Airplane Ride

Grandpa Slick took us on an airplane ride this morning. Maddie has been so excited for days to finally ride in a plane! We all had a fun ride!

We flew over our neighborhood. This is our street. Our house is the one on the corner.

Here is our house.

Thanks Grandpa Slick!!!

Elko County Fair 2010

Every year, the Elko County Fair is held over Labor Day weekend. Every year, Jake's family goes to the fair. This year we decided to go. It's a great way to be able to spend time with Jakes Moms side of the family. I think we are going to try to make it to the fair every year.

First off, I have to say that I LOVE the view from Jake's Grandparents deck. They own acres and acres of this beautiful land at the base of the Ruby Mountains. I could just sit out there all day long just watching the brids and the horses on the hill side.

Here is a picture of Jake and his Grandpa doing some work.

Sierra went to church with Jakes Grandparents, so while they were gone, we walked down to the sheep and snooped through the sheds... we found the tool shed and Jake was in heaven! This cute horse was found in one of the sheds.

I'm not sure how many sheep they have but I would say more than 10.

Trying to call the sheep in... it didn't work.

Most of our time in Elko was spent at the HORSE RACES! I had never been to any horse races before. It was actually quite fun! We spent three days at the races.

Sierra really got into it. She would pick a horse and cheer him on, yelling for the horse to go and everything. She loved it! See the guy in the green shirt sitting next to Sheral?.. Well, he saw Sierra's enthusiasm and decided to make a friendly bet. He gave her a dollar, and he had a dollar, and told her if her horse won she would win his dollar. Well, her horse won!!! The guy thought Sierra was gifted! He decided to place a real bet with Sierra's *special gift*. He bought her a ticket.. and she won again!! When the day was done Sierra was $7.48 richer!

Ben and Maddie watching the horses.

They had different events going on while we waited for the next race to start.... who would have thought branding was a sport? It was actually really fun watching the branding and the roping and all the other events. The Ellison Ranch used to participate in these events, but they don't do it anymore.

We did manage to drag the kids away from the races for a few fair rides.

We all had a really fun time! I am definately looking forward to the Elko County Fair next year! After spending those few days at the fair.. I have officially decided that I need a horse!

Yellowstone!!!

This summer has been filled with lots of vacations. One of those vacations was Yellowstone. We spent two days and two nights (some spent three). I had a lot of fun camping (even with the risk of getting eaten by bears!), and the girls loved it too! This was their first time camping. We went to Yellowstone with the Jaggi clan... cousins and all! It was really nice spending family time in a totally different setting than normal (normal would be sitting at someones house chatting and trying to keep the kids entertained). Brace yourselves for a TON of pictures. Here we go!

Cooking dinner around the nice warm fire. We were very fortunate that both Jake and Richard brought wood. Lucky us!

Apparently Maddie wanted to climb the tree.

All of the kids rode on shoulders a good portion of the time.

They rode on shoulders even on our hike. It wasn't a stroll through the park either. It was a climb to the top of a mountain, and around and back down.

View of Old Faithful from our hike.

Waterfall on our hike.

We came across a big herd of buffalo and had to have a photo op. The girls were pretty nervous.

Close up of a little cluster along the Yellowstone Lake

Check out Maddie's new Yellowstone shirt. She LOVES it! It sparkles too!

Grandpa Scott and Maddie checking out the baby fish.

Papa and the girls checking out the baby fish.

The baby fish. Cutthroat.

This extremely gigantic buffalo decided to walk right in front of us. It was very scary.

Maddie keeping an eye out for bears!

They never did find any.

The falls. Not sure if this is the upper or lower falls, but VERY impressive!

Passing the time.

Tree hugger.

This picture cracks me up. The boys are playing in the water getting wet and dirty, and the girls standing back watching and giggling.

He looks like he's feelin' good.

I am very impressed by Mother Nature!

Fishing For A Day

Our Neighbors (the green house), Mike and Dianne, invited us to go fishing at their cabin for a day. Their cabin is about a 2 hour drive North East from our house. It is a one room cabin built by Mikes grandpa (or great grandpa... can't remember), in 1935. Is it very cute and rustic. There are a bunch of small mountain creeks around the area that have lots of small cutthroats in them and are hardly ever fished. It was really fun taking the girls and just being out in the fresh mountain air fishing up a storm. There were plenty of fish to catch. :) Make sure to check out the video at the end of the page.... Sierra catching a fish all on her own!

Maddie helped Jake bring this one in.

This is Mike... our official worm finder. We kept him busy.

Everything was just beautiful!

Lunch time!

:)