Anne likes raspberry sherbet ALOT!!!!

Tonight we went to IceCream Zoofari with the Ramseys and Hardys. Anne was dying for some sherbert. We searched all over. When we found it and were in line, a guy came with 2 more containers of it. Anne said "Kick him in the knee, I will take the sherbet and run." Since I am a nonviolent person, I said "no", so she settled for just a cone, or two, or three, or four....

Just kidding Anne! You are a great sport!

This is what happens when 3 yr old gets the camera

As I was reviewing recent photos, I think "What in the world....Who took this?" Obviously Emily and her friend Caleb found the camera and photographed eachother. At least they are digital!

Wow! I am such a good wife!!

Yep! Sean was off on Thursday. He went fishing with his brothers Bret and Eric to the Palacades. They left at 6:30am and were home at 12:30 am (Bret had to come home EARLY to spend time with his wife.) How much time do you spend with your spouse after midnight? Just kidding. I am so glad he was able to go. You know what they say "Nothing is better than a happy husband!" I love you sweetie!

Icecream

Hang on!!

Yet another Yellowstone post. Just before our buffalo experience, we had a picnic. We found home made teeter totters. This clip is of Jaron, but it happened to Nathan too! Should I blame Sean?

Buffalo warning!!!

This of course should be posted with my yellowstone stuff. (I don't know how to back date posts)

Anyway, this is Sean's favorite piece of Yellowstone documentation. Isn't that hillarious !!!

Victorian Village as Sean sees it!

Here is a photo of the neighborhood. Sean took it as he was coming home last night. It is kind of cool. Do you see your house? If I had photo shop, I would love to circle and label the houses.

We are the Snarfs, snarfs, snaaaaarfs!

This week the kids have been involved in the SNARF program and ISU. SNARF stands for: Science, Nature, Astronomy, Radiation, and Flight. It is 3 hours a day for 4 days. The kids seem to like it pretty good, however I do wish it was a little more organized. They have built bridges out of popsickle sticks, planted corn, built volcanoes, launched eggs, and who knows what else.
To explain the title: Jaron and Jake made up a song on the first day, that they love to sing. The other kids are totally sick of the song and moan every time they sing it (which is often.) As a mom, I think it is funny. I especially love it when they do the dance that accompanies it.
I love carpools. I love having the kids taken for me, and I love driving a carload of kids equally well. The kids always beg me to "do the crazy drive". This is where I swerve the car while driving, make a rough stop or accelarate on a turn. I always do this cautiously. The kids love it. Today while I was crazy driving, Kelsey Benson called out "Oh, that smashed my nuggets!" The whole car roared with laughter, and I have to explain "Kelsey honey, you don't have nuggets." Logan laughingly said "What are nuggets?" I pretended I didn't hear that---I didn't even want to attempt to answer that one.
Camp and carpool attendees: Nate and Jaron Gordon, Logan and Jake Ramsey, Kelsey and Joslin Benson, and Braxton Sellers.

Our family Yellowstone trip

We had a blast when we went to Yellowstone. We had to close up any food items when not in use, and put all deoderant, etc in the car to keep scents from attracting bears. So I kept somewhat a record from our trip.
We played the liscence plate game, and found 40 of the states, except: Alaska, Indiana, Hawaii, Massachuchetts, Mississippi, Vermont, Conneticut, Delaware, RhodeIsland and West Virginia. We also saw Canadian plates: Alberta, Quebec, British Columbia, and Manitoba. (If any o
f these places are not in Canada, let me live in ignorance, not embarrasement.)
We saw ravens and osprey, even a bald eagle nest with a mom, dad, and babies! We saw bison (see previous post), a grizzly bear, 3 black bears, a bunch of elk, bighorn sheep and mule deer. We also were able to feed chipmunks. There were 3 chipmunks at firehole falls that would come up to you and let you feed them. One even climbed onto Emily's back. I of course stayed behind the camera. (Getting bit by a rodent is not my idea of fun!) Luckily for us, Sean has no fear of animals, so the kids have some opportunities like that.

Jaron feeding the chipmunk a carrot!Nate feeding the chipmunk!

Speaking of wildlife, we were camping next to 4-5 guys who were on a "male bonding" trip. You could tell this was an annual tradition for most of them. They were real burly men driving a pickup. Lots of Carharts, overalls, flannels, and the big guy had a shirt that said "gentle giant" which he wore all the days. Even their names fit the trip Doug, Tim, Mike, Dave, etc.
On the other side of camp was this family from France. (I was embarassed by the Utah plate, then relieved to see the rental sticker in the window.) They were oblivious to the fact that there were other people in the campground. They would go to their car about 10 times in a 30 minute interval, eachtime they would lock the car door their lights would come on for about 1 minute, and shined right into our campsite. As you can imagine, Doug and his possie did not like that one bit and after about the 7th time they went up there told them to "please knock it off with the lights already!" The french woman was confused and insited that it was not her (even though she was in her car.) As the possie was returning to camp they were only about 15 feet away from her car when she locked the door again. You know me, it was so funny I about wet my pants.
Of course, my greatest pleasure came from Seans displeasure of them walking smack dab in the middle of our campsite. I figure it is a culture thing. They would seriously look into our tents. One night we were eating dinner, and the teenagers walked between our tent and table, looked at our food and said "Bon Appite" to us! I guess you can't take things too serious when you are camping. (How could you when you go 3 days without a shower and even the 3 year old says "Mom, your feet are pitch black.")

I know you all were dying to see photos of my dirty feet, but believe it or not I did not take any, so there!

Great Harvest!!

TAH DAAA!!! This is a sample of our beautiful harvest. I think we will get a crop like this 2-3 times a week!! I am so excited, and I will have photos of the raspberries (if I get some!)

Crazy Yellowston Photographers

You know how they say "a picture is worth a thousand words", we sometimes the real story is what is going on behind the camera.
In order to get family photos, I decided to ask other park visitors to take our photo, in exchange for us taking theirs. The woman who took this photo was very interested in photography. She told us how to pose so that my butt wouldn't look too big. (I'm not offended, just greatful!) In fact, you might say she was a little too interested in photography. We were shooting this photo on a bridge, when all of the sudden traffic started getting backed up. When I realized the reason, all I could do was yell "What should we do?"


Did I mention we were on a bridge. I looked down the road (about 30 feet), to see a 2,000 pound buffaloe. This time my mommy instict did not kick in. I was only thinking about how to save myself! "Should I jump off the bridge, no wait, that leads to waterfalls about 100 yards down....Maybe I should jump into this lady's minivan." As I kept repeating "what should I do" the buffaloe charged right past us (about 7 feet away.) You seriously could feel him go past. The lady in the pink shirt is the buffaloe photographer.

The next photo is by the French lesbians. Yes. You know me, always wholesome activities for my family. Not even thinking anything about 2 masculine women traveling together, I grabbed the first people walking by and said "I'll take your photo, if you take mine"--That even sounds dirty doesn't it. Shoving my camera at them I didn't even listen to their muttering. I just said "It's the button at the top." After the photo as I was collecting my camera, I realized that they could not speak English.
As to me taking their picture, some things are better left unsaid!

Okay, the final crazy photographer is me. I was taking pictures of the scenery, when I felt something funny on my arm. Here is a photo, I don't know what it is, all I can say is it was about 2 inches long and flies!

Just got home form Yellowstone!

Hey there! We just got home from Yellowstone. It was the best trip yet! I will give an update later (I need to go to bed!)