First Sight of the Grand Tetons

September 5th The Man and I celebrated our 21st anniversary :)

We decided to get away for a few days and see some country we hadn't yet explored. 

The Jackson/Yellowstone/Tetons area was calling our name and we didn't waste a minute planning a trip!

We found some cute cabins with an amazing fall special ~ $25.00 a night. To good to be true!

Taken through the window ~ How exciting to finally be here :)

The famous antler arches ~ There's one at each corner of the town square in Jackson.

As you can imagine antlers are a popular theme in this part of the world.

This is the street we parked on in Jackson. Love the window boxes!

Driving through Jackson ~ There were a lot of people...can't even imagine what it's like in the summer :(

Jackson's a nice little town ~ I don't think it's as amazing as what people make it out to be though. I do love all the fun coffee/beer/wine shops :)

Me outside our cabin. Great door color!

Home sweet home for 4 days ~ Our cabin was so clean.       Beyond impressive for $25.00 a night.

Front office of Teton Valley Cabin where we stayed in Driggs, Idaho.

The cabins are off to the right in the trees.

Coffee shop in Jackson. Isn't it charming?

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We got up and left town about 7am on a Wednesday heading towards Idaho. We were met with smoky skies as soon as we arrived in Idaho. Idaho had some bad fires this summer as did Montana and Wyoming. They were actually on the verge of evacuating Jackson the week before we got there.

We found our cabin in the Teton Valley of Idaho. We couldn't really see any of the mountains from there because of the smoke. We ate lunch at Tony's Italian Pizzeria in Driggs. All you can eat pizza, salad and soup. 
After lunch we decided to head over Teton Pass to Jackson.

Jackson is a cute, little town. We walked around and window shopped. It didn't take long for us to look at each other and say "let's head for the mountains!"

Before we left Jackson we stopped and signed up for a scenic river float for the next morning.

We decided to make sure we knew where Bar J Chuckwagon was as we had reservations for the next night. We found it easily and then kept on driving down that road to see where it went.
We weren't really paying attention to where we were and it was still pretty smoky.

Pretty soon we came to this sign:

I started this blog post a few days ago and for some reason when I try to put captions on the second batch of pictures or delete a couple it deletes half the post/pictures! Ugh ~
So I'm going to go ahead and post this as is. 

The above pictures were all taken the first night we saw the Tetons.
 I fell head over heels in love the moment I laid eyes on these magnificent mountains! The beautiful old hymn "How Great Thou Art" came to mind and we actually had a Liberty ( southern gospel group) CD in and we listened to them sing that song :) 
The sun was going down and with the smoke hovering in the air it made a spectacular sunset! A breathtaking experience for sure.

We had a wonderful trip and I will be posting more pictures :)
        
                                                                                      ~JanMarie

Pumpkin Custard ~ A Little Taste of Heaven

Autumn is here :) 
My very favorite season. Ok, it's not officially here but the cooler temps and changing color are here. 

In July our neighbor of 10 years, Grace (she's 97), was moved out of her home and is now living in an assisted living facility. It is heartbreaking to see her there but after she was found wandering down the street, not knowing where she was, it had to happen. 
I miss her dearly and visit her in her new home. 
Yesterday I took her to Cracker Barrel for lunch. She loved their root beer! 
Pumpkin Custard was advertised as dessert but I was full so I decided I should find a recipe and make it for dinner. 

Last night Lyndee and Tessa (3 yrs. old) came over for dinner. We've been neighbors for 5+ years and they are now like family. Aaron was out of town and couldn't be here. I brought out the Pumpkin Custard after dinner and Tessa devoured hers before the rest of us even started on ours! 
Yes, it's that good :) 
 It's so easy to make. It took maybe 5 minutes to prepare. I didn't have all the topping ingredients so just made the custard. So, so yummy :)

6 ingredients all thrown together ~ nice and simple

Ready for the oven ~ Do you see the steam from the hot water?

Dig In :)

Here's the recipe from Taste of Home:

Pumpkin Custard

*15 oz. solid-pack pumpkin

*2 eggs

*1 cup half and half

*2/3 cup packed brown suger

*1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

*1/2 tsp. salt

Topping:

*1/4 cup packed brown sugar

*1/4 cup chopped pecans

*1 TB butter, melted

*whipped cream and ground cinnamon, optional

Directions:

• In a large bowl, combine the first 6 ingredients; beat until smooth. Pour into four greased 10 oz. custard cups.

• Place in a 9x13 baking pan; pour hot water around cups to a depth of 1 inch. Bake, uncovered , at 350* for 20 minutes.

• For topping, combine the brown sugar, pecans and butter. Sprinkle over custard. Bake 30 - 35 minutes longer or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Serve warm or chilled; top with whipped cream and cinnaon if desired. Store in the refrigerator. 

~Cracker Barrel garnished their custard with a gingerbread cookie and caramel whipping cream sprinkled with cinnamon.

 

This is so easy to make ~ If you love pumpkin you should try it! Your taste buds will be eternally grateful :)

~JanMarie

ThePianoGuys :)

Earlier this summer Ben said to me " Mom, you have to come watch this video on You Tube." 
ThePianoGuys. Simply put ~ they are amazing! Jon Schmidt on piano and Steven Sharp Nelson on cello. Boring? Uh, no. They bring passion and life into each piece they play. They are from here in Utah but have traveled the US and world together. 
In August my neighbor mentioned that ThePianoGuys were going to perform up in Ogden Valley. My first thought was that I had to take Ben. DJ was planning on going to a demolition derby that night but decided to go to the concert with us :)

This was the the venue for the concert ~ Wolf Mountain up in Ogden Valley. We are sitting at the bottom of a ski slope. It was a beautiful night.

Little Man waiting for the concert to start

I love this barn :)

There's never a dull moment with Ben ~ I'm so proud to be his mom :)

The concert was wonderful and very entertaining. Jon and Steven both have a great sense of humor and make the show a lot of fun! 
Type ThePianoGuys into YouTube and check out their videos. It's worth your time.

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This was taken ((by Ben) on our way to high school registration the week before school started in late August.

Dani ~ Her and DJ took the ATVs out a few weeks ago.

Ben is a sophmore in high school this year. He has a busy schedule. He leaves the house every morning on his bike at 6:30 to go to Drivers Ed for an hour before school. Then after school he has play practice before he goes to work doing custodial work at a local elementary school. 
He landed a role in "You Can't Take It With You." ~  a comedy that was first performed in the Booth Theater in 1936. He plays the son-in-law in a rather eccentric family.

I'm really looking forward to seeing him perform again!

~JanMarie

Climbing to a Higher Altitude

Monday found us heading up Big Cottonwood Canyon out of Salt Lake City. Dani had to work and wasn't able to go with us. 

 Utah is a surprising state. I've had people from out of state say that they thought Utah was ugly. If you drive through Utah on I-15 you will see a lot of high desert country with the Wasatch Mountains running along the east side here in the northern part of the state.
 Beautiful mountains but looking at them from I-15 you wouldn't have a clue at what treasures they hold. 
Waterfalls, forests that rival Oregon's beauty,( I'm an Oregonian), elevations that leave you breathless (you certainly notice the change in altitude!), moose ( northern Utah has about 4500 moose) ~ these are just a few of the treasures you will find as you explore the mountains/canyons in northern Utah. 

We hiked around Silver Lake which is located at top of Big Cottonwood Canyon by Brighton Ski Resort

Reflection in Silver Lake

Heather, Ben and DJ at Silver Lake

 

We hiked up the ski slopes at Brighton to Dog Lake and Lake Mary

Looking back down at the parking lot after hiking for a few minutes

Ben and DJ climbed up this rock along the trail

Heather and I waited under these beautiful trees

This is the view (and the one below) Heather and I had while waiting for the boys

The parking lot as we climb higher

Dog Lake ~ Not a bad place to spend the day :)

This was an absolute treat! We watched this bull moose for 30-40 minutes as he rested on the forest floor.

No, we weren't actually this close ( thank goodness for zoom :)  We were pretty close though. We watched him carefully for signs of agitation ~ he knew we were there but was very mellow.

         

Dog Lake again

His coloring was so beautiful and he had really long eyelashes

His antlers were awesome. The velvet is gone indicating his antlers are done growing.Seeing him was definitely the highlight of the day!

This cute little guy was scurrying around my feet so had to grab a quick shot of him :)

On the other side of Dog Lake Ben (in black) had to climb these rocks

Ben and Heather as we hiked over to Lake Mary ~ You can see the dam in this picture. Lake Mary is a protected watershed.

Elevation at Lake Mary is about 9500 feet.

A little fall color at Lake Mary

DJ and Heather

Hiking back down

It was such a pretty day ~ Wonderful time spent with most of my favorite people in the world!

We parked just to the left

If you love the outdoors Utah is a fabulous place to explore!

"My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken."

~Psalm 62:1-2

~JanMarie