Sunday Dinners

Sundays are my favorite. We have everyone here for 'Come Follow Me,' then we do dinner and a movie. It's usually Me, Mark, Sawyer, Amanda, Mason, Bailey, Noah, and Jonnae. Now Bailey and Mason are back in Boise, but sometimes they face-time us.

Pizza Bar

Crepes
Sawyer's looked the best.

The cereal bar was a big hit! I had tons of regular cereal, hot cereal, toppings, and three flavors of milk. We used little paper bowls so they could try a bunch of different stuff. Surprisingly, the strawberry milk was the biggest hit. It's really good on Fruity Pebbles, and in granola. 😋

I'm always looking for fun, creative, Sunday dinner ideas, so if you've got any good ones, let me know.

Mesa Falls 10 Year Anniversary

Bailey ran her first half marathon when she was 10 years old. This year marked her 10 year anniversary of the Mesa Falls Half, so she wanted to do it again. Luckily this has been one of the few road races that COVID hasn't caused to be canceled. 

Mason signed up for the 10K, and he got 2nd place overall in that, and won his age group. 

Getting ready to start.

Go Mason!

Finishing strong.

Yay!

We found Coen! He was running the 5K while he waited for his mom to do the marathon.

We didn't get to see Bailey at the start of her race, because they were bussed up to the starting line. We drove up the road to where they came off the trail and onto the road. She looked like she felt great, but it was hard to tell how she was doing place wise, because they had marathoners and half marathoners coming through around the same time.

We first saw her around mile five. She felt really good at this point.

 

There was a mile long hill, and she did awesome up it. We stopped to watch her half way up, and we noticed that she was passing a lot of people.

This was around mile ten, and the last time we saw her before the finish. She was starting to get tired.

Yay Bailey!

She ended up being the 5th women overall, and first in her age group. Not too shabby for not a ton of training.

They are a dynamic couple! I hope they keep running together.

It's crazy the difference ten years can make!

Back to Boise

Bailey and Mason got married in May, and then lived with us for a couple months while they worked in Mark's office for the summer. In the middle of August, it was time for them to head back to Boise for school and work. Since COVID messed up wedding plans, and they didn't get to have much for a reception, we told them we would take that money and help them furnish some of their apartment. They were so excited to set up their first place together. We loaded up both of their cars, and Mark's truck, and headed over to get them all settled in. Bailey and Mason stayed at the apartment unpacking all of their wedding gifts, and getting the kitchen and bathroom all set up, and Mark and I headed out shopping to find a couch and a few other things. The next day, Lance and Sarah brought them a bedroom set that Mason's grandparents gave them. His Grandma and Grandpa Cannon are seriously the best! We worked really hard all weekend, and I think they were excited about the results. Their place is a perfect little newlywed apartment right by campus, and right along the Boise river. So fun!

So happy to have a place to sit!

They didn't think they would actually have real furniture in their bedroom. Thanks to awesome grandparents, they are all set!

Their tiny little kitchen makes me happy. 😊

They had a week there to get all settled and have a little bit of fun before work and school started. They spent a lot of time at the river, since it's literally right outside their door. This will be Bailey's last semester before she graduates, and COVID has managed to screw that up too. She already got the notification that they will not be having a graduation ceremony. 😡 She did get a great job working at the Ada County Juvenile Prosecutor's Office, so that's fun. Mason is starting his second year of school, and he got a job doing research for a professor on campus. It's looking to be a super great, and busy semester for both of them. I love seeing my kids all grown up and kicking butt at adult life. This is such a fun time of life, and I know they'll make great memories in Boise over the next few years.

Fun on the river!

First day of work and school!

All masked up for work.

Huckleberry Picking

After Bailey learned the art of huckleberry picking in Grand Teton Park from Jennifer, she wanted to go to Kelly Canyon and pick a bunch before they went back to Boise. She wanted to freeze them for smoothies. So many people had already been picking in Kelly Canyon, so I thought for sure they would all be gone, but her and Mason found the perfect spot. They picked for a few hours and got so many! The only reason they stopped in because they got hungry. 

They got so many! That will make a lot of smoothies!

Yum!

Dog Bite

While Bailey and I were running in the Tetons with no phone signal, Mark got attacked by a dog in Kelly Canyon. He was running and he saw two teenagers with two dogs. They grabbed the pit bull by the collar, and didn't seem to worry about the other dog. Mark chatted with them for a minute, and then when he started to run off, the other dog went at him from behind. It grabbed his thigh and tore it open pretty good. One of the boys tackled the dog to hold it down, and the other one freaked out when he saw how bad Mark's leg was. Mark is assuming that when he went to run off, he startled the dog. He had his trekking poles, so that might have had something to do with it. The boys were camping up there with their grandma, and said Mark could go to her trailer for first aid supplies. Mark just wanted out of there in case the pit bull decided to take a bite out of him too. He stopped on the way home, and bought some super glue. He totally needed stitches, but he will do anything to avoid a needle. He cleaned it out really good, and Mason super glued it together for him. This is why these guys should not be left home without supervision. 😂 They actually did a really good job, and it has healed up nicely.

This is the picture that showed up on our phones once we got back into cell phone range. Needless to say, we were a little bit stressed out.

Ewww!

Good super glueing job Mason!

August Running

 Women's Runs

Sidewinder Full Moon Run:

This was the coolest run! We started later in the evening so we would get to the top of Sidewinder right as the full moon was coming up over the mountain. We got a great sunset on the way up. We stopped and were all amazed at how fast the sun set below the horizon. We made it to the top right as it got dark. We could see the glow of the moon start to shine, and it wasn't much longer before it was peeking up over the mountain. We waited for it to rise a bit, and then we all turned our headlamps on and headed back down the trail in the dark. It looked really cool to have a long train of headlamps shining in a line coming off the hill. The moon was amazing, but none of our phones could capture it very well.

The sunset.

The last little bit of the sunlight.

At the top waiting for the moon to rise.

Here comes the moon!

This looked so much cooler in person. The moon was huge!

We tried to take a selfie with the moon, but it was too dark, and wouldn't work with our phones. My phone was the only one that would capture the group shot pretty good.

I love this picture of us.

Cascade Canyon/Lake Solitude:

The women runners took an awesome adventure in Grand Teton Park. We left early on a Saturday morning, took the ferry across Jenny Lake, and hiked/ran up Cascade Canyon to Lake Solitude. We had an exciting start, and saw a bear right after we got off the ferry. That was Bailey's first bear in the wild, and she definitely got an up close view! The trail was amazing, and the company great. We had lunch at the lake, Bailey and Veronika took a swim, and then we headed back. There was lots of huckleberry picking on the way down the trail, and we even saw a moose. We stopped and had pizza for dinner at Dornan's on the way home. This was my last adventure with Bailey before she was heading back to Boise for school, and it was a great one!

Heading to the ferry!
Amanda-Jennifer-Bailey-Veronika-Tricia-Steph

This was my first ferry ride across Jenny Lake.

We had to be masked up on the ferry, and standing in lines.

Our cute bear friend! Bailey and Amanda were standing directly in front of where his nose was pointed. He was wandering right toward them for a while. 

Inspiration Point overlooking Jenny Lake.

Our whole crew at Inspiration Point.

Everyone should add Grand Teton Park to their bucket list of places to visit. 

I'm glad she finally got to explore some of the park with me.

Cascade Canyon is the perfect name. There are waterfalls the whole way up!

Lake Solitude!

I love my trail runner ladies!

She can never resist a cold, mountain lake.

Picture perfect!

I love this picture of us running around the lake when we were heading back.

Trail running is my favorite thing! This is why!

Jennifer and Amanda showed Bailey the art of huckleberry picking on the way back down, and Bailey was hooked.

Yum!

This is the same spot we saw a moose on the trail last year when we did the paintbrush Divide.

Such a great day, and I'm so glad Bailey got to go. I'm grateful to run with ladies that love it just as much as I do.

Lookout Mountain:

It's been fun using our women's runs to cover all the Kelly Canyon routes for the Lost Souls Challenge .

Getting started at Buckskin Morgan.

We made it to the lookout. There was some huckleberry picking delays on the way up and back. 😋

Kelly Mountain Loop:

This run was a blast! Sometimes it's fun to have a big group of ladies, but sometimes it's even more fun when there's just a few of us. This was the longest Kelly Mountain route for the Lost Souls Challenge.

The views on this loop are fantastic!

We made it to the top of Kelly Mountain! Now for the crazy downhill section.

I love this picture. This truly shows how Amanda feels about downhill running!

This downhill is crazy! Jennifer fell several times, and by the time we got to the road, she was covered in dirt!

I'm just the opposite of Amanda. I'm very wimpy on the downhill. She was probably already at the bottom while I was tiptoeing down. 😅

We made it! Jennifer with dirty warpaint everywhere, and Amanda with a shoe split right in half! That's when you know it was a great run! 😂

Plogging:

Plogging is when you pick up garbage while you run. We try to do this once a summer for our women's run. We plogged Henry Canyon Road, and I was shocked at how much garbage we found! 

Picking up garbage doesn't seem like the most fun thing to do, but we always manage to have a good time.

Georgina-Tricia-Jennifer-Anna-Megan-Angie-Amanda (taking picture).

We filled the back of Amanda's land cruiser. We got more than this too, but we loaded some in another truck.

Firth River Bottom:

Our last women's run for the month of August was at the Firth River Bottom. A lot of us were just coming off of big mileage weekends, so we took it really easy. We ran a little, hiked a little, and talked a lot. Taking pictures with the pups was hilarious.

Stacy & Abby-Tricia-Jennifer-Amanda & Wallace-Georgina

IFTR Group Runs

Apocalypse Run:

We took a break from doing Lost Souls routes, and had an Apocalypse Run. Dan brought Body Armor and survival snacks for us and everything!

Just ignore the fact that my mohawk wig was on backwards for the picture. 😂

Old Meadow:

I can't believe the difference in this trail compared to when Mark and I did it a month earlier. We hit it right at the peak growing season, and it was so overgrown, you couldn't even see where you were stepping. We were so afraid of snakes. This time it was way better! Things had started to dry up and die, so the trail was a lot more defined. We could even go right up to the cabin.

This is such a pretty area. I want to see what it's like in the spring.

I finally remembered to wear pink! 

A blurry picture because it was still a little dark, but we had a fun group on this one.

Some of the group had to head home or to work after the Old Meadow route was done, but a few of us kept going up the road a little farther.

Dan-Jenn-Tricia-Wes-Chris

The Ozone:

We had a big group for this one! Dan showed us The Ozone; an abandoned old town in the Bone area. Everyone loved the loop, and it was a bonus that the sky put on a show for us over the Tetons. We even saw a herd of elk. It was a great morning.

The sun starting to rise over the Tetons.

Such a fitting sign.

Awesome sunrise.

Most of the group at the end.

Teton Canyon Camping Runs

Marion Lake/Granite Canyon:

I've wanted to take the tram up from Teton Village, and run out to Marion Lake since we started exploring Teton Park last year. Mark, Steph, and I camped in Teton Canyon, and Georgina met us at the starting point on Friday morning. The big tram was closed due to COVID, so we had to take the smaller gondola up, and then hike the last two miles to where the tram normally drops people off. I'm actually kind of glad it worked out this way. Although it added two miles of climbing to our overall distance, the hike up was really cool. The trail to Marion Lake was awesome. We ate lunch at the lake, and Georgina and I went waist deep in the lake to cool off. Then we headed down Granite Canyon, which I loved. The trail was so runnable and pretty. We took a connector trail back to Teton Village, and just as we were all getting tired and wanting to be done, we saw a bear. Whahooo! That revived us, and made the rest of the run great. We covered 19 miles, and I loved all of it! I already have another route mapped out in this area for next year.

Taking a fun gondola ride 3/4 of the way up the mountain.

Taking a break on the way up to where we should have actually started.

Feeling like we were on top of the world.

On the way to Marion Lake.

Steph-Georgina-Tricia-Mark

The trail went right through the middle of a field of yellow wildflowers. We could hear all the bees buzzing around us.

Marion Lake

Cooling off before we head down Granite Canyon.

This was a cool field of daisies we had to go through. We could hear the bees through here too.

I love Mother Nature's landscaping.

There were still so many wildflowers up high.

Going down Granite Canyon.

We stopped at the perfect little swimming hole.

The connector trail we took back to Teton Village was in the aspens, and we were the only ones on it. We saw three piles of bear poop within a mile of each other, so we made sure we stayed grouped up through this part.

More bear poop.

Here's the bear to go with all the poop. Mark and Georgina were in the front, and they heard a noise and saw a tree move. They both saw the bear at the same time. Steph and I were coming up on them, and the bear was just off the trail, between the two groups of us. We stopped and waited a minute, not sure if we should walk past it to join Mark and Georgina. It wasn't interested in us at all, so we just walked on. We all had bear spray, and it wasn't a very big one, so it wasn't even nerve wracking, just fun and exciting.

Here's a picture of him looking at us. 🐻

I love Grand Teton Park so much! We've covered a lot of trails there in the past two years, and they are all great. Such a beautiful place. We ended the day with dinner at the Mangy Moose.

Devil's Staircase/Hurricane Pass/Alaska Basin:

We had another long day on Saturday. Steph felt sick on the run the day before, so she stayed at the trailer, and Mark and I met Jenn, Charles, and Carney to do Devil's Staircase-Hurricane Pass-Alaska Basin. We do some form of this trail just about every year, and it never gets old. It's one of my favorite places. The three of them were late getting to the trailhead, so Mark and I headed out and figured they'd catch us when we stopped to filter water. Sure enough, that's the exact spot where they caught up to us. When we were crossing Alaska Basin to head to Hurricane Pass, we took a detour to go to the three basin lakes. Very good choice! We even took a swim! We ate lunch at Hurricane Pass, and then the wind started blowing and we got cold, so it was time to head back. All the hard parts were done, and it was pretty much down hill from there. We saw a moose in the last couple miles. It was trotting through the water right on the other side of the reeds from the trail. We were hoping it wasn't gonna bust through on us. As soon as we all made it past, it came through the reeds and ran across the trail. This was a 23 miler, and I felt really great considering how far we had gone the day before. I had some back problems at the end, but all things considered, it was a great run!

Looking down the canyon from half way up Devil's Staircase.

Heading off the Teton Shelf Trail to cross Alaska Basin. I love this part of the trail.

This downhill to Alaska Basin is so fun!

This is where we filtered water and where the other three caught up to us.

Basin Lakes! 😍

Jenn and I took pictures while the guys jumped off the rock.

Mark-Carney-Charles
Mark liked not being the only guy for a change.

Carney had Jenn's phone in the water. He was just swimming around filming stuff. 😂

My cute, fat, rock chuck friend.

So pretty!

Sunset Lake is one of my very favorite mountain lakes.

😍😍😍

Carney-Mark-Tricia-Jenn-Charles
Climbing toward Hurricane Pass.

Battleship Mountain

Hurricane Pass-what a great view while we ate lunch.

Icing my legs on the way down Alaska Basin. 

A moose!

Done!

August was a great running month! We have some fun adventures coming up in Fall!