Yellowstone!

Hope you enjoy our pictures and appreciate the fact that narrowing 300+ pictures down to 32 took me literally all day. So, with that in mind, there are 32 pictures below, so if you have dial up, you may want to go make yourself a cup of tea, go to the bathroom, watch an episode of Scrubs or three, and take a short nap while you're waiting. Sorry!

These pictures are backwards, because that's the order blogger puts them in. One of these days they'll realize the folly of their ways, but until then, scroll down and read up. Thanks! :)

Finally, after four long days, three *very* long nights, with two full memory cards, and one slightly sun-kissed baby, we head to Utah for Josh's satellite conference!

And a chipmunk!

And some butterflies...

The whole way to the Hidden Falls, people coming back warned us of bears they had seen. Josh wanted to turn around, but I convinced him to keep going. And we never saw any bears. Just a marmot!

Our little tree-hugger.

We found them!

On our last day at the park, we went on a 5 mile hike to see some hidden falls.

Livi was in love with our rental car, the PT Cruiser.

Josh was in love with these mountains!

Look, she shares! How sweet.

Here, Livi was in a good mood because she has her very own apple.

And here's the last leg of our journey - the Grand Tetons! (Olivia took the picture... j/k, she was napping in the car a few feet away.)

Here's more Mammoth Hot Springs. Hard to believe that there are times of the year when this whole area is covered with a beautiful steaming spring.

The Mammoth Hot Springs... it wasn't hot and there were no springs.

I especially thought it'd fly off in the breeze of this waterfall!

By the end of the trip, Livi was absolutely exhausted and a little sunburned. We had to teach her how to wear a hat. Every time we'd put it on, she'd rip it off. We'd just have to walk with a hand on her head until she forgot it was on. I'm surprised it's not at the bottom of some canyon.

Isn't this a great picture of Josh?

This was our humble home for four wonderful days and three loooooong nights. It got so cold at night I slept in 2 pairs of socks, a t-shirt, 2 long sleeve t-shirts, a hoodie, shorts, jeans, and under three blankets and still froze. And of *course* being so very first trimester, I had to get up at the coldest part of the night to go to the bathroom. Usually, I woke around 3 a.m. and tried for a couple hours to convince myself I really didn't have to go that bad and finally went around dawn. Yeah, not much sleep. Livi, though, slept great - snug as a bug inbetween Josh and me.

I can cook anything, anywhere.

Buffalo! (Yet another wild/living thing!)

A gorgeous rainbow at the foot of the lower falls.

Livi liked the Lake Of Fire.

And what is this? The Lake Of Fire? I always thought that would be underground...
Note all the dead trees in the background.

It's wild...and it's alive...it must be
WILDLIFE!


How about now?
Yep, it's Ol' Faithful.


Can anyone recognize this famous landmark?

There were so many dead trees, everywhere we looked. Apparently there was a huge forest fire in the 80's.

What IS a bacterial mat? And why am I not supposed to mark them?

She thought they all looked alike.

This is how Livi toured most of Yellowstone. She looks a little grumpy here because she's about to go to sleep. She was bored with all the steaming hot pools that smelled like sulfur.

More wildlife! Anyone know what kind of bug this is?

Yay, wildlife.


So here we are a Yellowstone National Park, ready to enjoy all of God's glorious creation! If you're reading this before seeing any of the pictures, congratulations, you can follow instructions. If not, grrrrr to you. You've ruined all the humor I worked so hard for.