Island Park and Yellowstone

We just got back from Island Park and Yellowstone tonight and I'm already blogging about it. This is some kind of record for me, I just know it. We went with my family and stayed at a cabin up at Pond's Lodge. The mountain air sure was nice! It was a ton colder up there than it was down here. I think the temps peaked at about 65, but it was down to about 48 during the day on Friday because it was rainy most the day. Unfortunately that was the day we were supposed to float down the (Snake, maybe?) river, so we had to cancel the river and we went into West Yellowstone and went to the museum and the Wolf and Bear Encounter. Then on Saturday we headed into Yellowstone and got a nice surprise- it was a free weekend! That saved my family $100 with the large convoy that we had. But it also made for a very crowded Yellowstone! Oh well, I would love Yellowstone in any condition! It was Jack's first time seeing geysers and waterfalls and buffalo and all the many other wonders of Yellowstone, and do you think he loved it?!? Nah, he was pretty neutral. What he did love was the fudgesicle at the general store. And I don't blame him. I admit I had two myself. Consecutively. You would too, they are that amazing. In 2005, Jason came with my parents and me on a Yellowstone trip and we took a picture outside of the store with our fudgesicles, so we thought it would be a fun tradition to take the same picture in the same spot everytime we go back, and just add in any new kids that there might be. Here is our 2005 and 2010. Jason says we look a lot older now. And I say that one of us looked a lot skinnier. I won't name any names.

2005

2010

Two of my cute nieces.

I sure love spending time with my family. I feel like I never get to see my sister and her family so everytime I do is a treat! Love you guys!

This makes me happy...

St George

We took a fun little weekend trip with our friends the Ashbys last week. It was tons of fun! Lots of sun and outdoors. I went mountain biking for the first time ever and it worked me over pretty good but it was a really good time. Jack had a ball spending time outdoors. We haven't been able to do much of that in the rain at home.

It's always funner to swing with a friend.

We also went to Zion National Park and did some hiking, including a little trip up to Angel's Landing. The view was AMAZING!

This is the ridge you hike up to get to Angel's Landing.

At the Emerald Pools.

We took the kids to a splash park and got lots of cute pics of the little man. Thanks again to the Hatts for letting us stay at their home!

Jack thought it was pretty awesome to spray us with water.

One of all the kiddos.

It's all fun and games until your bum gets wet.

The down side- Jack got sick. Then Lindsay got sick. Then Jack developed croup. Then we drove home a day early at midnight and had easily the worst night of everyone's life. Especially Jack! We took him to the dr's the next day and had to get him on some breathing treatments and steroids. He's lookin' pretty buff now. And then Jason got sick. And that's where we are currently.

Jack is one! (Okay, he's one and one month now)

Warning! There are a TON of pictures in this post. But it's not everyday that the Jack man turns one! For Jack's birthday last month we wanted to take him someplace fun so we thought about the zoo. Turns out Mother Nature wanted to snow on us that day so we headed to the aquarium instead. I couldn't really think of a ton of places that a one year old would really care to go, but I think he seemed to have a pretty good time!

He pointed at lots of fish, and hit his head on lots of glass fish tanks. I wonder if he thought they were just giant tv screens.

We touched the sting rays. And then washed our hands really good. :)

After the aquarium we had a big party with both of our families at the Buhlers, and I unveiled my masterpiece. Ta Da! It's AG Bear. For those of you that don't know, AG Bear was Jason's first and best friend. He's still a valued member of the family but now he sleeps in Jack's bedroom instead of Jason's. So this was my tribute to good ol' AG Bear.

Holy smokes, this kid got spoiled! I don't think he'll ever need another toy again. Thanks to everyone who bestowed gifts upon our son.

And now the best for last. Jack's first trip into sugarland. He started out pretty casual, but I've included a sequence of photos that illustrate what happened over the next few minutes. I think you should be able to pinpoint the exact moment when he reached the peak of his sugar high and lost all control, followed by a dazed and full little Jackie afterwards.

Thanks to all the friends and family that made Jack's special day so much fun. If Jack enjoyed himself even half as much as I did then it was success!

St George trip

Jason and Jack and I took a little trip down to St George two weeks ago. I thought I'd write about it before I let it just pass by and move onto Jack's birthday post (which will be next!). We went down during the week and then some friends came and met us for the weekend. It was tons of fun! Before everyone got there, Jason and I went for a hike around one of the sites where I did my field school three years ago. To my surprise, there is now a fenced off area and a plaque talking about one of the room groups that was excavated by our field school! I took a close up of the part where it talked about the site being excavated by BYU students in 2006-2007. If Becca reads this, she'll probably be the only one who really cares, but I thought it was cool! :)

I took Jason on a tour of the rock art. He must think its pretty funny to pretend to deface valuable history.

We tried to do a Lion King thing but Jack and Jason were hooked together too well with the backpack. Oh well.

This rock overhang is where I dug my first test pit. Ah the memories.
After all our friends came down, I for some reason didn't feel the need to pull out my camera again, so this is the last picture I got. We went on a bike ride and Jack wasn't a big fan of the trailer. That's probably why he's elbowing Leighton in the gut. The weekend also included a trip to the public pool, and the girls went for an all day hike around the parade of homes. The boys, however, did a little mountain biking on their own. This sure looks like a group of professionals if I've ever seen one.