Going to Idaho Falls

We went to Idaho Falls for Sarah Moore's wedding. Sarah is a beautiful young lady whom I have had the pleasure of getting to know. Her mom Lisa and I worked together and gained a wonderful friendship.
When Sarah was a senior in high school I had the opportunity to do her senior pictures. I was such a fun time and she is very photogenic.
So, Rich and I went to her wedding. I actually went to help do her flowers and decorate and take pictures. I love doing flowers for the special people in my life.

 Sarah and Isaac coming out of the temple. Such a beautiful bride.

 Lisa with all the brides maids.

The Moore family

It was a long night on Friday doing flowers and decorating but it was so beautiful. I am so thankful for the opportunity I had of being able to do flowers and being invited to the wedding. I am truly blessed with such wonderful friends in my life. 

On Saturday before the wedding I was able to take a few pictures of the temple and the area around the temple. It gave me the opportunity to do my other love, photography.

They have this beautiful water system that runs by the temple. It is so beautiful

 A view of the temple along the river with the falls.

 The Idaho Falls Temple. The grounds are so beautiful.

Another view from the other side of the river. It was an overcast and windy day. It was a good thing we moved to the Stake Center which was next door to the temple.

Branson MS.

I am thankful for the opportunities we have to travel. Rich flies so much for work that I get to fly for free and usually Danny flies on his points. So, we can travel inexpensively. This particular trip we had our hotels taken care of early which turned out to be a good thing. Things out of our control made for a tight vacation. You just cinch up the belt a little bit but you can still enjoy the trip.
We spent more time just sight seeing more then anything. That works for me because I love doing that. I also get to take more pictures that way too.

We flew into Kansas City Mo. and spent the night. We then got up early and drove to Branson. The drive was 3hrs and 45 min long. The drive was so pretty. It is such beautiful country.On our way to Branson we saw this cheese place to stop in. Osceola Cheese was amazing and we sampled so many different cheeses. At least Rich and Danny did. I have to be careful with what I eat. So I was very selective on what to try. But Yummy!!! 

 

 So many cheese to choose from. All had sample available. I found a lactose free cheese I loved. It was called butter cheese. Rich and Danny had a very hot cheese they tried. They even bought a shirt that said they had survived Ghost Pepper cheese. They said it was hot but just okay not great.

We got to our hotel and checked in then went exploring. I was amazed how beautiful it was in the area.
It is like being in Las Vegas but it was geared towards family. They have the strip. It was just as busy as the Las Vegas strip. The difference was no casinos but lots of shows. Family type shows. Lots of miniature golf courses and go cart places.

 Walking along Branson Landing. It is a shopping mall along Lake Taneycomo. It was so pretty and I loved the view the most. Lake moo

 We saw the ducks swimming by the restaurant where we ate.

 The restaurant we ate at White River Fish House. IT is owned by Bass Pro. IT s was a very nice place and decorated typical Bass Pro style. I enjoyed my dinner and so did Danny and Rich. Of course they had their cobbler.

 The sunset looking over the river between Lake Taneycomo and Table Rock Lake. It was so beautiful I love the country side there. It is so amazing.

 The sunset at Table Rock lake by the dam. I love taking pictures like these. Heavenly Father sure knows how to paint such a beautiful picture for us to enjoy.

 We rode the train. Branson Scenic Railway. It was and hour ride. I was disappoints. I really thought we were going to see some beautiful scenery. They said we would travel into Arkansas. You’ll see wildlife in their natural habitats, the ruins of small communities long ago abandoned, and more sights not accessible by other forms of transportation. Seats are not assigned, so you can roam about and explore the train as you travel across the Ozarks, through tunnels, and over trestles, listening to lively narration of the railroad’s Branson history, and fun facts about the things you’ll see.  The bummer part was all we saw were lots of trees. Thats all, just trees. 

This was our view while on the train.

This is Silver Dollar City. We had a good time there. Silver Dollar City is also known for it's specialty shops, culinary school, and over 100 talented craftsmen. Your family will enjoy watching craftsman share how they create their keepsakes So many rides and entertainment of live country shows. 

As I have said before, I love to go out and explore. So, Rich and Danny decided they just wanted to stay at the time share we changed to. They liked it and wanted to just relax. When I go places, I want to see the area not stay in a hotel room. So, off I went. I drove over to a fish farm and then on to Table Rock Lake and walked around the beautiful paths they had. 

After walking the paths at Table Rock Lake I went driving up into the mountains and found Big Cedar Lodge. It is so beautiful. I want to stay there sometime. It is owned by Bass Pro. It is called a Wilderness Resort. It is located in the Ozarkl Mountains. It has a full service marina, horseback riding, fishing, great trails for walking/hiking,and biking. There are so many beautiful water falls on the property. They were so friendly when I walked into the lodge to get more information.

Devils Pool Restaurant

This was the view out our door of our time share. This is early in the morning. The mist on the river.

If you look closely you can see fishermen on the river fishing.

We are back in Kansas. We went to see the Giants play. It was a nice park but we were disappointed in our experience thee. WE had paid for a tour of the facility. We were told there was not tour and that we actually paid to watch them practice up close. Really?? I don't think so. We got in early and still watched them practice and it didn't cost us the extra amount of $10 a person. We got a refund for the tour.

Homeward bound. IT was a fun trip and I really want to go back. I loved the area. There was so much we didn't get to see. I would also like to see more of the Kansas City area. Oh and get up to Navoo.

Summer time fun

 We Love going to Lake Mead
We go to Temple Bar. It is on the Arizona side of the lake. Not a lot of people and some fun places to beach it.


 The water level has dropped a ton. When we went earlier it was down about 25 ft from last year. This past week we went again and it had gone down another 10 ft. The drought has taken its toll on the lake.

It is a beautiful lake. 

I love the formations

Paddy loves the lake.

Playing in the water is so much fun. Amazing how fast time flies when you are having so much fun.

Sleeping time.

 We decided to move to a different part of the since it was getting a little windy. Apparently we got some sand in the motor. So off we went and the motor didn't sound right. We attempted to go again and you could smell smoke. I hope the boat is okay. Good thing we had 2 boats out. Dad pulls us back to the dock with his bass boat.

During the ride back we took silly pictures and my girls and the grand kids sang songs from frozen. It was so fun and we laughed. Of course the men in the bass boat didn't see or hear any of it. I love hearing the family laughing and singing and having so much fun.

 It turned out that it was a good thing we came in. We loaded up the boats and headed home. As we were driving we ran into several rain storms. All of them heading towards the lake where we were.
On our way home before we reached the dam, we hit the wall of a heavy thunder storm and it rained so hard we could only go 40 mph because it was so hard to see the road. Gotta love monsoon season in Las Vegas.