It takes two.

Moving cows down the road is a task that occurs often in Clint's work day.

And while he can do it by himself, it's easier (and safer) if two people work to get the job done.

Morgan spent a few days here earlier this month, and was a huge help to Clint. Sometimes {misplacing a wallet} can be a good thing! :)

Yellowstone!

Fact #1.
I had never been camping - like pitch a tent, sleep outside, have to hike half a mile to a bathroom camping - before.
Now I have.
(Thanks Browning's for letting us hijack your tent!)

Fact #2.
The night we camped in Yellowstone was the same night that a bear attacked and killed another visitor. No worries - we weren't aware of it until after we left the park. The whole 'what you don't know can't hurt you' - right?

Fact #3.
Old Faithful blew just as we were walking in from the parking lot...there couldn't have been more perfect timing!

Fact #4.
Yellowstone is beautiful!
Just see for yourself....

Fact #5.
We saw a buffalo.
But we followed the flyer we were given, and were not gored by it. :)

Utah Copper Mine

After visiting the Great Salt Lake, we headed south to the Utah Copper Mine in Bingham.

If you haven't visited, words and pictures can't describe the enormity of the mine and the machinery that they use to mine the ore. It's something you have to see for yourself!



From a plaque at the visitor's center:

"In 1906, this was a mountain....the beginning of what is now the world's largest open pit mine....today the mine is 3/4 of a mile deep and stretches 2.5 miles from the widest points at the top of the pit....this man-made object can be seen by astronauts from outer space."

AND they produce enough copper annually to fulfill 1/4 of the USA's copper needs.











*It's hard to show the scale of the trucks they use to move the ore from the pit to the processing facility, but you can kind of see by us standing in front of the tires, and then in the first picture, that's a pickup truck driving by one of the ore movers. Those suckers cost $3.5 million a piece, and they have 80 running full shifts every day! That's a lot of pennies!

Salt Lake....and a bit 'o randomness.

Clint & I had our Nebraska wedding reception last weekend, and decided that due to the amount of stuff we needed for it, that it'd be best if one of us drove. Since I had some vacation time at work, I did the driving, and Lindsay came along with me.

Tuesday after work, Lindsay and I met in Hermiston, packed the EQ, and headed out on our roadtrip.

Lindsay liked to note that while Clint & I had our 2nd annual wedding, this was her 2nd annual road trip to Nebraska. Last year she helped us move, and drove one of the pickup's and a trailer out to Nebraska with Clint. So that was her 1st annual trip, with Clint - and this year was her 2nd annual trip, with me. She thought maybe next year during the 3rd annual roadtrip, all three of us could go together at the same time. :)

Our first stop on our trip was at the Small Bed & Breakfast, also known as Wade & Cara's house, in American Falls. We got in a little late Tuesday night (2 am) to see them, but got to visit and see sweet little Paisley the next morning. (Thanks again Small's for letting us crash at the B&B! I don't know what we're going to do when you move to Nevada....maybe detour???)

After a short visit in the morning, we were back on the road and headed to Salt Lake, Utah.

Side note - Did you know that the rest area's in Utah have amazing views?

Because they do - really!

Then it was on to the Great Salt Lake -






The views were amazing. But just as I'd remembered it, the lake is a bit - well, gross. There's gnats all along the water's edge, and the water is murky and filled with floating "stuff". I don't even know what the "stuff" was, but we braved it and headed in.






The Great Salt Lake was - well, great!

And now for the randomness....

What started out as 'walking back to the camera after Lindsay took a picture of me in front of the lake'.....

Turned into this:










More pictures of the 2nd annual roadtrip to Nebraska to follow!

4th of July

Every year that we've lived in Eastern Oregon,
we've celebrated the 4th in Ukiah with the Jensen & Murdock families.

(Along with a whole host of other families who celebrate there too.)

My sister Lindsay and our friend Jamey
(also Lindsay's roommate) joined us too,
and we just had the best time cruising around in the Rhino.

......

And while there may be a different
way to have a great time on the 4th,

I'm pretty sure in the future....

we'll continue to find ourselves in Ukiah.

Who can beat the scenery, people, and crazy illegal fireworks that the town starts planning for a year in advance?

God Bless America!

And God bless good friends, good food,
and the freedom we have to make our own plans & decisions in this country.