Yellowstone - It's a super-volcano!

We aren't really outdoorsy but Yellowstone is a super-volcano.  Do I really need to say anymore?  That is why we decided to go there.  It's relatively close and we needed some place to go for the few days we had for Fall break.

We started Thursday morning with two stops along the way at the Idaho Falls temple and the Rexburg temple to get a stamp in our temple passport.

 We're on our way!

 Idaho Falls temple.  It's actually closed for renovation but that certainly didn't stop us.

Idaho Falls temple - check!

 This one was open and very busy.

Rexburg Idaho temple - check!

We arrived in West Yellowstone that evening, just in time for dinner.  I'm not sure what I was expecting but I found it to be much more rustic than I thought it would be.  It was very busy.  It was hard to find a place to eat dinner.  There weren't any chain restaurants except a McDonald's and everything else looked seedy.  Surely families come here, right?  It's not all adults and bars, right?  We found one place that looked family friendly but it was so busy with every other family that was visiting that we gave up.  Finally we saw an Arby's drive through at a gas station so Jaaromy and I picked up some food for us and we got some McDonald's for the boys and took them back to our cabin.  I had found a place to stay that has a kitchen and it was awesome.  In the morning we were able to eat breakfast and go rather than try and find a place to eat.  It was great.

Now for the park!

I had researched our trip ahead of time because I knew that we didn't have a ton of time so I wanted to make sure we got to see the most important things.  That plan was sometimes derailed by nature.

We were driving along and saw a bunch of cars pulled over looking at the bison.  This was our first wildlife sighting so I had to get a picture.  It was the first of many.

Then we saw our first geysers!  I wasn't actually planning on stopping at this basin but it was our first sighting and Jonathan was so excited.

It surprised me how many people were there.  We stuck to the path and Jonathan made sure to remind everyone to stay on the path and be safe because the ground was toxic.  Brigham would always walk too close to the edge for his taste.

It smelled as good as it looked.  So inviting!

These ones were really loud.

This one was erupting as we walked by, I don't remember it's name.
 

It was pretty impressive.  It was hard to get a good picture because of all the steam.

 On our way to Firehole Lake, Jonathan and I stopped to see this cool dome.  He loves stuff like this.

 Yep, it's a burning hot, acid lake.  Pretty cool.

Nathaniel told me he was disturbed by how easy it would be to kill himself here.  I totally understand.

Then we made our way over to the Excelsior Crater and Grand Prismatic Spring.

The colors were amazing.

I was actually a little disappointed.  It looks so cool when you can view it top down.  It's less impressive at ground level.

Still a cool path.

After that we finally got to go see Old Faithful.  Jonathan was super excited about this one.  Apparently so were hundreds of other people.  It really did surprise me how many people were there.  While we waited for the next eruption we had lunch.  I had made sandwiches that morning but we were also kind of hoping to stop in somewhere for ice cream or something but everything was closed for the winter.  Bummer.

 It's not the most impressive geyser but it was definitely predictable, I guess that's what makes it so cool.  You know for sure you are going to see a geyser erupt.  And we did.

There was also a buffalo just hanging out in front of Old Faithful.  Doesn't he know he's supposed to stay on the path?!

We continued along our route past the lake and on to Lower Falls.  I had heard that it was really cool.

 It was.  It was quite the hike getting down and up though.  It was so steep and narrow, it made me nervous watching Brigham.  I always had to have him on the inside of the path, away from the edge.  Usually it worked just fine, unless we had to pass people coming up.  It was a little rough.

 But what a view!

When we got back up some of us had to take a quick bathroom break and while I was waiting I saw this crow.  It was huge!

We were on our way out of that area when I realized they had a view point for the falls that was farther away.  Everyone was tired from the hike but Jonathan came with me.  I'm so glad I decided to take a look.  It was beautiful!

This is my photoshopped version.

After that we kept driving along the highway on our way to Gardiner, Montana to stop for the night.  We stopped once to look out over the caldera.  I told Jonathan what it was.  We were right on the edge.  It was pretty cool. We didn't make any more stops but there were many neat things to see as we drove by.  Including some stone that was yellow.  I sure hope that's where it got it's name.

 On our way through Mammoth Hot Springs we ran into a small road block.

Apparently, they think they own the town.

I was really pleased with our hotel in Gardiner.  It also had a kitchen so we stopped at the local grocery store to get some more cereal for breakfast.  It was nice.  The closest restaurant had a really long wait but we didn't feel like looking around for another one.  By the time we got our table and ordered the boys were really tired.  When we got back to the hotel we walked back behind it where there was a lookout over a river, I think(it was dark).  I didn't think it would be dark enough to see the Milky Way but there it was!  I love being able to see so many stars!

The next morning we got started with Mammoth Hot Springs.

 The Liberty Cap.  Strange but cool.

 The geological features were so cool!  Crazy stuff.

 Jonathan was in charge of the map and helped us know where to go.

 We hiked all over it.  So many stairs!

 We climbed all the way to the top.  Then I realized we could have driven.  Oh well.

 I often found them doing this.  So sweet.

We took advantage of the benches often.

We were pretty worn out by the end but we still had to stop at Norris Geyser Basin.  Home of Jonathan's favorite geyser.  The Steamboat Geyser.

 On our way there we passed a little pool that was super smelly and steamy.  I felt like the steam would burn my face.  We hurried and took a picture and moved on.

 Here we are: Jonathan's favorite geyser.

 It's the tallest geyser in the world...when it erupts.  We only missed the last eruption by a year.

We decided to take one more path around the basin before we left.  It was fairly short and level.

 The colors were amazing.

 We would occasionally see a hat or some other item in the water.  So close, yet so far away.

 It really was amazing.  I took a while before I felt like I could trust the ground I walked on though.

 On our way out of the park we passed this bison huffing along.  I quickly took a picture.  We never saw any bears though.  I was a little disappointed.

 We stopped in Pocatello for an early dinner/late lunch.

The rest of the way home was really rainy.  I guess we lucked out.

It was such a fun trip, I'm so glad we had a chance to go.  It's been over a year since our last trip.  It went smoothly and the boys had fun.  I guess that's all I can ask for.

Someone Else's Life

Jaaromy and I had a chance to take an overnight trip for our anniversary.  We had originally tried to go in May or June, closer to our anniversary date but everyone who could watch the kids overnight were all busy.  We even had a reservation, but we had to cancel it.  Apparently, though, we had rescheduled and forgotten until one day we got an email from the hotel telling us about our upcoming reservation.  Luckily, Jaaromy's mom was free and was able to spend the night with the boys so we could go.  So, hurray for last minute trips!

Not that it was a huge trip.  All I wanted was to stay downtown at the Grand America hotel and so that's what we did.  We checked in around five and then took the train over to the Gateway for dinner.  We weren't sure where we wanted to go so we took a chance and tried a restaurant called La Jolla Groves.  Turns out it was amazingly good!  Seriously, all night I was thinking about when we could come back and eat there again.  While we were waiting for our food to come we realized that if we saw a movie, which we were planning on doing, the trains would have stopped running by the time we came out.  We decided that we would walk back to the hotel even though it would be late.  We mapped out a route on our phones that we thought would be best.  Problem solved!

Before the movie, I had heard about a clothing store called Bettie Page from a friend of mine on Facebook.  I really wanted to take a look so we walked over there to see what they had.  Turns out it was exactly my kind of store.  They had so many cute skirts, dresses, and even some tops that were just my style.  We had some time so Jaaromy humored me and let me try on several outfits.  They were so fun and cute!  He ended up insisting that I buy several of them.  Three skirts, one blouse, and one full length dress.  They were not cheap either.  I decided to let him buy them for me, as my anniversary/birthday/Christmas present.  Also, because I've lost weight, I needed new clothes anyway.  It was really hard to say yes though, and even though I was excited for my cute new clothes, it was definitely the most I had ever spent on clothes before.  We left the store and the whole experience just felt a little surreal.

After that we went to the movie.  It has been a really lackluster summer for movies this year.  I wanted to see Man of Steel.  I had heard that it wasn't great, but it was pretty good and was probably our best option.  Jaaromy didn't want to be disappointed and so he wanted to see Pacific Rim.  That movie, we knew very well would probably be dumb but at least it would be exciting.  And it was.  The characters weren't very interesting, but giant robots battling giant alien monsters was definitely action-packed.  Sitting there in the theater watching a movie that was dumb and under normal circumstances we would never pay money to see just added to my sense of surrealness for the whole evening.  But the night wasn't over yet.

After the movie we started our long walk to back to the hotel.  Google maps said it would take about 20 minutes and it was close to midnight.  Before long we came across a bike rental station.  We kind of joked about riding bikes back to the hotel and then realized that it might not be a bad idea.  We went back to the station to see if there was another station close to the hotel.  There was!  They even had baskets on the front for my shopping bags.  So, for the ultimate surreal moment of the evening, we rode rented bikes through downtown Salt Lake City at midnight on a Friday back to our hotel.

 I'm glad I thought to take a picture.  It was so crazy!  I haven't ridden a bike in years, maybe decades.  It was fun, although it stressed me out a little because I don't know what the rules of the road are for bikes.  Luckily, the streets weren't terribly crowded.  It was midnight after all!

The rest of the night was fairly typical for an anniversary trip.  We ordered a dessert brought to our room while we watched Phineas and Ferb on Jaaromy iPad.  There's a tv of course, but nothing good to watch ever.  That's the only problem with hotels.  Oh well.  The dessert was tasty and we were exhausted.

The next morning we had a big breakfast brought to our room.  That, for me, is the hallmark of a great anniversary overnighter.  Breakfast IN our hotel room.  It was expensive but it was awesome and so tasty.

After we checked out of the hotel we walked around the new City Creek shopping center.  I hadn't really been before.  It was so pretty.

Then we picked up the kids.  It was a great adventure.  The most exciting and unexpected anniversary trip we've ever had.  Until next year.

Our Amazing Vacation - Final Day

I wish we could have stayed longer, but we just didn't have the time.  We stayed until Sunday morning.  Since it was General Conference, I didn't mind traveling.  Although I hated to miss conference, I figured we could catch up over the next week or so.

We woke up early and had our last meal with my parents.  We didn't want to rush but we didn't know how long it would take to cross the border so we had to hurry.  We got everything packed up and in the car.

 It was really hard to say goodbye.  I'm so glad I thought to grab a picture before we pulled away.

It was just starting to rain as we left and gradually got worse the closer we got to Seattle.  We were able to listen to the Saturday morning session of Conference while we drove, although coverage was sometimes a little spotty.

 Crossing the border was quicker than before but still took about 20 minutes.

 Honestly, it felt good to be back in the USA.

 There was this funny sculpture we could see on the other side of the crossing.  We couldn't even tell it was a sculpture until we got closer.  It was so weird.  It sort of looked like a billboard or some sort of screen but you could see through it.  It weirded us out.

After we crossed the border it really started to rain.  Hard.  It rained all the way to the airport.  It didn't slow us down a ton though.  Which was good because we were starting to get a little concerned about the time.  We still had to drop off our rental car.  For some reason I was thinking that we had to take it to their office or whatever and then shuttle to the airport.  Thankfully, that turned out not to be the case and we dropped it off right at the airport.  Also a good thing because I was starting to get really concerned about the time.  We got a little lost in the airport at first but we figured it out.  We got in a line to check in our suitcase and we decided that I would take the kids and get in the security line.  We weren't there long when I heard someone say that there was a family line.  I asked a security guard and he led me to it.  It was so much shorter and the boys were pretty good to stay with me.  We got through without much trouble and headed for the terminal.  I had Brigham and Jonathan's hand in a death grip as we walked and we were almost there when I heard our names over the speakers.  The plane was boarding and we were some of the last ones.  I hurried everyone along and we made it on without much trouble.  I got everyone in their seat.  I sat with Brigham next to a stranger and Nathaniel and Jonathan were together two rows in front of me.  The guy next to me said that my boys were brave to be sitting by themselves.  I told him my husband was on his way.  I could hear the flight attendants talking about closing the doors and I told them that Jaaromy was on his way but he was in security.  I was starting to get a little nervous.  I even mentally prepared myself for the possibility that he wouldn't make it and I'd have to get everyone home and come back later for him.  I decided it would work out because I had my car keys and I assumed the suitcase would still be put on the plane.  But still, that was not a desirable situation.  Finally I got a text from Jaaromy saying that he finally made it through security.  I told him to hurry because they were closing the doors right now!  The guy next to me was anxious for me and kept a look out for him.  Finally, I saw him come down the isle.  I was so relieved!

It was still raining hard when we took off.  It was crazy to watch the take off with so much rain hitting the wings.  It was rough but then finally we were above the clouds and it was sunny again.

 It was a smooth flight and didn't feel too long.  Jaaromy ordered us a snack box since we didn't get lunch.  It was nice.  Landing was fun because we flew over the Great Salt Lake and then past the airport.  We circled around so we were coming in from the South.  If we had been on the other side of the plane we might have seen our house.  But it was still fun to see familiar landmarks.

We got off the plane, got our bags and got on a shuttle to the car.  We were feeling pretty tired and definitely ready to be home.  When we got there I made some monkey bread and eggs and we settled in and watched the first half of the Saturday afternoon session of conference.

We were able to catch up in a little over a week.  I hated that we were behind but it was a great opportunity to take a fun trip to see new things and especially to see Grandma and Grandpa.  I'm so glad we went.  I wish we could do it again.  When I was saying goodbye to my mom we realized that they only had six months left.  Now, as I'm posting this they only have about four.  Hopefully it will go quickly.