THIS IS OUR STORY: July 2015

The boys headed to High Adventure camp on June 29th and returned July 3rd. I was excited for them to share this experience together one last time before Colt would head off on his next big adventure. Colt was nice enough to capture the trip with a few photos ~

They started the high adventure off with a hike to Ben Lomond Peak. It was a LONG HOT hike but well worth the view.

Great Photo of G ~

There really are mountain goats above our city

Camp

Canoeing:

Thank you to the leaders who give of their time for my boys.

Thursday, July 9th ~ a day that we as a family had been waiting two years for! Elder Wes returned home. Tom and I both worked for a 1/2 day (I knew I needed to keep my mind busy) Per Elder Wes' request there was not large crowd just us immediate family and of course our 4th boy, Ster. I was a moment that I will never forget. The waiting for him to ride down the escalator was painful. My first glimpse of him was beyond words. I let out a scream of some sort and caused the poor lady next to me to pee her pants just a little. OOPS! He is HOME!

July 11, 2015 ~ on this day Colton took out his endowments in the Ogden Temple. I was thrilled that he chose to wait until his brother was home. Thank you to Kristen, Grandpa and Grandma (on Darbie's side), Blair and Amy Christensen and Debbie Winterbottom for coming with our family on this special day. I loved being able to sit in the temple with my family. It is truly a place of comfort and peace for me.

July 12, 2015 ~
Wes spoke in sacrament and gave his homecoming talk. It was a fabulous meeting. The primary sang his favorite primary song "I Love to See the Temple" his speaking companion was our ward mission leader, Brother Ryan Bell. The entire meeting was fantastic. After Wes greeted friends and family at our house were we served a variety of breakfast foods. It was a terrific Sunday morning. Thank you to everyone who came out to support Wes and our family. It means the world to all of us.

July 15 ~ 18, 2015 ~
The two younger boys took off to enjoy youth conference. The group stayed up at Bear Lake. As always the stories that come home with the youth are memories that will last a lifetime. One afternoon a storm rolled in and the youth along with their leaders had to literally hold the boats on the Lake. What a memory and an experience that brought the youth and all their leaders together.

July 20, 2015 ~
Day one of our family vacation! The planning of this vacation was one of contention for all of us. I wanted so bad to just jump in the car and go. No reservations, no iterary ~ just go with it. We have NEVER vacationed like this before so it was a bit out of the comfort zone for the Leatherow men but they gave in and just let me have my way. We finally got on the road about 6:00 AM and headed to Island Park, ID.

LOVED having ALL my guys in my photo

G found a "peep" hole in the bridge

Next we headed into West Yellowstone, MT. We knew our chances for a room in this little busy city were long but we walked around a bit just to see. No luck ~ so we headed into Yellowstone Park!
BEAUTY all around!

After several hours in the truck we headed into Cooke City, MT. We found a room and then walked around and decided to eat some dinner a small diner. It was a great day!

July 21st ~
After we all rested for the evening we headed back into Yellowstone for the day. Once again we saw some amazing sights and simply enjoyed eachother. We talked about everything and everything ~ EXACTLY what I was hoping for.

While stopped at Mammoth Hot Springs we of course enjoyed our ice cream cone and it was during this stop that we had cell service. and Wes' phone rang and it was Aaron Chapman, who interviewed him at Edge Products ~ he got the job! Congrats Wes!
The only elk we saw on this trip was in the town of Mammoth

Tom made a phone call to his friend Thom Mushrush who lives in Livingston, MT and we headed that way. We found us a room at the Yellowstone Pioneer Lodge. It was nice hotel. The pool was indoor and all the rooms were around it. (Those red doors on the 2nd floor were the rooms)

After we dropped our bags off in the room we headed out to find some dinner. We ended up at a fantastic drive thru ~

It was during out stop in Livingston that we all got our first glimpse at some white tail deer ~ the boys were buzzing with excitement

We were able to stop and visit with Thom for a bit ~ we all fell in love with his place. He lives down a long dirt road with nothing but fields around him and LOTS of deer visit his yard. Hopefully we can visit him again.

After another nights sleep we decided to visit Virginia City, MT. This is an old mining town that was once a very happening place. We walked the street and marveled at the simplicity of life.

Of course while on vacation you must pose for some awesome pics ~

During on of many conversations Jackson Hole, WY was brought up ~ the boys don't remember visiting so we decided to head that way for dinner and possibly find a room to stay the night. We drove for a long time and there was lots of traffic but never fear we finally made it.

We found a pizzera on main street and decided to give it a try ~

After dinner we decided we would drive a out of Jackson and into Idaho and find a room ~ but no luck. Can you believe that the closer we got to home the more Tom and I decided to drive thru the night and sleep in our own beds. We stopped a Maverick, rented a movie at RedBox (Mall Cop 2), the boys enjoyed the movie and Tom and I watched the road for the many many deer. It was crazy how many deer ran across the road in front of us. We arrived home early in the AM.
I consider this vacation a success! There was so much conversation, so much laughter, so much togetherness and that is exactly what I was hoping for. Thank you to my guys for giving in and just rolling with it! I love them all so much!

On July 24th ~ we all gathered on about 28th and Washington Blvd to watch the parade. G was walking in it with his teammates promoting BLHS football

July 25th ~ Hadlee invited Darbie over for dinenr so Josh and Jenn invited the rest of the family as well. Hadlee simply adores Ms Darbie, it is too cute. Josh and Jenn never go half way on anything and dinner was simply amazing. They served us Greek Kabobs, salad and a yummy dessert.