1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I, Yates and/or the kids had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comment.

I'm so excited to see what memories are the most memorable!

Idaho Vacation

Long time, no post-ee!!! We have been out of town on vacation since Friday, June 27th until Monday, July 7th. We headed up to Idaho for a dual duty vacation. I had my 10-yr. class reunion the weekend of the 4th of July and, with the new babies in our family, we headed up to show them off to everyone and get together. We had a blast and stayed busy doing lots of tourist things while we were there. Here's a re-cap of our week in Idaho with lots of cute pictures of the kiddos:

MONDAY
A trip to Yellowstone Bear World just south of Rexburg, ID. We saw LOTS of fun animals, but the favorite was the real live bears! There were grizzly, brown and black bears just roaming around outside your car. There were also rare WHITE elk, deer, moose, buffalo, wolves (although they must have been hiding 'cuz we didn't see any). Then it was a walk through their petting zoo where there were deer and baby fawns, ducks, a pot-bellied pig, goats, ducks, swan, fish, peacocks, chickens and lots of other little creatures I'm sure I'm forgetting. Then we went to the little amusement park that they have there for the kids to enjoy. I love the little picture of Tucker with his arm around McKinlee. It surely shows the special relationship they have...he just loves her and takes good care of her. McKinlee, in return, adores the ground he walks on and wants to do everything he's doing with him!

TUESDAY
Our only down day during the trip so here are some miscellaneous pictures we took during our entire trip. After one day of not having anything planned and sitting around my parents house and tired of the heat, we decided we were going to keep the rest of our trip pretty packed. Most people in Teton Valley don't have A/C in their houses at all, so while the nights still get pretty cold and 85 - 90 degrees isn't bad during the day...it makes for a pretty hot day if you're stuck inside an un-air conditioned house.




WEDNESDAY
A visit to an AMAZING and FREE splash pad at Porter Park in Rexburg that we drove the kids out to play in. I should mention that Porter Park is one of the bestest parks I've ever seen. It's HUGE and they have the splash pad, tennis court, volleyball court, large field for soccer, tons of benches and huge trees, a carousel ride, concession stand and a couple really nice playgrounds for the kids. My sister-in-law, Catherine brought my little nephew Devon over to splash around and hang out with us while we were there. What a cute little munchkin he is!!! For those of you in Southern Utah, Yates was saying the new community center in Washington has the same main splash pad slide/playground as the one in Rexburg that is FREE for the whole community!
THURSDAY
A drive over to Jackson, WY with our friends Lance, Brittney and Chloe Jo to go on the Alpine Slides at Snow King Ski Resort. I had never been on them before, even living up there, and it was pretty fun. Tucker wasn't supposed to ride by himself, but he went down 3 times and loved it EVERY time! He was FAST too! The first time we tried to get a picture of him, we missed him because he was right behind someone and we didn't see him coming down...just saw him after he got his sled off the track. Yates and Lance raced down (a big no-no, but the attendent up at the top of the slide gave them some good pointers LOL) their last time down the slide and Yates got a big 'ole piece of skin burned off his knee from rubbing against the side as he went around a turn. That's what they get for racing!!! Then we went over to the Jackson Rec Center for the kids to go swimming. They have a hydro-tube and a couple other good slides for little kids and a pool that's the perfect depth for little swimmers. Britt went in and took some pictures while I sat in the playroom/waiting area with Titan. I haven't got those pictures from her yet, but I'll put them up here when I do. After the Rec Center, we headed over to the Jackson Square to eat at Billy's Burgers...super YUMMY YUM YUM!!! Then it was home for a little R&R to get ready for an early 4th of July morning.

FRIDAY
4th of July festivities began at 4:45 AM!!! We got up early to get to the fairgrounds for the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival so the kids could watch how they launch all the hot air balloons. One of the pilots for one of the balloons saw the kids getting their picture taken by his balloon and asked if they wanted to run underneath it while it was being filled with air. They had a blast underneath all that cloth and I got pictures of them coming out the other side. There were some beautiful balloons and, as always, a beautiful place to be watching them go up.



We went back to my parents house for a big breakfast of waffles with strawberries and ice cream, sausage, bacon and juice and then headed off to the parade festivities in Victor. Picture the typical small town parade with lots of little flags, everyone dressed in patriotic attire and people stacked for miles along the parade route and you have a pretty good idea of what we experienced. It was awesome! I can't remember enjoying a parade so much. There was a craft fair going on in the park across the street from where we were sitting, but I didn't seem to get any pictures of it. I have to thank Catherine for a couple of the pictures that are on here...I stole them off her website! :)

SATURDAY

Family pictures and lots of class reunion stuff and then we left to head back this way on Sunday. Much thanks to our friends, Paul & Liz and baby McKaylee, for the room and board on the way up and back. We miss hanging out with you both! We also got to stop in Lehi and spend some time with my Uncle John & Aunt Wendy's family. Their son, Ben, just got back from a mission in Spain and it

was good to see him and the rest of my cousins! I love their family!

One of my very favorite views EVER, HANDS DOWN, NO CONTEST! I took this picture from the deck of my parents house. Yates teases me that I have a million pictures of this same thing, but I know that my parents will someday probably not live in beautiful Teton Valley and all I will have are the million pictures that I've taken!