Date Night!

Sometimes we have to be a little creative with our date nights here in beautiful Wyoming...we needed to do a little grocery shopping and passed the seafood and saw that King crab legs were on sale for 5.99 a lb. (it saved us $23!) I was so excited and Raymond has only had crab once before so we decided to have an adventure!  Raymond grilled them with lemon, garlic and cilantro and then we dug in!  It turned out so yummy! The only problem was that we didn't have a cracker so we used scissors and our hands...we were a mess but it was worth it!

The finished product...

On another note, I've been trying to be more positive about being up here lately because we'll for sure be here again at least one more year.  (We have a family moving here to teach from Park City and I'm praying that we can be friends!)  I've learned though through this past year that when you are looking for the positive you'll find it and we truly live in such a beautiful place!  Raymond and I are sometimes in awe of how serene it can be here...usually I don't have my camera and this isn't the best thing we've seen but here's just a teaser of where we live!

Love those wide open spaces! But both of our families are coming up and we're so excited to  finally have some visitors! Remember our door is always open! :)

To help us remember...

We have been getting SO much rain here in Wyoming, and with all the snow melt off we've been having some bad flooding here!  Not anything to compare to Tennesse, Arkansas and China but it has caused a lot of problems, bridges getting swept away, houses flooding, no fun!  From what we hear, this is the most water they've had since 1963 so it's a pretty big deal!  Here is a picture of one what some of the homes look like out here...

We have been so blessed though because it hasn't been bad where we live but some of the members in our branch almost lost their homes. People have really come together to help with sand bagging and helping their neighbors. They sent the National Guard down here now so we can't help with that anymore but it's been neat to see our community coming together!  Honestly,  as horrible as natural disasters are, I know that in many ways Heavenly Father uses these experiences in our lives to help us remember the things that are truly important. We all need a wake up call once in a while and I hope I'm always listening! My prayers are with all the families around the world that are still being effected by these disasters!  These pictures are of the river here, the Popo Agie and some other fun things I saw! :)

My man is finally a true man!

Well, I guess I should clarify that statement! Raymond has been wanting a grill forever but especially since it is warm this week (yes, I mean this week, cause last week it was 44 degrees!) so we did some research and got him his baby!  What it is about grills that make men feel more manly I will never know but I have to admit, I'm not complaining because I haven't had to be in the kitchen as much lately! Well here's some pictures of our fabulous meals my hubby made this week! Yeah for summer! He's so happy in this picture! Love it!

So, hopefully this can be more of an incentive now for people to come and visit??? We have two extra bedrooms! You are more than welcome and Raymond will cook some great meals! :) Love you babe!

Congrats Brit!!!

My little sister graduated from Cedar high last Friday and it was so much fun to be able to go down to Utah for that! Raymond had to stay for the graduation here so we missed him and of course Ryan & Aimee are in Alaska but we had most of the Carroll family back together again! Even if Brit and Kels left me the next day for a cruise and Hawaii! Not fair! :) But we're so proud of you Brittany! Good luck in Provo! We're so glad that you'll be closer to us! Love you sis!

Myregite Boyzshahn Davaih...aka Five Buffalo Days!

We definitely are getting more and more accustomed to the Native American culture here and it's been a neat experience! Even through the challenges! The last week of school (I'm so glad it's done!) they have Five Buffalo Days to celebrate their culture and teach the kids to remember what it was like for their ancestors.  In Kindergarten we started off the week by going to a Buffalo Ranch and it was fun to be able to see them up close and personal with their cute babies!

Here's some of the cute kids I worked with! Even though some made me want to pull my hair out! I'm sure you can tell which one :)

 

They also got to go to Thermopolis where there are Natural Hot Springs and then we had a Pow Wow! I loved seeing my kids dance! My favorite part of the week!

One the members from our branch also teaches at the school and he is an amazing chicken dancer! It was fun to watch!

I'm not going to lie, I'm so glad that this year is over!  Only four more weeks with summer school and we're on Vacation!  Can't wait!

Mile High City...

Raymond & I got to go to Denver to chaperone a group of 8th graders at school and it was such a fun/stressful trip! Well actually the kids were great, it was some of the parents that caused problems! We got to see so much of the city and it was great getting to do it for free! When we first got there we went to Elitch's which is denver's six flags and then for dinner that night we went to Casa Bonitas.  Definitely don't go there for the food but the entertainment is pretty neat! They have a waterfall where they have diving shows and a mariachi band, it was fun!

The next day we went to Invesco Field where the Broncos play and took a tour.  Even though we're not Broncos fans Raymond absolutely loved it and their stadium is really nice. 

The Denver Zoo...cute little babies!

...and we saw a movie about the Hubble Space Telescope at an IMAX.  It was amazing and truly made us in awe of all of Heavenly Father's creations!

That night we went shopping at 16th street (it felt so good to see real stores...I definitely wasn't in Wyoming anymore!) and went to the Hard Rock Cafe! One of Raymond's good friends from college Lindsay and her husband Travis live in Littleton so they met us for dinner there! It was fun to take a break from the kids!

On Sunday we went to the "Unsinkable" Molly Brown's house which we thought the kids would be bored at but they loved seeing what it was like in the early 1900's. She really was wealthy for her time!

The Botanic Gardens which were absolutey gorgeous!

...and to Boondocks which I think was the kids favorite...even my "big kid" :)

We had a great time in Denver! Hopefully we'll be able to go back again soon just us so we can go to the temple! Thanks Fort Washakie for letting us go!  Definite perks of working at an Indian Reservation! :)

Jackson Hole...

Do we really have to be home already?  I knew it was going to be a short trip but it was so relaxing and I loved going up there with Raymond because he'd never been there before! Even though the tree's weren't green yet it was absolutely beautiful up there and we're already planning our next trip in September! We had such a breath taking view while we were there...I think the Teton mountains are some of my favorite! Sorry about the picture overload!  We went into a shop in Jackson square and the next thing I knew Raymond was speaking Russian.  He heard a family talking and they ended up being from Ukraine! He was so excited because he really hasn't had the opportunity to use his Russian since he got home 6 years ago.  The man, Vadim, was so excited and said never in my wildest dreams would I meet someone who spoke my language.  So of course being tourist they video taped us and took pictures so I got one too!

The river was literally down a few steps from where we stayed and it was so much fun going on walks there in the morning...don't mind the pictures we just woke up!

My absolute favorite part of the trip was the river float that we went on.  My goal the whole time was to see a moose in the water but we never did.  We saw eagles, pelicans, blue herons, geese, and a beaver though! The beaver scared me to death because it was just chilling in the water and as soon as we got close it jumped up and slapped its tail on the water and went back in its dam. It was so worth it!

Gotta love raymond's face with his smores...he really was excited about them!

Our cute little cabin...sorry about the glare!

We got to see tons of wildlife while we were there but my favorite were the buffalo and the moose.  I was so dissapointed that I didn't see anything on the river but we saw these beauties on our way home!