The holiday is over

My little vacation to Yellowstone is over sadly :( Time with my family just goes too quickly. It seems to go even more quickly now that we know we are moving to another state. On Monday as we were driving away from my parents house I fought and lost a battle against tears. I tend to be really dramatic about things like, "the last time I could be driving away from my house before I move". I have known we are moving for several months and have been pretty excited about it however it is just now hitting me how hard it is going to be to be so far from my family. Growing up I always wanted to move away and live in a different state but now that I am older, more mature, and have better relationships with  my family I just want to stay and be with my family forever. Ick, these grown up feelings are hard to deal with. Even tho I am struggling with this sadness I am staying positive and looking forward to the fun times Caleb and I will have in Spokane.

Okay, back to Yellowstone. We stayed in Big Sky, Montana for the first time. My mom found us a great cabin that we rented right on ski resort. Caleb had never been to Yellowstone so I was really excited to show him the place that I had been going to since I was a baby. I think he liked it. He seems to like everything and he never complains so it is sometimes hard to tell if he really likes it or if he is just being the first-class person that he is. I believe the place that Caleb liked best was Midway Geyser Basin. He liked walking through all of the steam. We visited many popular places in the Park including Midway, Norris, Old Faithful, West Thumb, and Canyon. Sadly we didn't have time to do everything but we hustled our butts everywhere as fast as we could to see all of the sights. Each night we returned to our Cabin exhausted and ready for the hot tub. We also stopped along the way to see Big Springs in Island Park, and Earthquake Lake. A few of us (myself included) saw a bear. Other wildlife we saw included moose, elk, dear, bison, birds, bunnies, and a fox. The fox, who my niece Lily named Ripper, was a very friendly fellow and as we were hot-tubbing one night he came within five feet of the hot tub. We got snowed on twice in Big Sky which was really unusual feeling but Lily certainly seemed to enjoy eating snowflakes out of the sky!

While in Big Sky one night my brothers and I planned out a backpacking trip we are going to do in July. This will be my first time backpacking and I am really excited. Caleb and I got each other backpacking supplies for Christmas so we have been preparing for this for awhile. I am terrified but super excited as well. Caleb and I also have a trip to Moab planned in June. So, before we move we have a few more trips planned. The other day I was feeling pretty sad about how much money we had made last year and the lack of it I had currently. Then I started thinking of all of the fun things we had done the last year: went to Lake Powell twice, a two week vacation to Canada, Moab, Zions twice, Atlanta, St. George, and Yellowstone all in one year. That's nearly one vacation per month! I don't feel so bad about being broke anymore.

And now it's time for the pictures! Lots of pictures; I couldn't just pick a few.

Big Springs after a long drive and an early morning 

Caleb at Excelsior Geyser

The steam at Midway

Although I don't like all of the people at Old Faithful it is absolutely a must see

Morning Glory pool was one of my favorites from this trip

At Earthquake Lake. The history of this area is so sad and made me really appreciate being with my family the whole weekend 

My older Brother, GR. His wife must have escaped ALL of my photos

Chan, Ricky, and the only grand baby in the family

Lower falls. I am not near as young as I was the last time I was here. For two days after this hike my calves were screaming at me. 

The two that started everything :) My parents

Check out my funny old-fashioned looking hairdo. Pixie cuts sure do grow out awkwardly

I believe this is Grand Prismatic ??

The two lovebirds! For real. We may have been married for nearly three years but .... we are still pretty nauseating to be around. Sorry world

Norris. Note Caleb and I both representing awesome shirts: Fezzari and Brand New. Two of my favorite things

This was the part in our vacation when Blair lost it. He misses the days of being the baby of the family. Sadly, he pushed Lily out of her stroller, stole her cat, crawled in the stroller and began to suck his thumb. Sad, but true.

And that was our trip!  

Whhoooaaaa!!!! I almost forgot to do Rose Bud Thorn and boy do I have a thorn to tell you about. 

Rose: I just blogged. I feel pretty successful when I do.

Bud: Caleb gets off early today and we are going biking

Thorn: Guess what Caleb found out about Spokane? They play BROOMBALL there.