Yellowstone

We decided to leave Alpine, Wy for the day and travel up to Yellowstone. It was a long day of driving but we got to see a lot! Probably not a trip we will do again for awhile with little ones! Everyone wanted to get out and run. We didn's see many animals until dusk and then we were bombarded. Trent and Grandpa planned it perfectly so we were going through the right place at dusk. The boys did great but Goobers definitely thought that he was going to push his luck with the "no jumping into the hot pools" request. We had to keep a close eye on him. A fun day though in the end.

Yes, Ryan that says "another stinky pot!"

Breathtaking!

Leave it to me to cause another traffic jam. I wish my memory worked as good as my spotting eyes! Trent snuck up just a bit to get this fantastic pic. Check out those kahoneys! That's a big boy right there!

We ran into a huge line of people right at dusk and wondered how long we would be waiting when we realized we weren't waiting on people, but bison. There was a huge herd crossing the road, one at a time, very slowly. You can imagine some of the idiots out there trying to get their perfect picture while we waiting to see our first goring. Studpid people!

I absolutely love the coloring on this picture and it was the only one I was able to get that didn't get the fading colors of the sunset. It was so beautiful. I might have to frame this one. I also love the coloring of the little ones running around. They were so small!

This buffalo came so close to our car that I thought he was going to stick one of his horns inside our window. The boys were laughing and I was yelling at the car in front of me to move so we could pull foward before we got rammed! The boys can now imitate the sound of a bison a little too well!

Back to the tents!

What's camping without a real live outhouse? Again I found myself wishing I had purchased one of those new "you go girl" products so I could have peed standing up like the boys. I would have made a lot of use of that thing on this trip. Haha!!! Too bad Camron had to tell me a terrible story about some people that had died from spider bites and they finally linked all of the people to a specific airplane and found the spiders inside the restroom toilet under the lid and inside. They were biting peoples butts! I really needed that product!

Grandpa is known for his dutch over cooking(in the backround) and for his breakfasts. He used to be up way earlier than I was, but that was before the boys came along and couldn't wait to have some of Grandpa's sausages and eggs.

Raef and Ryan loved sleeping in the tent and Grandma and Erin loved sleeping in the camper. Grandpa made it into the tent one night with just Raef and him too. Trent bought them the cutest mini sleeping bags I've ever seen and they were so excited to use them. We never even got inside our bags in Montana but it was a bit different in the mountains in Wyoming. We bundled the boys up as much as possible and then zipped their mummy bags up until all we could see was a mouth. It was so cute! Trent and I stayed in the tent but with a blowup mattress of course.

Palisades Lake

Trent decided to try and make a raft for Raef on Palisades Lake. It worked great until the entire thing collapsed and both of them were soaked. Very fun to watch though. The water was warm and it was amazing to compare the depth of the lake to a few years ago when we were living close by.

We took the boys to the Greys River in Alpine, Wyoming while camping and enjoyed the same area we had come to when Raef was tiny. They loved it and dared eachother to get into the freezing water. Then Erin decided to start a mud fight that eventually involved everyone except for Grandpa. He looks pretty smart now! It was very fun but very messy!

Raef surprises me everyday with how big he is getting! Such a little man!

We decided to just stop and find a hotel whenever we ran out of energy so we never had many choices of rooms. This was the last room available on our last night before Cleveland and we opened the door to find a huge suite with a jacuzzi surrounded by mirrors and a fireplace. Of course, Trent and I looked at eachother and he thought I was up to something. I can assure you I wasn't. We desperately wanted to sleep as it was around 1 or 2 in the morning but the minute the boys saw the hot tub they were determined to take a bath. We convinced them after much wailing and gnashing of teeth to go to bed and swim in the morning. We all crashed in our giant bed and slept terribly!Adventures!

The 4th of July Celebration!!!!!

Let the party begin! I think we did everything but huge fireworks! We were planning on going to the local show but found out that most of them were canceled due to financial cuts so we did some sparklers and smoke bombs and the boys seemed satisfied. This is one of, or maybe my favorite, picture I have taken of Ryan. I still can't believe I captured my favorite look he has. I melt each time I look at it.

I feel like this may be a famous picture someday. The only picture taken of the now famous professional photographer, Mr. Lowell Harris, or Grandpa as we call him. We will be interviewed and books written about our relationship. Books could really be written. What a hole has been filled by the Harris while we have been here in Ohio and it's even easier to leave knowing that they get to go back home to the West with their children too.

Trent made an insane amount of ribs with a sauce that the Harris' got from somewhere and is to die for! That went right into my cookbook! I am licking my lips just thinking about it! This was our first go at ribs and we luckily had some leftover to cook up later also. Delicious! I'm sure we owe it to the cook!

We had a full house for the 4th of July celebration. I think 13 people maybe?! We had people sitting everywhere. It reminded us why we always want to live by family. It's hard to be away from everyone. Yes, Cam you can shoot me later for putting this on here. Nice face!

Raef calls Ryan a vegiesaurus and says he is a meateater. Ryan loves vegetables! Everything except for tomatoes, which I believe is due to his father persuading him to the dark side. Anyways, he is the only child I have ever seen eat so many and so much. One of his favorite foods is salad and we laugh watching him eat it everytime. It just looks kind of wrong. Corn is his other favorite. He gnaws on those things for an hour but he will get every piece.

We had this dessert that Grandma Harris made and the boys got to sample first and then we had homemade icecream. I just can't resist making my Grandpa Singer's recipe once a year. The only bad part about the icecream is that it is not exactly what I would call healthy and I seem to end up eating whatever is left in small, but very steady helpings during the next few weeks. Have I worked out yet today? Yikes!