SUMMER around the ranch

We love to raft & canoe on the river in August & September Coming ashore near the campsite on the ranch
This is the road facing SE before the barn burned in July 2006


The ranch house is secluded by trees from the entrance

Cousins enjoying the river

A view from the road in 2005 (facing SE)

Paradise Valley from Pine Creek Road

(facing SW-- the ranch is mid-right)

A zoom-in to the ranch from Pine Creek Road--

see the pale yellow quonset hut near the center of the photo?
Diamond-7 Lodge is just to the right.

FALL around the ranch

Looking east from DB7
Early Snow (east from DB7)

In the odd-numbered years, we have a HUGE apple harvest at the ranch!

(Danny & Addie picking apples, Sept 2005)

Everyone pitches in to pick the apples

Friends and neighbors come, too, and for weeks we are busy peeling slicing, and mashing, canning applesauce and pie fillings or drying apple chips.
Little TJay "Rakin' the ranch" in 2005

Sometimes it's warm enough to play on the river well into September.

WINTER around the ranch

Steamy River
Icy Entrance

The house in winter

The river from the north end of the ranch (looking SE)

facing the river from the house (Jan 2007)
the river from where the gazebo now stands (facing SE)

the banks of the yellowstone in winter

Cross country skiing in paradise valley
snow shoeing, too!
don't forget your sled!
feeding the birds at diamond bar seven (christmas 2010)
Melin Girls near the boat house on Christmas Eve 2010
--notice the river isn't iced over.

SPRING around the ranch

rainbow at the ranch entrance
apple blossoms, looking east from back yard

Paradise Valley from Hwy 89 (facing east)

just north of Diamond Bar Seven.

When the sun is out, we love to take it in at the tree house & the swings!
(James, May 2008)

The river is high in early spring--
here water creeps up to the road over our campsite
May 2008
A duck on our "log-bench" at the campsite
May 2008

Deer in the yard just north of the ranch house.

The History of Diamond Bar Seven Ranch

Although the Tom Melin family has only owned the Diamond Bar Seven Ranch (DB7) for a few years, it has been part of Melin family history for over a century. Originally part of the Melin homestead, the ranch was purchased as 40 acres and developed by Melvin and Vivian Ellison in 1952 as a modest family ranch. Melvin constructed the main house/ vacation rental in 1981.


Here is a little history about Vivian Ellison, our adopted "Ranch Grandma" who passed away in October 2010. This is a spotlight that was published in her church newsletter in 2006.

Vivian Anderson Ellison was born November 13, 1920 in Otto, Wyoming to Maurice and Lettie Anderson. She was raised in Otto, attending school there for 10 years.


Vivian married Melvin Ellison on December 18, 1940 in Burlington, Wyoming. In 1941, they moved to Paradise Valley and helped Melvin's parents on their ranch (which is now an RV park just south of Vivian's house). In 1954, the Ellisons bought their ranch where Vivian now lives. They raised cows and sheep, beautiful gardens, and two children--Roger and Deanne. Roger married and had 6 children, and Deanne had 3. Sister Ellison now has 19 great-grandchildren, "and counting."



Melvin and Vivian had a wonderful life together, marked by their great friendship and lives of service in the church. Melvin served as the bishop of the Livingston ward for 7 ½ years in the 1970's, and served on the stake high council. Vivian has served in every auxiliary, and in every position in the ward Relief Society at least once. At one time, she held seven callings when Livingston was still a branch, and later she served in the Stake Relief Society Presidency. Even when they had to travel for their stake callings, Melvin and Vivian were always together. "If I had a meeting, he waited in the foyer reading his scriptures, and if he had a meeting, I waited and read my scriptures." Melvin loved children and was "Grandpa" to most of the ward. He passed away in a car accident 1992.



Vivian has carried on in her service and activity in the church. Her other hobbies include crocheting, gardening, baking, and music (she was the ward music leader for many years, and used to sing solos and in groups). Although her children and grandchildren are far away (Roger passed away in 2005), she is a beloved "Grandma" to many in our ward today. Her favorite scripture is 1 Nephi 3:7: "…I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them." Her life has reflected that testimony-she has "gone" and "done" so many things in her service to the Lord and her family. We are grateful for her example and her special part in our Ward Family.