Post Yellowstone

What an amazing vacation! God did we need it!? Coming back to our everyday lives I am refreshed! It was so nice to have an opportunity for us to be together, just to ‘catch up’. My love for Kevin has grown so much since we first met and just because of our hectic lives I don’t think I realized how much. Just having time to sit, take in God’s beautiful creations, and listen to nature is so peaceful. Without being on-the-go like usual I was allowed to take a step back and really see what I have. I am so thankful for this opportunity and can’t wait to go on vacation again!

We drove through the night after we left work on Monday the 28th. We arrived at our cabin Tuesday around 2pm! We were absolutely exhausted! The next few days we toured Yellowstone. We entered the park everyday at the west gate. We saw black bear, mule deer, elk, antelope, bald eagles, bison, a bunch of little ground critters…. Awesome! Chloe became a Jr. Ranger! She had to complete 4 activity pages out of her paper they gave her, walk a trail, memorize the Jr. Ranger Oath which went something like…..

“As a Jr. Ranger I promise to learn all I can about Yellowstone and to teach others to love and respect its beauty, plants and animals…” (Chloe would say AMINALS…too cute!)

She needed to know the rules of the park…
-Don’t get too close to the animals
-Don’t pick flowers
-Throw away garbage in a garbage can
& so on…

While Chloe was busy doing all this, Josie cut 3 teeth!

We left Yellowstone, Saturday and met a friend of ours that night right on the border of Idaho and Oregon in Nyssa. What a town…. That’s a long story….

He brought his two year old little boy with him. That night we slept in our cars. The kids were all passed out, it was after dark, so we figured what the heck…..

After going through the high desert (100 mile loop looking for dried up lakes….) we finally set up camp right outside of Bend in the Deschutes Natl. Forest. Beautiful! We had an entire forest all to ourselves…or so we thought… We all heard a bear that night, but thank goodness he never made an appearance! The next day we spent at Suttle Lake. It was gorgeous and most importantly a way to get clean!

After 2 nights in the Deschutes Natl. Forest (at the base of Black Butte) we headed on to Diamond Lake. The water was crystal clear! Josie even fell asleep when we were waist deep in water! Our final morning we woke from camping we woke up to rain! Our very last day! Of course, it just figured, we left all the toys out and the fly on the tent off so we could go to sleep under the stars… Kevin was impressed! He was amazed how quickly we could get packed and swore we would not camp again unless we gave 120% Hahahaha.

To finish up the trip we stopped at Steamboat for breakfast, where the food is great and the scenery is breath taking! Since we have been home Chloe started football camp, lost another tooth, caught up on some much needed time with my sister and Kevin and I are trying to get back into the swing of working!

School is right around the corner so we will be busy, busy, busy…..

I will TRY to keep up with this though!