Ice Fishin' in Wyomin'

Over President's Day weekend (Feb 15th - 18th) we drove up to Wyoming to go ice fishin' with Ryan's parents and Eric and Hayley, Ryan's brother and his wife. Ice fishing is a long standing tradition in Ryan's family, but they don't go nearly as often anymore now that Ryan and all of his siblings have married and moved away from Wyoming. We were excited to go for the first time in a few years, and to take Thomas on his first ice fishing trip!

Ryan, his dad, Eric and Hayley got up early Saturday and drove out to Boysen Lake to set up, but my mom-in-law Kathy, Thomas and I didn't drive in until the afternoon and brought lunch for everyone. I thought it would be fun to take Thomas for a couple hours, but I knew there was no way he would last the whole day out in the cold. Thankfully it was clear and sunny and pretty warm out. Tommy did great and really enjoyed it! It was amazing how well he managed to walk (in little baby-steps) on the ice, and he loved going for rides on grandpa's 4-wheeler, of course! That's what I love too...I don't go for the fishing, I go to ride the ATVs! You can spin a million cookies on the slick ice! We took Thomas out for several rides and only spun some slow mini-cookies with him, but he was lovin' it.



I had only gone ice-fishing once before, and I still freaked out a little at the idea of going out on the ice, afraid it would break. Ryan's Dad drilled a test hole and it was like 2 or 3 feet thick and super solid. You can drive your vehicles out on it! Ryan was even spinning cookies in his giant, full-size Dodge truck. So, I got over it pretty quick.

We had a good time sitting around while waiting for bites, visiting, eating and enjoying the fire (built right on the ice!). Eric and Hayley even laid down a rubber mat and took a little nap. I didn't really take part in the fishing, but we caught several pretty good-sized fish. Most of them were caught by Hayley, a first-time ice-fisherwoman! Props to you, Hayley-Bop. =) We cooked up a couple of them for dinner the next day, and even though I'm not usually a huge fan of eating fish, they were pretty tasty!


It was a fun trip and we had a good time just hanging out the rest of the weekend, relaxing, talking, baking, watching movies and playing games. Thomas loves his Grandma and Grandpa Laidlaw and has so much fun going to visit their house, seeing their dog Jasmine and looking at Grandpa's chickens. I enjoy going to visit Ryan's parents in Wyoming because the pace of life is slower there, and you learn to just sit and relax and enjoy being in the company of your loved ones. Its so good for me because I really need to do some slowing-down more often! Here's a photo I love that I took of their backyard at sunset in the fall a few years ago...this image is what I think of whenever I remember the tranquil mood of Ryan's childhood home.