Flaming Gorge

So Thanksgiving break officially started for me today at 5:15 p.m. What does that mean? A break from homework to curl up on the couch and look over last summer's pictures. I decided to post a few from our camping trip at Flaming Gorge---a lotta fun and fireworks! Luke and his brother Tyler decided to continue a Roman Candle war from the previous night and attack their little brother Josh while he was wake boarding. Their Dad had no sympathy and only drove Josh closer and closer to them. Luke deciding that the shore was still too far and conspicuous, swam out to submerge himself with only the fireworks above water. This is the brothers as they burst up and suprise Josh (he'd kill me if I knew I wrote it, but you should have heard Josh yell! But it's okay he later grazed Luke's head with a candle as Luke took his turn out on the wake).

And here he is winning the height and distance jump contest he had with his brothers! Actually I don't think this is the winning jump, I don't think I caught that one, and I have to admit the wipeouts were just as much fun to watch.

Stubbs, grumpy that he had to stay on the beach (Luke's mom and sister in background). He would have too much fun trying to get on the wake board with whoever was out.

The water was gorgeous! Visibility down to 20 feet in some parts of the lake.

After destroying one buoy, caught terrorizing the second.

Stubbs and his cousin Maggie (Josh's dog). It was an amazing sunset. We had one end of the lake practically to ourselves, the location was great, the weather was stormy on and off, but still got in a lot of fun. And sitting out the wind storms in the tent wasn't half bad either! Ali, Luke's sister, and I made banana boats--bananas, chocolate, and marshmellows all wrapped up in tinfoil and cooked on the coals--it was our nightly ritual. And being able to come straight off the boat to dirt-biking was awesome. I'm anxious to go again!

Stubblefield

It's been awhile since we've posted pics of Stubbs, he's changed a bit.

We thought he was done growing till we saw his dad in Reno. He's a small bear. Stubbs is coming up on the century mark, and shows no sign of slowing.

But he's very much still a puppy.

Sarah 2012!

As promised, Mooseburger Helper. It was very good. Viva la Sarah!

The Road

Last night I finished reading Cormac McCarthy's The Road. I picked it up when I had a few extra minutes in the afternoon and ended up skipping my homework to finish it. I didn't want to put it down its that engrossing. And scary, and suspensful... Its really well-written, the author is a Pulitzer Prize winner. I'd recommend it if anyone wants a good read, that doesn't take long to get through, and that makes you lock all your doors while you're reading! I'm just gonna say--I hate basements, and we need more canned peaches. Cormac McCarthy is Lukes favorite author and he'd wanted to read it for a while, but I stole it before he started...last time that happened he never got to finish (it got left on a bus, by the way it was Killing Che, and we left it in Rosario, Che's birthplace---I mean when we were reading it we were seriously hiding the binding from the Argentines! I got to finish it, and it was really interesting also--an account of the CIA and the Bolivian gov't hunting down Che).
The Road comes out in theatres this November, I'm really interested to see how they make it and what it ends up being rated.

Sarah Palin Rally!

Last Monday Luke and I went to a Sarah Palin rally in Salem, VA---that's the advantage of being in a battleground state, the rallys come to you! It was worth the freezing cold and long lines (there were thousands of people there). You don't see it in the picture but the opposite stands of the football statium were completely full too.

And here she is! Everyone was chanting "Sarah, Sarah!" waiting for her to arrive, I don't think I've ever experienced that much excitment over a VP candidate. It was awesome to hear her talk, she was so energetic and charismatic, but more than that it was nice to believe in a candidate. It was defintely worth ditching class for!

We couldn't resist buying some Mooseburger Helper while there (pictures to come) and that's what we'll be eating election night! Now if we could just find a moose...