Life Resumes . . .

I got a call from Csilla that Monday on our trip - her son, Levi, was helping take care of our dogs while we were away. They had taken Brigham and Bella on a walk - and Bella got attacked by another dog a block away, an english bulldog. Per Csilla, the dog was clamped on Bella's neck for 15 seconds or so. The owner finally pulled his dog off (opening its jaw) and then Bella darted away. Csilla and Levi were dealing with Brigham, the biting-dog's owners, etc. Then the search for Bella began. Long story short and after several people telling them, Bella was found just sitting on a bridge near the park close to our home. Csilla checked her out and thought everything looked okay - which is might have the first day or two. But she had a pretty good wound and it was pretty large and yucky looking by the time we came home and saw her. Emmy was in tears. But Bella went to the vet the next time and she's doing perfectly awesome now. She only wore the cone of shame for like an hour. She couldn't lick the wound anyways, so whatever. Cute Bella.

I had to work the entire week we got back. So the girls found things to do: like spray-paint their clothes. I think they turned out pretty adorable! (They had stencils to work with, too - cute, cute.)

 Ben and I went early Friday morning (like 5:30am) on a lovely bike-ride before we had to work. Fun!

Ben's garden is awesome! He pickled and canned about a dozen jars of beets. We have lots of zucchinis. We are waiting on the tomatoes to ripen, beans to grow, etc. Awesome.

On Saturday morning, I went hiking with two of my friends - some of the best. We had a great morning and were able to make it up to the Upper lakes. It was quite nice without a backpack on! It was great to get out with friends - it's been a long time of doing so without kids . . . 

Me, Heather, and Sarah. Blue Lakes in the background.

We probably missed the peak of flowers, but the columbines were still impressive!

The beautiful waterfall before the lakes. Gorgeous - as are my friends!

The girls wanted to try to take their bunk beds down and just have side-by-side beds. So Ben spent a lot of time working on it - and I helped a bit. When Lucy came in, she cried because she hated it. Haha. But once they started putting their bedding on, their things back in the room, etc., it grew on her. I think she likes it now - at least for a while. Emmy loves it. It's a tiny, but cute, room.

Mentally last week was exhausting. I can't take more of the news - and I don't even check it much at all. Sadly, most of my "news" comes from Facebook. Which usually sucks. I can't stand either extremes and of course that is what social media is all about . . . But life goes on and we'll try to make the best of it all! Here's to another week!

Just the 4 of Us . . . Plus More . . .

It was weird, yet nice, to just have the girls around for about 5 days! After dropping off the boys, we spent our days in Yellowstone (2 days), just hanging around Mack's Inn, and even in Grand Teton National Park. It was pretty great. A lot of the lodges and indoor facilities were closed at each park, but it was still pretty awesome. It was crowded, yet when you got out of doors, it never seemed too bad.

Some fun at Grandma's and Grandpa's before we left!

Ben had to drive us to some family cemeteries on our way to Idaho . . .

This was Ben's Great-Grandma Afton's gravesite.

Another one of Ben's Great-Grandma's house . . . Ben's father de-barked the bottom of the three when he was a wee little lad - and the tree was only like 2-inches diameter.

This was my Grandparent's gravesite - Grandma and Grandpa Galbraith. It was July 5th and was actually Grandpa Galbraith's birthday - he would have been 105.

We took a lovely evening walk around Mack's Inn. It's so beautiful there!

We had to check-out Big Springs that morning - it was as gorgeous as ever!

We also checked-out Mesa Falls on our drive to drop off the boys at Rexburg.

After dropping off the boys, we checked out this Grizzly Bear and Wolf center near West. It was pretty cool, actually. I mean, not amazing. But something cool to see. The wolves were cool - but creepy. The black ones looked too much like hyenas from The Lion King. Gross.

Monday night we enjoyed a nice hike to the Coffee Pot rapids. It's such a beautiful walk along the river. It stayed dark until like 10pm there so we had plenty of daylight heading out at 7:30! Emmy found a friend and hiked with him/her for quite a while. :)

Tuesday we went to the park and headed up to the Mammoth Hot Springs area - in area we haven't really been to. The pictures are out of order, but close . . . 

We hiked to Trout Lake in Lamar Valley before heading back home. It was a great little hike! The trout were awesome!

It took a while to see them, but then we saw about a dozen trout swimming upstream. So cool.

Emmy petted one. :)

We walked around the lake and it was beautiful. A little muskrat swam right near us for about half the hike. So cute.

On Wednesday morning we joined my Uncle Randy and my cousin Andrew's three girls (the "Three P's:" Piper, Presley, and Paige) and hiked to the Big Springs Fire Tower. The hike was nice . . . then the adventure began - climbing up to the top of it. It's 80-feet high. I made it about 25-30 feet up before I was done. I wasn't a fan! But my girls did it all and I was super-impressed. Randy, in his great Uncle Randy fashion, teased me . . . :)

It's so tall and creepy and sketchy!

Apparently Lucy wrote her name at the top . . .

My crew at the top - what a view!

The first flight of stairs the wooden steps have been taken off - to dissuade people from climbing up the tower. It was pretty darn sketchy - especially going down! Lucy almost was crying . . . but held it in pretty well. What a fun adventure!

Even though I didn't go to the top, Randy did let me in one photo. :)

One of my favorite friend, Sarah Bugarin, whose son was with mine at OFY, came up with her family (they were staying with her mom in Rigby, ID) on Wednesday afternoon so we could float the river. Andrew's wife Teara and Uncle Randy joined us as well - as well as a hundred other vacationers!

We had a blast and ended the float with seeing a calf moose and mama. So perfect!

We had hot-dogs and s'more later that evening. What a fun day!

Thursday we checked out of our little cabin - such a cute place! We then we went back in to the park - doing more of the typical Yellowstone attractions. It was a great and long day!

Mammoth was so cool!

Grand Prismatic is always . . . grand!

We again hiked in to Imperial geyser - only 2 other people there. I love that hike and that geyser!

We played this "game" on our hike to Imperial Geyser. You have to start with "A" and then if you're next you state what "A" is and then come up "B." And so on. It was fun. :)

Fairy Falls - on the way to Imperial geyser.

Buffalo - or Buff as we called them - are always fun to see.

Yellowstone - such a weird and awesome place!

We ended up leaving the park around 9pm and getting to our "Canvas tent" sleeping arrangements in Colter Bay, in the Tetons. We had four bunks and it was a fine night!

Friday morning we hiked a bit in to Death Canyon. Emmy was DONE with hiking at this point and so she kind of ruined it, but it was so beautiful she couldn't fully ruin it. :)

Death Canyon was so lush! And so pretty!

Phelps lake.

I really do love the Tetons!

We picked up the boys that afternoon (after a horrible stop in Wilson, Wyoming at my once-favorite bagel shop) and then headed back to my parents' house.

Miles had fun driving Grandpa's toy!

The big adventure of the day was a gift from Uncle Derek to his nieces and nephews - one-wheel lessons in Park City. So cool! It took Lucy the longest to catch on, but she finally did. The kids all had a blast. We adults were jealous! What an awesome and unique adventure for the kids.

Practicing standing and jumping off them - with both feet.

Lucy, again, struggled for a bit. A few tears were had . . . but she finally got the hang of it and loved it.

Emmy was pretty great and thought she was even better. :) She was a cute skater-chick. 

Miles did awesome!

Jonas was a complete natural!

Videos:

All good things must come to an end . . . sniff, sniff. We had a great rest of the trip. The kids got to swim on Saturday afternoon, we played a Family-Friendly version of Cards Against Humanity (which was pretty darn hilarious, especially playing with my parents), we played an intense game of Left-Right-Center in which Everett won the money-pot, we had church on Sunday and my parents both gave two excellent talks. But, by Sunday at 2, we were heading back home to real life of jobs, chores, etc. At least we had a great break!