Yellowstone Rocks

Family vacation to Yellowstone National Park. We had a great time spending 5 days together as a family! It was a lot of driving but we hung in there and saw some amazing beauties!


Highlights
JD - Waterfalls - especially the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone - the Brink of the Falls! Incredible.
Stacy - Seeing the animals - I would get a little bit too excited when ever we spotted some animal. And the Grand Canyon.
Josh - the waterfalls and the animals
Dawson - definitely not the bison - probably the waterfalls
Tanner - the rocks we got to climb on and the waterfalls
Marissa - when she got to get out of her carseat.



Memories
Josh spotting a big beetle on Dawson's shirt. Dawson hightailing it through a bumpy and dangerous trail to get to me, screaming the whole way with a look a total terror in his eyes. Dawson freaking out when a bison was right next to the car and daddy opening the door and asking the buffalo if he knew where a gas station was. Tanner climbing up to the see this huge waterfall just a little closer and mommy about having a heart attack - good thing daddy had a hand on him the whole time. Boys plugging noses as we walk through the geyser areas because of the lovely smell there. JD being continually amazed at the cool things we were seeing. Seeing a burned up semi truck on the side of the road one morning (sad - but I have never seen a melted truck before). Marissa just about crawling at the condo. Coyote walking through our picnic area for lunch. Lots of bison - scariest when it came into our dinner picnic spot and got a little bit too close and we jetted to the van. A hawk driving into the water and catching a fish. Seeing some foxes, elks, even a black bear, and an eagle's nest. Getting to see the Rexburg Idaho temple for the first time. (By the way - it was really hard to choose pictures to post - we had over 200 - fun memories!)

10 Years

JD and I celebrated our 10th anniversary on Thursday the 10th. It is hard to believe we have been married that long. We went out to dinner at the Melting Pot in Salt Lake. That was an AWESOME place. We had a great time. JD now claims that is his favorite place to eat - too bad we can't afford to go there regularly. It was quite pricey but well worth it! Here's a picture of us with our uncooked meat. The kids got to sleep over at Grandpa and Grandma's house that night (not Marissa of course) but the boys. JD wrote me an amazing song! He played the guitar and sang it to me when we got home. This is the third song he has written just for me and boy do I feel special when he does that! It was a wonderful day and I feel extemly blessed in my life to have such an amazing man who loves me so much and to have 4 beautiful children! Life is good.

Cute pictures!

I just loved this picture of Marissa at our 4th of July BBQ! Precious!

This pose was Josh's idea and it turned out great!

A Family Bike Ride!

We all have helmets, we all have bikes, we all went for a bike ride. We stuffed the bikes in the back of the van and drove two cars down to the Provo River Trail this morning.

We had a great time. Well most of us did. Marissa didn't like wearing a helmet and didn't like the ride so much on the way up. But eventually fell asleep on the way back. We stopped a few times to give her a break. We saw some beautiful big butterflies. Josh got a great shot of one and JD tried to attract some by standing very still - no luck there. It was a beautiful morning! I think Tanner has to work the hardest peddelling, poor kid. But he didn't complain. A couple of incidents worth mentioning. Josh thought that riding his bike really fast down a little hill by the park and then braking really hard would be cool - yeah cool till you realize the grass is wet and you slide out and land all crazy under your bike and the seat ends up twisted sideways. At least it was the grass so he didn't get too hurt. JD, Marissa, Josh and Dawson on the way back. Binky drops, dad yells stop, Josh stops, Dawson doesn't and there is a pile up! But no major injuries just a few scrapes for Dawson . Lesson learned. Binky will be picked up by the last person in the group not by the first!