Hiking in Our Back Yard

Last weekend on Memorial day we decided to take a little hike and check out the trail behind our back yard. It took us about 15 minutes to get to this pretty spot called Stewart Falls. It was pretty busy because it was a holiday, but it was still a pretty spot. So if you ever want a short pretty hike you can come and visit us.

We also got a chance to BBQ this weekend, which was fun even with just the two of us. It is so peaceful and beautiful up here in our forest. Tyler grilled chicken, potatoes and asparagus, it was all really good. He is becoming a grill master!

Summer Job

Tyler has been working hard at his new job. He is in charge of cleaning up the "yard" (it is more like an organized forest) around the cabin we live in. He frequently comes home with scratches and bruises from cleaning up trees. You would be amazed to see the piles and piles of dead leaves and branches he pulls out of the "planter boxes".

Occasionally he gets asked to go out and help the crew with other properties that the Ashtons own. Lately he has been going out to "the ranch" where he is turning all his work jeans green from weed whipping so much. It has it's perks too though as we found out today. Tyler was asked to test out the zip line that runs over their pond, so today I went up to the ranch to oversee the test run.
That is the pond, which is the size of a small lake. You can see the small dock with boats next to it, and that tower in the middle is where the zip line starts.
I was gracious enough to let Tyler try it out first. It's probably about a 20-30 foot tower.














And then I decided to try it. It took me a while to work up the courage to get off the platform, but that was the scariest part, after that it was just fun!

Finished Recruiting

That's right I am finished recruiting for my study. I have 82 families participating. Thanks a million to all of you who have helped me get this far! It has been more work than I thought it would be but hopefully it will be downhill from here. I have a few different groups since I would just have people start as soon as I found them. This week the first group is finishing up so I will start collecting data from them next week (if all goes according to plan). It will be nice that way because then I will get the data in waves rather than all at once. It is a huge relief to have everyone recruited, I almost didn't think I would make it this far, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. (Sorry no pictures)