Jackson Lake Lodge, Wyoming

So we had kind of a surprise this week. John's parents, Craig and Sherry Michelsen, invited us to go with them to Jackson Lake Lodge, Wyoming on Saturday for an Aflac Picnic Retreat! 

I picked up Miss Kim from EFY Saturday morning at 8:00am and listened to how much fun she had there with kids her age. Oh to be that young again! It was so cute listening her tell me and her mom all about the talks, the activities, and, of course, the boys! What was most funny though was listening to John's reaction of Kim talking about boys; she's still his little sister. He kept saying "how old are you?" and "you can't think boys are cute yet!" Oh so funny!!

Then as soon as Sherry and Michael came from Utah, we were off on our adventure to Wyoming. With Wyoming so close, I am not sure why we haven't gone before but the last time I was there was taking Jaren to a speech competition in Sheridan, WY. Oh how long ago was that. Anyways, our adventure into Wyoming was much better than I expected. I didn't know anything about the location we were going to and as we got closer and closer to the mountains, the desert of Idaho slowly disappeared to be replaced by the mountains and forest that John and I miss so much about Montana. It was so pretty! The only downside from the trip in the car was that at one point, we got caught behind a street sweeper for about 45mins with 3 miles of traffic!! This of course did not help my car sickness either!

By the time we got to the Lodge, it was lunch time. We walked into the lodge to find Craig Michelsen, my father-in-law. The view from the top floor of the lodge was breath-taking! It was a perfect view of the Tetons. It made me miss Montana. 

But then we quickly decide to fix the rumblings in our tummies and sat down at the Pioneer Grill, home of the longest diner bar in the US. It was cool and had lots of tools and mementos from the local history. One sign was from the biggest snow record which was 83 inches!! And our buffalo burgers were definitely amazing!

Then we spent time in the pool instead of the lake because of where the picnic was located. It was lots of fun playing in the pool with Michael and Sherry. We even played a round of chicken with the boys on our shoulders!! We laughed so hard at each other. 

The picnic was a lot of fun too. Craig, 30 years ago, invented a game he calls Side Winder. It reminds me a lot of pioneer games like the stick pulling game. Anyways two people have a long thick rope with a loop on each end. Each player has a end which they have wrapped behind their backs to hold with one arm. After they have pulled the rope taut between them and gotten a good footing, the goal is to make the other person loose their footing. Only one hand can be touching the rope and you can't even move your foot a little. It was more fun than I figured especially as I started to beat John which never happens. I was even able to beat a couple of grown men! 

Between all the games and the great food, we had a great time. We even went home with a set of Lincoln Logs! But the best prize was getting to spend time with family!!

Life is best when you are surrounded by family!!