Something old, something new…

Still recapping this last summer… 

Our big vacation this year was to Yellowstone.  We started out by driving out to Billings, MT to see some of our favorite people – our Montana cousins (I believe I mentioned our mad naming skills previously).    We went out on to the rims and did a little hiking.  It was a fabulous view and we didn’t get bitten by any rattle snakes, so that was a plus.  The kids loved hanging out with their cousins.  I mean really loved hanging out with their cousins.  Mike and I enjoyed not having to do any parenting all week because the cousins were keeping them so busy. 

 

And then on to Yellowstone!  Speaking of views, that place is a.maz.ing.  I wish I could put a cabin there.  I could give up a lot of modern conveniences to wake up to this every morning.  As you might guess, we saw a lot of wild life – tons of buffalo, an elk, moose, osprey, bald eagles, and probably more that I don’t remember now.  The highlight was the wolf that passed right by us as we were on a bridge taking pictures.  Apparently they are very rare and this one was probably the alpha male of the pack, according to the nice park ranger.  It was pretty awesome.  My personal favorite were the bears.  Ok, this one too.  We actually saw two bears, on the last day we were there.  This was the closer one of the two.  A bunch of our Utah family met us up there too.  My parents – Grandma and Paca, as Ben now affectionately refers to him.  My cute sisters – Turtle, Sarah and Michelle.  It was so fun to spend time with them!  Our Montana cousins had their bikes with them and Aunt Holly tried to teach Carter how to ride without training wheels.  He rode for 30 seconds or in all his tasseled glory until he ate it, narrowly missing a tree.  Since then, he has refused to try again.  Carter learned the art of roasting marshmallows to blackened perfection.  And got in touch with his outdoorsy side.  Ben fell in love with his “Paca”.  This kid loves finding pictures of Paca around the house, calling him, and he’s super excited for him to come out for Thanksgiving.  Here’s the man himself…All in all, it was a great time!  We’ll definitely be back.