Lava Hot Springs

The weekend we spent in Lava Hot Springs over Labor Day weekend in September 2005, was one of my fondest memories I have before Jonathan's passing. Maybe that is because of my dad and taking all the photos he did, and once again, I am so grateful to my pops for taking all the photos he did during the time Jonathan and I were married. My family has done a Labor Day weekend outing for as long as I can remember. This outing includes my whole dad's side of the family. We always have a good time, this weekend was no different. Jonathan and I camped with my immediate family in a campground next to the river.

We had a great time in Lava. From floating the river, to swimming, to the hot pots, and eating yummy food. There are a few things about this trip though that I absolutely love and will never forget. First was as Jonathan floated the river he was wearing his cowboy hat! This is one of my favorite pictures of him because that is just so Jonathan.

Also, as we were floating the river, we all decided to put in at a higher spot in the river and come off a small waterfall. We all went down it just fine, but I don't know what happened to Jonathan, but as he came down the fall, he slammed his shoulder right in to a huge rock that was sticking out. He got scraped up pretty good and was bleeding, but he never complained about it. That incident left a pretty good bruise too! Another thing that I remember and this goes to show just what kind of a person he was, but as we were floating the river, I fell out of my tube and couldn't get back on because the water was pretty swift and fast where I had fallen off, so I tried walking to the edge but because it was moving so quickly, I couldn't walk very good without losing my footing. So, I just stood there for awhile trying to decide what to do. Jonathan was up ahead of me at this point and my aunt had passed me and saw that I was struggling to get back on, so when she got to the point where you got out of the river, which was also right by where we were camping, she told Jonathan I had fallen off and couldn't get back on. So, that sweet hubby of mine got on a bike we had in our camp and rode down the side of the river to come help me get out!

Last thing that I really remember about this trip, that we still laugh about today, is on Sunday while we were in Lava my family decided they were going to go to church. Growing up we rarely went to church on Sunday when we were on vacation, so I had told Jonathan he didn't need to bring church clothes because we were on vacation. Well, my family decided to go for some reason this particular weekend. Jonathan and I did not have church clothes so we went in our shorts and shirts, but the shirt Jonathan wore was what me and my sister referred to as his "marijuana shirt". It had these green leaves on it that looked like marijuana leaves, so still laugh that he had his "marijuana shirt" on in church.