River Trip

For the last weekend in July we floated on Green River just below Flaming Gorge. We camped at Red Fleet Reservoir the night before and then spent two hours on the river.

At Red Fleet Reservoir we were able to go swimming, there were even some good rocks to jump or dive off of. There is also a dock and a boat launch. It was a real nice place to go camping.

Kimberly and Darin were pretty good at catching some of the reptiles we found. They caught a frog the first night and a lizard the next day. Here’s Kimberly holding the frog. 

We ended up forgetting a few things like a cutting board, a can opener, and a cheese grater. But we got by and dinner was delicious.

Here’s Mom cutting pieces of cheese since we forgot the grater.

The fire pit was surrounded by green grass so we could lay  down right beside it, at least until it really got going.

Bryan and I went to town to buy firewood and apparently got some treated wood. It crackled like fireworks and threw tons of sparks. It took only a few moments to get going and it burned hot. Then after a while it would die down really quick. Bryan compared it to a sugar high-pretty good comparison.

While I don’t think it made quite as good coals for roasting marshmallow as most firewood, the flames were hot enough to produce really good marshmallows pretty fast.

We rented an 8 man raft to go down the river. To get it to the launch pad we had to put it on top of one of our cars. It dwarfed Mom and Greg’s car but wasn’t so bad on Neil and Kelley’s. The river took us about two hours. We stopped at one spot to jump off a rock but didn’t stay too long because the water was freezing. We also had a war with another boat. I’m pretty sure we won but the other boat put up a pretty good defense, especially the second time we attacked. We also had loads of fun throwing each other into the water and trying to pull people back into the boat. Even without many rapids it was a fun ride.

Hulse Family Reunion

We were able to go to Mountain Home and see my family in mid-July.

Many of the cousins went tubing down the river. The water was very cold since it was all spring run off. six of them even went on a 2 hr tube ride. I didn’t go tubing with them but we also went to the reservoir and swam for a while.

We have a family dinner and breakfast each year as well as play cards, especially canasta.

Bryan and Alan had a sword fight with a plunger though I’m not sure where they got a plunger.

We were glad to spend some time with my family and we love to camp so we enjoyed ourselves immensely.

Birthday Cake

We threw a party for my senior team lead’s birthday and I thought the cake was pretty cool so I wanted to post a picture of it. Cold Stone made the cake and the picture is of Lady Gaga for those of you who know who she is.

The black frosting kind of stains your teeth but it was really good cake.

Fiascos

Bryan and I each had our own dangerous fiasco this summer, thankfully it all turned out ok.

Vegetable slicers have very sharp blades and should not be used without a guard. This is what I learned. I was making dinner and slicing potatoes and carrots. Having a hard time getting the carrots to stay on the guard I would cut them first without the guard and then with it. Unfortunately I cut one too far and took a chunk out of my knuckle on my right middle finger.

I was at the sink before it started to bleed and Bryan walked in from picking something up at the store just as I got to the sink. We rinsed it off and I applied pressure with a paper towel while Bryan finished dinner. Worried about how deep it was, our first call was to the instacare but they had just closed. Then we called a nurse on a 24 hr hotline provided by my insurance. Justin had to talk to her for a bit but she told me to at least talk to a doctor. So our  final call was to Karlee’s brother who just finished medical school. We were able to email him a picture of my finger for him to see how deep it was.

It was really deep but not to the bone and since the nerves and ligaments are on the bottom of your finger there wasn’t really any damage to worry about. Without any skin there to stitch together a doctor could do little more than bandage it for me So we wrapped it in gauze and tape twice, the first time the tape was too tight and turned my finger purple. We also taped a popsicle stick to my finger so I couldn’t bend it and break whatever scab was being created.

The ordeal took almost an hour and a half and I felt faint twice during it. While I still can’t bend it as well as my other fingers it is healing well and I can use it for many things.

I am happy to say I have used the vegetable slicer since that but only with a guard.

Bryan’s story:

These two stainless steel pots used to be the same color.

Bryan put a pot of water on the stove to help loosen the food that was stuck to the pot. After turning the stove on he went out to get the mail. He came back to find the pot engulfed in flames and black smoke filling the house. He immediately turned off the stove and moved the pot and the fire went out pretty quick. I got home from work a couple moment after he came back outside.

We were bewildered as to how the fire had started until Bryan remembered the day before he had moved the grease catcher than had been on the stove and had spilled grease on that element. It only took about a day to get the smoke smell out of our house and with both our efforts the kitchen is clean again.

I am glad we have each other to lean on in times like these and that no lasting damage was done and perhaps some lessons learned.

Summer Fun

We have had lots of little outings that helped make our summer busy and exciting. Here are some pictures from our exploits.

Bryan, Aiden, Karlee, and I walked to a Park a few blocks away. They had a small playground and an open grassy field.

We like to go up Logan Canyon in the evening to roast marshmallows. Justin (who is chopping the firewood) bought jumbo marshmallows and that’s what Bryan is blowing on in the other picture.

We have gone swimming twice this summer with our neighbors. The first time Aiden wasn’t so sure about the water but got used to it and had fun. The second time it took longer for him to have fun but he did and so did the rest of us. They bought a pool noodle which he eventually really enjoyed.

Bryan and Justin jumped off the diving boards and I tried to get a few pictures from the other side of the pools. We also tried to teach Aiden how to jump off the side of the pool, he’ll get it eventually. And we played with the noodle too.