from boat to beach and jumped in the water free and clear of fear! It was so freeing to know they had confidence and joy in the water! I was proud of them both!

The big kids (Shane, Travis, and Amy) also dove into the lake and swam and played.  We had a picnic, make sand lump 'castles' got pulled in the tube and had such a marvelous time! 

After Shane returned South, back to work, the rest of the clan headed North to Sheridan for Rodeo Days.  We had several nights of rodeo and carnival plus another fun parade. (Sheridan really knows how to throw a parade.)  Nathan enjoyed a few carnival rides, and then we damaged poor little Ashton on the dragon roller coaster.  He has not enjoyed any sort of carnival ride or experience since.  We'll have to give it some time.  I think the coaster was just too jerky and fast.  He rode with Olivia - who smiled and cheered and loved the whole thing.  Little Ashton just reached for his momma and said, "Get off!! Get Off please?!!"


A favorite day in Sheridan is when we kayaked the river.  It's also a very scary day. Travis and Amy brought their blow-up Kayaks and we took turns, with kids, floating down the river ever so slowly.  (Let's just say the river was very low and we spent more time trying to get unstuck, then worrying about rapids :)

Those who were not kayaking, were on the beach at the swimming hole.  At one time, Travis, Devlin, Ashton and I were waiting.  Travis looked over and said "Uh-oh!  Ashton!"   Ashton had reached into the river to get the squirt gun he had dropped.  It was drifting down a deeper part of the river away from him.   As I looked over, he was face down floating after it, making no movement whatsoever!! Travis, swiftly, got to him and picked him up - but he didn't make any attempt to kick or wave his arms or anything...he lifelessly floated away for a few seconds.  When he was pulled from the water he continued to reach for his squirt gun and wasn't even upset about being in the water.  I, however, WAS!  I got weepy and hugged that kid to me for a long time and thanked my blessings for Travis looking over at just the right moment.

After the Barney crew headed back to Lander, the Petty's stayed on for a week in Sheridan.  We cooked, went to the park, played at the water park, got ice cream, played with Sterling, and cooked with the Grahams.

We had a BBQ at Reo and Paula's, Theresa and Dan were there, and a bunch of cousins!! Reo and Paula came for a BBQ at Brooke and Wes's place too. We relaxed, I read a book or two, we saw baby turkeys and had a very calm relaxed time at Aunt Brooke and Uncle Wes's.)

We got back to Lander and played with Julie, Lisa and Lynnden and little baby Jackson.  We did more playing at Trapper park, and spent a special night picnic up at Bubbling Bucket.  We felt the soft ferny trees, and ate Subways sandwiches at the pond.  We saw an elk wallow, a little garter snake, antelope and some beautiful mountain sights. 

We saw more friends, Holly, Jennifer, Sarah, Huana, went to church and saw our WONDERFUL ward family - and were lucky enough to attend ArVae Randall's open house before she moved to Logan.  Other Lander doings: rode the Pony, drove 4-wheelers, NQ steered the SUV along country roads, went on long hikes up the canyon, saw several hatches of butterflies, fed the fishes, picked a bucket of chokecherries and turned them into syrup, got stung by a yellow jacket (My hand swelled up like a red puffy winter glove for nearly a week!), "Hiya Hiya'd" all around the Tee Pee's, had a 'bear' sighting (Okay it was a cow, but it was right next to the bear bait!!) and the boys threw rocks whenever they presented themeselves. 

On our way back to St. George we stopped in at the Rock Springs BLM office to surprise Julie and that night stayed with Aunt Annette and had yet MORE picnic, BBQ fun!  We saw the the whole Canning clan, after a long day of travels!  We stayed a few nights there, and also saw Aunt Betty and Garth and another visit with Lisa. Nathan was in heaven with more cousins to play with! And we started on our Summer Olympic Viewing the two nights at the Canning home.  On the day we left for home we had a fun morning at Cabela's and The the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point with Alex and Rob.

We surely missed Shane, being gone so long, but we didn't miss the miserable St. George July heat. 

We did miss some torrential St. George Downpours, and yard damage.  Our expensive pump system was ineffective against the flooding, and as fast the water pumped out, it return right back into the yard.  So after another August storm and a non-working system, called the landscape guy and he said he'd do some fixes under the initial (EXPENSIVE) payment that we'd already given him. 



Now then, I'm still waiting for a bunch of photo's from Wyoming - and have just put down a few of the ones I have now.