Yellowstone Photography Class

Today, Dave traveled to Yellowstone with a friend, Larry Prescott (the photography teacher from the high school), to participate in free workshops about photography.  He was so excited to have this opportunity to learn more about the art of picture taking.  So excited that he forgot to wear sunscreen and is now red tinted.  The workshops were free and top of the line equipment was provided for them to use as well.  At one point he was carrying around a camera/lens combination that lists for $4500.00!  He enjoyed using equipment that he probably will not have the opportunity of owning for himself (at least not in the near or distant future).  All of the pictures that were taken will be available for him to download in a week or so.  It will be fun to see what he ended up with.

Sophie's Casual Side

Sophie at Rest

It's probably the heat of the summer that causes Sophie to stretch out on her back and relax.  It was a scorcher today. So we weren't surprised to notice that she put all inhibitions aside as she positioned herself in this very casual pose.

Spilt Stain

A big mess in the garage today.  Matthew somehow bumped or dropped a brand new gallon of stain.  It dumped all over the garage, spilling under boxes and storage containers.  Huge, huge mess.  Not to mention the expense involved. We now have to buy a new gallon of paint, but on the brigher side, the mess has been cleaned up.

Where is Camille?

Camille has been absent from our recent pictures because she is touring with the Dance Alliance Team.
Tonight she is performing in Eureka, California where her Grandma and Grant Wood will be able to attend the performance.  She is having a great time and especially enjoys the opportunity to perform.  Other spots that she has visited on tour have been Crater Lake in Oregon, the Medford Oregon Temple, the California Redwoods, and the coastline of Oregon and California.  She returns to Rexburg this next Sunday and we are looking forward to having her back home for a bit.

Grant, Camille, and Grandma

$390.00 or $90.00--What price would you pick to fix your water heater?

When we returned from Island Park, we found our water heater to be nonfunctional.  Because Dave was a little worried about a possible gas leak, we called Intermountain Gas.  They told us that the malfunction was probably due to a broken part on the water heater.  This morning we began our quest to correct the problem.  Dave did a bit of research on the internet to learn about the problem and the procedure to fix it.

He learned that the part was worth $12.00 and that there was a test that could be done to determine if the broken part was really the problem.

The first serviceman who came to our house quoted us $390.00 to fix it.  When Dave asked him to check and make sure that was really the problem, he said that they normally don't follow that procedure but they just replace the part that they assume to be malfunctioning.  If the problem is not solved, then they try something else.  Of course, Dave was a little concerned at that point because he knew there was a way to check and be sure that the part was broken.  He asked the serviceman to do the check.  He finally agreed to do so, but then discovered he didn't have the equipment to check it.  At that point, Dave told him he would pay for the service call but that would be all we needed him for.

Dave then called a second serviceman who told him he did have the equipment to confirm what was broken and that if it needed to be replaced it would be $90.00.  Obviously, we chose him to come to our home.

We are really in awe at the amount of money we saved by getting a second opinion.  It ended up being $260.00.

BYU-I Gardens

Jumping on the count of 3

Jasper, Ethan, Matthew, Spencer

Sarah, Catherine, Jenacie, Kirsten

Posing in the willows.

Many a Sunday we visit the BYU-I Gardens.  It is a beautiful spot on BYU-I campus filled with plants, flowers and trees native to this area and cared for by BYU-Idaho horticulture students.  If company visits on Sunday, we often take them on a tour of the gardens.  Such was the case today.  Aunt Suzanne and her children attended our church meetings and then joined us for dinner.  After a bit of resting we took them to see the beautiful gardens.

Camping in Island Park

The Hincks and Borens at their campsite (Buffalo Campground)

  

At least once a year our family enjoys a camping trip.  This year was no exception as we just returned from our outing where we camped at Buffalo Campground in Island Park, Idaho.  (Just over an hour north of Rexburg and about 20 minutes from the west entrance of Yellowstone.)  Joining us for part of the stay was Aunt Suzanne Boren, (Dave's youngest sister), and her three children, Jasper (13), Jenacie(10), and Ethan(7).

Some of us were a bit apprehensive to tent camp due to a recent unprovoked Grizzly bear attack near the east entrance of Yellowstone.  We mustered up our courage and followed all the guidelines outlined when camping in bear country and then tried to have the attitude that the chance of another attack was very slim.

One activity we enjoyed was an inner tube float down a five mile stretch of the Henry's Fork River.  Tourists are allowed to float this section of the river because it is fairly shallow and very slow moving.  The float begins near the source of the river, Big Springs.  It has beautiful scenery.  When we neared the end, we enjoyed looking at a big moose on the river's edge feasting on it's dinner.  Because the river is slow moving, floating with inner tubes can be fairly laborious.  We had little control of our speed and our direction except when we used our flip flops as paddles.  If we were to do this again, we most assuredly would use canoes where the speed and direction can be easily controlled.

Dave and I both enjoy delicious meals served in the "roughin" it style."  We cooked with our dutch ovens where we tried all sorts of dishes including potatoes, pork chops, poppy seed cake with a blueberry topping, breakfast muffins, omelet and of course more potatoes.

Mesa Falls

Today we visited a beautiful water fall found on a scenic byway between Ashton and Island Park. The water fall is part of The Henry's Fork River which weaves its way down from Island Park towards Rexburg where it eventually converges with the South Fork River to form the Snake River.  It certainly is beautiful country and we very much enjoy visting the sights.

We then stopped at our traditional ice cream cone spot. Here we pay just 99 cents for a very large serving of hard ice cream.  A delicious stop!