Mack's Inn and Yellowstone, 2023

So our trip to Idaho this year was a bit different - just four of us went. Jonas was still in South Carolina and Emmy had a cross-country camp that she didn't want to miss (and it was good she didn't for many reasons...). But we wanted to take Miles up there one last time before his mission, and it would be a good vacation for the rest of us as well! My parents joined us up there and that was awesome. 

We got up to Mack's on Sunday evening. On Monday, Ben and I went for a run to start out our day. Then the four of us rode our bikes to Johnny Sack's cabin. As always, it was gorgeous. Riding our bikes made for a fun trip, too. My parents ended up there, too, and so mom joined us in the cabin. On our way back, we saw 3 moose - a mama and two babies. Awesome.

After lunch, we headed out on a float trip down the Henry's Fork river. I could do this everyday! It's just so great and so gorgeous. We saw another moose and one baby. :)

We ended the day with a yummy dinner (prepped by my mom and grilled by Ben) and chillin' at the cabin.

On Tuesday, we all headed to the park. My parents did their thing and we did our thing. We brought our bikes along and that was something fun and different! We headed to one of our favorite spots: Imperial Geyser, via the Fairy Falls hike. We parked at Fountain Flats trailhead and biked to the Fairy Falls trail. From there, we locked up our bikes and hiked the 5-mile roundtrip of Fairy Falls and Imperial Geyser. I love this hike and the geyser! The waterfall is pretty, too!

After the hike, Miles and I headed over to the Grand Prismatic Overlook because why not? Lucy and Ben hopped on their bikes and headed back to the trailhead/car because I guess they had a reason why not...

After that, we headed to Lone Star Geyser. It's one we discovered a couple years ago and some day we might actually time it right to see it erupt! But it was one where we could ride our bikes and it's just a beautiful trail/old road. It makes me happy! :) This geyser goes off about every 3 hours. It doesn't list it's prediction anywhere . . . but there is a log at the geyser. Which told us we had missed the eruption by 30 minutes. Dang! We weren't going to hang out there for 2 1/2 hours, so that was a bummer. But it's still a beautiful trail in and a cool looking geyser spout! (My brilliant idea: have the log-book at the beginning of the trail so people can gauge the time better...)

We finished the day at the park by stopping in at Old Faithful. The timing wasn't going to work to see OF erupt, but we did get huckleberry ice cream at the lodge - but, sadly, it was gross. Ha. 

We made our way out of the park and visited a few stores in West Yellowstone. We then met up with my parents and had our traditional and delicious dinner at The Gusher. Followed by the always-enjoyed show at The Playmill. We watched Beauty and the Beast and it was really great! (At least my family thought so - not sure about my parents . . . ??) We got home close to midnight - so a long, but fantastic, day.

Wednesday the weather started turning south (actually, on Monday night there was like the biggest thunder/rainstorm I had ever heard - but all cleared by the next morning). We had planned on a chill day at the cabin and so that's pretty much what we did! We did the fire tower hike and while I enjoy the hike, I do not climb the tower. Well, I did like the first two sections and then that's good for me. Ben, Miles, and Lucy enjoyed their climb and view at the top. Fun for them. :)

Crazy kids - and Ben! I am sure Uncle Randy is still disappointed in me that I don't climb it. Oh well, ha!

The rest of the day we sat around the cabin, painted these alphabet blocks I was doing for a friend's baby, watched a movie, ate dinner, etc.

My mom, after playing a couple of games earlier in the day with my dad, played some Scrabble with Miles and Lucy. Good times.

Thursday was another park day and we started early! We left by 6am so we could get in to Hayden Valley early and see all the animals . . . Usually, especially when early, you can catch at least a couple hundred buffalo, maybe a bear or two, and perhaps even some wolves. Well.... we saw a total of 3 buffalo! Ha! It was actually pretty rainy and so not sure if that's why. But it was so weird to not see the herds out. So that was a bit disappointing, but it's still Yellowstone and still gorgeous and so it wasn't a total bust. Plus, as we were leaving Hayden Valley and heading to the Lake Lodge (to get some rain ponchos for our hike...), we did see a mama bear and two cute and bouncy cubs. So that was cool! 

While we only saw three buffalo, but this one was pretty great! He had stopped traffic, of course, as he was just leisurely walking down the road. It was about as close as we've been to one - and thankfully we were in our car!

We had to wait a few minutes for the lodge store to open, but they finally did and we got our rain ponchos (and maybe a few other things) and headed to our next adventure for the day: Mt. Washburn. It's the tallest peak in Yellowstone. We've never hiked it. It wasn't ideal weather at all - heavy clouds and rain, but it was still beautiful and quite an adventure hiking in the fog and all! You are supposed to have this amazing 50-mile view up top, but we were socked in by clouds. There is a weather station and fire tower up top and so we were able to get some cover and dry off a bit before heading back down (It was probably 45 degrees at the top that day). The wildflowers were incredible and just the whole scenery was beautiful. Rolling green hills. We'll definitely be doing this again and hoping for clear weather! But it was an adventure we won't forget!

We did make one stop at the Mud Volcano loop - it's always a fun one! So many oddities - love Yellowstone.

Now on to the hike...

We ended our day at Mammoth. The kids and I hiked the big loop, while Ben got a nice hour-nap in the car. :)

Mammoth is so unique!

We then just made the drive out of the park and back to Mack's. My mom had dinner all ready for us and we watched a movie that night. Friday we basically just got up and packed up and helped clean up. It was another dreary day... We left a couple of hours before my parents, but they beat us home because we had a few stops on our way: first, at the Army Surplus store outside of Idaho Falls; second, to visit with the Joe Maxwells as they were in Pocatello helping get Sam situated as he is attending a master's program there; and, third, in Layton to pick up a gift from Lila to Lucy. Unfortunately, Lila forgot to leave it on the porch and no one was home. Haha. 

Joe, Grace (in BYU's nursing program), Sam, Nicholas (10th grade), and us. :) We were missing our kids, plus Emma (at BYU) and Brittany (taking the picture).

As Ben just said while I've been typing this up: "That was a great trip and I wish we were still there." Yep, that's about how we all feel about Mack's Inn/Yellowstone! :)

A big ol' DUMP

Whelp, I am SO BEHIND! Ack. Summer started out pretty boring . . . and then July came and got a wee bit busy and it just hasn't slowed down . . . So here's a big dump of all our summer happenings, up to Yellowstone:

Ben, Lucy and I went on a gorgeous hike on the 4th of July. Miles was on the front-range, Jonas of course gone, and Emmy was meeting up with friends that day and so it was just the three of - plus our two dogs. It was a super pretty (although way too many mosquitoes) hike - loved it!

Ben brought up some MRE (Meals Ready to Eat) from his Army stuff and he and Lucy enjoyed their lunch. :) I had a few bites . . . Not bad, really!

That next weekend, following the fourth, the girls and I headed up to Midway. Emmy was to start FSY the following Monday. Lucy brought her friend and neighbor Genevieve along and so that was fun. We were there for a couple of days at my parents and then I drove Emmy (picking up her friend and roomie Holly in Layton on the way) to Logan for FSY at Utah State. I drove all the way up to Logan, got Emmy and Holly settled at USU, drove back south and met my parents (who had Lucy and Genevieve with them) in Orem, and then drove back home to Montrose. It was a long day...

Then Lucy and I headed back up to Utah a few days later to pick Emmy back up. Actually, we got to my parents' home on Friday and then on Saturday Lucy and I headed up to Layton - where we met up with Emmy at Holly's house. Emmy and Holly had The Best Week Ever. They LOVED FSY so much! Yay! They even had a special guest drop in and talk with just the girls - Dieter F. Uchtdorf. Lucky them! Emmy said she had said a prayer that morning and that Elder Uchdorf addressed everything she prayed about. Sweet. :) Lucy got to stay over that night with Lila (Holly's sister and one of Lucy's best friends, even though she moved - boohoo). Emmy stayed with Holly as well and even got to spend a couple of hours at Lagoon on Saturday.

Heather, Holly and Lila's mom, was kind enough to bring the girls all the way down to Orem - where I met them on Sunday afternoon and then we all drove back to home. The rest of the month was filled with a week of Csilla and I running our last slime camp ever (it went great), followed by working all week the next week. Then came August, which I get to in my next post!

While I was taking Emmy and the girls to Utah, Ben was able to meet up with Paul F. and go on an epic adventure together. They backpacked in Friday night and then summited Wetterhorn, a 14er, on Saturday - and hiked out that same day. It was a lot of awesome miles hiked and climbed and I was so happy Ben got to do this!

Lucy and Emmy (and photo-bomber Emmy) having fun at my parents' pool.

Emmy and Holly geeking out over their cute dorm for the week. :)

Lovin' it.

Emmy was SO EXCITED to tell me about Elder Uchtdorf. I told her to take his picture and she did. :)

Emmy loved the girls in her group so much. They all got along so great. They roomed with four other girls, who they got along well with, but didn't click like their FSY group. But it all worked out for sure! 

Some posts from her FSY group and friends:

And, yes, this happened to Emmy at FSY - her first little kiss. :) Haha, cute! And her cute besties, Abby and Layla (sisters) made her this cake when we got back home. Love it.

Cute friends, Lucy and Lila.

Slime camp . . . nevermore. :) But it was a great time - a MESSY time. But Csilla knows how to make those kids clean and it was awesome! I had a lot of fun with Csilla and our kids (36 of them!!!) were pretty great kids, really.

Ben went up one weekend to celebrate his dad's 80th. His siblings were all there and so he had a really great time! This is the only picture I got, though:

Joe and Ben went on a great Saturday morning ride. (I'll need to get more pictures from this weekend...) 

Miles made it over for Sunday pictures and lunch. So that was pretty cool.

Jay, Aiden's dad, sent me a few pictures of Miles' time with them this summer:

I am so glad Miles had such a good summer with the Bugarins!

This was Miles as he was about to drive back to Montrose and leave the Bugarins - and not see them for 2 years, sniff, sniff. These are Aiden's brother: Evan in the middle and Alex on the right. I think they really liked having Miles around, too. 

Happy Birthday (and 1st day of 8th grade) Lucy,

Well this is a late birthday letter Lucy! We've just been a wee bit busy this past week..... We had Blythe Hardy (aka Sister Hardy, aka Best Sister Missionary Ever) stay with us this past weekend and that was wonderful. Along with her, my parents also made it over for Saturday night thru Sunday evening - lucky us! Miles had his "farewell" sacrament meeting, we went school shopping all day Monday, Miles flew out (sniff, sniff) to the MTC Tuesday, and now - today - it's not only the day you become a TEENAGER, it's also yours and Emmy's first day of school. Yes, busy, busy. But a good busy (except school shopping - I am not a fan of taking you girls shopping . . . haha).

Another year has come and gone. You finished up your middle year of middle school. I think it was a good year for you. You were pushed in your accelerated math class and that was a good thing. You still liked school and *most* of your teachers. . . You rode your bike most days with your good friend and neighbor, Genevieve, and so that was pretty fun. 

You continue to have a lot of friends from a lot of different groups - school, church, and gym. You are always wanting to hang out with someone - literally always. You organize a lot of the getting together with friends - whether it's going to paddle board at Taviwach or just hang out at our house. Turns out, our house is pretty great to hang out at. Well, maybe not necessarily our home, but our location. When friends come over, you gals walk to the thrift shops, Crash Burger, shaved ice trolley, playgrounds, downtown shopping, the movie theater, and more. It's pretty great really. Too bad we also have to do deal with drug busts and overdosed dying neighbors too. Yikes. But our house is truly blessed and I don't fear - too much - for my family. 

You tried out for advanced choir this year (your 8th grade year) and made it. Most of your friends are doing it as well and so you are really excited for that! I am glad you're doing it, but I really despise middle-school choir/band concerts to be honest. If I remember correctly, though, choir goes first and then we can leave before the band?! Let's hope so for my sanity, haha. It's a new thing for you and I think it will be a lot of fun doing something new. We wanted you to do track, but you extremely and adamantly refused. You are still rocking it at the gym . . . you got a back handspring on the beam and so that's been an impressive skill to obtain!

You got a special week in Yellowstone with just one sibling, Miles. Jonas is away in South Carolina at boot camp and Emmy had cross-country camp that week. So that was kind of special . . . you and Miles are of course the farthest apart of siblings and so it was nice for you two to have some time together. Especially right before Miles leaves for two years on his mission. It might have felt really different not having Emmy around you, but also a nice break for you, too! Seeing as you are still the best of frenemies. . . .

I wish I could say another year of getting older has helped you with your impatience problem. It hasn't. In fact, it seems to be getting worse - or I am just getting more impatient with your impatience. Haha. You're a great girl and I know you'll continue to work on this and get better with it. (Crossing all my fingers and all my toes.)

It's hard being the youngest. People often think being the youngest is the best. And in some ways, it is. But it's also really tough. You're just younger than your siblings and, frankly, you act younger - which you should because, duh, you're younger. But for older teens . . . it's more of an annoyance. But now that you're also a TEEN, maybe you'll be less annoying to siblings! :) When Miles comes back from his mission, you'll be 15! Wowzers, I can't even imagine.

I spent the morning making you a birthday cake. You didn't even want one - you just wanted avocado ice cream. I have been talked about not making birthday cakes anymore - everyone is getting older, no one really likes cake, etc., etc. But then I couldn't NOT do it, haha. I guess I am not quite ready to have all my kids be grown-up. I am glad I still have a youthful Lucy around - who didn't even wanted a cake, but loved the one I made anyways. :)

Love you Lucy and are glad to have you as the caboose in our family,

mom