Tongue River Caves!

What is there to do in Dayton, WY you may ask, well we have lived here for 3 years before we discovered that there is something really cool! The Tongue River Caves. Our new friends invited us to join them to check them out and have a hot dog roast! It was a blast! So, now if any of you want to come in good weather conditions we have somewhere cool to take you!

The kids were too little to do much in the cave, but the river and small hike to get to the cave provided ample entertainment. Joseph and I plan to head back soon to explore the cave in more detail!!
(Thanks to Andrea for the pics since mine ran out of batteries right when we got there!)(Olivia tried watermelon for the first time and loved it! She chewed on the rind for 20 min. I think we found our newest teether for her!!)

Why Wyoming?

After having a debate with a close family member over why we have chosen to live in Wyoming, I have been reflecting on that question a lot myself and here is what I have come up with.
I firmly believe that there are good and bad things about every where. Here are the big 4 negative's to living in Wyoming for me,
1-Distance from Family (although it could be worse)
2-Travel (esp. when trying to see family!!)
3-Weather(really who likes snow 9 months a year)
4-Lack of Shopping (pathetic I know, but I really love a good mall!!)

So those are my reasons why I would leave, but here are the positives. (In no particular order of importance!!)
1-Strong Family Oriented Community
2-Ward family that would and has given much to us
3-Wonderful school system
4-Beautiful scenery
5-safe environment for my children to grow up in
6-good friends
7-Awesome YMCA program
8-Career that not only pays the bills and allows me to be a stay at home mom for my children, but also one that fulfills my husband and will help meet all the goals my husband has regarding a career
*mind you I realize that many places also offer these positives, but for what ever reason the Lord directed us here*

So, for those who I have given a negative image of Wyoming, I ask you to look past my past struggles with living here. It has not been easy to adjust to a new community, but we have been received with more than open arms. Although I have gone through varying degrees of like and dislike regarding our settling arrangements, I am now determined to focus on the list of positives and not negatives. For those of you that this personally affects by not having us closer, I am sorry. For the family distance alone I many times wish it could be different. We miss so much by being away and we love you all so much, but this is where we are supposed to be. It has taken my nearly 3 years to know this for myself, but now I do. Coming into town this past trip home, I finally felt like I was coming home. I do love it here and although I don't know why, I know this is where the Lord wants my family right now.
So, for those that care or just needed something to do for 5 min. this is why Wyoming is the right place for us. I am glad to have this realization come since, it looks like this will be our home for a long time to come!