I AM Thankful

 As I'm off any pain medication until the hip surgery Tuesday last night was pretty miserable. At 2:00 am I finally went upstairs and tried sleeping on the couch and did doze off until 4:30 am then got up made a couple pots of coffee and started cooking breakfast for the group leaving for fishing at 5:30 am. Once breakfast was cooked and ready for them just to heat up I took a cup of coffee down to Mark then went to bed and slept until after 6:00 am. When I came upstairs every had gone fishing except Mark, Rhoda, Anna, River and Zeke. It wasn't long before pictures started arriving. David sent the first picture of the sunrise before they left the house. Another beautiful day.

We were glad when the fish pictures started coming in, they were all catching rainbow trout.

See that pretty princess pole Nolan is casting with? Both Eden and Zion had those poles, Nolan would cast it out the the girls would reel it in. They were catching a lot of rainbow trout with those poles.

Soon other fishermen started wading in with their fancy poles getting closer and closer to our group as they were assuming our group found a great spot with lots of fish. One man got his line tangled up in the Princess pole. When Nolan was helping him get it untangled the man apologized and Nolan replied, "that's ok, I'm sure you were just checking out my fishing pole. Right about then Zion pulled in the fish below from that same pole!

I'm sure Walmart will sell out of those poles by tomorrow.

The first group came home with a lot of fish to clean.

The next group came with right after with 4 more nice size rainbow trout.

Sarah, Anna and I started cleaning them.

Taegan wanted to learn and was taught with the first fish cleaned, by the 3rd fish she was a pro.

When Braelyn arrived with the second group Taegan taught Braelyn how to clean the fish.

She picked it up quickly and was soon busy working.

While all of this was going on someone must have made Zeke mad, he started attacking one of the girls bikes.

Check out that face. Don't make that baby mad!

Lunch was out on the porch then everyone got ready to leave for a water park in Salem about 16 minutes away. Mark and I stayed home for that but were sent pictures.

They came back famished. Dinner was started right away. Nolan and David decided fish tacos were on the menu but we also cooked whole trout by first frying then baking for about 20 minutes. The fish turned out perfect, the meal was truly delicious. This was the first time I've ever had a fish taco.

After supper they went on a hike called the Devil's Well trail. It led them to a spring at the bottom of a cave. No one knows how deep this well is. (according to the little girls who came in excited to tell me all about it) Below are pictures of the hike by Nolan.

They are home from the hike and building a fire to make our final dessert of the night, s'mores. Tomorrow right after breakfast we will pack up and leave for home. It has been a good but quick vacation and I have really enjoyed watching and listening to excited happy voices as they tell me about their day. I AM thankful.