Drive through Yellowstone

We spent the afternoon and evening driving through Yellowstone Park. Our goal was to see wild life.

I think this bug eaten log looks like some kind of map.

We saw a lot of elk.

If you look closely, you can see the few elk down in the grass.

We made it to the north side of the park and stopped at Mammoth Hot Springs for a treat.

We saw several bison but too far away to get a picture 

until we came across this guy who was eating by the side of the road.

We were still in the park as the sun went down and at sundown we were passing Gibbon Field, there are two bison way out there but it was the sunset that caught our attention.

We made it to our accommodations in Big Sky. It's a little cabin up top a mountain.

Comfy!

Empty nest again

Greg and I are back to an empty nest.  Eric has been in Utah all summer with occasional visits to San Jose.  Ryan headed back to Provo this morning.  And Evan and Claire are on missions - Evan in Indiana and Claire in Provo MTC.  So where does that leave Greg and me?  On our way to Big Sky Montana of course.

We flew to Bozeman with a lay over in Seattle.  SeaTac has this great giant window that looks west over the tarmac.  We sat and watched planes come and go as the sun went down.  I did get what I thought would be a lovely picture of the sunsetting but ended up, with the window spotted as it was and the camera really a phone, looking more like the tail of a plane had burst into flame.  So I didn't post that.  But I did get a picture of the cool window and common area for plane watching - and a Greg not realizing I was taking a picture.

Into the MTC

This will be a hog pog of pictures - from Sunday (8/18/13) to Wednesday (8/21/13) - events around Claire's leaving on her mission.

Emily and kids came from Santa Rosa for Claire's farewell talk. We missed seeing Ross and Brennan, Brennan was not feeling well. Blair Harris was visiting from S CA and he was able to attend the farewell also. Was so good to see them.  They had a chance to drive the ol' jeep while here.

Last pictures before we leave to the airport.

We met up with some of our Hardester family in Salt Lake to eat at Red Iguana 2. We were so glad to see them before Claire left.

Wrights hosted a gathering for family in Provo. I wish I had pictures of that - again - it was so great for Claire to have the chance to give hugs to so many of her family. Including brother Eric. :-)

Claire taking care of gitters playing the piano.

Not knowing if we'd have time for pictures at the MTC drop off, we went to the Provo Temple across the street and got some fun shots.

Claire trying to "hold" the MTC in her fingers but we're way off (on purpose). :-p

We did have time for a few pictures at the MTC drop off.

Time to say good bye.

She's a full time missionary now!

What to do after you've been set apart as a missionary.

Have your picture taken with family.

Claudia is taking the picture.

We went over to Jensen's later so Claire could say good bye to Uncle Scott.  Love the hand print action going on behind Claire's head.

Nancy was here for the setting apart and went home right after to be with Scott who was hosting single adults for family night.  More hand print fun.

Friends came by to spend the last few minutes - Lots of laughing going on. Claire is playing hymns singing in Portuguese (portuguese hymn book).

We're off to Utah tomorrow. She goes into the Provo MTC on Wednesday.

Family Reunion 2013

We had our 2nd bieannual Alan and Joy Busath family reunion. We went to South Lake Tahoe. There were over 60 of us there. We stayed in a place called Manzanita Lodge and a friend's cabin on The Tahoe Keys. I have too few pictures but they do give a glimpse of the fun we had but I wish I had more of all the family. :-/ Nancy and Scott, Claudia and Mark, Nate and Kristen and toddler Thomas, and Claire, Greg and I all went up to Tahoe a day early to make sure we could get everything squared away before the rest of the family came into town. We had sometime to play in the water on Friday. 

The view out the back of the cabin. Claire, Claudia and Nate are setting this paddle boat out. Was not an easy carry!

Claudia, Claire and I took a little boat ride through the canal to the lake. It was tiring so we took our time but we made it to the lake. Nancy and Scott were coming back in just at the right time so we got a tow back to the cabin.

 

The Jensen boat back in its spot. And Mark getting back from paddling around the canal on a surf board.

Most of the family stayed at the Manzanita Lodge - it's where we met to eat, make our lunches and have group activities in the evening.

This is one of Dave and Megan's girls, she came into the kitchen and asked if she could help with the dishes.

On Sunday evening we played "Name that Temple" prepared by Kelly. A picture appeared on the screen and if you knew the name of the temple you put your hand up.

Claudia organized this event for us. She focused on three things that were very important to Grandpa Alan and Grandma Joy - Temples, Testimony and Music. Another presentation, Joslyn put together a slide show to music - pictures we sent in to her of us at temples. Ed read an excerpt from our dad's life history where he talks about his testimony. We also sang hymns - lots and lots of hymns. After the activity was over we had fruit crisps made by Nate and Kristen. So delicious - Greg loved it. 

 Just a reminder - Greg does not eat desserts but fruit crisp is like upside down oatmeal so it is more like breakfast.

Saturday and Monday most of us were on the beach sometime or other - at Baldwin Beach which is next to Ski Beach where you can pull boats and jetskis right up to the sand. Swimmers swam at Baldwin Beach and then when they wanted a boat ride they just walked a few yards over to the Ski Beach area - it was perfect. On Monday, Sandy and Bruce, Eric and Sara hitched a ride to putt through Emerald Bay. It was beautiful. Greg made several trips to Emerald Bay - it is only a few minutes by boat from Ski Beach.

That is Claire photo bombing! (Actually I think Greg asked her to get in the picture.)

This is the Viking Castle on the shore of Emerald Bay.

Morning and afternoon on Monday the water was calm enough to do some behind the boat fun - Garry and Ben tubing!

Monday evening we had group family skit night. Hardesters didn't do a skit but Claire played the chorus of showtunes and everyone guessed/sang what the songs were.

Let's hope someone else posts some pictures of this fun gathering.