Ulan Seminar in Clearwater, Florida

Jon and I had the opportunity to attend a seminar in Clearwater, Florida. Bless my Mom's heart for coming and staying with our children so we could have a trip all by ourselves :) Grandma's are the best!!! After a long flight to Alaska just two weeks before this, with the kids, we THOUROUGHLY enjoyed a flight all by ourselves!! We left Thursday afternoon and arrived in Florida at 12:30am. We attended a Patient Management Seminar all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and our flight left Sunday right after the seminar. We didn't have much time to play, but thankfully our lunch breaks were an hour and half so Friday and Saturday we spent lunch at the beach. The water was amazingly warm and so much fun to swim in! We absolutely LOVED the beach and look forward to being able to spend more time there in the future.

We didn't specially request a convertable. I guess in Florida most vehicles come this way. It sure was fun to drive around!


This is Jon way out in the ocean. It was actually the gulf of Mexico.

Pretty obvious by the white skin that we're not natives :)

ALASKA

What a great blessing it was to be able to visit Alaska this summer. Jon loves Alaska and would live there through the summers if life were just about playing:) I love Alaska also, but just as a place to visit. The Peterson family is our absolute favorite thing about Alaska! They are a an amazing family and we're grateful to have them as friends. You'll rarely meet a more genuinely kind, loving, and very giving family. This is a picture of the family after a day of fishing on the little Su. The weather was beautiful and we caught some big kings.

Isn't Alaska beautiful??? This was on the way back to Anchorage from Seward at the turn off to Kenai. Jon and Matt spent a day (my birthday) fishing near Kenai while Rebecca and I took the kids to the Marine Life Center in Seward.

This is the Russian river where Jon and Matt were fishing for Reds. Unfortunately, it was a little early in the season and they didn't have any luck.
Matt letting everyone know how many fish they caught.


Yes, this is a wild moose.


Jon playing fishing guide and remembering the good ol' days so many moons ago...


A mighty King


Lydia at the Island with Howard. I'm extremely sad I didn't take pictures of the Peterson's AMAZING Island they have built. It is phenomenal! They have a main Lodge and 4 smaller cabins. All built by Howard and a friend or two. They managed to put in a shower and running water and use a generator for power. All it's missing is a flush toilet.


Lydia on the dock at the Island.


This is Hyrum, Gloria and Ema getting ready to go out fishing on the lake. Hyrum's favorite part of Alaska was fishing at the Island for trout. (The kings were a little big for him to bring in). In fact, interesting story-- Hyrum was SOOO excited to go to Alaska. Unfortunately, we had kind of a crazy day getting there with long flights and not getting to Alaska until 2am Idaho time. When Hyrum awoke the moring he was really sick with a headache that turned into nausea and throwing up. I felt horrible for him. Everyone was anxious to get out to the Island but I knew we couldn't drive with Hyrum like that. Later in the afternoon he was stable enough to lay him down in the back of the truck. He was pretty sick the whole drive. Then we get in the boat to drive out to the Island and Gloria hands Hyrum a pole so he can troll along the way. Hyrum is still sick and definitely not feeling well. Moments later he catches a fish and INSTANTLY all his sickness went away! It was awesome and such a blessing for a sweet little boy that wanted to enjoy his trip to Alaska:)
Lydia fell ill a few days later, but thankfully her illness only lasted about 12 hours also. We felt very blessed.





Matt is exactly one day and one year older than I am so we celebrated our birthdays together with a yummie ice cream cake :)

Hyrum helped bring in the 1st king

Gloria Peterson


This bear came down across the river from Jon and Matt while they were fishing

Alaska Caribou

Robbed!!!

Laura, our employee called this morning to inform us that our office had been broken into over the weekend. Many things were taken including our two computers, TV, DVD player, printer, eyelights, therapy sunglasses, drill, vacuum, and LOTS of nutrition. We feel completely violated, but will do our best to move on. We'll also get a renter's insurance policy soon. Fortunately, they did not take Jon's laser or any of his adjusting equipment. We feel extremely grateful for that. I had worked the Friday afternoon previous to this and during that time the computer had froze up on me a couple times. I complained to Jon that that computer had to go soon. Sure enough it's gone! I guess that's what I get for complaining. This will mean a time for change and updating in our office software and billing software. Another blessing was that I had sent claims the Friday before which I hadn't planned on doing, but I felt inclined to do so. What a blessing that was. Channel 7 news came out and interviewed Jon and Laura and it was the 1st story on the 5 and 6 o'clock news. Not exactly what we want to be on the news for:)

Meacham Reunion

Linda hosted an extended family reunion for all of Alexander Arthur Doak's decendants. We were the only children of David and Linda's that were there, but she had a pretty good turn out of extended family that I had never met before. Linda loves to plan and host family events and is very good at it. We floated the river one afternoon and barely made it out before a big storm moved in. Jon built some horseshoe pits and all the men enjoyed that. We also spent some time riding horses which Hyrum and Lydia loved. It's always a lot of fun when family gets together!

Grandma Pearl and her sister-in-law (Patty Patton's Mom)

Trip to Washington

We made a quick trip to Washington for the weekend to attend a Standard Process Seminar that was being held in Richland. My Mom attended the one day seminar with us while Grandpa Fred watched Lydia. Bless his heart for caring for Lydia all day:) Lydia sure loves her Grandpa! It was Layken's birthday while we were there so we were able to see everyone at the party and enjoy yummie BBQ food.

Weiser party

A bunch of Weiserites got together in Middleton for an afternoon of fun. We played the golfball game, ate snacks, visited, and the kids enjoyed an amazing waterslide. By far the best homemade one I've ever seen. I believe they said it was 250 ft long. Hyrum loved it and had a great time playing. Jon sure enjoys being around old friends from Weiser. Of all the places he's lived Weiser feels most like home to him.

Memorial Day weekend-Phillips Reservoir

For Memorial Day we went to Union Creek Campground on Phillips Reservoir with my family. We had a great time hanging out with family, playing games, riding bikes, going for walks around the reservoir, roasting marshmallows and shopping at the Flea Market in Sumpter. We also celebrated Grandma Shauna's 57th Birthday (21st) and Aunt Julie's 25th Birthday (25th).



Uncle Brandon and Aunt Julie

Uncle Dustin with his twins, Emma and Kira.

Some of the cousins at the Flea Market. From left to right: Savannah, Jackson, Joshua, Jessica and Hyrum

Jon and Hyrum bought several little kits to make wooden cars and boats.

Lydia really liked these rocking horses and played on them for quite awhile while we were looking at the neat wood furniture they had there. Many people commented on how cute she looked on it and how that was a great way to sell those rocking horses.

Grandma Shauna and Lydia in front of the Gold Dredge in Sumpter.

My Dad and I.


Hyrum and I at the front of the dredge.

On Sunday we went to church in Baker City and then went out to the Oregon Trail Interperative Center. It was really neat out there with lots to see and samples of yummie dutch oven trail food :) Jon and I took Lydia on a trail that led to the actual wagon ruts of the Oregon Trail. This covered wagon marks the spot.





This was part of the dress up in the children's room