The end of 2008 rafting :(

Rafting for this year is over. While there are like 300 pictures from rafting that I'd love to share--people just don't want to see all 300. Sooo-- I'm painstakingly going through them and narrowing my favorite to 10. 10 is just a good round number that people will still look at.

This is actually from last year. But this group came back again this year. And I didn't get this picture until this year. So let's pretend. This is Tight Squeeze.

My Aunt and Uncles (and cousin) with Josh in Time Zone.

My parents, Aunts and Uncle. It's rare to see my dad smile like this :)

This family comes rafting a couple of times a year with us. And I've taken them down almost every time--they have become really good friends.

The guy cackling in front makes this picture a favorite--and the legs in the air. :)


This is my sister and 3 of her kids. Eric in the middle was terrified at first. But you can see he was having a blast!



These 3 pictures are the same group. They came with us on Monday afternoon, then they came back Wednesday morning again they had so much fun. These two trips were the most fun trips I took all year. Just beacause we were "suicide boats" . We purposefully flipped in one of our rapids. On a side note--you can see the water is dirty here. There were mudslides upriver and so the river at this point was seriously a Willy Wonka Chocolate river--but much less tasty.

Now, I've always said that I think the clouds in Idaho are prettier than other places I've lived. Maybe it's just that I see them more often--but I sure do enjoy them.

Fishing!

Well it took 25 years. But I finally went fishing. In fact, I even caught a fish. Actually I caught two. I'm happy to say that I'm a real man and had no qualms with picking up the fish and cleaning it.




Van cleaning his fish--and showing us something else.


Fish heads fish heads, rolly polly fish heads.


Van and I got bored--so he gave me head.


Now how it really went. Josh taught me and Van what to do. I cast. Van casts. Van doesn't like his cast--so he's reeling it in and says, "Josh something is wrong with my bobber." Josh, "Yeah--you caught a fish." So Josh pulls it out and pulls the hook out. Van sticks his finger in the gills and then I go to as well--and the fish wiggles. Van and I screamed like big manly men. (Not those girly screams you hear us do)

Rafting!

So the bosses sister is up visiting for the week. (She and her husband are on vacation and the boss (Steve and Connie) are back in Nevada for school so it's just me and Chris running the show here) We had a few people walk-in to come rafting--so I invited Connie and Mark--yes, Connie is both the owner's sister's name and his wife's name. Odd huh?
Anyway. We had a blast--but she took a little swim in the second rapid. And luckily we got it on film.


These first three are from Timezone (our first rapid on the lower stretch)

Kid up front= just looking at dad.


The goofs up front really weren't paddling at all--so I had to yell at them.

Here we are set up and pushing in the first crashing wave in Tight Squeeze. (Rapid number 2 and also my favorite rapid)


Watch Connie--in the straw hat.

Now you see her.

*BIG WAVE*


Now you don't.



Flotsam and jetsam. (Not the eels)




You can actually see her holding on to the rope on the boat here. She's right on the top-left side of the boat (from my perspective)

Connie is actually one of my favorite people. We just get along really well. It's really hard for me not to like someone that appreciates my jokes so much. And someone that will tell me a joke that I really, really, really, *really* like.

Ok--since I know you're dying to know what it is, I'll tell you.

What are the sexiest animals on the farm?

Answer: Highlight below so I know you're not cheating.

Brown chicken, brown cow. (But say it with the rhythm of bow chicka wow wow)

Pictures from Idaho

haha!

So I forget how I stumbled upon this masterpiece--but I love it.

What makes Barats and Bereta even better is the fact that they are dressed like Mormon missionaries. And this is totally something that missionaries would do in their spare time. Plus it gives a little more credibilty to the relgious parody.

On the River

I finally gave in and started one of these things. I'll blame it on my obsession with reading Kim's and Stephanie's. It's a good way to feel a little more connected. Which, considering my nomadic lifestyle as of late, is rather nice. Plus I guess it is a good place to share some pictures.

So the other day I took this boat full of crazy middle aged women down the river. It actually was a really fun trip--and the best part is this picture that they took.

We have three requirements to be a river guide at Epley's:

1-- Take six trips down the 70 mile stretch of river we are licensed for.
2-- Get in the boat by yourself (from the river)
3-- Do a backflip off the boat.

Now the first two are kinda self explanatory. Licensure and practicallity. The backflip is just as important in most trips. Simply because people like to see it. And there are times that you have to use every trick in your book to entertain people for 8 hours. Me being me, I couldn't just do a backflip--so I generally do a full. It's funny 'cause the first few times I did it off the boat last year I kept hitting my face on the boat because I'd land where I jumped from. I have since adjusted, and usually think it looks pretty cool--but had never really seen a picture that captured it well.