Wildlife at Yellowstone

The animals are amazing! Where else can you go and see herds of buffalo/bison cover the hillside. The females and young ones hang out together. There are lots of them!!

A female elk.

We saw this moose chomping on foliage near the river by Jennie Lake. Now there is one animal that would not be good to tangle with!!!

His male buffalo was walking right along the roadside. We could have put our arm out the car window and touched him.

We were sad to miss seeing any bears. But we heard several fellow visitors tell us they saw some. I guess we should be glad that we didn't see any while we were camping!! Now that would have been an adventure!!

Grand Teton National Park

Dallin poses to record our entrance to one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Grand Teton National Park is breathtaking!!

The three mountain peaks behind us are gorgeous. Most days they are shrouded in clouds so we felt very fortunate to see them in all their glory!!

We camped at the Gros Ventre campground in a Perfect spot. There were enough trees to hang two camping hammocks which provided great fun at Dallin's expense. Here Jared and Katie wrap him like a mummy and spin him over and under. That was fun until this nervous grandma made them stop!!

Dallin really enjoyed chpping wood and lighting matches to make a perfect fire for cooking S'mores. Though the threat of bears was there, we never saw any. The campground rules were very explicit about keeping all food and drink safely locked in your car just to avoid tempting the wildlife. We had a great time in the Tetons!!!

Jackson Hole

Jackson Hole - what a great town! We were there in the height of tourist season but it was great fun!! Here is Jared by one of the four elk horn arches in the middle of town.

Katie and Dallin near the Jackson/Teton Visitors Center.

Stage coach rides around Jackson Town Square.

Dallin got real close to this stuffed buffalo and almost as close to a live one. Funny story - While driving through Yellowstone Park we saw a big bull buffalo walking right along the road on the passenger side of our car where Dallin had fallen asleep. Not wanting him to miss this "up close and personal" look at a walking/breating creature - I quickly woke him and man-handled his head right near the open window just in time for the buffalo to walk by. His expression of shock and surprise was priceless!!!

Like Father, Like Son

Here is the dad........

....Here is the lad!!! I think they look a whole lot alike. What do you think?

The Ty-man, Ty-ty, baby Ty, Ty-ster, etc. turned one last month. This picture really captures his cute personality. What a pleasant little fellow he is. Always quick to smile! Check out those fat-Fred Flintstone-feet! Gotta love him!!!

An Amazing Race

Last weekend was the annual Wasatch Back Relay race. It is a unique race with teams made up of 12 members. Each member runs 3 legs and each leg ranges from 3 to 7 miles for a total of about 187 miles, beginning in Logan and ending in Park City. It takes the teams about 17 - 30+ hours to finish which means running through the night in a variety of weather conditions.

Five of us Sano's participated in one way or another. AJ ran the race with his relay team called the "Heavy Hoofers". This was their second year to participate. Jared drove one of the support vans for his friends on the "A- Team".

Frank, Katie and I volunteered at one of the exchange points from 8 p.m. - 1:30 a.m. All five of us had a BLAST!!! Here Frank checks off team numbers as the runner comes in to the exchange point and passes the baton to the next runner.

We took our dog, Fred, with us and it turned out that he was quite the popular fellow. Being a friendly guy, he was quick to let some of the runners take a turn rubbing his belly.

The line of support bans was pretty constant throughout the night as runners were dropped off at the exchange points, or went into the High School for dinner (which was served until 4 a.m.!), or took a shower at the High School or slept on the grass. It is hard to explain the incredible amount of organization and coordination that takes place by many, many people! It is a great experience in team work!

This photo was taken by Jared at about sunrise (5:30 a.m.) of one of the runners on his team. It captures the solitude, beauty and peace that running must bring to so many!

What an incredible experience it was!! For more information about this amazing race click on the following link: http://www.ragnarrelay.com/ragnar

A Brand New Bathroom in Randolph

Our new bathroom is 99% done!! It is a BIG improvement from what it was! This is the only photo I can find for a "Before". The original bathroom was added to the house in approximately 1960-ish. It measured 4 ft wide by 9 ft long. There was a tub/shower and a toilet (which you can see in the corners of the photo). No sink. This photo shows what we found when we ripped the wall off. The dark hole under the tub is where the plumber had to crawl to change out the sewer pipes and add drains for the new sink and shower.

Here the room is starting to come back together after we gutted it down to the stubs with the help a talented friend of ours. He put in new walls, new flooring and installed a new shower. The walls shown here are water-proof "greenboard".

After 3 days of prepping in the walls with drywall compound, sanding and sanding some more, we primed and painted the ceiling and walls. Then primed the floor and laid the tile. Then the plumber completed the install of the sink and toilet.

More photos. All that's left is to place the molding on the ceiling and floor.

It feels so good to complete a project, especially one this major. Thank you, thank you to all who helped!!!

Month 8 Newsletter

Dear Bridgie Boo,

Once again Mama is a day late, sorry:)

You've had an interesting month. You have become very, very clingy. The cute aspect of that is that you have started to reach for us, which melts our hearts.

You are really good at scooting backwards. You have crawled forward but it's not your favorite thing to do. You love buttons and anything that makes noise.

You LOVE being outside. Grandpa Dearden likes to take you out back and to sit under the shade. You had your first ride in a swing.



And you give us you biggest smiles when your bouncing on the trampoline at Grandma & Grandpa Dearden's.



Daddy loves having you lay in the hammock with him.


You've started to notice when daddy leaves and you don't like it. You're becoming quite a daddy's girl. You even sleep in the same positions as him.




Mama thought this was cute because daddy often has his leg bent like this:






You have 2 teeth which seem to fascinate you. You are always playing with them. Unfortunately, this resulted in your first diaper rash.

You had a bad cold this month. It was hard for mom & dad to watch you go through it but you passed on your cold to them so they could understand your pain better.

You're more challenging now but your also more fun. You still bring a smile to us every time we look at you.

Love you,
Mama