Yellowstone & Camping

Tyrel served his mission in Philadelphia & ever since he heard about a temple being built there he wanted to go to the open house. In August Russ and I got to watch Tytyn and Halter for a week while Lindsey and Tyrel went to Philly.

We decided while we were in Idaho we would take the boys to Yellowstone and go camping. 

I just LOVE this picture of the boys!! They are both actually looking at me & I love those cute faces surrounded by beautiful yellow flowers!!

 The boys loved camping & sleeping in a tent. Their family has a camper so sleeping in a tent was a new experience.

Tytyn, Papa & Halter

 Tytyn was great at helping with the dishes.

Halter was great at being cute!! And yes grandma had to comb their hair,

 even while we were camping!

 Do you think Halter was enjoying smores or what?

I love the colors of these mineral pools.

You don't realize how huge this waterfall is until you see the people standing in the upper right corner.

 I wanted a picture of the boys in front of Old Faithful, but Halter did NOT want to look at me.

You gotta love ice cream!

35 years ago Russ and I went to Yellowstone together right after we got engaged. We thought it would be fun to take a picture in the same spot. Kind of crazy to think about.

Papa, Halter & Tytyn

 Its really nice to have two of our kids living within 30 minutes of each other. We went to lunch with Jacob and Janette and they went camping with us one night. Janette's sister & husband were there one night also. The boys didn't get to sleep until 11:00 one night because they thought it was
"party time" in the tent!!

If any of you like french fries go to the Burg in Rexburg, they give you a ton!!

 This is what happens when you get to bed late:)

Mesa Falls

Russ, Tytyn, Halter, Janette & Jacob

 There's a lodge at Mesa Falls that has all kinds of skins from animals that you can touch.
 The boys loved it.

Halter loves "Nette" & always wants her to hold him when she's around.

 Shopping for Sunday shoes for the boys.

 We took them to the water park in Rexburg & it was so fun. Russ was amazed I'd put my suit on for my grandkids, but not him. What can I say??

Halter & Grandma

Tytyn wanted to go by and see the temple.

It was such a FUN week, but went WAY too fast. I wished I lived closer to all my grandkids, but I'm grateful for the time I get with them:) I LOVE being a grandma!!!

Matsen's Baptism

This is definitely a record to do two blog posts in one night.

After our fun week with Jazlyn and Matsen we flew home with them to Kansas.

Wes' parents were on the same flight since all of us were going to Matsen's baptism. We did have a little time to sight see and went to this beautiful botanical garden one day.

It just happened to be on Shelten's 3rd birthday!!

Jazlyn

Do you think he is excited for his ice cream birthday cake??

 Some of the fun gifts Shelten got!
He was very good to share his new toys.

Matsen & Kelston love to build things.

On Saturday, July 30th Matsen was baptized. His two grandpa's gave the talks.

What a special day for all of us!!

Wes, Kristy & Matsen

After Matsen's baptism we headed to Kansas City to tour the Arabia Steamboat Museum. In fact, it was 160 years ago today that it hit a snag along the Missouri river and sank 15 feet into the water. The passengers and crew survived, but they lost 200 tons of cargo into the river. After 132 years in 1988 five steamboat enthusiasts from Kansas City area successfully recovered the Arabia. It was in the middle of a corn field, as the river had moved over the years. 

 

Here's the kids with one of the five men who dug up the Arabia.

 This was really an incredible museum! These men had to learn how to preserve all the cargo they found because they knew once it hit the air after being buried in mud for 132 years it wouldn't last. They froze everything and over time have restored many of the things they recovered!!

 This is pie filling that had been bottled!! Its pretty amazing all of this survived that many years buried in the ground. 

Its amazing all the things they were able to save!

Well worth the effort to go to this museum. The kids really liked it.

On Sunday we enjoyed hanging out together. 

The kids love wrestle time with papa!! Lots of screaming going on:)

Went to swim lessons a few times.
Kristy & Shelten

Since Kelston didn't get to come to our house Russ bought him a fishing pole and took him fishing the morning we left. He was in heaven & loved casting his pole. He wasn't even disappointed he didn't catch anything!!

Time to say good-bye. So FUN!!! We love this family so much.

We arrived home late Monday night and my brother and his family arrived that morning. We enjoyed a fun week with them.

Moroni, Kensie, Marcie & Kennedy

Kensie surfing

Kensie & Marcie

Me & Kensie at Lena Lake

Moroni, Marcie, Kennedy & Kensie at Westport crabbing

 A couple of these Moroni bought to take home with him.

Enjoying the fruits of our labors. It was a fun week  

The older I get the more I realize that family is everything!!  Being together with them makes me so happy. I've really been blessed this summer to see a lot of my family and be able to hang out with them.