Goldenrock

Goldenrock is more commonly known as Yellowstone. But the kids have a hard time remembering that, for some reason they seem to remember it as Goldenrock.

This was our first time ever seeing this magical place. At least it was the first time for the kids and I, Rory had been before when he was much younger. For about 6 years I have been asking to go, every year when Rory asks me what I want for my birthday I say I want Yellowstone and finally my wish was granted! It was everything I could have ever wanted and more, a place I will never forget and I know we will return to soon. We didn't even scrape the surface on what this wonderful piece of earth has to offer.
Our first stop was... well, it was some town in Idaho. I cant remember the name, I think it was something like Henryville?? Either way, it was one of the smallest towns I have ever been in. We got a late start and decided to pull over for the night to sleep and start early the next morning. At first it was cute, so cute!! The little houses, the little church (that is where we slept, in the parking lot) the little people. Then around 2 am I hear a car pull up. We were sleeping in our camping trailer and you can hear pretty much everything outside. Anyway, no big deal, they just drive by really slowly then move on. Then around 3 am. a truck pulls up and shines his lights on us, looks for a minute or two then drives on by. Then 4 am. same truck, does the same dang thing. By this point I am trying to wake Rory up so he knows whats going on. But trying to wake Rory up is impossible! So there I am, wide awake and pretty terrified, just staring out the window as this truck drives by slowly every single hour. As soon as I saw the sun I couldn't handle it anymore and I woke everyone up and got the hell out of that cute little town! It was like something in a scary movie.

Next stop, BEAR WORLD!! duh! We saw bears of every shape and size. I had never really seen them up so close. It was a fun experience. Rori Ana would scream every-time she saw one and say "TEDDY BEARS SAY GRRRRRRR!!!!" It was pretty cute.

Then we went to the petting zoo....

We rode on some fun rides and Rori Ana and Ava got to go on their first roller coaster!! They are addicted now and I don't know that I have ever seen Rori Ana so happy?!

Next we went for a drive through the park, like I said we didn't make it far but from what I saw this was one of the most beautiful places on earth. I feel so lucky to have seen it.

Jameson... the chipmunk whisperer.

We went for a dip in the river. It was very COLD!

We saw some geyser's... It is amazing to see what the earth is ooozing! I could not believe the colors, textures and smells!

Thar she blows!! We got to see Old Faithful do her thing, that was so neat!!!

We had a little traffic jam because this guy had somewhere more important to be.

We went swimming in a lake, again it was very, very cold! But the kids don't mind.

We got some fishing in. On this day we didn't catch any fish and just as we were about to wrap it up I saw something go flapping down the river. It was a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest!!! Immediately Jameson ran down stream to catch this poor baby bird that was drowning. Rory on the other hand took some convincing. I kept yelling at him to run and go help but he didn't really want to chase a bird down the river. Then I gave him "the look" and he knew if he didn't save that bird he would need some saving himself.

Then I was a little lost on what to do with this baby bird. I have hand raised birds before but this bird had already been raised by its mother for too long and I could tell he wouldn't take to hand feeding very easily. His best bet was to just stay near his nest. Then all of a sudden I noticed a frantic mama bird flying around an empty nest, under a bridge. Well, I wasn't about to walk out into this freezing water, plus I knew I wouldn't be able to reach the nest anyhow. I gave Rory another look, like a desperate pleading look. He gave me an irritated look and then I had to explain to him that if he didn't return this baby back to his mama then we would be going home with a bird. So he hiked up his shorts and again he got into the cold river. I love that man. He has so much patience with me and my craziness.

Come on, you know it is sexy when a man goes out of his way to rescue a little baby bird. And look at those thighs!!! Don't deny the sexiness of it!! And thanks to his little helper Chanel all was well again. Immediately the mama bird flew over and laid on her baby to warm him back up and she looked so relieved and happy to have him back. Job well done!!

I loved Goldenrock and I cant wait to go back! I love being outdoors, being with the family, camping and eating outside, hiking, fishing and watching the kids and Rory swim from the sunny forest. I loved being surrounded by such beauty.

Stwabewwy Wake

The weekend before the 4th of July we finally got to go camping. We have been wanting to all year and every weekend something came up or work had to be done or the kids were sick etc. And every weekend we would swear that we would go no matter what and there we were, stuck at home. But not on this weekend! We got to take out our side by side and ride high into the mountains. We got to roll in the dirt, play with bugs, get bitten by mosquitoes, roast shmallows, cook and eat outside, fish and catch craw-daddy's. It was all so fun! We didn't get any phone reception or anything so it was all uninterrupted family time... with hardly any sleep. We had a wonderful time!

Baby Girl Turns Two

On July 15th my littlest baby turned two. I don't know that I will ever be able to understand how fast time really goes by. Ever since the day I laid eyes on this sweet baby she has reminded me of a little bird and it seems like all of a sudden my little bird is starting to spread her scrawny little wings! She is talking a ton now, she mimics everything from the microwave to the washer and dryer (she can make the funniest noises), she follows her big sisters everywhere and keeps up amazingly well. She is so friendly, kind and loving and yet has the shortest fuse of all of my children. She is a bit on the whiny side and is always needing something even though we all know she can do it herself, but because she is the baby of the family we all jump at her commands. Not only am I creating the tiniest monster to walk this earth but I find that we all are, the other kids, even people that hardly know her! She will ask someone for something or to do something and its like there is NO WAY you can look down at this little, skinny, squeaky baby girl with BIG hair and GIGANTIC eyes and not jump up and bow down at her every request. And she knows this all too well, she has a lot of people in love with her and everyone wrapped around her tiny finger.

For her birthday we had a party with close family and friends. It was small, quiet and relaxing. Ava loved every minute of it! You could tell she knew this whole party was JUST FOR HER! She loved everything! Her little blow up house, her pink balloons, her hello kitty table cloth that she picked out, her gold pinata she got at the store that day and her strawberry shortcake cake she picked. It was fun to see her running around having so much fun! She was so funny when she would open up her gifts, she acted so surprised with every one and would squeal and "oooooh" and "aaaaaahhh" at everything she got!

She did not like her new baby cousin taking her toys already! She had a problem with this!!

There, that's better!

We had a wonderful time and Ava Lyn enjoyed every minute of it! It is so sad to me that my youngest is already 2! But I am loving watching her grow and getting just a glimpse of the way she sees the world through those big beautiful eyes. Ava Lyn was the icing on our family cake or maybe more like the sprinkles.

Happy Birthday America!

I know, it is a very belated birthday. I just haven't been able to sit down and catch up on my blog, so bear with me on this. I am going to try to catch up as fast as possible so don't expect too much detail in these next few posts. I'm trying my best here and I only have until 3:30 because at that time I have to walk back down to the kids school for the third time today to pick up Jameson.

..Anyway...

Happy 4th of July (a month ago)!!!! I hope you all had a blast! Hopefully you all enjoyed the new firework laws we had this year?! I know, they aren't for everyone and not everybody was happy about it. But I like to say 'go big or go home'! WE LOVED THEM!! No serious accidents this year either, unless you count Rory blowing out his eardrum a serious accident. I think it's back to normal though, except it seems to act up whenever I am talking to him. Ain't that the darnedest thing!?! And I know I have said this before but we have the BEST family, friends and neighbors!! Every year we do what we like to call "The Culdesac of Fire"!! Everyone in the circle invites all their family to a HUGE potluck dinner and everyone pitches in on the firework show. Every year it gets bigger and bigger and better and better! We love being surrounded by so many fun people!