Labor Day Weekend...

What more can one ask for, than a lovely weekend enjoying family and God's beautiful creations?

My mom and dad have wanted to take their family to Yellowstone National Park for years...when we moved to Idaho in 1999, we thought for sure we'd get there...and we finally did! Being in Idaho Falls, Ryan and I are only a short 2 hours away from this grandeur, and so when my mom invited us to go camping with them over Labor Day weekend, we were all for it!

I'll spare you all the boring details, but will share some of the highlights and lowlights, if you will.

Day 1, Friday September 4th

We loaded up with mom and dad and we rode with them to our camping spot, the Grizzly RV Park in West Yellowstone, Montana, just four blocks from IMAX and the enterance to the park. Mind you, we're real campers, and real campers camp in the wilderness, in the dirt and have a real fire...so to camping in an RV park was thought to be CHEATING. I'll have the world know, that it was FABULOUS. This place was clean, neat, mostly quiet, cold, but had hot showers, two outdoor stainless steel sinks for dishes, a play room with Nintendo, air hockey, TV, the works. We camped in the tent section, so we had grass to sleep and play on. My parents had their 4-wall tent, and the rest of us slept in tipi tents...the boys slept well, Ryan and I slept fairly well, and all WENT well.

• Saw the IMAX movie, "Yellowstone". Pretty sweet...Ryan bought treats, the boys sat through the whole thing...Tanner kept saying, "Whaoh! Mom! Tool! (cool) We also scouted for the souvenir T-shirt we'd get before leaving.
  
• Keith, Tricia, Reed and Stephanie arrived safely and in good time from BYU...we're so glad their car died when it did...before they got out of town.
• I had put together my towel and clean clothes and toiletries on top of my bag so when I went to shower in the morning, I didn't wake everyone up rustling through my bag. When I heard people visiting in the morning, I got up to go and shower...when I got to the tent door, I thought I'd check what time it was...I looked at my phone and it clearly read 1:20 am! So I went back to bed...(curse those night-owl partying campers!)
• (Same morning, a while later...) Ryan and I heard a bunch a clanking, and I thought it was those partying maniacs next to us that had possibly taken our tent poles down...My parents came running because they thought a bear had gotten into the cobbler we left in the dutch oven on the Camp Chef (you're not supposed to leave food out)...we shortly realized that our tent was collapsing, so we jumped out to see what was going on...The rope holding the tent to the poles had broken. *sigh* Dad fixed it in no time. We put the boys in with Katelyn and Deseret, and took our showers and the day went on as planned...

Day 2, Saturday September 5th

Because of a short road closure in the park, and to get to the top of the park, we had to go clear down and around...it made for a long day, but we did manage to see two elk with collars (we see them collar-free in our back yard) and herds of buffalo (which we ALSO see in our back yard in Chesterfield). We were slightly disappointed by the dozens of cars that stopped IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD and GOT OUT TO TAKE PICTURES of the buffalo...they didn't even pull over!!! So we sat. And sat. And sat. until it got dark and people FINALLY started driving forward again...we got back to camp around 9 pm that night. uggh!

• Ryan, being the wise mountain man he is, packed two walkie-talkies; one for each vehicle. We were not even 30 miles into the drive when Taylor chucked one out his window....we managed to find the electronic device, but failed to find the third battery...besides, with my extras (a scout is ALWAYS prepared) the thing busted to smithereens and wouldn't work.
  
• Keith, Reed, Stephanie, Katelyn and Tricia went for a refreshing swim at Fire Hole...it was a BLAST! The boys had fun throwing rocks into the river.
  
• We decided earlier in the week that we'd use Deseret's old booster for Tanner and let Taylor use Tanner's car seat, because we thought they'd be more comfortable.
• Taylor screamed anytime he was put into his car seat until he would finally wear out and fall asleep. It made for some LOOOOOOOONG driving time.
  
• Tanner did surprisingly well in the booster...he even stayed in his seat belt and wore it correctly, for the most part.
  
• I think Tricia and Keith will think twice about having children due to the terrible temper tantrums our children threw when they didn't get their way. I'm blaming it on personality and long days, not our parenting. :)

Day 3, Sunday, September 6th
We attended church at a local meeting house in town. It was very nice. I sat outside with Taylor for the majority of the meeting. Afterwards we had a scrumptious dinner with the couple that sat next to us at church...they were camping with their family friends in the same campground, so they joined us.

• I got a silly sunburn because I was too stubborn to put sunscreen on...wait...we all got a little pink that afternoon.
• A 5 yr old and his 3 yr old brother (they ate lunch with us) and Tanner were playing on the playground the camp had (the area that has the steering wheel thingie). The 5 yr old told Tanner he couldn't be the 'bus driver', that he wasn't big enough. Tanner said he was, and the other boy's brother, who was also 3 mentioned that he was 3, too. The older brother stated that he could play on the 'bus' because he had on a blue shirt...He then attempted to push Tanner off the 'bus'. Tanner grabbed the 5 yr old by the collar of his shirt and shoved him up against the bars and told him, "leave me alone! I can drive the bus, too!" and was shaking him by the shirt all the while. *sigh* I got myself off the grass, had Tanner come with me and we talked about the incidence. I told him I was proud of him for sticking up for himself, but that he couldn't push and bully someone that was being mean to him. We talked about how he needs to use his words, and walk away. It's not HIS fault he's short, but it was hilarious how the whole thing went down!
• Went and saw the Oregon Short Line train...ehhhh...
• Drove back into the park to see the Mud Paint Pots and the Grand Prismatic Spring. The boys both fell asleep after the Mud Paint Pots so I sat in the car with them while everyone else hiked up to the "Rainbow Puddle"...it wasn't so rainbowish this year. Glad I got in a nap.
• Saw another IMAX film, "Alaska". It was pretty good, too!
  

Day 4, Monday, September 7
We laid awake listening to rain on the canvas tents from 11 pm til around 3am. Because of the rain in the night, we couldn't pack up as soon as we wanted to. We had a fabulous breakfast and allowed the tents to dry. It took everyone's help to get packed up and cleaned up before we could leave. Some of us walked to the Yellowstone Trading Post (where the IMAX theater was) to find our souvenir to take home. Me and the boys got sweatshirts...Ryan expressed his burning desire to get a T-Shirt somewhere else. :)

• Tanner woke up dry every morning!!!
  
• Taylor woke up with wet hair, after scooting to the top of the tent.
  
• Gramma got the most cuddly and soft black bears for the boys. They LOVED them! When we got home, I did have to do a little tummy-tuck on Tanner's, as the tummy seam had come undone, and I also did some preventative tummy-tucks on Taylors.
  
• When putting Taylor in his seat to go home, he cried for only a moment. My mom said to him, "Taylor, if you cry, gramma will hold your bear until you stop." And he stopped and went to sleep. I ♥ my mom! That was the most peaceful and quiet drive we had all weekend!

We arrived home in great time, by 3 pm. By 4 Ryan and I had vacuumed out our car, gone grocery shopping, hung the sleeping bags to air out, did two loads of wash, and had dinner fixed by 4:30. Needless to say, we all crashed in our own, soft and comfortable beds before 10pm.

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Thank you for the fabulous weekend, Dad and Mom!

Thank you for your help with the boys, Dad, Mom, Keith, Tricia, Stephanie, Katelyn, Clay and Deseret!

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