Yellowstone!

One of the last weekends in August when Carson was off  school we decided to take advantage of the time with him and make a trip to Yellowstone.  I had only been once before in middle school and Carson had never been before.  We planned our trip with my cousin Sadie and her family and it was much needed.  It was relaxing and Carson and I had tons of time to talk in the car and enjoy being together after the last hard semester.  It was a lot of fun!

On the way up we stopped in Rexburg, where we met, and looked through some of the new buildings and renovations that have been done since we went.  The new BYU-Idaho Center is amazing, like a mini conference center.  We also stopped in to the office I used to work in and got to see most of the ladies that I had worked with.  It was so fun to see them again and show them our little family!  Below is a picture in front of the Taylor building (the religion building). 

Then it was on to West Yellowstone.  We stopped at a park to let the kids get out there wiggles and eat our picnic lunch.  Then we started right into the park.  First stop was Old Faithful and luckily we got there right around the time it was supposed to go off.  I think we only had to wait 20 or so minutes, not bad.  Below is the picture of us in front of it, after it went off.  But the steam in the background is the geyser. 

We walked around the rest of the geysers and pools around Old Faithful and this was our mode of travel.  It was great having the backpacks!  It made a huge difference! 

We didn't get to see as much wildlife as we were hoping for, but we did see this elk on the side of the river.  Every time we saw a bunch of cars stopping we would get excited, but it was never a bear, dang it.

Since we never did see a bear in the wild, we did the next best thing.  We took the kids to the Bear/Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone.  If you look above Carson's arm the bears are in the background.  I don't know what the kids are looking at:) 

They had some eagles and owls as well. 

The wolves were really pretty! 

The next day was a big one!  First stop was Gibbons Falls.   It was gorgeous there!  The waterfalls were one of my favorite things. 

Rylee was pretty tired, we wore the kids out!  (This was while we were at Old Faithful, so mixed up)

We did see a few coyotes off the road as we were driving. 

Another stop for lunch, had to get some pictures of the cute kids.

The picture below was taken at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  It was SO high!  I'm not a big heights person so I was VERY grateful for the backpacks at this point.  I would have been stressing out more than I already was if my kids were running around.  There was a sheer drop off in some parts.  It was an incredible view though and well worth the stop!  This was probably my favorite sight of the whole trip. 

The next few pictures were the ones Carson got as he and Ben hiked about a mile of the grand canyon rim.  

That evening we went to Mammoth Hot Springs.  That was quite the hike on the boardwalk for me...but it was fun!   

I just had to throw in the picture below of Rylee in the hotel room.  Carson pulled her pants all the way up as a joke and tucked her pajamas in.  Then after that if they fell down or came untucked she wanted us to fix them back up that way.  She is a crack up! 

 We stopped at the sign on our last day to get the classic picture.  The right picture is the only one I got of us as a whole group.

The last day we hit up the mud pots and sulfur pots and they sure stunk.  Our last stop in the park was at Yellowstone lake to have lunch.  As you can see below, Rylee is enjoying her food (as always).  

We came down through the South Entrance/Exit and drove down through Jackson Hole.  Neither one of us had been there before.  It is gorgeous!  We stopped for dinner and the Ripley's museum (tourist trap) and then headed back home.  It was a crazy trip over the Tetons (10% grades!)  and we didn't get home until late but it was a great trip and just what we needed!