Destination: Yellowstone

My parents were kind enough to take us all to Yellowstone this past weekend- thanks Parentals!! :)
We have learned that with this group- a casual, go at your own pace- is the best way to go. So- We started the trip off with one simple instruction:
Meet at the Three Bears Lodge Sunday.
That's it.
No time.
No plan to leave with everyone.
No thoughts on meeting anywhere along the way.
No meeting place for dinner that night.
Boy..do our parents know us! :)
It works out so well this way. With cell phones, we pretty much know where everyone is, if we are close, where people are stopping along the way... etc.
Nice.

Sunday afternoon was all about getting settled in, shopping, and chit-chattin it up.
Monday morning we were off to the park.
We started off at some of the hot springs, and made our way up to Old Faithful.
(who isn't so much faithful, as hopeful these days)
On our way to the big ol water spout we meet Ranger Rick. Let me tell you-- this man takes his job VERY seriously.
us-"I see that it just went off. When will the next time be?"
Ranger Rick-"It will spout again at 3:10 give or take 10 minutes."
If you could see his face and hear his tone...LOL.
Dude- you're a park ranger. Maybe you could chill it a bit. It's a national park, not national security.

Now if you know us, you know that we are directly related to Brother Noah. We could have made a lot of money as Rain Makers back in the day... It didn't just sprinkle- it was a deluge.

But everyone manged not to melt :) Unfortunately it was raining so hard that we had to leave the park early.
We picked up where we left off the next day though- don't worry.

What an amazing place Yellowstone is! I have been there once before when I was about 10, and I have to say that my perspective is so much different this time around.

Then: I remember feeding the squirrels nuts out of my hand, and how much I NEEDED that stuffed black bear from the gift shop.

Now: I am so amazed at nature. How beautiful and powerful it can be. We live in such an amazingly beautiful world. The water falls that made me dizzy to look down on, the buffalo that seemed they couldn't care less that they stopped traffic for at least a mile in both directions, the hot springs made beautiful(and stinky) by the minerals , and the stupid bears that didn't want to come out of hiding for me to see. (the stuffed bears were still at the gift shop btw!)

Tuesday we all meet again in Pocatello. The kids swam and swam and swam (in fact Drew had the great idea of next time just getting a hotel room in Lehi and letting the kids swim the whole time :) )... and then Wednesday morning it was breakfast before we all headed for home.

I had such a great time. I love my family, and although I didn't get to spend as much time with everyone as I would have liked (I wasn't feeling well most of the trip:/ ) it was nice to get together.

I can't wait to go on our next trip! :)