Jackson Lake – Grand Tetons

I said I was going to write more, then life went at warp speed and suddenly it’s the middle of July! Things have been busy, but in a good way.

We had graduation parties for friends from his old school (we moved part way through 4th grade). It was great to catch up and see those little kids now as adults. It was the first place Cam became a Para. It was the place that held a fundraiser to help pay for my cancer treatment. It was our first all night Cancer Walk. The visit almost helped close that chapter, but left us wondering, “what if we would have stayed?” How would our lives be different? The school won’t be one we visit again, but it gave me a lump in my throat as the kids walked across the stage. We saw our old back yard, the willow tree that is now taller than the house, the garden that is no longer a garden, the fire pit that had everyone wondering as we built it , “what are they doing?” The house is no longer ours, but so many memories were shaped there. Memories each of us will cherish in our own way.

We had our own graduation party & ceremony. The prep for that was significant, but I’m glad I took some time off work since the ceremony was in the last day of school & the party was on the day after. We had a gorgeous day and amazing smoked brisket. We were thankful for family and friends who could stop by and celebrate. This class was over 320 kids, so I only knew a few of them – kids who were in the same sports or activities or groups. Since Myles was full time at the Tech school his senior year, many of his own classmates thought he was already gone. It was fun to go through all of the pictures, but hard to put them away again. Time for the next chapter though.

After graduation, I ended up getting run down and sick for a few days. This delayed our Farmer’s Market again. We went to some more grad parties in June. Then mid June, my nephew got married, so we went to Hecla, SD/Oakes, ND area and helped and celebrated with them. It was a beautiful ceremony and day. It was great to see so many family members. All of my mom’s siblings and most of their spouses were there. Catching up with cousins and aunts & uncles reminded me of the invisible safety net we have – all supporting each other, even though it’s not always visible. (also, I got my family picture, so I was happy!)

After the wedding, my sister came for a quick visit. Too cold for a river float at the time so we did some berry picking instead.

Then on to Harvey, ND for my father-in-law’s birthday. I won’t tell you his age since he didn’t want to make a big deal of it, but it was great to see them.

On the way home, we stopped at the lake where my side of the family was gathering. We took pontoon rides, jumped in the lake and enjoyed great food. My great nieces and nephews are getting bigger and we needed our annual “sisters at the lake” picture.

While we were there, I talked to Dallas who was telling me about his upcoming 4th of July weekend in the Tetons. I said that sounded like fun and we should go sometime. It’s about 6 hrs from Bozeman. He called me back later & said, “Why don’t you come this weekend? We have a camper you can stay in and I’m bringing my boat.” If you know me, you know my answer was a quick “yes!” So we skipped the big Farmer’s Market on 4th of July weekend and drove to WY instead. It was a long drive so we broke it up into 2 sections. The guys fly fished the Snake river, we hiked, went across Jenny Lake, rode on the boat on Jackson Lake, got caught in a downpour, went to an island, saw moose and deer & generally just disconnected. It was a great trip and they caught quite a bit of lake trout.

By the end of the trip, my social battery has been depleted, even though I was in the wilderness. The constant “going/doing/visiting” over the last 2 months had caught up with me. I love to travel and spend time with family, it was just more than this introvert was used to.

We did our first Farmer’s Market finally last weekend. The weather was great and it was nice that people had missed us being there.

Sunday, we did 130 jars of jam to help replenish our inventory and use up some fruit. As a reward for the hard work, we floated down the river nearby. It’s one of my favorite things to do. It was very crowded since it was 88 degrees, so it was a little less relaxing than normal, but still beautiful & still water.

So after all of that, are we staying home this weekend? Ha ha, nope. Also I have a work trip next week so I’ll be gone for most of the week. Time flies when you’re having fun, right?! It’s true. August will be here before we know it, and college will start for Myles. We have a significant anniversary coming up also. Plans for that are TBD depending on a few things.

Why am I sharing all of this? Because it’s a little out of my comfort zone & I want to share some ideas of places to go, but also share the pics if you can’t or don’t plan to ever travel there. Maybe someday I’ll be a travel blogger and travel around rating coffee shops and hiking trails and water features. Or, if this is my mid life crisis, I guess I’ll live to 104!

So in the words of Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” And in the words of Aerosmith, “I don’t want to miss a thing!”