Jennifer

Dear Family,

We spent the 4th of July with Ammon, Angela and Finn in Seattle. We had a barbeque with Buffalo burgers, and yummy summer fruits like watermelon, canteloupe and strawberries. We had a great view from their front yard of the city and two firework displays. There were, of course, the many illegal fireworks going on in the neighborhood.

Finn is growing so fast and it was a lot of fun being around him as he is getting around pretty quickly on his hands and feet (sort of skips the knee part of crawling), and he's been standing, balancing himself while holding onto a chair. So cute, he just makes me smile -- he's got such a catching laugh -- a very happy boy. However now he is teething, and with his 7th tooth coming in he puts everything in his mouth -- fingers, celery, crackers, cat fur...

While in Seattle we decided to go Mount Rainier National Park -- it was a nice day, but when we got to the mountain it was in a cloud with a foot of snow on the ground. We know the mountain was there somewhere, and this was supposed to be when the wildflowers were in bloom, but they had a late snowstorm.

Steve helped Ammon with a project in their kitchen -- that is removing an attached box in the ceiling that had no purpose. It turned out to be a bigger project that anticipated, but now the secret behind the box was revealed -- there was a hole where the smoke of an old stove would escape. (The house was built in the 1920s.) The project wasn't finished when we left, but we're sure Ammon will do a good job.

We left Seattle and headed east and spent the night in Butte, Montana. Then we drove south to Worland, Wyoming, where we spent the day and night with Ralph (Ammon's grandpa) and Ann Gilbert. We had a very nice visit and drove 20 miles to the town of Kirby for a great meal (the town is known for its one restaurant that is always packed with people). We stopped by Thermopolis Hot Springs (World's Largest Hot Springs) for a look (didn't get in) and drove south through some very beautiful country in Wyoming -- South Pass (just south of Lander where the Troutmans are moving to) and Wind River Canyon. Along the canyon walls there are signs naming the prehistoric period of time that the canyon was formed millions of years ago. (Jurassic, Triassic, Cambrian, etc.)

We then drove to Sandy, Utah to visit Mom for a couple of days. We learned to play Ticket To Ride with Mom and Rick and Reba. It's a fun game. I can't get enough of it and played several times with Mom and Heather. We had a good visit with Dorothy, Heather, and Emily and her family.

Hope everyone is having a great summer.
Love, Jennifer & Steve