Pioneer Day in Heber

This year we were able to join Trav's family celebration in Heber for Pioneer Day. The Christensen family have some really fun family traditions. Every year all the tractors in Grandpa Christensen's antique collection get started up. Each of the tractors is then lined up along the ditch bank for the whole community to see. They have a big spread of food for everyone and desserts too. The Christensen's made sure we felt at home and Chad gave little Ryan the ride of his life on the rope swing. We spent the night there and early the next morning we went out to Trav's fly fishing river. On our way back home we stopped in Francis to see Great Grandma Lemons old house and where Josh's mom grew up.

Jackson Hole

It has been a long standing tradition to go to the Signal Mtn Campground near Jackson Hole with Grandma and Gene. We have been out of state for the past few summers and have only been able to go on the family outing once while we have been married. We were so excited to be able to join the family this year. We had a good time recounting memories from past trips to this beautiful area.

We always try to mix in a few Jackson Hole favorites into the trip. Some of these include: swimming at String Lake, a trip to Yellowstone, hiking, grandma's super breakfast, ranger talks at the campground, and a trip to Jackson Hole for pizza at Mountain High Pizza Pie.






This year our Yellowstone day trip was a real highlight. We saw a total of eight bear (four cubs), many many elk and bison, and a few gysers too. Trav brought his spotting scope so we could all catch a closer glimpse of the wildlife. We looked for wolves but never found them. I suppose we had to save something for next time.

We are so thankful for Grandma and Gene Summers. They are amazing! They set up camp with the trailer before anyone arrived, cooked for an army, and went with us on a hike to Hidden Falls at the foot of the Tetons! We are so grateful for Grandparents!

Bastian Family vacation

Since the whole family made it to Glendale, AZ for Josh's Graduation, we thought why stop there? So we headed for San Diego, and the coast, to make a family vacation of it! Katie Jan and Spencer had never seen the ocean before so we made seeing the beach our top priority! We stopped and played at Coronado, La Jolla and Mission Bay Beachs. Everyone spent lots of time in the water and had a great time. The water was a bit cold for me, but really what natural nature water isn't?

Seaworld of course never disappoints! We saw lots of shows and sea creatures. Some of our favorites were the dolphins, shamu and the sea lion & otter show!



Some of our other stops included the grounds of the San Diego Temple, awesome homemade date shakes at an equally awesome rest stop in Dateland, AZ on I-8( if you get the chance, be sure and stop). We got some good information from a gas station attendant in CA regarding the US/ Mexico border: "You can stop at the border fence and you will probably encounter border patrol, but you shouldn't have a problem... as long as there isn't a problem." We did make our way to the giant fence and met several border patrol agents, and had no problems.
We figure we drove over 2,000 miles in 5 days so we saw lots of sights and made lots of memories. We missed not having mom along as she had to fly back to Utah, but we kept her in the loop with plenty pictures and txt messages!

We have a Dr. in the family!

After many years of hard work, Josh got his Doctorate of Pharmacy from Midwestern University, Glendale. I couldn't be more proud of him!!