The Grand Tetons

Last week Chris and I met his family in the Tetons and went camping with them for a few days. It was so fun to be with everyone and it was beautiful there! We had lots of fun. We got there on Thursday afternoon about 3pm. His family got there that morning and reserved a campsite for us. We had 3 different campsites because you are only allowed to have 2 tents per campsite. Chris' mom Carol and her husband Brett, Brett's daughter  Claudi, his brother Mikel and his two kids Calvry and Nala, his brother Ryan and his wife Amanda and their daughter Evelyn, his brother Robbie, and his sister Katie's oldest son Jayden all went. We missed both of Chris' sisters and Brett's son Marco and his family.
The first day we got our campsite all set up and had dutch oven lasagna provided by Carol and Brett. The next morning we made breakfast in the rain. Luckily me bought a new tent right before we left that has a rainfly that covers the entire tent, so we stayed completely dry during the night-and we both also brought our coats. After breakfast we all went to Yellowstone for the day. We didn't go on the side of Old Faithful, which was ok because I've seen it a couple times before. We saw several herds of buffalo,  which the kids loved. We went down (and back up) over 300 steps to a beautiful waterfall, and we also went to some hot spots, which are kind of fascinating to me. That night when we got back to our campground it was late and we didn't want to cook so we ate dinner at the restaurant right there. Saturday morning Brett, Claudi, Chris, and Calvry went on an all day hike up Cascade Canyon, that goes right beside the Grand Teton mountain. While they were gone the rest of us went to a cool museum/visitor's center that had a bunch of cool stuff about the Tetons, how they were formed, the animals, the hx of the area, etc. Then we came back and went to the lake right by our campground (I think it was Jackson Lake), and just hung out on the beach. We also got rained out there so Carol, Jayden and I went and played cards for awhile after it stopped raining. The rest waited out the rain and stayed at the lake for awhile longer. The hikers came back about that time and everyone made their own dinner. Chris and I had tinfoil dinners. Yum! We hung out for awhile the rest of the evening and the next morning we got early and packed up. I rode with Chris until we got to Rexburg, then switched and rode with his brother Mikel because Chris was going back to Spokane and I was going to Burley. I stayed with my mom until Wednesday, and then flew home from Boise. It was so nice to have a whole week off of work. And it was really nice leaving and coming back in the middle of the week, so when I came back I only had to work 3 days. Here are some pics of the trip-sorry there are so many! I had a hard time narrowing it down, and I don't have the time to make collages like I sometimes do.

 Carol and I the first afternoon

Chris and I the first night. 

 Yellowstone

Chris and Nala-she loves him!

 Chris and all 3 of his brothers-a handsome bunch! (notice all the buffalo behind them)

 Hiking to the waterfall

Going down all the steps to the waterfall

 

Me and Evelyn

  

I like this picture because of the clouds

Everyone eating at the restaurant. For some reason Chris' head looks like he's an alien.

Nala and I at the lake.

Jayden and Evelyn 

 This is Chris on his hike. They ended up hiking about 13 miles I think. While on their hike that saw this bear come out of the trees, and a baby cub right behind it. This picture is not zoomed in-it was only about 10 yards from then! About 15 minutes later they also saw a huge moose!

 The last night saying goodbye to the Tetons-we will miss you!

Eating our tinfoil dinners

It was Fair Week in Burley so my mom and I got to go to the Fair on Tuesday night and I got to have a maple bar. So good! I got to see a couple friends there, and got to spend a little time with my cousin Jamie. Wednesday morning we watched the parade. Taylor and Ian rode their bikes with their neighbor who is a cop I believe. They did a good job and were so cute waving at everyone while they rode.

Tysi came and brought Kade, Kalan, and Halli with her. I was really glad I got to see them. 

For some reason this is Halli's new thing. She like's to make this face. She loved the parade and kept saying, "I love parades. I love horsies. I love dogs." etc, etc.

Luke also loved the parade, except he wasn't a fan of the candy being thrown. For some reason 90% of the candy thrown was saltwater taffy. Luke was getting tired of and starting throwing it back in the road. Haha, it was pretty funny.

Sadly we probably won't be coming home again until Christmas. We loved being able to come home so much this summer. With Chris staring school again (today!), we will be pretty busy. I worked on Christmas last year so I'm assuming I won't have to this year, and will hopefully be able to have a few days off to come home. In the meantime, anyone is welcome to come visit us (hint, hint). It's only an hour flight from Boise to Spokane, and if you watch the sales, sometime you can get one way tickets from Southwest for $50 or $60. :)