Island Park, Badger Creek Reunion and a tiny cabin in driggs

on friday july 11th, my oldest, and 'bestest' friend in the whole world Sarah Cotton Ripperdan came to see me. she flew all the way out here from KY with her 3 month old little girl, Nicole. it was so fun to see her again and to meet sweet nicole or N-cole as Parker called her. that same day we drove up to island park, idaho, to have a little vacation with dillon's family. it was lots of fun. we made some great memories and will never forget the wild and rosey place we stayed in ;)

then the next day dillon, the boys, sarah and nicole and i drove down to tetonia, idaho to be at the badger creek reunion. it was awesome. we spent over an hour just in the parking lot talking to everyone that was either coming or going. we finally got our name tags, signed the waivers (of course) and headed out to the ropes courses. we could barely walk 5 minutes without seeing someone we knew and loved and talking for at least another 15 minutes or so. it was just awesome to be there again. that place is sacred ground to me.

we visited with everyone for most of the afternoon and then went to the upper pavilion to eat a tasty meal. the last 10 years of badger staff met at the upper and the years before 1998 met at the lower pavilion. after the meal we met at the lower pavilion and had a great campfire program. brother jex, johnny and the man who actually started badger creek (i forgot his name) did the itsy-bitsy spider. it was the best! Nini and her little indian tribe of 4 kids did the "Ya-poo-cha" skit and even "Harold" pronouced "ha-wold" was done by the original author of the story. pretty cool.

anyway, it was a great campfire program and it ended with a slide show of pictures with music of the years that brother jex worked at badger creek. he retired this summer and is going to serve a mission with his wife in the Phillipines Temple in October. I didn't get to see more than the first minute of the slide show because dillon and i were wrestling the boys to be quiet and not run out on the stage. it was nuts. anyway, it was great to be back at badger creek and even better to be there with sarah. thank you, sarah, for coming all the way out here with nicole and spending time with us. it was priceless to me.

that night after badger creek, we drove to driggs where my parents, josh, emily, kyle and the two brown sap-suckers (their dogs) were waiting. we slept in the tiniest little cabin you've ever seen that was supposed to sleep 6. let's just say we're glad that julie had her baby so that didn't add 4 more into the cabin. dillon and josh slept in a tent outside, emily and kyle slept in their subaru, mom and dad slept on the top bunk, i slept with the boys in the bottom bunk and sarah and nicole slept in the futon. it was so hilarious. mom almost wet her pants when she opened the door to the cabin and saw how small it was. anyway, it was quite a memory. the next day we celebrated mom and dad's 30th wedding anniversary. i'm sure they would have loved a hotel room by themselves replete with sparkling cider, quiet moments to ponder the last 30 years of marriage and an air conditioner would have been nice too....but they got the top bunk, a fan that didn't even reach to the top bunk and the pleasure of being in the same room as me and sarah and our kids. they are troopers. dad said next time, he's picking out the hotel. after church in driggs we went on a little "sabbath" hike up in the Tetons. beautiful country. then we said our goodbyes and we headed south, and everyone else headed north. it was a crazy and very memorable weekend.






























still crazy after all these years! Happy 30th Wedding Anniversary Mom and Dad! We love you!