This weekend we met Ben and Maggie at the Park City Art Festival. It is a really neat event. It is amazing to see all the different styles of art. It is amazing to me how talented people are. After we grabbed a bite to eat. It was a fun afternoon.

On the way home we flew through a thunderstorm. There was a rainbow right in the pit. I took the picture about 5 seconds too late but you can still see it.

Luke is getting so big. He was cutting teeth while I was there.

Luke just chilled in the water and had a great time.

I can't get this to go the right direction so you'll have to look at it sideways. Mike sent Leif flying.

Jake did a flip off the board. Wow!

Even tried diving off backwards.

Leif jumped backwards off the diving board.

The neighbors invited us to come over and swim in their pool. That was very fun. The kids are like fish in the water.

One afternoon we set up the slip-'n-slide. That was a fun way to cool off.

I brought Mario Kart out. It was really fun. Jake was the Mario Kart Champion!

Jake could jump and grab hold of the bar. Pretty awesome.

We'd go out early in the morning and jump on the tramp. By 10:00 it was too hot.

The highlight of the week was Leif pooping in the potty. It was amazing how excited we all got over poop.

The kids had fun playing together.

The chicken coop is almost finished.

Wow! What big chickens!

I was so excited to get to go to Oklahoma and visit Mike and Heather and the kids. We had a great time. School is just around the corner, so this was a great way to end the summer.

Finishing up #5

The beginning!

I know it is hard to believe that I would forget anything, but I did. I had to show you Craig's summer project. He just finished box number 5. We have three planted - two to go. Probably do lettuce and swiss chard and spinach in one. They are wonderful.

We stopped at Devil's Tower on our way home. It was the last pretty thing we saw in Wyoming. On top of that - they don't sell diet coke at the fountain in the gas stations in Wyoming - only Pepsi! We arrived home yesterday - Friday about noon. After unpacking we drove to Payson to get Elbie. She was appropriately excited to see us. We had pizza and visited with Bob and Bobbie and then came home. We were very glad to get home. Our trip was wonderful, wonderful!
But there is truly no place like home!

Thought Mike might appreciate the carving of the dentist.

Tuesday we left for home via Rapid City. We stopped and spent a day in Rapid City visiting Mt. Rushmore which was spectacular. We got there early in the morning and the sun was rising on Mt. Rushmore and there weren't alot of people there yet. In the afternoon we went to see the Crazy Horse scuplture and museum - a waste of time and money. Nothing much had been accomplished on the sculpture in the last 15 years. We also visited a woodcarving museum in Custer which was interesting. It wasn't the kind of carving Craig likes to do - it was more characatures (is that how you spell that?)

We had a wonderful surprise Monday afternoon. Mike and Heather and the kids and Eric and Wendy and their kids stopped on their way home from Wisconsin to Oklahoma. It was wonderful and so kind of them to stop.

Monday Angie, Cassidy and Harry stopped on their way to St. Paul for a visit. It was so good to see them. Harry is getting so big and it won't be long before he is running.

Playing tourist in Red Wing. Yes, it is a real leather shoe!

Sunset on the Mississippi

Bruce and Kathy have friends who own beachfront on the river. We went down one evening and sat and watched the sunset. It was beautiful.

We went on a bike ride on the trail that is near Bruce's house. He showed us where the paragrin falcon had a nest in the bluff. We could see the falcons through the scope. The babies had already left the nest. That was exciting to see.

Mrs. Kingsley lives in the house now and was kind enough to let me walk through the house.

Everything about the house I grew up in was pretty much the same - Thank Heavens! Different furnishings of course and some remodeling in the kitchen. Upstairs was still the same - even the carpet and the bathroom fixtures. They added another garage and the trees were huge otherwise it felt like home.

The class reunion was really fun. I am so glad I had the opportunity to attend. We had over half the class there so that was pretty good.

Some people were walking by and offered to take our picture.

Getting the fire ready. We roasted hot dogs.

We stayed overnight in Frazee and then drove to Red Wing the next day. The evening we got there Bruce and Kathy took us on a picnic at Frontenac State Park. It overlooks the Mississippi which was absolutely beautiful. We had a fun evening.

When Grandpa and Grandma sold the cottage, they built this smaller house on Eagle Lake. It wasn't the cottage but the cottage was too big for them to take care of. Most of us were not able to get to the cottage very often any more. They hadn't lived in this house too long before Grandpa got leukemia.

This is the Methodist church in Frazee where Grandpa and Grandma attended. Actually I am not so sure Grandpa ever went there with Grandma.

Looking from the driveway across the yard to the garage and the house .

The garage was
the only building that was still there.

The retaining wall and the garage which you can't see on my right is where Grandpa and Grandma's guest cottage was. The outhouse where I locked Grandma in was about where the retaining wall starts. (infront of the trees). We had a hammock in the trees - probably not those trees but that's about where they were. One of them that we hung the hammock in was a huge birch tree. The guys would clean their fish on the hill below the outhouse.

Standing on the dock with the huge house in the background. You are looking at the second story of the house.

Wymer lake looking towards the cabin.
We got to Frazee, MN early afternoon. I was so excited to go out to the lake and see the cottage -the embodiment of most of my childhood memories. It was the most disappointing part of the trip. We found Wymer lake - no problem. But everything around the lake had changed. I couldn't even find the cottage. As we were driving, we found a lady out in the yard and stopped to ask her for help. After much conversation and me trying to explain where the house used to be etc. she hopped in the car with us and took us there. THE COTTAGE WAS GONE! In it's place was a beautiful, huge, year round home. The woman that lived there was very gracious and took us on a tour of the house. Absolutely nothing was recognizable. She took us downstairs and there against the far wall was the old fire place- the only thing that was still there. My heart was broken. Well, I guess time marches on. The garage was still there. That was where all the boys got to stay when we went up there. Needless to say, I was only too anxious to get out of there.

We took the Northern route because I wanted to stop in Frazee, MN on our way to Red Wing. It routed us through Montana which was absolutely beautiful. Sheridan was one of our favorites. We stopped at the sight of Custer's last stand. They had a museum there that was really interesting. We watched a video - let me clarify-Craig watched a video, I slept through it. This is the tomb of the unknown soldier.

Independence Rock

We stopped at Independence Rock. I'm glad I wasn't a pioneer.

We left on our Minnesota trip on Sunday, June 27. This is a self portrait at Martin's Cove.

We had a barbecue at Maggie and Ben's for Father's Day. Tom and Megan drove down and we had dinner together. It was really fun.

Karen and Gary

Dave and Grammy

The birthday girl with Margaret and a couple of friends.

The Bybee clan

Dana and Taylor

Kyle and Micah

Corbin, Dana, Claire, and Kent(sorry Kent)

Wade and Laurie

Tyson and his girlfriend
Kristen's friend, Terry, had a surprise birthday party for her 60th birthday. It was a fun occassion.

Okay! I am going to scream. I just spent two hours blogging and my computer froze and I lost it all. So here we go again. We took Grammy up to Logan to see Megan and Tom. On the way, we stopped in Ogden and had brunch with Grammy's brother, Jay. It was good to see him. It had been a long time.