Yellowstone 2014

We took the kids to Yellowstone this summer. It was a lot of driving! Our Explorer was in the shop so we had to take the car for a leg of the journey.  It was quite squishy for the kids. We met Grandma and Grandpa Stuart part way and let them take some of the kids.

Emma was a perfect princess, almost the entire time.

When we arrived at our motel. Everyone was pretty much sick of driving. They had a nice swing in the shade where the kids could set and enjoy cookies.

a wily coyote

stinky!

This buffalo totally photobombed me. I was trying to get a nice shot of the landscape and whamoh! this one walked right next to the car I could have reached out my arm and ran my fingers through it's matted fur..

Grandma wanted me to take a picture of these stairs, that she climbed.  It was  pretty impressive.

Doesn't it look like we're super-imposed on this picture. Kinda weird, but we were really there! This is my favorite part of Yellowstone. Firehole Falls! It's awesome!

Elli would not come and stand by us. Guess she doesn't like heights.

Beautiful Colors.

in the Historic Yellowstone Lodge ...waiting for Grandma to complete her shopping and to see Old Faithful.

Some ladies carry a cute little dog in their bags, Grandma carries a BUFFALO!

Miss Emmaline 6 1\2 months

Miss Emma is starting to travel. She rolls,(oh, and she has them too, ...and she likes them as well.), she pushes off the floor with her tiptoes and can move forward. She is a beautiful baby, all peaches and heavy cream. :) She loves real food, and likes everything! I made some rolls yesterday and oh boy! was she excited for her little bites. (No Mom, I'm not really feeding her wheat and strawberries(jam) yet, ...just little  samplings.)

 

 She smiles, laughs and gives kisses.. She sticks out her tongue when she's concentrating.

She sings along with me..

She is happiest at bedtime. She loves to lay between mommy and daddy at night getting all the attention, and grab our faces and jabber jabber ...while NOT being mauled by her sisters and brother who love her a little TOO much.

 

She blurts out words, just like James did.

She has said "James" twice

"Ma" countess times

"Hi" 3 times (make that 8 times, She's talking to Ellie right now!)

"Dad" 3 times

"I like it." twice.(seriously)

"more" many times

"OH YEAH"

 

She radiates light, and is pure joy to our family. We simply could not do without her!!!!

 

I know there are a ton of pictures here. They are all unedited, (I know some need, cropping, big time) but warning if you print any up they are taken with my 35mm camera, so they need to be prints with 2/3 ratios.

 watch the feet, she was coming to her Momma. :)

baby quilt credit go to my friend Anita MQ

Chesterfield

  A few weekends ago we traveled to Chesterfield Idaho.

Yep, look it up. Chesterfield Idaho.... a ghost town in Caribou County.

There really wasn't a modern town or building of any kind  ....just a couple of ranches. We stayed at a nearby Dude Ranch.
There IS a Chesterfield Historical Town Site, with an old school, church, little store buildings and some houses. The kids had fun walking around them. We didn't get to go inside because they didn't open until the next weekend. (Bummer!) Fortunately, I had been there before. .....when I was a teenager, our Stake went up to Chesterfield and did service for youth conference. I remember getting very, very car sick.

Incidentally, I got very, very car sick on the way there this time too. :(

The kids had a blast though, they got to ride horses. Ellie was so happy because they have gentle tame horses(NOT LIKE GRANDPA'S) that she could ride all by herself.  I had a little heart attack, but I let them, and they and I will probably will never forget it. :)

Barry was disappointed I didn't take any pictures of them AI'ing the cows. (Ha! I didn't think he'd want me to ...and there were some great picture opportunity!) Barry teaches an Artificial Insemination for Livestock Class at the college. One of his students taking his class wanted to put his new-found knowledge to the test, and AI their family's ranch heifers. We came along so Barry could supervise.
 It was great to see such a supportive family, they built a whole setup(corrals, runs, chuts) for the boy, just so he could do it.(They were still doing some last minute welding when we drove up ; )  It was fun to watch this young man try over and over again, to get the job done right, while his brothers all stood around and watched, teased ...but encouraged him. He has 10 siblings and from the looks of things most of them are older brothers.

 Emmaline and I did a lot of this! Because I was feeling soo sick....and it was cold and windy.

Some of the settlement.

 

Ellie found a path........

 ohhh pretty. Good Ellie.

 .

James left the path........Don't leave the path James...

 

*ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!




And that was Chesterfield! :)  Now, time for Yellowstone pictures (yeah!)

 

 *perhaps the above picture is our most-beloved dog TINY.