Our trip to Yellowstone

Warning: This post is long and contains several pictures...continue at your own risk.

This past week we went on a trip with my family up to Yellowstone. We stayed in a cabin that was big enough for our group of 18 people...that got crazy a few times but overall it worked out great.

Wednesday, June 18

We left our house early and met Wendy, Spencer, Roman, Marla, and Tiffany for a picnic in Idaho Falls before continuing on to Island Park/Yellowstone area.Thursday, June 19

Wednesday night Gabby had been saying that her head hurt...we thought that she just had motion sickness from the drive up but before we put her to bed she really wasn't feeling well. A bunch of us had planned on going river rafting early Thursday morning but since Gabby was sick I ended up staying with her. I was really sad that I missed the rafting but I was glad that I stayed with Gabby...she really didn't feel well. The group that went rafting was: Spencer, Wendy, Paul, Chris, Marla, and Tiffany. They had tons of fun and it was Paul's first time river rafting.

While the group was gone rafting we got the kids ready and decided to hike at the Norris geysers until we were ready to meet the rest of the group. I though Gabby would be okay even though she wasn't the happiest little girl. We stuck her in a stroller for the hike.

We met up with the rest of the group at Mammoth Hot springs. We ate lunch and then everyone went and did their own thing. We went hiking at Mammoth until Gabby was too tired. Then I took her back to the car and she fell asleep while Wendy, Spencer, Paul, Kaylee, and Roman finished hiking.

Friday, June 20

Gabby was still not feeling well so we decided to stay at the cabin so she could rest and get feeling better. After being there for a while Paul was bored and decided to go fishing. He had fun and said that he caught a couple of really good size fish. Gabby took a good nap, rested, watched a movie and did feel much better after resting all day.

Kaylee went with my parents into Yellowstone and had fun hiking. As they were hiking they got stopped a few times by some asian people saying that she was the cutest little girl and they wanted to take her picture. I thought that was really weird but funny. Part of while they were hiking my dad was carrying Kaylee on his shoulders and Roman decided he wanted my dad to carry him too...I'm sure that was interesting.

Friday was also Roman's first birthday so that evening we had a little birthday celebration for him. Happy Birthday Roman! (the other picture was how happy Spencer was that Roman is 1)


Saturday, June 21

Our whole group met at the Midway Geyser Basin to go on a few hikes together.


Then we went over to Old Faithful to have lunch and watch the Old Faithful geyser. While we were sitting and waiting for the geyser to go off we were sitting on the edge of the boardwalk since all the benches were full. There was one spot left on the bench behind us and with Kaylee being our little social butterfly she went and sat down there and started talking to the lady that was sitting there. She told the lady about school and gymnastics and the lady told her she was very smart...Kaylee kept just chatting away (because once she starts talking it's hard to get her to stop) and the lady said "You are so cute." Kaylee replied to this comment with "Thank you, you can take my picture if you want to." We were laughing so hard. I think the asian people taking Kaylee's picture the day before made her think everyone wants a picture of her.

We went on a few more hikes and the kids were exhausted



Sunday, June 22

We went back over to the Old Faithful geyser to go on a hike to see the other geysers, springs, etc in that area with Wendy, Spencer, and Roman. The rest of our group was planning on going with us but ended up getting stuck behind a herd of bison on the road for over 2 hours.



Monday, June 23

After getting the cabin all cleaned out and ready to go we went to West Yellowstone to wander a few gift shops before heading home.



On our way home our friends Nicola and Kelly were nice enough to let us crash their house for a break from driving (so we wouldn't hit rush hour traffic), and eat pizza with them for dinner. Thanks Nic!

We had tons of fun on our vacation but I am ready for a break to get the girls back to their schedule. Paul wanted vacation to last longer because he didn't want to go back to work. I am looking forward to our next vacation...now we just have to figure out when and where.

Chalk Art Festival

Yesterday we went downtown to the Chalk Art Festival at the Gateway. We met up with Wendy's and Nicola's families...however, once again, Paul was working (BLAH!). We had so much fun! First we ate lunch over at the Galivan center and rode Trax over to the Gateway. We walked around and looked at the pictures people were drawing or drew on the street. They were absolutely amazing! Then they found the kids section. The kids drew pictures on the sidewalk, found a balloon artist (who made Kaylee a flower and made Gabby a ladybug), and they got their faces painted (Kaylee got a flower, and Gabby got a butterfly).








After we were done looking at the chalk art we took the kids over to the fountain to run and play. They had a blast! I wasn't sure if we would ever get them out to go home. Even though we had spent the whole day with Noelle, Adam, and Maren...when we got home the first question the kids asked was..."When are we going to see Noelle again?"


Thanks for a fun day Wendy and Nic! As always...we had so much fun and can't wait to go out again!

10 Random Things

I got tagged by Wendy and I have to say...This is the HARDEST tag I have ever done. So here's my sad attempt at 10 random things about me.

10 - Wendy, Nicola, and I try to get together regularly and I really, really look forward to it because it REALLY saves my sanity. We all have zoo passes, so usually we end up at the zoo. But, whatever we do it's always so much fun.

9 - I love to read. When I open a good book it is impossible for me to set it down. I try to set down a book to get things done but the magnetic force or something won't let the book out of my hand until I reach the end...recently this happened to me with the Twilight books, The Host, and Ender's Game. Luckily it usually takes me less than a day to read a book and then I won't let myself pick up another book until things are done around the house again.

8 - I have the 2 most adorable little girls...Okay maybe It's just that they're mine that I think they are so cute...but they really are the 2 most adorable little girls.

7 - I look forward to taking my kids to gymnastics as much as they look forward to going because it means I get an hour of me time. When they are done they are exhausted and ready for quiet time...so nice.

6 - I miss living in Washington. I like Utah too...but I miss living near the ocean, the trees, breathable air, going on the Ferry to Seattle for the day, and lots more.

5 - I like to dress my kids up...I buy them a lot of matching or coordinating outfits. I also must confess I like to buy name brand clothes. My only justification is that they sell on Ebay really well when the girls outgrow them.

4 - In December 2001 I went to visit Paul in Washington for new years...when I came home I had to tell my parents I got married. Wendy wouldn't speak to me for almost 2 years (and now we talk to each other about 10 times a day).

3 - I LOVE being a mom. Even on my absolute worst days I would never trade it for anything in the world; it's the most rewarding thing I have ever done. My kids say the funniest things, and are so impressionable, they always want to learn something new. I love almost everything about it.

2 - I am addicted to blogging, ebay, facebook...okay...I'm addicted to my computer and the internet. I love to update my blog mostly for ME. On my really bad days I like to go back and read my blog so I remember all the fun, weird, interesting, and funny things that have happened lately. It helps me be more patient with the girls. I also like to tell everyone else what I have been doing. I love ebay...buying, selling, etc. and Facebook has some really fun games and it's so nice to keep in touch with my friends on there.

1 - I LOVE Paul. We have been married for 6-1/2 years now. He is always trying to do something to show how much he loves me. When he's home on the weekends even though he's exhausted from working 14 hour days all week he helps clean the house...I tell him he doesn't have to and he just says "You need a break too, and you clean all week." He is an amazing cook, usually when he starts dinner he doesn't know what he's making...just experimenting...and it almost always turns out amazing.

Now I'm supposed to tag some people...Here it goes: Janeene, Maria, Nicola, Tiffany, Jess F., and anyone else who reads my blog.

Finally! We got a night out!

It seems like Paul has been working 24/7 lately and as a result we haven't been able to go out and do much since he is so exhausted when he is home. My cousin Tiffany has been visiting from Texas and got a group of our friends together to go on a date. Marla so generously agreed to babysit while we went out. I got the girls ready for bed before I left and then they went to Marla's bedroom and found umbrellas. Marla texted me this picture of them.

Our group (From left to right with pictures above) included: Matt and Sarah Printy, Melanie and David Packer, Tiffany and Andrew Redd, and then Paul and me. We had so much fun at dinner that Sarah commented that the table next to us had 3 groups come and go while we were sitting there talking. It was so fun talking about things we used to do and what we have been doing lately. After we were done at dinner we went over to Boondock's and went on the go-kart races. That was so fun and I wish the people in front of David weren't being stupid or it would have been even more fun because I could have gone faster and not slammed on my brakes because of them. Paul got past a few people racing. I wish we could have stayed out later but we had to go pick up our kids and drive them an hour to get home. We made it home at 12:45 and I was so exhausted I could barely drag myself out of bed this morning, but it was so worth it. I wish I could go out more often with Paul and with my friends (but mostly just with Paul).

A "Sweet" trip

Okay, so here's what I think is funny...My last blog post we were at the zoo...this post, once again we ended up at the zoo. I love our zoo pass, it makes it so easy and fun to go. First though we made a trip to the Sweets Candy Factory. My friend Nicola has taken her kids on the tour there a few time and they have loved it so she asked if we would want to go...of course we said yes. My cousin Tiffany is in town visiting and I invited her to come with us. We had fun going on a tour of the factory and it was really cute with all the kids (even the babies) wearing hair nets.

After the candy factory we headed over to the zoo to have a picnic and wander around. We ended up having such a huge group that we split up for a while to wander around and then we met up again later. At the cheetah exhibit Gabby was having a hard time seeing over people and didn't want to walk around so I put her on my shoulders...she liked that idea, but didn't stay there for long.

Here is part of the our group at the zoo. A few people ducked out of the picture.
The highlight of the zoo today was the playground. It was insanely busy but the kids loved it and had tons of fun. Then we went on the train and headed for home. Gabby was so tired she fell asleep in the car and I had the hardest time waking her up when we got home.

A fun day...

Today we (Wendy and I) were supposed to meet our friend Nicola at the zoo after her daughter got out of school. There turned out to be a rainy problem and it was still raining by the time we were going to meet her. We decided to meet at the mall instead to eat lunch and decide what we were going to do today instead. The kids really enjoyed going on the carousel at the mall.

By the time we were done at the mall the sky was looking pretty blue so we decided to take our chances at the zoo anyway. I am so glad we decided to go. The weather was perfect, no rain and not hot, and the zoo was very empty. I guess the rain scared off a lot of people so it was so nice not having to fight crowds just to walk around.

Kaylee always loves to read the map and she is getting really good and showing me right where we are in the zoo.

Lately Gabby has been walking around the house saying "Mom, I lost my friends." She has told me this WAY to many times to count. Don't worry, she found her friends...Now maybe they won't get lost again.
We went to the Discovery Land Theater and learned about animal senses. We were early to the show so the kids danced, ran around, and entertained us.

Thank you Wendy and Nicola for another MUCH needed break. And as always I couldn't pick which pictures I liked the best so I posted a ton...Enjoy!

Tag, You're it!

My friend Elaine tagged me quite a while ago on her blog but with the warm weather and then a cold I haven't been blogging much lately. Sorry I've been slacking but I am still here.

How to play this game of tag. Post these rules on your blog. List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Joys:
1- Paul, who is the most amazing Husband in the world!
2- Kaylee even if she is five with the attitude of a 15 year old.
3- Gabby - I mean really who couldn't love those adorable faces she makes (Especially the glare that could kill, it just makes me laugh)

Fears:
1- Something happening to Paul. I am especially scared when Paul leaves on the submarine that something might happen to it and it won't come back.
2- Something happening to Kaylee or Gabby. (I had a dream once that something happened and I had to check on them like 5 times that night just to reassure myself.)
3- This is really lame but I'm always afraid something is going to go wrong with my car even though there is nothing wrong with it. One time like 7-8 years ago I was running errands and my brakes went out and I couldn't stop...but amazingly I didn't hit anything and I got it stopped. Now anytime I hear anything in my car it makes my heart jump even if it's a wierd noise on the radio.

Goals:
1- To be a better mom.
2- To finish my degree. After I had kids I never finished college even though I'm pretty close.
3- To travel lots with my husband and kids.

Obsessions/Collections:
1- Ebay...I'm guilty on all levels here. I buy, I sell, I threaten my kids that I will sell their things if they aren't taken care of, and they take my very seriously. I am a seriously addicted ebayer.
2- Mickey Mouse. I'm not nearly as big of a Mickey Mouse collector as I used to be. I actually sold most of my collection on Ebay but I still collect some of my favorites and love Mickey.
3- I am currently obsessed with reading. Lately it has been Stephanie Meyer but now that I'm done reading The Host I think I am going to read Ender's Game again. I haven't read that book probably since jr. high and The Host has inspired me to want to read it again. Besides that...I have to wait until August to read the next Stephanie Meyer book.

Randoms/suprising fact about me:
1- I thought I would hate living outside of Utah...but now that I'm back in Utah I miss living in Washington. The drivers are much nicer, the air is much more breathable, it's really nice living near the water, and my family doesn't get sick nearly as often.
2- I hideout a lot. I am not very good at making new friends and I'm better at keeping to myself in my own little bubble. I really wish I was better at making new friends and talking to people I don't know.
3- I love to scrapbook and I have a huge scrapbook store on ebay but it has been months since I have actually sat down and done any scrapbooking. Wendy, we should get together and scrapbook.

You're It:
Tag..you're it...Nicola, Jess F., Wendy, Tiffany, and anyone else who just happens to read my blog that hasn't done it yet.