Oh Give Me A Home Where the Buffalo Roam...

We finally experienced a family vacation that doesn't involve going to visit family. We visited Yellowstone National Park for the first time ever. We had so much fun. My niece Andrea and her family invited us to stay at her husband's family's cabin. We haven't been able to see them very often so it was really nice to catch up!

We were also able to see some friends from the "past". They lived in our ward in Nebraska and moved back to Wyoming the same time we moved to Idaho. They were so nice to meet us in the park so that we could see each other again. It was just like old times with Adam and Megan and little Grant. We are grateful for their friendship and wish them well in the future. Hopefully we will see them again!


We went to a place called Big Springs. The water was so clear and beautiful. You could see everything in the water. There were a bunch of big fish that just sat (do fish sit?) there in the water waiting for you to feed them. For some reason most of them were hiding under the bridge so I only got a picture of one. But it was a good effort.



We brought along some buns to feed to the fish, but the birds were a little faster so I think we helped the birds put on a few pounds instead of the fish.



After looking at some of our pictures I think my kids put on a few pounds eating the buns too! That came out wrong. I don't think my kids look fat, I can see them chewing bread in the pictures :)!!!!!


While we were driving, this buffalo decided to cross the road right in front of our car. The kids were going crazy.



I loved this picture of the kids waiting for Old Faithful to go off. Old Faithful wasn't quite so faithful. They had to wait a little longer than usual.





The water level was extra high this time of year because of a colder spring. The run off from the mountains was delayed until later in the season. Unfortunately, that meant no swimming in the Firehole river. Instead we "waded". Which usually means you get soaking wet anyway :).

Sydney decided that she wanted to get in so Loren helped her. A little bit unconventional, I know!

The kids thought this was a playground, but actually it was the roots of a fallen tree.

Our kids hadn't been fishing before so they were so excited to catch their first fish ever! They weren't as excited to eat it. But I was proud of them because they did at least try it. Dan was a great fish chef. Thanks Dan!

We went floating down the river. I'm not sure that any of us ever got our canoeing merit badge (I guess Loren did), but we made it safely :). I guess I shouldn't say that they water was 2 feet deep and there were 0 rapids. It sounded much more adventurous before.

It was however an adventure to keep Sydney from jumping out of the canoe and trying to row at the same time.

Andrea did a great job of taking these few head shots so I put them in. Thanks for reading my travel log. We had a fantastic time! Maybe we will try the family vacation thing again some time.

I know, crazy hair for me. It takes way too long to blow dry and when you are on vacation you do what you gotta do! So I have since chopped it off. No more long hair for me!

Marin

Macy

Marshall

Sydney

Yellowstone Here We Come!

We are headed to Yellowstone this weekend. If anyone knows of anything that we just "have" to see, let us know! Hopefully I will remember to take some pictures!

We love visitors!

We were lucky enough to have the Bryans from Nebraska come through on their way to see family! Our kids had so much fun playing with their friends! Thanks Bryans for stopping by!

Our home is open to any old friends who would like to pay us a visit!

They Grow Up Way Too Fast!

I just couldn't resist. This is one of my favorite pictures of Sydney. It is crazy how quickly they grow up. With the first two kids I wanted them to grow up--FAST! But now I wish that it would slow done a bit. I love this age and stage!

Kindergarten Graduation

Well since I am on a roll I thought I would just keep going. Macy "graduated" from Kindergarten! Wahoo! I am not really sure why kindergarten graduation is a big deal but the kids had fun and they all felt special! Macy and Marin will be switching schools again. It will be their third school in a year. Macy is sad, Marin is glad. You can't make everyone happy. And when we buy a house (who knows when that is) they will have to change again. Maybe they will learn that change is good.

Family Reunion

Well, we went on a trip to Utah for a wedding in May and I took my camera all the way there. But guess who didn't take a single picture, ya, that would be me. So this last month at the Short family reunion I made sure that I didn't make that mistake again. We spent 6 days at a group camp place where we rented a lodge with a kitchen and eating area and then primitive cabins to sleep in. I was worried that we would all get sick of each other after 6 days, but we had a blast!

Poor Sydney, before we left she fell out of our front door onto the door mat and scratched her upper lip. She was born into the right family!

We had a fun morning of baseball and kickball.

The sandbox was a huge hit for the younger ones. We were washing sand out of hair and mouths all week long. (Sydney and Macy with their cousins, Katie and Gretchen)

Daddy and Uncle Arin blew up the raft and took the kids for a ride.

Marin and Riley took a dip in the lake. Nice clean water huh? Considering there was snow on the ground the week before, you wouldn't have caught me dead in the water!

One morning we had a nature scavenger hunt. We went looking for rocks, sticks, flowers, leaves etc.

Sydney eventually got the idea and started picking up sticks. We couldn't get her to stop!

I think camp fires are the best part of camping. The kids sat on the log and pretended that they were a train.

We taught the kids how to play kick-the-can. It took me back to when I was young and we would stay up late on summer evenings and play neighborhood games. I loved kick-the-can. Well while I was running away from kids 10 years old and under, straining every muscle in my body I realized that I am definitely OLD! While we were playing Sydney face planted in the dirt and scraped the end of her nose and forehead. We started calling her Rudolph the red nose reindeer. She went home with scrapes on her face and all up and down her legs. That is what happens when you are not a seasoned walker I guess. But it was better than having a crawling baby in the dirt!

This is the only picture of me on our camera for the last 3 months. I guess I am the one always taking the pictures! And what a beautiful picture it is!

Grandma had a birthday party for all the grandkids. They played relay games and simon says, decorated visors and ate birthday cake. Thanks grandma!

Alayna was so cute. She was sharing her birthday cake with Sydney!

Soccer, soccer and more soccer

Marin and Macy played soccer in April. They had so much fun. For me it was soccer overload. Between the two teams they had games 4 days a week and practice on Saturday. But it was worth it because they enjoyed it so much. I was worried that Macy would be too timid to have any fun. Boy was I wrong. She was the most aggressive player on the team and probably one of the tallest in her age division. It was fun to see Marin and Macy go in the backyard and practice together. It was one of the few times that I have seen them work together. Luckily this fall they will be on the same team, so that means only 2 games a week-much better!

Marshall is 4!!!

Ok, so Marshall's birthday was something like 6 weeks ago, but I guess it is better late than never to post something about it-right? We have way too many birthdays too close in our family so I got lazy about his cake and slapped a couple of cars on it and called it good :).

Grandma Short was so nice and took Marshall to Artic Circle for a fabulous birthday lunch.

Unfortunately he inherited some clumsiness from both of his parents and while he was eating he fell off the chair and landed on the back of his head. He had a HUGE knot on the back of his head. He seemed to be acting ok so I didn't think much of it. In the mean time Aunt Janet, Uncle John and Aunt Renae and Uncle Andy stopped in on their way to Quilt Market in Portland. We took them to see Loren's office and while we were there Marshall started acting really weird. He got really drowsy and his tummy hurt and he couldn't open his eyes. We got freaked out and took him to the ER. Once we got there he started acting completely normal. We didn't know what to think and even though we have horrible insurance we decided it was better to have him checked out just to make sure he was ok. By the time a doctor finally saw him he was bouncing off the walls. Luckily he was fine, but our bank account isn't fine. It is amazing how much they charge just to be seen at the ER. They didn't even run any tests.

In all the craziness I almost forgot to have him open presents. I told him to go get ready for bed and someone had to remind me to have him open his gifts. It was one of those days:)