Family Vacation! Part 2

Yellowstone did not disappoint. This big guy greeted us about a half hour into the park. 

Yellowstone has to be one of the craziest places on the Earth! With all the smoking mountains, and the crazy cool waters.

I think the kids really liked it, even though we spent a lot of time in the car.  They had fun marking off all the animals we saw, and using their binoculars.

Everywhere you looked, it looked like something was going to explode!

Which was pretty cool.

This is what Bensen thinks of Old Faithful! He was more interested in the bottle then anything else.  It wore him right out.

The rest of us liked Old Faithful.  We even got to see it twice! The kids went into the visitors center and worked on becoming Jr. Rangers. By the time we were done, Old Faithful was ready to blow again.

This was at the Prismatic Spring or something!?! It was really steamy, and we didn't really get to see it, but everything around it was beautiful and amazing.

Here we are walking the boardwalk back down to the car.

Bensen liked this little hike.

We went to see the Firehole lake and ran into another Bison.

The kids loved this little trail. We had to keep reminding them not to run, we didn't want them falling into the boiling rivers!

Bensen loved being outside, he was always this happy.

Even when we stopped for potty breaks it was beautiful.  

I think this was called Firehole Canyon. 

A little farther up the river we hiked down and the kids got in a played. Wesley slipped and fell and got his clothes all wet.  He did not like having to ride home soaking wet! We tried to warn him. Lucky for him that was our last stop for the day.  We ate at a pizza place called The Gusher.   We got Taco Pizza, it was very good.  I think I ate over half of it myself!

The next day we headed North toward Mammoth. 

We stopped at Gibbon falls.  We also stopped at some more Paint Pots.  We stopped at some the day before also. 

They were pretty amazing. Every body liked this hike.

It was pretty, steamy, and smelly.

Everybody commented on our cute little bear, and Batman.  Jaycee got a lot of comments also.  We sure have cute kids.

We stopped at Norris and did a little loop.  We didn't go to Steamboat geyser, me and Mike were too tired.

We made it to Mammoth.  We saw Elk everywhere! The kids finished their Jr. Ranger books and were able to get there badges and were sworn in as Jr. Rangers.  That was pretty cute.
Here they are with their badges.

Wesley took the picture below.

Just outside of Mammoth Mike and the kids were able to swim in the boiling river. While they swam Bensen had a little snack.

Mike said the water on his right was burning hot, and on the left was freezing.  Wesley stayed in the cold water and Mike would occasionally try to push some hot water his way.  The further down the river the better the water temps, but it was much more crowed down there.

By the time they got done swimming it was starting to get late. We drove around for about a half an hour, then headed back to the hotel. It was dark while we were driving out.  Luckily we didn't see any animals.

On Sunday on our way home we stopped at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. This was by far the hardest hike we did.  It  was only 3/4 of a mile but it was a 600 ft drop.  Going down wasn't too bad, coming back up was hard.  But we made it.

This is the Lower fall.

This was right before we started back up.  I have a picture of us half way up however it was not very flattering.

Our last stop was at the Mud Volcano.

Wesley loved this hike.  In the loop we walked, there was the Sour Lake, said to be like battery acid, Mud Volcano, Fire Breathing Dragon, and Black Dragon.  Pretty much a little boys dream!

It was a great way to say good bye to Yellowstone...until next time.

Family Vacation! Part One

I have been trying to get to Yellowstone for a long time. We finally made it.  This was our first, just our family, vacation! We usually piggy back vacations with people in my family because they have World Mark condos. We had such a good time.  We started off in Bear World. 

This was such a fun place.

They have a fun little petting zoo area.

Wesley loved the petting zoo...Jaycee did not. She came in for a little while, but she thought the chickens were out to get her, so she watch from outside the fence.

They even had a couple of little rides for the kids.

The bears were really fun to see.

We drove through 3 times. Wesley said this bear was being attacked by flies, and it was! Don't they look so cute and cuddly, and scary at the same time?

Bensen liked that bottle better then the bears.

This was just the first day of our vacation. Overall we liked Bear World. It was a little cold, but it was nice that it wasn't crowded at all.  I think we would definitely go back.

Hiking

For Family Home Evening we went up to Snow Basin and did our usual fall hike. It wasn't as colorful as it has been in the past. Everything was mostly dead.  It was still beautiful, and the kids liked it. 

 Wesley was still getting over being sick so he wasn't as energetic as he normally is. 

The kids love this tree!

We had fun.

Every time we go hiking I tell Mike we should go more often. The kids really like it, it's just hard finding the time to go. Especially now that school has started and both the kids are playing soccer.  Fall seems so crazy busy! 

Be Prepared

We decided to do bag meals again.  I have missed having them.  It is so nice to go into the pantry and know I have something I can make for dinner, and that it will be done in about 20 minutes! The church cannery doesn't sell canned beef anymore, and to tell you the truth, I hated their canned beef! I looked around and couldn't find anywhere around here that sells canned beef. I found a place in Ohio that sell ground beef, but it was going to cost about $90 to ship it here. Yikes!

I have been wanting to can beef since I canned chicken. I loved having canned chicken, and it tasted pretty good. It was a pretty big job, but Mike did most of the dirty work. Canning beef was much easier. We bought about 30 lbs from Winegers for about $3.50 a pound. Mike found THIS tutorial online that I followed.

I just lightly browned and salted the beef, and added water. Mike helped me put everything into the jars. He is the best!

We did pint jars. 

We had enough to do two batches.

33 cans in all and the best part is that every single one of them sealed!

So we were able to finish up with our bagged meals.  This time around we did White Chicken chili, Carmae's Chili, Enchilada Soup, TexMex Goulash (my kids favorite), Taco Soup, Baked Ziti, Chocolate Chip Muffins, and Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes. These were my favorite.  There were several last time that I didn't like, and wouldn't eat.

It's so nice to have a stocked pantry again.

Wesley took Bensen to the beach while we worked.  They are sitting on the beach next to the water.  He even made the sky, which was taped to the light.  He is so creative.

Later that night me and Jaycee went to The General Women's Conference. Wesley and Mike made food people.

Here are a couple of pictures of Wesley on his birthday.

He got two parties this year one at the Borgstroms.

And one at the Baileys.

Unfortunately he was sick for both of them.  But I had already made the cakes, so the party must go on.  He ended up with croup! 

He still had fun. We sure love this boy.

Wesley My Love

Wesley turned 5 today! Crazy...right? Wesley will always be my miracle baby. I will always feel so blessed to have him in my life.

 

Wesley's First Birthday.

Wesley was such a good baby.  Even though he was sick all the time, he was pretty happy.

Second Birthday.

Wesley is such a sweet boy.  

 Third Birthday.

He is shy.

 Fourth Birthday.

He can be silly when he wants to be.

 He likes to tumble, and is pretty good at it. Last week he did 10 back hand springs in a row! He recently learned to ride his bike, and he loves it. He is the best brother.  The other day he helped Mike with something, so while at the store Mike told him he could pick out a treat.  He made sure to get Jaycee one also, even though she did not help at all. He is very good at sharing.  He loves to take care of Bensen. If he starts to cry, he is the first one there to help him. He is pretty indecisive, he gets that from both me and Mike.  Since we have moved into our house his little attitude has come out.  He has even started to tell me NO sometimes! That didn't ever use to happen. He is still sweet as can be, and even lets us hug him once in a while. Especially in the last couple of weeks. He even hugged my parents last Sunday before we left, that never happens!

We love Wesley so much, and we are so grateful to have him in our family. He is truly a blessing, and we thank God for him everyday.