Friday Fun

 

Today Katey and I had a mom and daughter day. 

When she got done with her school work we headed out to the ice rink.

We had a ton of fun there, just the two of us.

Then we came home and made dinner.  She made Sloppy Joes with my help.

After dinner we cleaned up and then made a bunch of cards for Little Addie.

We had so much fun today and I realize that I need to spend more one on one time with each of my kids. 

Yellowstone Day 4 ~ Actually into Yellowstone

 

 

We decided since we were so close to Yellowstone to go ahead and take a trip in.  We went 3 times last summer and with the cabin being built now, I am sure we will have many more amazing trips, so instead of trying to do all the main attractions we stayed on the upper loop and did some things we’ve never done before.

I can’t remember the name of this but it was pretty cool!

We had huckleberry ice cream in Mammoth. 

Took a few selfies!

We did a neat hike and took a swim in the Boiling River.

 

We didn’t even know that place existed and apparently it is quite popular!  We have been to Yellowstone about 10 times in our 10 year marriage and had never even heard of it.

There weren’t as many elk in Mammoth as there usually is, but we did see two cow elk soaking up the shade.

We tried to get a cool picture, but the sunlight and shade, just wouldn’t work together.

We stopped at Tower Falls and went into the gift shop while Tommy and my brother went on a hike up to the falls.  A few minutes into shopping Tommy came running in and told us there was a sow and her cubs just off the trail.  We ran out and got some great pictures.  Don’t worry we stayed far away from them and did not disturb them.   It was pretty neat.  Of the tons of times I’ve been to Yellowstone, this is only my second time seeing a bear with cubs.  Tommy was one of the first people to spot it so we got to get our pictures before it got to crowded.

Afterword we went out to eat in West Yellowstone at a place called The Slippery Otter and it was amazing!  I highly recommend it.  Good food and good prices!

More days a comin’

Yellowstone Day 3 ~ Family picture day, Kayaking and a play!

 

We went to bed the night before with the news that our photographer (the one we had lined up for 6 months) had cancelled his appointment with us for the next morning at 10am.  Since you can imagine, we are from all over the country and it is very rare that we all actually get together. 

We are the type of people that make the best of it.  You see this is my husbands family and I had taken my brother with us.  So we all got ready while my husband installed a gas line for a generator. (I have no idea why that had to be scheduled at the same time as our original picture time, but they were both scheduled at the same time and we had decided to keep our original picture time with my brother since we didn’t want pictures to take our whole day.

We started pictures only an hour late.  Practically right on schedule.

After we had been all gussied up for picture what better thing to do than go kayaking?

We headed on down to the river and rented them right out of everything they had left. Some of us were on kayaks, some on SUP’s, some on a canoe, and some on a raft.

Oh yeah, I cut my hair the week before. 

The bus driver that took us up the river had told my brother about a great spot to stop for lunch that had a rope swing into the river where it was 7 feet deep.

This was a total blast!!

We then ran home and all got ready as fast as we could to head to The Playmill Theater in West Yellowstone.  We saw the play Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Day 4 coming up!

1 week. 20 people. 1 cabin. Yellowstone. We survived! part 1. Days 1 and 2.

 

It is a 9 hour drive from our house to Island Park, ID.  Where we were staying.  My in laws own a cabin up there.  We have spent a portion of our last 3 years going up and helping build it.  This was our first trip to be able to just enjoy it.

These are our vacation hats!

We decided to take the drive through Jackson Hole, Wy. and up over the Teton Pass.  We left in the middle of the night and arrived in Jackson Hole in time for breakfast.  (Luckily this was a trip my husband was going on with me and being in the oilfield, he is used to driving through the night often.)

We then finished our drive to Island Park and spent the first day resting and relaxing. 

Our second day we went into Virginia City, Montana then on to Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park in Montana. This is very worth it, and was what I called Route 66’d.  (When a new interstate came in and bypassed it). We did this trip with just our immediate family and my brother. Still a full car, but not 20 people.

In Virginia City we did a tour of the town, went to a fun museum and ate some amazing pizza. Our very favorite was the Gypsy Arcade.

Then on to the caverns.

They are very cool and my pictures do NOT do them justice.  So go on, head on up there for yourselves.

Stay tuned for day 3 which was packed full!

 

F is for Family Fun

 

My family is so important to me.  I want to make some amazing memories with them. I want our bond to be strong and unbreakable. 

I enjoy having fun with my family. 

We have some traditions that I know will be lifelong memories for my children.  Here are just a few of them.

• We have campfires all the time.
• We go for drives and take the scenic way often.
• We play card games a lot.
• We get loud and be proud at any event our children participate in.
• We make it a priority to be at said events.
• We get interested in what our children are interested in.
• We have fun sleepovers in the living room.
• We build big awesome forts for our kids.
• We plan surprises for them.  Simple things like going bowling, or to the go cart track.
• We are spontaneous.
• We give this parenting thing our all.
• We let them know that we value them being a part of our family.

E is for Emily!

 

My Emily. 

She is so sweet,

she is so caring,

she is so beautiful,

she is so sassy,

she is so funny,

she is so accepting,

she is so brave,

she is so athletic,

she is so talented.

She is so amazing!

I am lucky I get to be her mom.

Relax, It's just a flat tire........

We load up the car, all things carefully packed and in a precise spot.

 We load in, our car full to capacity.

We get about halfway through our 10 hour drive.  We are enjoying the scenery as we travel through the middle of Utah on a Sunday.  

The 4 year old suddenly has to pee and he means NOW!  

We do what any respectable family would do and pull off the side of the highway.  I unbuckle him and he does what he has to.  I hear a bug making a funny noise.  Then suddenly it hits me right upside the head..... 

The tire is going flat and fast!  

Yay for us, I have a tire emergency repair kit, in the stow and go......... beneath some luggage and a cooler and the kids feet and.....well you get the idea.  

So as I feverishly work toward uncovering the repair kit as the weight of all our stuff and our bodies are deflating the tire, and, I mean FAST.

I finally uncover it.

My husband and brother, who was along for the adventure began to work as a team plugging the hole.  

One plug in and we're golden or so we thought....  The tire is still leaking, we try a second plug and now we're golden.....

We head to the nearest gas station about 10 miles down the road.  We made it, full the tire up with air and......

If you know my luck, you guessed it, still leaking.  

2 more plugs later and it's still leaking.  

We call a truck stop and ask them how much it would be to patch a leaky tire.  It was just a measly $320.00 dollars.  Which happens to be slightly out of my budget.  Not to mention more expensive than a BRAND NEW TIRE.  We even double checked that they realized we were not a semi.  They did.  

We begin calling around other places.  No where was opened.  It was a Sunday afternoon.  

My husband decided to go in the gas station and ask, they suggested a Walmart about 20 miles back.  

I called them.  They are open and can patch my tire for $10!  Yay!  If I can make it there.  

We try.  

We make it!  Yay! 

Then they inform me that they can not patch a tire that has a plug in it. 

What!!!!

We ask them to try since the plugs weren't holding anyways.  Actually it was more of a begging from my husband.  They say they will try. We get some lunch and wait.

They call us up to the counter.  They were able to fix it!   

Now...... Yay!!!!

We get on the road again and made it to the cabin!  

After a trip like that we all have a fun family campfire complete with karaoke.

Stay tuned for part 2 of our adventure.

A few notes to justify our behavior:

The spare wouldn't have held the weight any better than the under inflated tire.  

Walmart was only able to do the patch after the plug, because the hole on the tire was so big the plugs wouldn't hold.  

My kid had to pee and he couldn't hold it.  Pulling over, running something over on the shoulder and all that we went through was better than my kid peeing his pants.  (At least that's what I keep telling myself).  

Freaking out wouldn't have helped.

I was able to teach my kids to:

Relax, even though we just go a flat tire in the middle of nowhere on a Sunday with a car full of stuff and people, just relax while we figure it out.