Jackson Hole, Wy Part Two

One of our favorite things to do while in Jackson was the scenic float trip we took and the white water rafting trip Matt and I went back another day and did alone, that we took through Mad River Float Trips. Awesome company! Loved everything they did to ensure every one's safety and they were super fun! The boys had an absolute blast! We had planned on taking the older two maybe even the older three boy's white water rafting with us but due to the massive amounts of snow they were having melt and the rain the rivers were far above their normal levels and were very dangerous. I was NOT comfortable with the younger guys going with us so we opted for a slower moving scenic float trip with them and despite it being overcast and even rainy at one point it was breath taking! I think the overcast skies added to the beauty and made for better wild life viewing!


Matty was frozen and bored and his life jacket had a very chinese effect on him. LOL he refused to move from the position until the sun came out.



Why he kept taking pictures of JUST me while we ate lunch I don't know..lol really, why pictures of me eating?? lol Silly man.


Matty didn't have to wait too long for the sun to come out and was thrilled to be asked to help steer our raft with the help of our guide. Each boy got to help and they LOVED it!



Since Aidan was too small to go Mom once again saved our bacon and watched little man, Aidan and his dollar store truck were thourghly entertained!

After our scenic float trip we explored town square a bit more. The kids loved the Giant bear in one of the shops.


Then, one of the really fun bits..lol Who doesn't get old timey western photos done while in the old wild west? Probably plenty of much cooler people than us, but we did and we had a blast! My Mom actually REALLY wanted to go do these... Seeing my Mom holding a blottle of Jack Daniels almost made me pee my pants a little! No....really. Holy weirdness batman! We all looked really cute, and Matt made me giggle over and over by telling me that the ladies who helped set up the shoot had dressed him to look like Woody from Toy Story...lol HAHAHAHA, he had on ENOURMOUS furry chaps.....bbwwwhahahaha. Ahhhhh good times!

I love this one..lol Cody played his part very well!

And here is Aidan sticking his finger in the fake beer. He thought the weird rubbery foam was funny and just kept sticking his finger in it. Did you notice he also kept sticking his fingers in the barrels of the guns in the previous picture? Yes, we will work on gun safety ..lol At a much more age appropriate time. Ha.

After the photos we went to an old fashioned Chuck Wagon dinner at the BAR J CHUCK
WAGON and it was worth every penny! The food....wassss ok, the entertainment was AMAZING! Man are those guys talented musicians, singers and comedians! The kids got to take a wagon ride, eat bisquits from the dutch oven, eat beans and corn bread and what not and listen to some great western music. It was awesome and I highly recommend it!

Here is Cody pretending the bear is eating his head. What a goof ball.

Matty and Michael waiting for more bisquits! So worth the wait!




One of the things I loved seeing on this trip was the facial expressions on the kids and my sweet husbands faces when they would see yet another breathtaking view. Everything there is just beautiful and there were so many photos we took of just the scenery! It's worth every penny spent there just for that! Especially the drive through the pass. When we go to the top we had to stop and let the kids get out and play in the snow........in June.


Another photo of Matt and I that I adore! We look so cute and the view in the background......AWESOME!




Unfortunatly there was just too many things we wanted to do while there and we couldn't fit it all in so Mom made a special day and watched the kids back at her house at the very end of R&R and that allowed Matt and I to go back again for a whole day for just the two of us, which is when we went white water rafting again through the same company, Mad River Float Trips. They have photographers placed along the route and they grab some pretty awesome photo's of you rafting the hardest part of the river. We almost flipped our raft at one point. I'm not sure if you can click and enlarge the 3rd and 4th photo or not but our guides face went from one of concentration to one of "Ohhhhhhhhhhhh @%&#!!!!!!!" and then back to calm..lol he told us after we finished that portion he just "knew we were flipping" and some how we pulled it out of it. Phew! It was amazing! I love rafting and wish we could go more often! Seriously cool!



Lastly we went to dinner theater at the Saddlerock Saloon and saw a live preformance of "Seven Brides For Seven Brother's" which was so good!! Tiny theater, great food, really talented people and amazing sets! I was very pleasently surprised! Surprised by the food, the musical/acting talents and surprised in the extreme that Matt didn't just "sit" through it for me but REALLY enjoyed it!
Ohhhh Jackson Hole, We love you! I can't wait to some day go back again and hopefully get to share it with Matt's family. It was one of the things we talked about nonstop, how lucky my family is/has been to be able to go there all the time and how much his family would LOVE this! Oh by the way if you are looking for a cheap, clean place to stay, very centrally located we can vouch for the Antler Inn! It's only 2 blocks from town square. We got there and some how lucked out with the older "original" 1930's lodge. The newer parts are lovely, and yes this was older by far but really was great ambience and we got 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms a full kitchen and living and dining room. There were 6 queen sized beds! The couch could have been pulled out as well! Normaly it's charged a good deal more (but still VERY cheap for the area and amount of space!) than we were charged, we were given one HECK of a great military discount! I don't EXPECT a military discount but I won't turn one down either! That place made it financially easy for us to stay a few days and get to do all that fun stuff! Thank you Antler Inn! Thank you like Mad Mom for all the help!!!!

Jackson Hole Wy. R&R Trip

One of the disadvantages of being in the military is that you aren't always around family. Mind you, you make families where ever you live and they are amazing but not always the same thing. Since Matt and I married and moved here he hasn't had the chance to get to meet my extended family or my good girl friends and so on, so before we began traveling the area I love, love, love, there were some introductions to be made. Everyone who could came together for a great BBQ! My girl friend Amanda came whom is one of the ONLY friends from Idaho who had previously met Matt, it's almost like she's family! Tara one of my besties from middle/high school, and the Stephens family. Now THAT is family.


We met the Stephens family when I was very young in Germany when both of our Father's were working there and our entire families clicked and have some how just ended up near one another over the decades. Mike Stephens stepped in and did what he could to be a surrogate Father for us after our Dad died. Wreatha was always just the sweetest example of what a good Mother and Christian is and their three children are like siblings to us. It was very important to me that Matt get to meet this other part of my family. It was so wonderful getting to see them! Stephanie has been my best friend since childhood. We may not talk everyday, every week or every month even, but it's a friendship built on a solid foundation and every time we see one another it's as if no time at all has passed and there we are 8 years old again playing dress up in her room or having sleepovers. Ahhh memories.

Matt and Danny finally got a chance to really get to know one another since their only meeting was over a year ago when Danny stopped by for what was to be a long weekend on his way to another job and it ended up being less than a full 24 hours as his work schedule got pushed up. They really hit it off and man was that nice for all of us!

That left one last person there that Matt had yet to be "introduced" too. My Daddy. Ya, I'm a total cry baby about it still. Miss my Father everyday. It is always hard for me to go to his grave and not cry and seeing as it had been years since I had been and taken the kids I defiantly cried again. This is as close to meeting my Father as Matt will get here in this life. It meant the world to me to have him go and be there with me.

Well then, on a lighter note..lol Jackson Hole! Ohhhhhhhhhhh Jackson, how I love you! We had such a blast there we could have spent a week! We did spend 3 days but it could have been more. That area is just so beautiful, it was so fun to get to share the things I love about this part of the country with my love and the kids!
Now if you are ever headed to Jackson Hole from Idaho Falls, Id, I do suggest stopping for Square Ice cream from the little gas station there in Swan Valley. You can't miss it and cold as all get out or not, it's WORTH it!
Here is our little gang outside the store!

And here is my hunny and I at the scenic overlook along the drive up. It was so pretty out there. My hubby looks rather cute too..lol I love this shot of us.

Now one of the best things we did on vacation, as the boy's will tell you, was the Alpine Slide. Seriously fun! You ride the chair lifts up the mountain and use sleds (it has a brake on it, which I rode like a grandma all the way down! Thanks Mom for watching Aidan since he was too little to go.) down the moutain on a curvy slide.
I do NOT like heights and yet this was a blast and might I say, the views are to die for!

Matt and the boy's at the top getting in line.


And here are the pictures they take at the top of the mountain and charge tourists (like me) 400 million dollars for, because, well, they are awesome and really captured how fridgid it was up there and the amazing veiws!
Oh and did I forget to mention this was what we did for Father's Day?? Ya AWESOMESAUCE!



Matt and Matty going down. We will NOT be posting the picture of me coming down. It was NOT flattering. At all. Ok, fine. Here it is. Ya. I regret that face too..lol


After the Alpine Slide we got to go around town doing all sorts of fun things. I always love the huge Antler arches leading into the park at town square.

We did the Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum........very cool indeed.
Matty was not happy here, as that buffalo is made of nails and his elbow made contact with it's pointiness only moments before..haha.


They have these amazing sculptures all around town.

And while there we HAD to stop for Moo's Ice Cream. Its a must!

Daddy and lil man at the ice cream parlor

We then did the old stage coach ride which is always cool but even cooler this time as the driver let Michael and Cody and Matthew ride up on top outside of the coach. They were thrilled. I was scared. As I am a helicopter Mom about these things. Good thing Matt soothes the savage beast within me and I was able to still have fun while they were up there. And by the way, doesn't my Mom look so pretty here??



Well I am going to go a head and break this into two posts as I do not have the energy to strong arm you into sitting and looking at anymore pictures in one setting!