The Journey: What a Weekend!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

On Friday evening our dear friends the Carsons and Clouds came over to help organize our multi-family yard sale to be held on Saturday morning. Early Saturday morning the men helped put out signs, pull the tables out of the garage and left for a weekend in the mountains of Colorado for some camping and fishing. (We have amazing wives to let us go fish while they run the yard sale!!! The girls are having a night out soon to make up for this...) The poor babysitter had her hands full with seven crazy kids running around the yard while the moms ran the sale!

Kevin (the guy in the middle) volunteered to take his Jeep and we went high into the mountains of Colorado. We camped above the timberline near St. Mary's Glacier and had an unbelievable weekend. Our campsite was nestled beside a clear mountain stream and we spent the weekend hiking from one mountain lake to the next. The wild flowers were in full bloom and came in an amazing variety of colors. We were surrounded by waterfalls, high mountain peaks, thunder storms, fields of snow (fun for rock sledding!), and the beauty of God's creation. We saw families of Marmots ( look like beavers without the big tails), some type of wild ferret, and beautiful mountain trout. We caught enough trout for an awesome dinner over the fire. (Trout cleaned in a mountain stream with butter, chopped onions, salt and pepper...yum!) We felt like real mountain men... The boys had a rough night sleeping in the tent Saturday night as we endured an incredible windstorm...I slept great! (I burrowed into my Army sleeping bag and ignored the wind...although one time my snoring woke me up and I thought a bear was outside looking for fish scraps. :) We saw a tornado in the distance and explored an old silver mine...the final lake at the top of the mountain had large 12 inch trout in crystal clear water tempting us as they played in the water.

School at Denver Seminary starts next Monday so it was great to get away a final time before life gets crazy. I will post pictures later of this adventure...the ones I have now are in black and white and just don't do the beauty of our trip justice. I'm thankful for good friends and for God's safety when exploring his creation. Have a great week!