Another Reunion- Palmers

It isn’t too often that we get together with the Palmer side of the family for an extended period of time, so this was an important reunion to attend. We went up to Island Park, our old home from last summer, and camped at Riverside campground. There was really nice weather for the first day and a half but then there were thunder and lightning storms the rest of the time. It was still a great time to be out together. Mom and Dad yet again provided amazing meals. Like our brother-in-law Andrew says “We eat better camping than in our apartment.” We had stuffed green peppers, sweet and sour chicken and rice, sloppy joes and hoagie sandwiches, and to top it all off Mom made an amazing Huckleberry Cheesecake to die for!!! Wow!

How nice! Dad willing to share his watermelon with us.

We stopped by our old job at the Angler’s Lodge to say hi and check up on how their summer is going. It was great to see the old place, but great to have the night off from work in Island Park. We both found ourselves checking the time in the mid afternoon worrying about being to work by 4:00. Not this time! The cook that Peter worked with for 2 summers, Irvin, has recently been diagnosed with pretty severe lung cancer so we wanted to see him most of all. It was fun to chat with him like old times about all the sporting and professional athlete news and the local drama. He really admires Peter and considers him family. They are quite a pair.

It is difficult to keep clean out in the woods. It had been a while since I had my hair washed so I asked Mom for assistance to freshen up.

But Peter was also wanting to keep clean too. Cute smile Peter!

We spent a lot of time enjoying one another’s company around the campground. We also made several float trips down the Buffalo river which Michael wasn’t too sure about. It’s a slow flowing river and doesn’t get deeper than 3 feet. We used to float it as kids every summer.

The hardest part about family reunions is planning a time when everyone will be available. Sometimes we try to plan a year in advance and think that will be plenty of time to schedule. But poor Shane didn’t know a year ago that his soccer team would be in tournament that same weekend. So we went and supported Shane in Rexburg. His team ended up getting 2nd place in a late 10:30pm game with the lightning storm creeping in all around us. He had played 3 games in 24 hours. Come on, the world cup doesn’t even expect that much from the top athletes. It was still fun none the less. He also scored his only goal this season at the game we were at. He plays defense so that is why it was his first one.

It was a cold night watching soccer so Peter and I snuggled up into one of our sleeping bags to keep warm. Two peas in a pod literally!

Peter has wanted to register and participate in Relay for Life but hasn’t been able to. Mom was excited to give Peter a shirt that she picked up for him; he didn’t even have to run.

Aunt Suzy also celebrated her birthday the weekend of our reunion so we made sure to enjoy some of the German Chocolate cake Grandma made special for her. It was a great time, well spent with another amazing group of people. Everyone agreed to schedule the same weekend for next summer, but we’ll see how well our planning goes. Thanks to everyone for making the sacrifice for the great memories!

Sage Hen Reservoir

We’ve been wanting to blog about the things we have been doing out here in Boise, but we’ve been so busy doing them that we haven’t had time!


For Father’s Day weekend, we rounded up our camping gear and took to the mountains of Idaho for a weekend camping trip. After consulting local specialists and doing some research of our own, we set out for Sage Hen Reservoir. We got an early start Friday afternoon, inched our way up the hills, through pastures, up to the tree line and finally caught a glimpse of the picturesque lake. Unfortunately, the thing we were hoping we wouldn’t see was visible in abundance: other people! One reason we chose Sage Hen Reservoir was because we thought it would be far enough in the country that there wouldn’t be many people. However, probably due mostly to the fact that it was Father’s Day weekend, all six of the campsites were full! There were trailers all around, four wheelers rumbling to and fro, and families packed in the sites like sardines. I was appalled—this was not at all my idea of camping. Luckily, in talking with one of the camp directors, there was a camp site farther back that was “tents only”. It’s amazing to me that “camping” no longer implies sleeping in a tent. Anything more than sleeping under the stars, on the rocky ground, breathing the cold air isn’t camping to me. So, we were able to get into a camp site that was nice and quiet, isolated from the craziness that was the other six camp sites.




Each year we try to add an item to our camping equipment, and since it’s winter in Idaho eight months out of the year, it had been a long time since we’d used our equipments. Since last year, we have added a water purifier so we were excited to try it out. The water looked clean, but it still tasted kind of fishy.





Of course, we had to have roasted hot dogs and marshmallows for dinner and dessert (no camping trip is complete without them).

The next morning, I got up bright and early to do some fishing on the reservoir. The fishing was better in the morning than in the afternoon, but I didn’t have our camera with me to prove it. That afternoon, we hiked all the way around the reservoir and did some fishing along the way. It was a beautiful area and we’d recommend it to anyone wanting a pleasant place to camp.

Clement Family Reunion

Getting together with our Clement family always turns into a fond memory that we look back on for years. We always eat well, especially when we get to stuff ourselves with Mom & Dad’s jambalaya and scones. In their backyard we began our reunion devouring and socializing as much as time would allow. There have been many weddings and graduations, driving permits and animal additions to families over the past couple of years, so it was fun to catch up with everyone in their new stages of life and goals for the future.

The Clement family has always been very sport oriented, so after dinner we headed over to the ball diamond to play some softball. We have grown up quite a bit since the last time we tried to play softball so it didn’t take too long before we discovered the outfield was the hot place for all our big hitters. Thanks to Uncle Todd Mauger we couldn’t get too many runs in with his golden glove catching most of our pop flies in left field. We can’t forget to mention Uncle Joe’s triple hit too! The same evening we were able to celebrate Shane’s 22nd Birthday with some beautiful singing. We have a family with amazing talents all around the board.

After the evening darkness halted our play we went home for a firework show by Uncle Joe and Adam Packer. The wind was terrible, so they were a little difficult to shoot off. Good thing we were all bundled up. Then we roasted marshmallows over the fire, and here we can always find good conversation with anyone your with. Good times! That night we slept out in tents as best we could. We brought out all our blankets and sleeping bags to ensure we would be warm through the night, but it wasn’t as good of a plan as Dad’s. He had his earplugs in so not to hear the wind blowing down the other tents, tables and chairs outside from the cookout. I swear there were 50 mph winds that night. Who really was sleeping through that? I know that MaKayla and Merissa Mauger were dead through it all. Jacy and I, at 4:30 am, decided it wasn’t worth the effort to stay outside so we went in the house to get a couple hours of real sleep. The next morning it was fun to hear everyone’s thought process of why they all stayed out in the miserable conditions.

The next morning we met up at the church with everyone to eat breakfast and play volleyball. We stayed for lunch as well and had Uncle Steve VanOrden tell us about his half marathon that he had run earlier that morning in Bear Lake. After that we played some group games with Mom’s parachute she brought from school, had a hula-hoop contest, a human knot challenge, and boogidy boogidy boogidy boo which Aunt Jan Clement taught us. We really got to see a whole new side of some family members with every activity we did. Fun memories!

After a few low key games we all walked over to Grandma’s new house across from the church to watch all the men rip out her heavy barn wood fence so she can put in a pretty new white vinyl fence. It was great to do a service project with the whole family. I really admire our family and their work ethic. I really think it comes from all the years on Grandpa’s farm that our parents learned to work and have taught their children the importance of hard work in ourselves and in a spouse.

After, we went back to the ball diamond for another softball game and then back into the gym to play volleyball for the rest of the evening. What a great family to be able to have evenly matched teams with some blocks and kills on both sides of the net and be proud of one another’s efforts. Shane was nice enough to let me block one of his hits. It was awesome! Peter, Shane, Elias, and Adam were all monsters on the front row with their spikes. We really have an amazing family and it is always a blast to get together and make great memories and smile and laugh till we hurt. Until next time, we will keep these awesome memories with us.

Yellowstone in Spring

Just before I moved out to Boise, we took a day trip to Yellowstone with some of our good friends in the ward. By Idaho standards, the weather was cooperative: the skies were clear, the sun was warm and the wind was only gusting at 35 mph. Not too shabby! Although we have been to Yellowstone dozens of times, the beautiful vistas and the hopes of seeing wolves and bears continue to draw us in. Another reason we really wanted to go was because Barry, the father of the family we went with, is a geology major and we wanted to look at all the geothermal sites with him. Catherine and I aren’t too enthralled by the geological marvel that is Yellowstone so it was our first time seeing many of these things.

Barry was totally cherishing these “travertine deposits” near Mammoth Hot Springs. Our retinas were torched! These pictures don’t do it justice, but the travertine was as white as snow and the noonday sun made it treacherous to look at.




Catherine and I at Mammoth Hot Springs. I’m not sure why it is called Mammoth Hot Springs. The name is kind of a misnomer; it leads you to believe that there is a warm swimming area or something. FYI- as far as I know, there isn’t. Pretty area though…





This is one of the spewing geysers at the Painted Pots Geyser Basin. There are dozens that are capable of throwing heated water into the air; they just aren’t predictable like Old Faithful is. We happened upon this one.



We saw the standard wildlife that makes Yellowstone their home. This buffalo calf couldn’t have been more than three days old! It would not leave its mother’s side. It had to be touching her at all times. It didn’t help, though, that bone-headed tourists were out of their cars taking pictures. I prayed that the mom buffalo would gore them, but I guess that wasn’t a righteous enough desire…




We stopped for lunch at this picnic area and a herd of 20+ elk wandered into the field. Here you can make out some of them behind us. There weren’t any impressive bulls, just fat cows and scrawny rags (I think they call them).




We saw this lone antelope. Not too exciting for us, but you might find it neat…




This was the wildlife moment of the day. We saw this enormous bald eagle scouting out fish in this tiny lake. Look at the size of that thing! Eventually, he took flight, hovered over the lake, and dove down for a meal! He misfired, but it was rad!
All in all, it was a pleasant trip. They say that the spring is a good time to go because the snow has melted in the valleys so you have a chance to see a lot of wildlife as they come down to feed. Although that is true, we discovered that many of the best sections of road are still closed because of snow.