trippin to Yellowstone

We took two days to go bear and wolf viewing in Yellowstone. Fall is a nice time to visit, no crowds to stand behind, not hot, and most of all no crowds! (or yes I already said that). The downside is a lot of the centers are closed which mean flushing toilets to. We stayed in Gardiner, MT just outside the north gate of Mammoth. The town is a deer zoo. There are deer all over, so be careful when you drive there, they walk right down the streets! Inside the park we saw several Bighorn Sheep, they were massive. Of course Mammoth was a Elk zoo there. We drove from Norris to Canyon and were lucky enough to see 5 wolves in the meadow right beside our car. Then we saw several vehicles about 1/2 mile down parked. So after the wolves crossed in front of us, we drove to see what the action was there. There were 4 more wolves feeding on a fresh kill, it was really awesome. We watched the 5 approach the Alpha male, a huge white wolf to get permission to feed. There were one black wolf, the white one and rest were grey and silver. We saw tons of Bison, they own the road and several coyotes and one squirrel! The bear stayed out of sight for us this trip. Which was strange, we heard of lots of sightings since they are feeding for hibernation. We heard lots of stories, but we saw none. We did see lots of "rock bear"! They were just rocks! We will go again next fall and invite anyone who wants to go, come, it's a great time to go. Oh yes, we did see Old Faithful. Who doesn't go and at least see that.

Pirate-we will miss him

Today was a sad day for us, Pirate our wonderful Aussie Healer had to be put to sleep. He was nearly blind and deaf and wouldn't eat the past 2 days. He just moped and had a hard time breathing and getting warm. We made him a warm bed in the lower bathroom with warmed blankets and that helped him feel more comfy, but he still was going downhill. We had him since the day he was born 16 years ago and he was a great dog. Shana & Kristy will remember that day!
He was always so obedient and protective of his family. He was a loving dog and loved to go for walks, rides and camping with us. He and Kim would get up before Mark and go for a walk when we went camping, he knew the routine and loved it. Camping won't be the same without him.
He will forever be missed along with our other beloved pets we have had. We lucky to of had the privledge of having them a long time and never have lost them to accidents. We now have Gypsy the "Cleo-cat-tra!" to help fill the void, but there is nothing like the fun of having a dog who enjoys going places with you. His lease will hang by the door until the day we get another pup.

Fall in the Rockies

It's once again Fall weather in Northern Utah. It's a nice change after a "it's too hot to sleep, eat or do anything" summer. This is now great sleeping weather! Of course with the cooler weather comes the apple pie making, raking leaves, the first snowfall , winterizing the camp trailer and the dreaded thinking about the holidays coming up.
Then it's the first of the year again and time to start the (oh I can't believe I'm even thinking this far ahead) the filing of the 07 tax season. :( . . . ugh..

Until then , we just have to enjoy the rest of 2007. We did have a snow teaser last weekend, with some snow, some rain and some really cold weather that day and yes It's nice enough to open windows still, only turn the heater on occasionally and yes still use the AC in the car.
In other words, for us northerners, it's beautiful. For the hot weather dwellers, if you come to visit, bring your jackets, cold weather gear and of course your warm jammies. I know you will think us nuts when we really aren't that cold yet.

Last week we winterized the shed by putting the summer stuff towards the back and bringing the winter stuff to the front. Ice melt, shovels, anything that might be needed for that cold snowy winter day yet to come. Until then, tomorrow I will bake a pie, shop for a much needed winter coat and enjoy the windows open before we go in winter hibernation!

The new child

A few weeks ago I was working in the yard when I heard a cat, I usually ignore them, however this time I had to acknowledge it. Our 2 cats we had both died within 2 years of each other and we have been cat free for nearly 2 years. It's been nice, no litter box, saving $ on cat feed (science diet isn't cheap), not to mention the dreaded furball hacking.
Anyway, this small, very malnourished, skin and bones kitten approached me, walked right up to Pirate our dog and rubbed all over him purring away. She was so sweet, and so friendly. I couldn't turn her away and Mark bought her some Tuna (its all we had for a cat). Yes, Mark has a soft spot for kittys - but I didn't tell you that. We decided that if she was still here after a week of camping we would keep her. My neighbour watched out for her and gave some kitten food Mark bought. After 5 days of camping we came home to a kitten who was starting to put some weight on and we opened the door and in she came! We got her spayed, she will be declawed soon and we are going to try to toilet train her. Yes, you heard correctly, no more litter box, the cost of litter has gone way high. She has been quite fun!

Our camping trip

We took 5 days off to camp up in Logan Canyon. We went to the Egan/Franklin Basin turnoff which is 11 miles off the highway. It was quite fun hauling such a large trailer down a narrow dirt road..... :o We found a great site that was somewhat isolated which made it really nice. We saw more Buck than Does this trip and found a great new trail. At one point we had a nice 4 point Buck running along side of us for about a 1/4 of a mile and about 15 feet to the side of our ATV's, it was really cool. The weather was nice with a little wind one evening as "Dean" moved in over the mountains. It was really hard to come home and look forward to our next trip!

playing on the piute trail

We spent a day playing and riding 126 miles of the Piute Trail. It was hot, dusty, long, and just a lot of fun!!! We are looking forward to going back next summer and spending more time on the hot, dusty trail. Live long, love life and ride, ride, ride!!! We saw lots of deer, bucks and does, gorgeous views, everything from the pinyon pine to aspen groves. The trails never seemed to end and one could spend weeks riding there.

We are staying in the Bear Valley!!

After a very long, hot, hot summer, we have decided not to sell the house!! We have decided to stay in the Bear River Valley for now. Mark has been gone working in St. George and is burnt out working down there. It is way too hot, way to stressful, way to expensive to live there. I was however, looking forward to the winters there. We will be keeping our snowshovel after all and will look forward to the county fair!! Fair time is a huge event here, lots of great food, hangin with friends, dancin, rodeo, entertainment and did I mention dancing!! Country style here!! We will also be spending a few days on the Piute trail, a week camping and enjoying the rest of our summer together.

can't believe we are moving!

We moved to Tremonton in 1996 and bought a new 4 level split home. Never thought we would move to another area. Always knew we would stay in Tremonton and possibly downsize to a smaller new home. Mark had been looking for something different and something to make more income. He has been looking, but I never really thought it would happen. We were suppose to attend the wedding of his oldest son which got cancelled, so we took the time to go visit fam in near St. George. There he interviewed for a job and we looked at homes with a realtor just to see what was available. We planned on spending a few days and never thought Mark would get offered a job so quick and leave after making an offer on a very cute home. N0w we have go get our house on the market and wait for the seller to hopefully accept our offer on the new home we want. This is totally crazy!!! We are headed home today and I really can't wait to get home to start packing.
I will really miss Tremonton, I really like it there and the ward we attend is really great. It will be very hard to leave and miss the county fair this year!
We both have loved living there and have met many wonderful people and will miss our friends a lot! But, we invite them to come visit when those winter snowy days are too much and St. George winters can be really nice!! Also we can ATV all year long now!!

PS: to the buyers of our home, we will glady leave you our snowshovel!

our life

We are Mark and Kim. We have been married for nearly 18 yrs and are best friends. We have 5 great kids and 3 grandchildren. We love our life and enjoy spending time with each other and our family. We love to travel, camp with our Toy Hauler RV and ride the mountain trails with our ATV's. We love to cook outdoors with our camp chef and enjoy the serenity of the outdoors.
We have lived in Calif where we had a little farm with all kinds of farm animals. We had a great time there and loved every minute. We rode our horses, enjoyed rodeos, team penning and ropings. Job change took us away to Utah where we traded the horses for ATV's. The winters were way too hard to keep horses. We love Utah and have made many great friends here. We loved raising our kids and now enjoy the empty nest which gives us freedom to enjoy a lot more than we could before. We enjoy visiting our kids and wish we could see them more. They live in different states and are in different stages of life. We will be here for them when they need us, but realize they have to find their way in this life and with their own families. We look forward to retirement someday and being able to travel and relax!