A different outlook...

Boy did I ever need this today! It is amazing how you can feel

inspired to do something as silly as checking out someone else's blog!

But I got my answer, or at least peace.

A DREAM COME TRUE...

Time sure does fly when you are having fun! My mom has taken 6 weeks of leave from work through the family and medical leave act so she can spend more time with my dad. And, we have been busy!! I have always had a dream, that someday, men would all be free....oh, that is another story!!! I have always had a dream and my parents made that dream come true!!! This is something I have wanted to do for about 10 years and I was never able to, but it happened, it really happened!!! I went to:

BEAR WORLD!!!

So for all of you who have never had the chance to go, let me take you on a ride through the park!! I decided to only use some of my 800 pictures...ok, that was an exaggeration, but I took a LOT!

This is the dream team!! (no, that bear next to them is not real...in case you were worried)

OOPS...a bear bum. I don't know how that got in there :D

We were behind the feeding truck so we saw soooo many bears!!


Normally if you saw this right outside your car window you might be worried,
but the great park rangers said that if a bear attacks your car
just honk 3 times and they will come and protect you...I don't know if that
made me feel a lot better since they were driving around in golf carts!


This beauty just walked right in front of us.
It is a good thing the speed limit was 3 mph!



This bear was headed for the feeding truck

These were the bigger cubs playing in a little pen!

This one even came over to say "hi"

There is really only one word for this picture - HUGE!!!

Now this scared me I turned to look out my window...come to think of it, they never said what to do if a buffalo attacked your car!!!

Now, this is the "all amazing" albino elk! I won't say who but 3 out of the 3 people in the car thought it was a really big mountain goat...

Wow, that was an amazing trip! If any of you out of towners are driving through take the time to go through

YELLOWSTONE'S

BEAR WORLD!!

STRANDED......

Middle of no where country drive + truck breaks - cell phone reception = STRANDED

Last Thursday my dad wanted to take a trip to the Tetonia/Driggs area, so we hopped into the truck and were on our way. As we were driving we passed the site of the Teton Dam and I wanted to take a look because I don't ever remember being there.

For those of you who don't know, this is where the dam used to be. Off to the left side is the spill way.



This is a little better picture of where the dam used to be. Funny story...I had a cousin who used to tell me and my friends ghost stories whenever we were together and he said that there was satanic cults and killing animals to sacrifice...thus there reason I never went, but I had to take a picture of the bullet holes in the concrete barriers. I'm glad I wasn't there at night!!!




This is an amazing picture I got of the Tetons! Yes, I was very close!



As we got to Tetonia my dad wanted to go and see the old dry farm where he grew up. I have been there before, but it has been a LONG time! But, my dad was sure he knew they way. We got on a road that would eventually take up to Ashton and I figured I could get us home if we got lost. So as we are driving down the road in the middle of NO WHERE with nothing except for fields, we got to a dirt road and my dad said this is where we turned off. As we were going down the road I was going really slow because there were so many HUGE potholes. As I was dodging one I ended up hitting another and we started to veer off the road. I was able to get us stopped before we went into the little ditch along the road. At first I thought we had blown out a tire, until I started to turn and the steering wheel just kept turning and turning and turning. So obviously the next thing to do is to pop the hood. But, I had no idea what to look for.



My next thought is that I should call one of my uncles. They would know exactly where we were and would know what to do. Did I mention I was in the middle of NO WHERE!!! And when you are in the middle of NO WHERE, cell phones don't work. This made us a little nervous! (I am not good at doing self pictures). If you can't tell, we were distraught!

Then we discovered that we were almost out of water and thanks to my dad, we only had 10 cinnamon bears left. Then he was a little grouchy...actually I made him pose like that.

I started to wonder if we would ever be rescued! Then I thought "What did I learn in girls camp!" Then I thought "OH CRAP, WE REALLY ARE IN TROUBLE!" I decided we might be staying in this barn for the night.

I did look in the glove box and we had matches, scotch tape, post it notes and some chap stick. Then I started to think W.W.M.D. (what would Mcguyver do). Well he would set all the weeds on the side of the road on fire and call some attention to himself. Before I did that I thought I would take a little walk and see if I could get a signal SOMEWHERE, ANYWHERE!

I DID!!! THERE WAS A SIGNAL! All of my uncles were gone but the man of the hour, my dad's best friend Brother Kerbs came to the rescue!!!

So as we waited for an hour or so for him to get to us we took really stupid pictures, sang songs and had a great time knowing we would be saved. This is the view we had to look at, not to shabby is it!

The Friendly Freezer...

I have decided that freezing dinners for a rainy day is going to be my saving grace! I have really been trying hard to do this and when I have it has been so helpful. I found this site called the friendly freezer and it has so many recipes and tips on how to freeze casseroles, soups or really anything, the right way. This has come in handy on days that I am not feeling well or on days I am so busy I don't have a chance to make a "real" dinner, or if I am just plain lazy...which hardly ever happens :D (this is a smiley face for those that I have been confusing). I hope this weekend will be the beginning of a cooking marathon. Let's all just keep our fingers crossed that I don't get sick! Here is the address for the friendly freezer, I will also put it in my fun links! http://snider.mardox.com/. Let the freezing begin!