Levan and cabin

Last fall when the Johnson's came out to the cabin we planned that next year we would go to their place in Levan for the weekend. We found a weekend in June that worked for both of us and made our plans. We were going to go four-wheeling up in the mountains by their place the first night, the next morning go to the sand dunes and then the lake that afternoon. The weather was not looking good with the high's around 50, but with busy summer schedules we decided to still go that weekend and do what we could. We got their and they have a cute little house that they have fixed up very nice. We took off on the four-wheelers to explore the mountains. I can't remember what they called that canyon but it was beautiful. With all the rain it was very green. Took some pictures by a waterfall and even saw a turkey with 8 little turkeys running up the mountain. Got back to their place just before a big rainstorm started. Had a huge dinner and then sat around visiting.

The next morning the weather wasn't any better but we loaded up the four-wheelers and went out to the sand dunes. The one good thing about the weather was that it wasn't busy. I can't imagine playing out their when it is busy. Steve and Ben took the dune four-wheelers and me and Jolene took the other ones.

I was nervous driving their brand-new four-wheeler but Jolene took me on easy trails and I had a blast.

Luckily we split up from the boys for most of the day since they are alot more daring then us. We then hooked up and watched as they played on a big dune. I wish I wasn't such a chicken, but my stomach can't handle things like that. It was really fun and I'm glad we went down.
We had crossed two things off our list and with the weather being so cold I didn't think playing on the lake would happen, but I was wrong. We didn't change into swimsuits and climbed on the boat with coats and blankets. They haven't had a chance to take their boat out yet and wanted to see if everything was working properly.

We have gone out with them before in cold weather and Ben has gotten in to ski, so I wasn't surprised when he said that he wanted to go wake-boarding. We were all fully dressed and I wondered if maybe he would go out in his G's, but Steve had the great idea of just putting on a wet suit and going. I can't believe he got in because I was fully dressed with two jackets and a blanket and was still cold.

Luckily everything worked out and we got the boat on the trailer just as it started to rain. We really did luck out with the weather and had a fun day playing and catching up with friends. Thanks Johnsons.

We got home Saturday night and Steve flew to Florida on Sunday. He worked that week and then drove up to Georgia to see Heather and Kevin and the girls and then to Orlando on Monday to meet with another county about some work. I wasn't looking forward to being by myself over the weekend so Thursday after scout camp I headed up to the cabin by myself. The first night I slept from 8:30 to 7:00 in the morning. It felt so good to finally sleep. I love sleeping at the cabin. Friday I spent the day in the yard trying to get it caught up, Saturday just hung around doing odd jobs and that night Taryn came up. We watched a movie and then waited for her friend Kevin to make it up. He had called and got directions about 8:00 so we expected him around 10:30. He had never been there and we were worried that he was lost somewhere. Finally about 11:30 he made it.


The next morning we ran down to church and then took a four- wheeler ride up the loop. Since they saw a bear over on that mountain I was a little nervous. I think we were one of the first ones on the trail because we ran into alot of trees that had fallen over.

Just after the fenced in pasture we ran into this tree that had fallen over. We thought we could easily move it since it wasn't so big but it was a tall tree and we could not budge it. Taryn and Kevin decided to go around it and down the trail, but I choose to turn around so I could slowly drive home and look at things. I think Taryn takes after my sister Jodi and just punches it on the four-wheeler and they had to keep pulling over to wait for me. I had a nice drive back, but did get a little nervous when I was going down the hill. Lucky for me the bear was not in sight. I have a theory that if you bring along a camera then you won't see animals like bear or moose, so I think I will be packing one with me everywhere up there. It was a fun weekend and I enjoyed having some time with Taryn.

Memorial Weekend

We really had a great time up at the cabin over Memorial Weekend. Me and Steve went up Friday and then Taryn, Greg, Lauren, Alex and Taylor came out on Saturday. The weather was still crazy and on Saturday we spent alot of time outside with our jackets on. We finally got out the Boce balls. That was a fun game and I even won a few rounds. It's great because it only takes a few minutes to play a game.

Poor Lauren has been working two jobs and planning a wedding. She was so tired she even fell asleep twice outside on the deck.
We thought we would go for a hike up the canyon and these guys all thought it would be funny to put on the masks. Sometimes I would have to remind myself that all three of these boys served a mission, they still acted so crazy.

We found this spot and had everyone pose for pictures.

Poor Alex had nobody to pose with.
Taryn was nice enough to let Taylor pose with her.

Such a cute picture.

We went to Sacrement meeting down in Tabionia and were really hoping to find some cute girlfriends for Alex and Taylor but we arrived a minute before it started and had to sit in the way back so we had no luck. We told them that we would stay for the other meetings so they could find them one, but they passed. When we got home the sun was out so we grabbed some blankets and laid out on the deck. It felt so good to be warm.
That afternoon the most exciting thing happened to the boys. All weekend long they were talking about seeing a bear. We have seen bear tracks up there but have never spotted one. So they climbed into the ranger and Steve took them up on the mountain were we saw a cub track last year. The whole way up they started every sentence with bear. Finally Greg got so tired of it that he asked if they had to mention bear in every thing they said. They got to the top of the mountain and parked the ranger and walked over to the edge of the cliff. It's a deep canyon with a tiny stream at the bottom. Greg, Steve and Taylor were all looking around when Alex came over and immediately said "There's a big animal, it's a bear" and pointed to the bottom of the canyon. They all looked and there was a bear. Instead of being quiet so they could observe him they were all screaming and high fiving each other and the bear took off and climbed straight up the other side of the canyon. Steve said he would climb and then look over at them. He said he made it up the other side in less then a minute. Pretty scary that they can go that fast. Off course they didn't have the camera or even their cell phones to take a picture. So all in all it was a great weekend. The kids are all great kids and fun to be around. I think we have learned one lesson and that is in order to see neat things you have to leave the camera behind.