Yellowstone

On Saturday we visited Yellowstone National Park.  I had been there once when I was 10 and again when I was in college.  But it was still amazing to see it all again.  

The flats

 I love the contrast of colors that appear naturally.  

 We learned that when you see water this blue it's over 150 degrees!  

 The kids and I...the wind was blowing so ignore my beautiful hair.  

 A geyser.  

 A hot spring right by the river.  

 Charlie riding in style.  

 Alaina wasn't a fan of the stinky smell.  

 Alaina pouting because we made her walk. 

The family.  

 The ridges around the outside of this pool look so neat.  

 Carson pointing out a Bison out in the trees.  

 Old Faithful.  

More Bison.  These sighting caused us an hour delay coming into the park because people aren't smart enough to pull off the side of the road to see the wildlife!  I swear some people have no common sense! 

This big guy had his spot and was thoroughly enjoying it.

Tony and I really enjoyed our time in the park but we learned that it is impossible to see everything in one day, especially with kids.  You need to spend a long weekend if not a week to really enjoy everything.  Maybe another year.  It's only a two hour drive from Rexburg so we could easily go again.

Camping

This last weekend we went camping with my parents near Yellowstone.  We all had a lot of fun and were wishing that we had more time to stay and play.  

 Eventually I just had to let Charlie crawl around in the dirt.  By the end I think there was more dirt than Baby!  

 Hebgen  Lake in Montana.  This is were we were camping.  It was beautiful!  The water was pretty clean for lake water and very inviting!  

 Carson

 My Dad, Mom, Charlie and I.  

Alaina picking all the pretty flowers.  

Trouble

Look who had fun in the bathroom the other day.  Yes, even the toilet paper is unrolled!  Sigh.  

Love Notes

Last week the kids and I found these notes around the house that Tony had written to us.  It was a wonderful surprise and it really brightened my day.  The first note was written on the bathroom mirror, but was erased by Carson before I could get a picture of it.  

This is a note I wrote to Tony on the bathroom mirror.  Don't make fun of my spelling.  "We love our Daddy!  He is the smartest, funnest, bravest, most handsome guy around!!!  Mommy thinks so too!"    

A note from Tony on the mirror in the kitchen.  I'll translate for those of you that have a hard time reading the small print.  " Angie, you are beautiful! Carson, you are handsome! Alaina you are pretty! Charlie you are cute!  I love my Family!"  

This note was written on the other bathroom/laundry room mirror.  "You are all Amazing!!!"  

All these notes have been up for awhile now.  But I just can't bring myself to clean the mirrors.  I love seeing these little notes from Tony.  Whenever I need a little pick me up I just go read one of these notes.  

Swim Lessons

Carson and Alaina just finished their swimming lessons for the year!  This is the second year that we've done swimming lessons through the city here at Rexburg Rapids.  The kids love the water.  Especially Alaina, she has no fear when it comes to the water.  Which is good and bad.  Both kids did really well and we'll continue to do swim lessons each summer.  

Independence Day Cont.

So after the parade we had a lunch of Fried Chicken...doesn't get much more American than that!  Then we went swimming at "The Sandbar" in St. Anthony.  It's this fun little beach along the river.  There was a makeshift water slide that Carson loved and a diving board that was lots of fun too!  Tony got some great pictures just to discover that he had forgotten to put the memory card back into the camera, bummer!  Anyway we came home and had a good old American BBQ with a patriotic desert.  It was all very yummy.  

I know it's not much to look at but in my defense I had the help of a 4 year old with the cake.  

After Dinner we just kinda hung out until the fireworks started.  We live just down the street from the county fairgrounds so we didn't even have to leave our front yard.  I have to admit that the city fireworks were pretty sad.  They started before it even got dark and the show was lets say that it didn't seem like they put much effort into it.  Oh well maybe next year we'll go to Idaho Falls for their fireworks display.  I hear one of the best around.  After it got dark we lit off our own fireworks and the kids really enjoyed it.  Even Charlie loved watching all the pretty colors.  

All in all it was one of the funnest days we've had in awhile and it's one of those Holidays that we'll remember for years to come.  

The Trouble Maker

Since Charlie has become mobile he has become quite the little Trouble Maker.  Here are some of his favorite activities.  

 He loves the computer.  Often while the older kids are playing video games or watching a movie Charlie will turn off the computer on them.  They find it quite annoying, I find it quite humorous, when I'm not the victim of the sudden computer shutdown.  

 What almost 12 month old doesn't love tearing the bathroom apart?  Well, Charlie is no different.  He loves taking out all our extra toiletries from under the cabinet and taking everything out of the drawers.  The best activity is unrolling the toilet paper.  

 "Helping" to unload the dishwasher is great fun for this little guy whether the dishes are clean or not.  

 Getting into the Xbox and games is also lots of fun!

Charlie loves tearing apart the diaper bag.  Especially when my wallet is in there.  I've found my wallet strewn across the floor many times and the in process my temple recommend has managed to not make it back into my wallet.  The little stinker! 

 The kitchen drawers and cabinets are a place that holds great treasures to Charlie.   

I've actually found Charlie all the way inside this cupboard.  As you can imagine I have a difficult time staying on top of all of his "activities".  Oh well, at least he's having a good time.  

Crime and Punishment

I won't go into the specifics of the crime or the punishment in order to protect the guilty (Carson).  But I will say this it was a serious offence.  To say that Tony and I were upset is an understatement.  After the said person was sent to bed we found this note slipped under his door.  I have to admit that it melted my heart a bit.  I will translate for those of you who have a hard time reading the writings of an almost 2nd grader.    

 "To: Mom and Dad

Will someone open my window and get my dinosaur?

From: Carson

Sorry"  

 Again, I will not go into the specifics of the punishment, but some of it involved this.  

Independence Day Parade

Yesterday we went to the Independence Day Parade here in Rexburg.  It was long, but I was impressed with the variety.  We really enjoyed it!  

Charlie waiting for the parade to start.  We were at the end of the rout, so it took a little while.  

Only in Rexburg would the missionaries be part of the parade!  

Charlie enjoying some taffy.  

What parade wouldn't be complete with horse and wagon?  

There were also lots of "cool" cars, but to post all those pictures would make this post really long.  We also had a visit from Darth Vader and other Star Wars characters.  We all managed to get a little sunburned.  Except Charlie, but he was the only one with sunscreen on.  I've got to keep remembering that we are at a higher elevation her and thus need to be better about putting on sunscreen.   

Trees and Flowers

One of the things I love about living in an older home is that I get to enjoy the flowers and trees that were planted by previous tenants.  

 There is a pretty little rose bush right in the front yard.  Unfortunately, I took too long to get a picture of the roses so a lot of the blooms are old and dry, but still beautiful in their own right.  I've always liked roses.  Years ago I had gotten a rose bush for my birthday that was planted at our house in Nampa.  It never had a chance to bloom and was unable to survive being accidentally trampled.  

 I love that we have big shade trees in the front yard.  Our back yard has a big shade tree too, but the yard part in the back is less than to be desired.  With having such big trees they are a pain in the spring and fall to clean up after.  I guess that's one good this about the wind here is that the seeds and leaves are usually blown away before I get around to cleaning up the yard.  

 There is an apple tree right outside the kitchen window.  I love looking out in the spring and seeing all the beautiful blossoms and now I get to see the developing fruit we'll get to enjoy this fall.  Again with having a fruit tree it's a pain to clean up all the fallen rotting fruit off the ground in the fall, but that's what you have kids for right ;)? 

 All over we have these daisy like flowers.  They're smaller that the usually daisy variety I'm familiar with, but I'm enjoying them anyway.  They seem pretty hardy too, which is good.  

 I discovered these little beauties in the back flower bed earlier this week.  I use the word flower bed loosely because these are the only flowers with a bunch of weeds.  I don't know what kind of flower they are, but I especially love their purple color.  

 We have 3 Lilac bushes on the property!  I love Lilacs, they are my absolute favorite!  I was so looking forward to enjoying the beautiful blooms and lovely scent this spring.  But unfortunately right as the blooms were getting ready to come out we had a cold snap and thus no blooms this year.  To say that I was disappointed is an understatement.  

 I don't know what these flowers are called either, but I have always loved them whenever I saw them around.  Once I'm in my own house again I would love to have some of these in the flower beds!  

 We have two big pine trees in our yard. I love the smell they give off.  It always gives me the sense of being in the mountains.  But all the pine cones in the grass is such a pain!  

I keep telling myself that I'm going to get busy and clean up the landscape of this place but haven't managed to find the time or energy to do it yet.  Watering the lawn by it'self is a full time job.  As you can see by the pictures that even with all my effort our lawn is anything but a luscious green.  We have such awful water pressure at our place that I can only use one sprinkler at a time.  So, by the time I've water the front and the back all day long, switching the water every hour or so, it's time to start again.!  It is a major pain!    

All in all I really enjoy the mature trees, bushes, and flowers.  It makes me think that once we're ready to buy a house again I might like to get an older home so that we can enjoy the mature landscape.