Yellowstone

In all my 29 years I have somehow managed to never make it to Yellowstone, so we decided to take a mini family vacation up there. I didn't really know what to expect to see or do except I wanted to see a bear in the wild.

We stayed in West Yellowstone and the first day we drove into the park and went around a corner and ran right in to a bear!! haha I wish! We ran right into a Buffalo, it was just walking right next to the car and freaking me out at the same time. All I kept saying was Jay, doooon't roll the window down. Don't. Don't. Don't. Then the next corner we went around there were Huge elk, so right from the start I decided I was going to have a good time. I have a fear of animals, especially in the wild. I don't care for cats, dogs, hummingbirds(don't ask), really any pet unless it is an out door pet, then I don't mind. But, in the wild animals.....no way get me out of there. Don't get me wrong I love seeing them I think it is amazing, but if there is any chance that thing can turn on me then I guess that's where my fear comes in.

Rewind......4 years ago, Jay and I ran into a moose about 10 feet in front of us, on a trail, up the canyon on our way to Donut falls. I froze in my tracks and so did Jay. The moose just stared at us looking like at any moment it might charge. I whispered, What do we do, what do we do!???? His only words, "Turn around and RUN" So obviously we made it out of there but can you imagine getting attacked by a wild animal? Worst day of my life.

So I read up on what to do if you encounter a bear. 1. Don't make eye contact 2. Stay facing the bear and back away slowly 3. NEVER run because no matter what, all bears are faster than you 4. Don't climb a tree because bears can climb trees 5. If you are attacked roll to your stomach put your hand behind you neck and play dead. There you go, you can thank me later for that.

So all in all it was a great trip, I loved how you could see so many beautiful sights in such a short period of time. I also got to catch up with a good friend that lives up that way so that made the trip even more worth it. I would totally go again and can't believe it has taken this long to make it up there. And p.s we didn't see any bears or moose :(

Old Faithful. We were really lucky on this one because we pulled up and walked up to the benches and it was 5:42 we found out that it was due to go off at 5:45 and later learned that it goes off on average about every 90 minutes. 90 minutes, uuhh no couldn't have done that. It was slightly on the too cold side and the 3 minute wait was just perfect for me.

Chilly morning

This is literally how close it was to our car. I had the window half way down to get this picture though and was proud of myself.

Big horned sheep. We got to see them run vertically down those cliffs, it looked really cool.

One of my favorites was the dragons mouth

Sometimes I feel like pictures don't do justice

Look at the size of that elk compared to the Suburban

We wore her out.....

I got to have the cousins for a night and we had lots of fun. And besides Carter teaching Josi a swear word, I think we did okay.

And a few from today, we took the kids over to my mom's work to go trick or treating

AND THE SAGA CONTINUES.............

You think I would learn to put the wipes away by now

Goodbye Mr. Man who was supposed to teach Bry how to go potty

I thought I was doing myself a favor when I taught her how to throw her own diapers away

Oh and here are a few pictures of the toy box Jay built Brylee for a surprise while he was working out of town in Indianapolis. It holds tons of toys and best of all, my front room is no longer a toy room!