SheilaO

Brionna girl of many talents

2011-03-12T11:10:00.000-08:00

The other day I had to snicker when Brionna left for school. She is just starting her last trimester at high school, and she has loaded up on classes she wanted to enjoy taking her last few months. They are as follows: Jazz Band before school which includes a clarinet and a Saxophone. Regular band class and there she uses her clarinet and occasionally a bass clarinet. Guitar II ,although she never took Guitar I. She is just hoping she will be able to pick it up by going through the book at home. Don't know how that's going cause I haven't heard her practice it yet. She then had an empty slot in her schedule and decided to fill it with Orchestra. Not sure I have ever seen her pick up a violin to play but a friend is helping her learn the basics. She declared the other night that she can now play a scale. Oh yeah one of the other classes she has is photography. So why am I telling you all this and why am I snickering?
Because this is what she ended up taking to school.

It took 3 trips to the car, and that didn't include her backpack. I always know when she's coming in or out through the door. There's a lot of banging going on.

I'm including a picture of Brionna last Monday. She played with her school jazz small group to help raise money for the Youth Symphony here. If you will notice that silver clarinet is the same clarinet that Mom Dickey used back in high school. It actually has a pretty good sound after she had it repaired and oh how it shines!

She loves her passion!

2010-12-26T09:31:00.000-08:00

Island Park is where we spent Christmas Eve day. Skiing the trails in Box Canyon. Probably the best day to go as there were snowmobiles buzzing everywhere. It was very peaceful and just about everywhere you looked was untouched snow. I really tried to stay on on my feet the whole time but that last hill overtook me. Not because I lost my balance but because my ski got sticky on the bottom and I just about did a face plant. I really hate that! Great day!

2010-11-07T09:26:00.000-08:00

This poor chair was rescued from Mom's garage just about ready to go in the garbage trailer. It had so many memories that I just couldn't let it happen. (Plus I inherited that saving gene from her that prevents me from throwing things away.) I took it home and through a little elbow grease renewed it! Sorry I just couldn't save the attractive farm scenery upholstry. I almost saved it to make a pillow though!

2010-05-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Stephanie entered a 10 mile race to help her get ready for the San Diego Marathon being held in June. This race takes place in Menan Idaho where there are two dormant Volcano cones. The starting line is down at the bottom of the Butte and rises 5-600 ft in altitude in a very short time. The butte is pictured on the upper right . Once you get to the top you cross directly across it then turn to the right and go around the outer edge until you get back to the place you first crossed. You again go directly across it and then turn to the left and go along the other outer edge. You come to the intersection where you came up the mountain and you head back to the finish line. That is where the 6 mile course ends, so if you are running the 10 mile you run out into the desert for two more miles then turn around at that point and run for the finish line. Sounds easy right. She did pretty good. She didnt come in last, there were two behind her. She put in a time of 1:35:29. It probably would have taken me 4 hours!

The little artist

2010-02-22T19:57:00.000-08:00

Here's my little artist at work again. Brionna's art teacher entered her picture again this year in an art contest. She didn't ribbon but I love her entry. Later this month it will be sent to University of Idaho in Moscow for another exhibition. It runs concurrently with the University of Idaho Jazz Festival. Her picture should fit right in.

2010-02-02T07:13:00.000-08:00

We got out this past weekend for some much needed excersize. Just north of Rexburg there is a turn off highway 20 to Bear Gulch. There was once a pretty good size ski resort there but now is long gone. They close the road to traffic in the winter there so it is open to cross country skiiers and snowmobilers. The trail winds up the mountain 2 miles where you come to Lower Mesa Falls. Then head up the mountain a little farther about 2.5 more miles and you come to Upper Mesa Falls. We have stopped there many times in the summer but not in the winter. It was just a perfect day for skiing. Not to warm not to cold. We ate lunch sitting in the warm sun enjoying the view and headed back. I only took a dump 3 times this time for the trail got a little icy and slick near the end. I was pretty happy to see the car at the end of the day. It was a great trip!

2009-10-29T20:38:00.000-07:00

We are very sad this week after having to cut down our lovely Birch tree. It gave us many cool evenings on hot days and fun climbing branches for the kids to climb on when they were young. The drought the last two years took its toll on it and it began to die last year. We were a little concerned about it this summer when some of the branches started cracking off when the wind would blow. (believe me the wind blows quite often here. It definetely is going to get some getting used to without it here but we will soon replant a new tree there.

Coeur d' Alene bicycle adventure

2009-09-17T19:21:00.000-07:00

We returned from an amazing vacation September 5. We spent a whole week in Northern Idaho along 70 miles of paved bicycle trail on an old railroad bed. It begins in Mullen Idaho and runs down along the Coeur d’ Alene’s and ends at Plummer Idaho. Because it runs on the old railroad bed it is pretty much non-hilly except for the last mile or so. We started our adventure on the Hiawatha Trail which is a separate 13 mile trail which is not paved but still on an railroad bed which winds through the mountains and through several tunnels, one of which is a mile and a quarter long. It is in this tunnel where you cross the state line from Montana to Idaho. They met in the middle at the state line so you actually stand in two states in the middle of the tunnel. There are several trestle bridges you cross and at the end of the 13 mile descent you have the choice of loading your bike on a shuttle bus and taking it back or taking your bike back up. We chose the bus and it was worth the eighteen bucks we had to shell out.

One evening we had a little time after riding the trail and checked out Wallace Cemetery. It was up the canyon road about a mile and up on a hill. I had never seen a cemetery quite like it. It had very old headstones that were from the mid 1800’s. It is still being used so it was really interesting to see all the different dates and headstones. We were there at dusk and we got a little spooked later on when it got really dark. Tony thought he heard something in the trees so we opted to leave. Next time we’ll go during daylight.

We stopped at a women’s garden in her backyard. Apparently she works in her garden quite often and she gives her seeds away and if you see her there she will come and talk to you and put your name and city on a bright colored ball and hang it on the fence. We weren’t lucky enough to get to see her. We stopped at Cataldo and took a tour in the oldest standing building in Idaho. It has been renovated in 1974 but they said that there is still 80 percent of the original material still standing. It was a pretty amazing place to see.

We spent a day in Coeur d’ Alene but the wind was blowing so hard that day it was kind of hard to get around. They had burning some fields so the whole valley was filled with smoke. The next day the smoke cleared out and the wind died down and finished the last section of the trail. It was on this day we had a baby bear run 5 feet in front of us and into the bushes. We were both so startled and it happened so fast that neither one of us had time to pull out camera to snap a picture. We were both terrified the Mom was going to come charging out of the bushes and attack us, but we never did see her.

All in all we logged 157 miles in 6 days and we really want to go back and do it again. Anyone want to join us next year?

Here is some of the Wildlife we encountered (minus "The Bear")

Oxford Peak, Willow Flats & Bloomington Lake

2009-08-26T20:24:00.000-07:00

We have been taking a few weekend hiking trips the last few weekends. Every drive down to Cache Valley we go through the valley where McCammon is and straight ahead is a mountain peak that has always caught our interest. Last year we investigated what it was and found out that the mountain peak is Oxford peak. I couldn't do any hiking last year cause of my foot surgery so we had to wait until this year to attempt it. It took us twice to get to the top because the trail from Oxford isn't well marked so we spent much of our time figuring out just how to get to the top. We got half way there the first week and the second attempt we got to the top where we were greeted by an awsome view. On our trip down from the peak we realized there were much better trails to follow and next time it won't be such a tough hike. (I think Stephanie probably won't want to go hiking with us again!).

Our second adventure was at Willow Flats this past weekend. We took Brionna and her friend and while they stayed at camp Saturday we hiked up and over the mountain to Bloomington Lake. It was a beautiful but a pretty aggressive climb. It was well into the 80's so we cooked up a sweat but I cooled off a bit in the lake. It was the first time i had seen Bloomington lake with snow on the Northwest corner. There were plenty of young people swinging off the rope on the big tree and some jumping off the cliffs.

Sun Valley

2009-07-21T18:33:00.000-07:00

We had a chance to visit Sun Valley and the surrounding areas in the past two weekends. Brionna signed up for a summer camp at Lake Alturus in Central Idaho so we spent the weekend camping before dropping her off. As you can see we took our bicycles and rode around Ketchum. We also stopped at a few Ghost towns and just enjoyed the view. It was a beautiful weekend and we had so much fun.

River Run

2009-06-20T12:48:00.000-07:00

Stephanie got really ambitious this morning and entered into the Scenic River Run. She recently has run just the 5K in other races and decided to go out on a limb and go for the 10 K. Crazy girl! You can see as she finishes her run she clocks in at 58:02. She did fantastic!

Stokes Nature Trail

2009-06-16T19:34:00.000-07:00

Shortly before leaving Cache Valley Tony and I took a ride up Logan Canyon on the Stokes Nature trail Saturday afternoon. We enjoyed a rather dry ride up the trail with some sun and warmth. On returning to the vehicle it started to sprinkle some and by the time we headed out of the valley it was a downpour. So glad we didn't see the storm coming or we would have probably changed our mind and just headed for home. These are some of the sites we saw along the way.

Strange happenings!

2009-06-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

Oh, the strange happenings here in Idaho Falls! This road leads up to my neighborhood and the other day this is what I found along the road. Do you happen to see anything that looks a bit strange? Look closely at the semi truck up at the front. It seems to have lost its back wheels. The truck looked to me that it was overloaded with too many potatoes! Something broke and the back end just ripped away. It took them about 2 1/2 hours to clean up the mess and tow it away. Needless to say it slowed traffic to one lane and was backed up for miles!

My new Ride

2009-05-31T14:53:00.000-07:00

This year for my B-day I picked out a new bike. As of yet I'm accident free! (Knock on wood!) I really like the new ride. The ride to work is 4 miles so its just the right distance everyday and back without making me too tired but yet enough to get my aging body some exercise. (Wow notice all that grey hair coming in!) Robert says it looks like a 70's stationwagon, you know the one with the wooden side panels. I say I like the way it looks and I loved the 70's!

2009-05-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed the Memorial Day weekend in the Challis Salmon area. It was such a beautiful weekend. We took a bicycle ride 4 miles into Salmon and explored the town a bit since I had never stopped there before. We explored a couple of Ghost towns and cemetaries. The picture on the upper right is an old dredge used to dig for gold on 6 1/2 miles of a stream up a canyon. It was pretty amazing seeing it sitting there in the middle of a canyon. There were 3 tour guides giving the tour and when the 3rd guide walked up to us I could have sworn the we had found Dave's long lost twin brother. He even wore the same floppy hat. The lower left is an old Dam they dismanteled on the Salmon River. They blasted out the hill on the side of the dam instead of taking down the dam. We escaped the rain for the whole weekend except when it rained in the middle of the night. What a fun trip!

New member of the family

2009-04-22T17:57:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend we added a new family member to our household. We were always terrified to camp in Yellowstone and the Tetons because we were in bear country and we were afraid the bears would just tear through our tent trailer so we got walls that were a little more sturdy. Of course it only fits 3 people comfortably so we are holding onto that tent trailer in case our kids decide they might want to go camping with us. Can't wait to get decent weather in the mountains to start using it!

2009-04-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

We had a very enjoyable weekend taking a 20 mile bicycle ride to Shelley Idaho. If we take the back roads then the traffic isn't so bad. I took the camera but fogot to take it out to take pictures! We like going South early in the day when the wind is not so strong so in the afternoon when it picks up and head back toward the north is pushes us home. The sun was out the temperatures pleasant and just a perfect day to go biking!

2009-02-27T08:52:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite pictures of Mom. It was taken in 1961 Jennie Lake in the Tetons. The baby is me and Carol is in the background. I don't know how mom kept track of all of us.

2009-02-07T19:18:00.000-08:00

Stephanie came home for a visit and we took some pictures of her so she could send them to a friend. Isn't she lovely?

Thanksgiving is for giving Thanks!

2008-11-25T19:41:00.001-08:00

10. Chocolate!
9. Warm house.
8. Soft Pillow
7. Enough to eat
6. Passion for creating things
5. A vehicle that gets me to where I'm going safely.
4. Laughter
3. Healthy body
2. One Son, Two Daughters
1. My loving Husband!

Fun times at Mackey, Idaho

2008-08-31T13:55:00.000-07:00

We spent the weekend here in our home state of Idaho. It took us about 2 hours to travel to Mackey Resesrvoir where we set up our tent trailer. Seeing that I couldn't hike very well we planned on doing a lot of site seeing in the car. The city of Mackey offers a mine tour by vehicle so we headed to the hills just behind it. We found the tour so interesting and one of the pictures shows the old buildings that would transfer the copper and ore down the mountain. One the drive back to camp I noticed on the map Dickey Idaho and we were only about 5 miles from it! Of course we had to go to it. Turns out there are only about 2 houses left there but we did find a shed with the name Dickey on it. Note the picture. The mountains in the distance are of Dickey Peak and another picture of Mt Borah (the tallest peak in Idaho) and Dickey Peak beside it. The town is also in the distance but you can't see the two houses in it.

2008-08-20T20:20:00.000-07:00

How can the summer go by so fast? I looked so forward to it way back in January when it was 10 degrees and now here it is getting cooler again! July 7th I participated in a pain study down in Salt Lake and had a bunion removed that I had had since childhood. I can't say that it was all that painfull but not being able to get around on my own and rely on other people to do things for me was hard. I have always prided in the fact that I could always do things for myself so when it came to having to ask people to do things for me was really something I was not comfortable with. I did learn that sometime you have to and I am grateful there are these people here in my life to help me when I need it. Last weekend we were finally able to get out and do a little camping and I was able to hike even. Janet and Blake were kind enough to share their campsite at Willow Flats and took such good care of us. If you ever want some good dutch oven potatoes I know where you can find them. Their sons Josh and Jonathon entertained also and was so glad to spend some time with them! So glad I haven't let the whole summer pass me by.

Beautiful Southern Utah

2008-07-17T08:40:00.000-07:00

We vacationed to Kansas this summer. Starting out in Southern Utah we spent 3 days discovering Canyonlands. Temperatures were perfect not a rain cloud in sight. When you explore a slot canyon that's the last place you want to see rain. We sloshed through knee deep water in some spots. Just enough to cool our feet down. Wow, what nature can create!