11 August 2024

We spent August 4-August 10 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, enjoying each other's company while exploring one of the most beautiful places on earth.

On Monday we hiked to Taggart Lake. Sofi and Nate brought paddle boards and the lake was the perfect spot to use them.

The view of the mountains was even better from the center of the lake.

The paddle boards were also a comfortable place to relax.

Or even take a nap like Gibson did as Abe paddled around the lake.

Another view of the lake.

After playing in the lake, we continued hiking past Taggart Lake to take the loop trail back to the parking lot.

Here we are hiking back.

Three cheers for everyone who took a turn carrying one of the paddle boards. The hike was about 4 miles long, half of it uphill.

On Tuesday we took a ferry across Jenny Lake.

Our first stop was Hidden Falls.

Here's another photo of the waterfall.

We hiked up to Inspiration Point from Hidden Falls. Here is a chipmunk seeking inspiration.

Helen and Abe were inspired to recreate Michelangelo's famous painting of the Creation of Adam.

From Inspiration Point, we hiked into Cascade Canyon, a beautiful hanging canyon.

Brandan, Becky, Sofi and Gibson went a short way into the canyon while Nate, Abe and Helen hiked longer. 

We met up at Hidden Falls and took the ferry back across Jenny Lake.

If you google "Jackson Hole", one of the top images you will see is this barn with the Tetons in the background. The barn is part of a road of abandoned farms called Mormon Row after the settlers who homesteaded here from the early 1900s until the 1970s. We drove out to Mormon Row on Tuesday to watch the sunset. We were surprised to read on the park signs that this barn was built by T. A. Moulton. Becky's great-great grandmother was named Sarah Moulton. We wondered if the barn had a family connection.

Thanks to Family Search, we soon had an answer. T.A. Moulton was Sarah Moulton's nephew.

On Wednesday we hiked the String Lake Loop,  String Lake connects Jenny Lake with Leigh Lake.

A short spur trail led from the String Lake Loop trail to Leigh Lake.

Nate, Abe, Helen and Gibson swam out to an island in Leigh Lake.

This is a photo of Abe standing on top of the island.

Here is another photo at String Lake. After our hike, we stayed for a few hours to paddle board, read, write and nap. Luckily, we could park near the lake and no one needed to pack a paddle board very far.

On Thursday we hiked to Amphitheater Lake. This was the longest hike we did, 10 miles with 3000 feet elevation gain. The lake was gorgeous, carved out by glaciers and filled with snow melt.

Helen swam in the lake.

The lake is appropriately named. We could hear each other talking (and other hikers who were not in our family) from across the lake.  

We took this photo on the way down. The lake in the foreground is Bradley Lake and the smaller lake in the photo is Taggart Lake, the site of our first hike.

After cleaning up, a few of us drove into Jackson to watch the famous shootout that actors stage every evening near the town square. This is one of the actors involved in the shootout.

We got our photo taken under one of the famous elk antler arches.

A few of us wanted to watch the sun rise on Friday morning. We woke up far too early and drove to Signal Mountain near Jackson Lake. Sadly, the sky was overcast. This brave sage grouse was curious about Nate.

Abe and Helen did some sunrise yoga while we waited for the sun.

This is a photo of the sunrise. It wasn't impressive, but the uncertainty is what makes a beautiful sunrise extra special.

Friday afternoon we drove to Afton, Wyoming to do baptisms at the Star Valley temple. In a short 45 minutes, we were baptized for 53 people, which felt like a pretty good return on our investment of time. 

Our friend, Andrea, was coincidentally at her family cabin in Grover, Wyoming and met us at the temple.

The next few photos show indoor activities of the week. When Abe was born, we created a time capsule for him to open when he was 21 years old. We brought the time capsule along so he could open it while everyone was together.

Becky remembered the basic idea of what was in the time capsule, but forgot some of the treasures, like this sign Sofi made for Abe's baby blessing.

Here's a photo of Sofi with the poster back in 2003.

Brandan put together a fun project for us to work on in the evenings. Our friend and neighbor, Jen, began teaching art classes through a subscription service during the covid pandemic and her art courses have become hugely popular. Brandan brought all of the supplies we would need to follow along with one of her beginning paintings. Here we are watching our first video for the painting which described how to paint the sky.

Throughout the week we watched additional videos and created our own aspen paintings. Sometimes we painted together and sometimes individually, often while watching the Paris Olympics.

We followed the same instructions and our paintings all turned out differently.

We took this photo Saturday morning before we left Jackson Hole. This was a fun project and souvenir for a terrific week together.

Brandan, Becky, Abe and Gibson drove to Pocatello on Saturday morning. Becky's dad had several trees he wanted cut down. He rented a 30 foot dumpster to put the yard debris in.

Here's a photo of the work crew. From the left are Joe, Joe, Gage, Sawyer, Larry, Hayden, Abe and Gibson.

Becky and Brandan were not part of the work crew because they went to the emergency room with Becky's mom. Patricia had been suffering all week, following a fall out of bed. We finally convinced her she needed to be evaluated. The ER performed extensive tests and scans, suspecting a fracture in her hip. Instead they discovered the pain in her hip was due to metastatic bone cancer. Patricia declined further tests or treatment for the cancer, opting for hospice care instead. While we know the eventual outcome of her disease, we don't know what will happen the next few weeks or months. Right now, she is comfortable and well cared for and hopefully our family can work together with hospice to keep her comfortable. The diagnosis was a shock to all of us, but we are comforted by the Lord's timing in her diagnosis and the blessing of being together when Patricia and Larry needed us.