~HEATHER'S HIGHLIGHTS~: July 2023

As you saw in my last post, June 2nd - June 11th found our family singing for the Faith Missionary Association Camp in Mitchell, South Dakota.

Noah had graduated the weekend before we went out to Mitchell. He really wanted to go to Yellowstone National Park for his senior trip. He had never been there, or if he had, he was a tiny tike.

Since we were already going to be out West, and Noah, being born in AZ, LOVES the West, it was the Perfect Senior Trip for him!

So, we took Noah and the family on from Mitchell, SD, to see Yellowstone National Park (and we also got in the Grand Tetons.)

After camp, we were so tired, so we took Monday, to pack up the Airbnb, and spend extra time with friends, before heading out for Noah's Senior trip on Tuesday A.M.

So, that meant we only had Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to dedicate to Noah's Senior trip, but we crammed in a lot in those 3 wonderful days and had a Blast being together! Noah is such a special young man and we surely enjoyed celebrating him!!

WOW!!! Don't we serve an AMAZING AWESOME GOD!?!

You cannot look at His Creation without being in Awe and Wonder and Loving Him more!!!

I cannot post allllll the pics we took, for you would be here for a year, ;-) But, please enjoy these that I post.

Before we left Mitchell, on Tuesday morning, we had fun using glass markers and decorating our windows with,

"Congrats Noah!!"

~We stopped at Wall Drug in between Mitchell and Rapid City, SD.

It started out as a little pharmacy in Wall, SD, but wasn't getting a lot of business.

One HOT sunny day, the wife of the owner suggested that they put out a sign saying, "FREE ICE WATER" on Interstate 90.

It worked. Lots of people came by that day.

Now it has grown to take up a block or more.

They still have free ice water and 5 cent coffee.

~RAPID CITY~

I have A LOT of Wonderful Memories from Rapid City, SD!!! The summer before I went off to college, we moved to Oelrichs, SD, for my Daddy to pastor there.

The closest chain grocery store was about 23 miles away in Hot Springs, SD.

But our closest Walmart was in Rapid City, AN HOUR AWAY!

So, feeling like Laura Ingall's Wilder...

we would make a list,

check it twice,

then once a month head to Rapid City to spend

a whole day shopping.

We would hit the thrift stores, including Boy's club thrift store (my Favorite), grocery shop, get material if we needed to sew something, and eat out, then head back home enjoying God's Beautiful creation driving through the Black Hills,

and watching antelope!

Now, Speed up to this trip.

We have dear friends who live and pastor in Rapid City,

Brent and Nicki Woodard...

but they were out of town when we came through this time.

Years ago the Woodards took us to "Armadillos" ice cream shop...a place where we try to stop when coming through

Rapid City.

~Someone back east had told Noah about the store called Scheels.

Then when we got to Mitchell Camp, he heard about Scheels all 10 days of camp. :-)

So, we ended up stopping at 3 different Scheels on

Noah's Senior Trip.

It was a neat store! The boys especially Loved it.

Someone had gifted Elijah some money, so he bought a long board (Skateboard) here in Rapid City, to ride along with Noah.

~The boys riding in Rapid~

~That Tuesday night we stayed in Cody, WY.

Cody, WY is a quaint town...Retro...you feel like you have stepped back in time!

We arrived around 2:00 AM I think...and when we told the lady at the hotel desk over the phone that we would be arriving at that hour...

she told us that she would be SOUND ASLEEP at that time, so that she would

LEAVE OUR KEY IN AN ENVELOPE TAPED TO THE OUTSIDE OF THE OFFICE DOOR!!!!

~SURE ENOUGH!!!

THERE IT WAS WITH

OUR NAMES,

ROOM NUMBER,

AND KEY TAPED THERE FOR ANYONE TO TAKE!!!

Talk about RETRO...and a trusting town!!!

~Subway at a park, the next morning, before heading out.~

~YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK~

~Heading to YELLOWSTONE~

If you have ever been to Yellowstone, you know that Pictures can in no way do it justice.

But, here are the pics we tried to capture!~

Our dear friend Luann shared a travel app that she had found for Yellowstone and Grand Tetons.

It's called the Gypsy Guide App.

You have to pay a fee,

Then DOWNLOAD the app USING WIFI,

before entering the park.

(BECAUSE THERE IS NOT ENOUGH SERVICE INSIDE THE PARK TO DOWNLOAD IT. DON'T ASK ME HOW I KNOW. ;-)

It hooks to your gps and the man tells you facts and things to stop and see along the way.

By the time he was done, we felt like we were saying goodbye to an old friend.

This app covers a lot of places...but I for sure would recommend it for Yellowstone and Grand Tetons.

~The kids hiking to the left of the water fall.

It was a chilly day there in Yellowstone.~

~I grew up about 30 mins. or so from the Great Smoky Mountains so since I was a little girl I have trained my eye to spot deer, bear, etc.

We've driven around Cade's Cove more times than I can remember, counting animals!

So, This day in Yellowstone I was PRAYING that Jesus would help us see lots of animals...for sure a NICE BIG ELK!!!!

Thank you, Jesus, for letting us see this big ol' boy!

(And, on top of that, he let us see a mule deer, a baby moose,

Loads of buffalo, and a giant Grizzly Bear on this day as well!)

~There was a sign explaining that the heat or different mixtures normally make the water be one of THREE colors.

Gray, Orange, and an Aqua Blue.

Here is the Gray....

~Orange~

~Aqua Blue~

~There were just boiling points everywhere you looked.~

~OLD FAITHFUL~

~A Selfie with Old Faithful...while we were waiting for it to go off!!

~Is it starting????

Not yet!

~Abigail and her bear named Tito waiting....~

~Old Faithful sends out about

8,000 Gallons of water every 75 minutes,

give or take 10 minutes.~

~HERE IT GOES!!!!

~There is NOTHING with which to compare God...and that would be scary to try ....

But My sister Laura pointed out that

OLD FAITHFUL

has always reminded her of the

FAITHFULNESS OF GOD!!!!

Day after Day,

Week after Week,

Month after Month,

Year after Year!

THANK YOU, JESUS, FOR BEING SOOO FAITHFUL!!!

~Phillip was wearing his hat backwards so as not to lose it!!! There were around 7 hats laying out in the middle of the hot water, due to the wind whipping them off people's heads.~

~Buffalo up ahead...~

~We saw a huge grizzly bear this evening as well, but it was a little too far away to get a clear picture.~

~Wednesday night we stayed in Rexburg, Idaho.

This was the only hotel we stayed in that had a pool.

So, the next morning, we prayed that Jesus would help everyone else to be busy

EATING BREAKFAST,

so the kids could swim for a little while alone.

Jesus ANSWERED PRAYER...

and they got to swim for about 45 mins. before someone else arrived to swim!~

~Skateboarding~

~Jackson Hole~

Dear Joel gave us some $ to buy a meal on Noah's Senior Trip.

So, before we drove through the Grand Tetons,

(knowing it would take hours)

we stopped here and got BBQ, Baked Beans, Coleslaw,

and then stopped by a gas station and got drinks and more snacks.

~GRAND TETONS~

~Look at the HEART SHAPED cloud above the mountain range.~

~DRIVING BACK THROUGH YELLOWSTONE!~

~2 Brothers...

~2 Brothers and their sister~

~I captured Noah standing under the dead tree.~

~Construction in Yellowstone.~

~SCHEELS IN SIOUX FALLS~

~On the way back though Sioux Falls we stopped at the

3rd Scheels store that we had stopped at.

This one had a Ferris wheel right

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STORE!

Each person could ride for $1.00!

When I went to pay for 5 of us to ride,

The guy said we could ride for FREE!

It was fun, you could look around the store

while you rode the Ferris wheel!

~And we were so happy and surprised to meet up with Gilbert who we had met during Mitchell, SD camp.~

~Missoula, MT~

~Then we drove to Missoula, MT to get in a visit with our Christian Nation Church Pastor and people there.

We couldn't be "that close" without seeing them.

So, we met up with the David Deets family, Bro. and Sis. Ken Hooper, and Bro. and Sis. Paul Taylor and had supper with them at Cracker Barrel!

We had such a nice visit and it was so fun to see them again and talk about Jesus and what He is doing in all of our lives.~

~The kids' table~

~L TO R:

Bro. David Deets, Bro. Paul Taylor, Phillip, and Bro. Hooper.~

~L TO R:

Joshua Deets, Sis. Taylor, Sis. Hooper, Heather, Aimee, and Justin Deets.~

~Playing checkers~

~Me and My BUDDIES!~

~A selfie of all of us~

~Bro. Hooper, Bro. Deets, and Phillip~

~Sis. Deets bought us some yummy hard candy sticks to eat and a cute "It is Well with my soul" notepad for me.~

~Sis. Hooper brought us some yummy Huckleberry jam!~

~After we ate supper at Cracker Barrel with them, then we started DRIVING STRAIGHT HOME!!

IHYC youth camp started on Monday, and our kids were registered to go. The only way we could make it was if we drove straight through!

It was the LONGEST non-stop trip that we have ever been on.

Noah started driving that evening after we ate supper at Cracker Barrel, and drove through that first night, while Phillip tried to get some sleep.

(I am NOT a long distance driver! I do good to drive to Walmart, Goodwill, and back home! :-D

So, I DID NOT drive even 1 mile of this L-O-N-G Trip!!!)

We would stop for food, gas, and coffee, to keep the driver awake...and keep going.

Then Phillip drove the next day and through the next night. There were times in the night that Phillip would get soooo TIRED that he would have to pull over and do jumping jacks to WAKE HIMSELF UP, then hit the road again.