High Adventure in the New River Gorge

We got to go to the New River Gorge (Jared's second time this year!) as part of the high adventure trip. It was a quick overnight - we got in Friday evening, ate pizza and hung out together including a short devotional. The campground area was nice and surprisingly quiet!

We started the day with some yummy breakfast at the lodge, including plenty of delicious bacon! After that, we went over to the high ropes course. The high ropes course was awesome! There were quite a few different courses and obstacles, and we split up pretty quickly and spread out all over the course.

After finishing there, we went to the New River for a float trip. The New River was a little bigger than the Snake River in Idaho. A minute after leaving, the very first obstacle, a rock that we back into and spin off of, nearly threw Luke, which made for a fun conversation for the duration of the float! We had swim time, float time, and some fun rapids. There were a couple good paddlers and mostly not good paddlers (ahem... Luke!) - it was pretty funny and a lot of fun to be with Jacob and the rest of the young men.

Summertime fun

Olympics with the Gibsons - since we did Japanese teppanyaki for the opening ceremonies, we joined in the Gibsons' tradition of lots of different international foods and drinks. I think the Jensen kids were especially excited about the huge drink selection!

It is funny how much we care deeply once every 4 years about swimming, diving, gymnastics, volleyball, and other obscure sports!

Gardening was a success - at least, the rabbits or some other little critter thought so. We may have gotten 2 tomatoes and 1 zucchini!

Dani has started going to Orange Theory and getting buff!

Liam has kept his summer studies to relevant topics, like hunting bears!

I love the sweet relationship Torin and Dani have. He loves to snuggle next to her. On Sundays, when the family reads scriptures, he likes to tuck in next to her. I love when he sits next to his parents or siblings, he will often put his hand or lean his head on a shoulder. It is fun to have a little 7-year-old in the home.

One afternoon, Jared texted Geoff Stevens to see if he was interested in going to the tennis tournament. Geoff said YES, and that he would get the tickets. It turns out that 2 were courtside - as in, on the court! It was awesome to watch from such a close seat. It was a fun evening to spend time with the Stevens.

Mohawks for everyone! Jared saw how well Liam and Torin were rocking their hairdos, so he had to join in the mohawk fun!

Speaking of stylin', don't mess with these two!

One Sunday, it was so nice that we thought it would be fun to get out Liam's bow and target, and Torin took some shots at it.

 

JenAffer Framily Reunion

The last of back to back to back reunions - this time, it was the JenAffer Framily Reunion! We have some wonderful friendships, and we are always looking for adventure, laughter, and good food!

This was our first time to meet the newest addition to the Framily, Jack! We spent a few minutes hanging out in a park in Twin Falls near the river until we got to our first adventure.

Adventure #1 - we met in the canyon at a park to go zip lining. After getting geared up with helmets and harnesses (and the teenage boys touching one another, of course), 

 

 

we took a ride in the back of an old military jeep on a dusty road to our first platform. Everyone was fearless from right off the first platform.

 

The canyon and river provided a beautiful backdrop.

We were proud of our little ones who walked right up and went off every time.

This was a classic JenAffer activity to kick off our trip together!

The reunion went from adventure to food! Given that the summer Olympics were being held in Tokyo, we continued a Jensen family tradition of getting food from the host country, so we went to the local Twin Falls teppanyaki restaurant!

 

The chef was funny - he would start chanting "Sake, Sake, Sake" and would go around the table squirting Kool-Aid (we assume!) into any taker's mouth. The kids especially loved it!

Adventure #2 was another first for them - white water rafting! We went on the Hagerman section of the Snake River, a section of the river Jared did as a child as well.

Some of the highlights were some of the big rapids, riding the bull (sitting in the front of the boat and getting knocked backwards when the boat hit a big wave),

swimming in the river, and the pickle picker! Seriously! They had a little tool to pick pickles out of jars. And of course, we now have one in the house too!

It was a beautiful day and a fun time to share another adventure with the Schaffers.

More food! After white water rafting, we had to drive a bit since we were kind of in the middle of nowhere to find the local ice cream place. It was pretty yummy!

Behind the house there was a little cove that the kids could paddle around in and explore. We inflated a few extra water toys to go enjoy. The water was super clear and cool (as it was spring-fed).

 

Jared and Jim had some fun catch-up time on the paddle boards behind the house, just paddling around talking about Precoa, Great American, and general life.

Parent adventure - the parents went for a long paddle, Jared and Dani in an inflatable kayak, the Schaffers on paddle boards. It was a little windy, so that made it a little more work for the Schaffers!

We paddled down to a little water fall a mile down river. Further down river was a whole wall of similar water falls. On our white water trip, we learned that this area has a lot of natural springs!

 

One part of paddling around this area is going under the highway in the culvert - which gave a fun view!

It was so wonderful to get to spend a few days 

While we weren't out seeking adventures, we were in the house playing games or watching the Olympics, and cheering for the USA. It was the first week of the summer games, so there was a lot of swimming, diving, gymnastics, and volleyball games to cheer for. We would sometimes have one event in one room and another event in the patio room.

The t-shirts: JENAFFER 2021 - FRAMILY IS FOREVER!!!

In between the reunions - Part 2 (and 3)

Between the reunions - part 2

Because Jared doesn't want a minute of vacation to go to waste, he found a hike that we could take on the way up to the Jenaffer Framily Reunion. Jared found a place called "Caldron Lynn" that we had a short hike to. Dani was a little worried about the dirt road leading to the trailhead and the rental car!

 

We also went to Shoshone Falls outside of Twin Falls. Jared jealously watched paddle boarders in the river! The falls were spectacular!

PART 3

After the JenAffer Framily Reunion, we drove to the SLC airport, and on the way, we went to the Rasmussen home to visit Ashley and James and Billy. We had lunch with them, reminisced, and enjoyed reconnecting for a couple hours on the way to the airport.