President's Weekend in Island Park

Valentine dinner: Craig, Mardyne, Me, Jon, Karen, Wayne

Feb 13th-16
Wayne, Karen, Craig, Mardyne, Jon & I drove to Island Park stopping at the "Copperill restaurant" in Idaho Falls for a Valentine dinner. Then we continued on to Island Park arriving at 10:00 p.m. at Ron and MaryJean Campbell's beautiful cabin near Henry's Fork. The only thing better than owning your own cabin is having a friend who owns a cabin and Wayne's brother and his wife were very gracious hosts. There were 5 bedrooms on 3 floors. Jon and I had the entire upstairs with 2 king sized bedrooms to choose from.

Me (didn't have time to turn around for the timer), Craig, Mardyne, Wayne, Karen, Jon, Ron, MaryJean

Valentine's day-The next morning we drove to West Yellowstone. Right across the street from the visitor's center were perfect ski trails. Ron, Wayne, Jon, Karen and I skied about 8.5 miles around the Lower and Upper River trails. Craig, Mardyne, and Mary Jean snowshoed around the upper river trail. We all had a fantastic time. The weather was beautiful and there was snow; which we can't find right now at home. That night Karen and Wayne fixed a delicious salmon dinner then Karen was the host for the "Newlywed" game with us 3 other couples competing. It was a ton of fun. After that we watched the movie, "The Count of Monte Cristo." Jon and I gave each other some chocolate and cards.

Mardyne and Craig fixing Sunday night dinner

Karen couldn't resist climbing the pine pole in the cabin

She made it!

Sun-We all went to church at the Island Park ward. The speakers were really good and so down to earth. Afterwards we all had a sacred Sunday nap then Wayne, Karen, Jon and I went for a walk through the snow meadows around the cabin. It was a trick to stay on top of the snow.
That night we had a special "fireside." Karen read a true story of a young lady who was brought back from the dead and then Mardyne told her "Adoption story" which is an amazing account of the miracle around adopting their youngest daughter Anjali in Bulgaria. She also told the story of when Anjali was 3 years old and fell down from the first floor into the rocky basement in a house that was under construction. Mardyne had to straddle the side boards where the stairs would go in order to reach her. She found Anjali perfectly fine without a single scratch or bruise. She told her mom, "An angel catched me."

Wayne & Karen behind the cabin

Mon- It was another beautiful day. Ron, with his waxable skis, Wayne, Karen, Jon and I went for a couple hour ski exploring the area around the cabin. The snow was pretty hard and crusty but it didn't matter. The scenery was gorgeous and we are all happy just being outside. When we got back to the cabin, Craig, Mardyne and MaryJean had done all our chores making getting packed up to leave a quick task.

We left around 11:00. We stopped at Riverside so I could get in the other car so Jon wouldn't have to drive into Cache Valley. It was sure a wonderful trip!