August

This was our busiest month of the summer by far. It started with Wayne taking Bradley on the boy scout trip to the High Unitahs. They had such a great time, and Bradley even went on the long, hard hike. I'm very proud of him!

As soon as Bradley came home from his trip to the Unitahs, he jumped in the car with Grandma and Grandpa who were up for a wedding and went down to Marysvale with them for a few days. We went down and picked him up, and the next day as soon as church was over left for Island Park

My family had planned a trip to Yellowstone this year, and we were staying in a nice cabin in Island Park. We spent the first day in Yellowstone, the next day everyone except me went river rafting in Island Park. We spent the next day in Yellowstone again, and the last day we took our time driving home by way of Teton, Jackson, and stopping in Bear Lake lake for raspberry shakes. It was a wonderful trip. We saw a lot of elk, 2 bears (one black and one grizzly), antelope, a bald eagle, and of course hundreds of buffalo. This was Wayne's first trip to Yellowstone, kind of. He went with his family when he was 2, so he doesn't remember anything from that trip. He loved it, as did Bradley. Elli did for the most part, and they were all really good in the car! We would take turns with having one cousin ride in the car with us which made all the driving more bearable for the kids.

Yellowstone Falls

Sitting on the stairs at Yellowstone falls. We had Isaac (in red) and Noah (in white) with us that day.

Old Faithful

I really wanted to make it up to Mammoth. It was fascinating! I'm so glad we decided to head out that way. The scenery after that in the Lamar Valley was lovely, and that's where we saw the grizzly just being lazy on the side of the road in the grass.

This was taken at the cabin just before we left. I'm glad we went, however, I think I will stay closer to West Yellowstone next time.

We got home from Yellowstone late on Thursday, and Friday was Father's and Son's, so Wayne and Bradley were gone again. We had Sunday to breath a little and then school started on Monday morning.

Elli's birthday was also the first day of school. Since Marnie's family was still here from Oregon we decided to go up to mom's for a party. Wayne took this sweet shot of Elli walking over the the sand box.

We thought we'd better take advantage of having all the family together and take a cousin photo. Even little Franklin who had been born 8 weeks early was there. It was his debut. Katie was so funny, she kept trying to stick her toe in Ian's ear.

Bottom row from left to right: Taylor, Clara, Paige, Noah, Ian, Elise holding Katie, and Elli

Standing: Josh holding Franklin, Kristen, Ben, Isaac, and Aaron and Bradley in the back

Elli wanted to purple crocodile cake, and I think it turned out cute. I love this picture because Ian is so excited about her blowing out her candles. What you can't see is that she didn't blow them out at all. Clara was sitting next to me, facing Elli and she is the one that blew them out. She just couldn't resist. It's hard to believe that Elli is 4 years old. Our sweet little miracle girl!