P.S....

Forgot to mention --- the links to the online albums are to the right >>>>>

LONG Yellowstone Post

Yellowstone…. Left Friday afternoon at 3. Got to 800 N and had to turn around because Shane forgot to get the new registration sticker for the trailer out of my car…. Set us back 30 minutes!!

We *regretfully* had a DVD player in the truck for Chloe because there was going to be a LOT of driving. She LOVED it. We watched Toy Story, Little Mermaid, and Baby Einstein (Animals of the World) about 10 times each.

The drive was fine. Little patches of traffic around Salt Lake and Ogden. Stopped in Pocatello at about 7 to get some food at [our tradition] Applebee’s. Headed to Idaho Falls where we originally were going to stay the night at Patrick and Cindy’s but Shane wanted to just drive straight through. We stopped by for a bit - they were out of town but left the house open for us. Chloe had SO much fun, wandering around from room to room, going up and down the stairs and playing with the little toys they have. I snooped a bit and admired how much room and land they have. If it wasn’t so dog-done cold and far away, we might just live up there.

Left from IF at about … 9PM then headed up towards West Yellowstone. Shane refused to camp inside the park for multiple reasons --- dogs couldn’t play, no fires, shoulder to shoulder, PAY…. So, he planned to camp in the National Forest just outside of West Yellowstone. Well…….. To make a long story short(er), we didn’t end up finding a place until…. 2:38AM. We got stuck in a tight spot at one point. He had to unhitch the trailer, move the truck, and RE-hitch from a different angle. He had to chop down a couple of small trees and I even had to help drive the truck. Needless to say, I was NOT happy at all during this time of mindless, endless driving. But there was nothing I could do so that was that! We (and when I say “we”, I mean “I”) found a great spot. We got in and settled by about 3 and finally fell asleep.

Woke up and headed to the park by about 11-12. I was very excited to be there! It was a “fee-free” weekend so we got out of paying $25!!! The drive was 14 miles to get to the junction to go to the north or south loop. There were a few jams …. Set us back about 30 minutes! The first one was just for a small golden eagle. The second was for a few cow elk on the banks of the river. NOTHING worth the 4 mile line going about 10 MPH the whole time. But it was a beautiful day! We headed on the south loop and stopped at a few exhibits - hot pots and some other cool geyser type things. It was HOT around them though and a little bit stinky too!

We saw lots of buffalo on the sides of the road - one actually held up traffic and crossed the road. Some stupid woman kept walking closer and closer to it to get a good shot. Dummy! Anyway, we finally made it to the Old Faithful area. We had JUST missed the last “showing” so we hung out in the gift shops and got some lunch. It was PACKED!! Absolutely claustrophobic. Ugh….. Anyway, we had to hurry back to the seating/viewing area. We found our spot and waited just a few minutes; it teased us a few times with just little spurts of water but then it FINALLY went off. It was pretty cool. I got some video and some good pics.

We went over and got some ice cream after Shane ran back to the truck and got my extra camera battery. (We were parked almost as far away as possible). It was nice to just sit inside and relax for a few minutes in an air conditioned building. Chloe, though, was getting very restless. Hours in the car and sitting in the hot sun in the stroller… She did entertain herself at Old Faithful though by playing in the gravel, in her pretty white shoes and cute outfit. Oh well ---- she had fun.

After O.F., we decided it was time to get back to camp. The problem with that plan is that we only have ONE road and lots of onlookers. Our poor dogs were just in the trailer back at our camp so I was paranoid for MANY reasons. After getting stuck behind a few clumps of cars, we finally got back to camp. It was late, but we made our dutch oven chicken and potatoes. Yummy… Chloe had a bath and I got her all ready for bed. I put her in to bed so I could shower. Shane was out by the fire at this time. Chloe was NOT happy to be in that bed by herself. It took me a few minutes to get showered and dressed and by the time I got to Chloe she was in hysterics, even though Shane was now holding her. She just wanted Mommy. I was all clean and dressed so I picked her up. Then she threw up on me. She cried so hard that she made herself throw up -- all over our freshly cleaned selves! Oh well, it was just liquid. Anyway, I snuggled her and we set up the computer to watch ‘Friends’. Chloe fell asleep within minutes of me holding her - less than 5, I’m sure.

Me and Shane watched Friends and ate oreos for a little bit then went to sleep. We actually slept pretty well that night! We intended to wake up at 6 and get on our way by 7 so we could see the early morning wild-life. Didn’t happen L But we were on our way by 9. Funny thing is, there was traffic at the same spots as the day before! We did the north loop on this day.

The weather was very overcast and the sky was just threatening. We just stopped at a few exhibits on the way. Mammoth hot springs was cool, but we couldn’t see it all because it started raining HARD. During the rain we drove up to the North Entrance to see the famous arch. It was pretty cool! By the time we were ready to look at more stuff, the rain had pretty much stopped. We were able to see the petrified tree and a few other hot pots.

Along the road we ended up sitting in stopped traffic -- which turned out to be because of a mama black bear and her two cubs. SO cute! Shane left the truck to go see what the hold up was and while he was gone, traffic started moving so I jumped in to the driver’s seat! I picked him up and saw the cute cute cute little bears J We stopped at another overlook on the road and I got some interesting stares from the girl in the car next to us - I would assume it was because I was driving this ginormous truck and Shane was in the passenger seat! Anyway, we walked down to the canyon overlook - very pretty!! On our way again to Tower Falls. We ate some lunch then walked down to see it. It was pretty cool, I guess… There were other, cooler things! Checked out the gift shop then hit the road again!

We went to a museum that was just outside of the park and it was so cool! It was actually the Union Pacific station in West Yellowstone (before that train route shut down). SO interesting! They had a display off the different China used in the different railways dining cars. They were so pretty! It was all just very cool for me; but then, I LOVE museums!!!

LOTS of driving --- LOTS. Our camping spot was probably 15-20 minutes outside of the park. It was nice though. I wish we could have spent more time there. It was fun to have our first real, family trip where we weren’t meeting someone else, staying with anyone else and we went to a REAL place, not just some random camping spot. I love our regular camping trips, but history is my thing and the whole time we were at Yellowstone, I just kept imaging the cars from the 50’s driving around with their luggage tied to the top. (We even saw a couple of these vehicles throughout the park)

After we got out of camp, I realized that my wallet was gone… We made some calls, filed some reports and found that there had been no fraudulent activity on any of my cards and they were all shut off. I can expect new ones within 7-10 business days……. Good thing I had VERY little cash and no SSN card in the wallet. I am 99% positive that I just kicked it out at one of the many stops we made L Shane freaked out a lot more than I did… I’ve been wanting a new wallet anyway! I am hoping that someone turns it in to the park lost and found and they ship it back to me! Ugh….. Annoying anyway. ****I found my wallet the night we got home ---- in my makeup bad?!?!?****

The drive from Yellowstone to Alpine, WY was so pretty, but SO long. We stopped at WalMart in Idaho Falls to get some BBQ sauce and Subway. Chloe needed to run around a little too so we chased each other up and down the dressing aisle. She ate about 4 inches of my 6-in sub (loves those!) and it was on the road again. I fell asleep a little bit and woke up in time to drive down the long dirt road to the traditional camping spot at Grey’s River. We’ve never pulled our trailer into that spot before so it was lots of fun at 12AM!! Chloe was out COLD - out enough that I was able to change her diaper and pants and she didn’t so much as open her eyes. She has slept with me every night - been my little space heater!

That’s about it! Chloe asked if all of the animals were puppies…. I thought that was pretty cute J

Ok - I will have a post coming SOON about Yellowstone. I'll most likely just put a link on here for an online photo album because I don't want to deal with blogger's strange picture uploading deal. The post will be LONG though.... Be prepared.....

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN

Awesome... Not much of a story line, but who cares! The action was great... And I'm not really a big action lover....

Happy Fourth!

Saturday, we went to my nephew's baptism and then to a little shin-dig at my brother's house afterward. It was fun - a very nice day. Here are a few pics from it:

Yummy cakes that I made for the family get-together.

Chloe's pretty 4th of July outfit

Shane being as dangerous as he can with sparklers... All the good stuff is illegal...

She LOVED the fireworks.

Scary Day....

OK - well I was really looking forward to this weekend. I had Friday off of work and my parents were coming in to town... it was just going to be nice and relaxing. Uh..... not so much.

Let's start with Friday. I was supposed to hang out with my mom and sisters at about 10AM. At 8:30 I went outside with Chloe to let my 2 dogs out. Well, they both just took off running. I ran around to the front of the house and there were so many people and cars around (lots of things going on in the area for the Fourth). Everything happened so fast, but as I was yelling for Daisy to come back, someone ran over her in their car. As the guy drove past, I yelled at him and his response- "What was I supposed to do?" - with this dumb look of laughter on his face. He drove off.

I ran, barefoot and carrying Chloe, down to where she was hit. She was nowhere to be found. There were some people outside who saw what happened and they directed me to where she ran. I looked for a minute but couldn't really do anything barefoot and carrying a 23 lb baby. I got back to the house as quickly as I could and called Shane. He was working about a mile away and got home in about 30 seconds.

We then proceeded to jump fences, trespass on to private property and trudge through the brush for about 8 hours. All the while, not knowing if our little Doober was alive or what. I had to still keep Chloe in mind and she needed to have lunch and a nap so while I was home, I called vets in the area, animal shelters, and the police. No one had any news of anything.

I have been in the situation of having a missing animal before - it did not end well so I was expecting the worst. Shane was not having an easy time and I was keeping a stone exterior because otherwise, I would have been a blubbering mess and NO help at all.

Anyway, I had to go to the store for some necessities and when I got back, I noticed Shane's truck was gone and he had not been back for some time. When I texted him to see what area he was looking in, I got this text back:

Does this face look familiar

I called him right back just so I could hear him say it. As he told me that she was ok, I broke down - just sobbing uncontrollably. The whole time this was going on, I was preparing for the worst so my emotions just took over. Here is what happened...

I called almost every vet in the phone book that was in the area, but there was only ONE office that Shane actually went in to in Provo. His friend from high school just happened to work there and he left Daisy's description with her. At about 5:30, she called and said that she thought someone may have brought in Daisy. Shane drove down and there was our Daisy, wagging her tail; so happy to see him.

Apparently, Daisy had made her way in to someone's garage in Provo and made herself at home. When they found her, they gave her food and water while they were trying to get a hold of a vet. For those of you who know the area, she ended up across from Will's Pit Stop on University Avenue. We live up near the Gold's Gym on 8th E in Orem..... Not a quick trip for a dog who was just run over.

Anyway, Daisy had no broken bones, no internal bleeding, no concussion.... Just a few stitches. Unbelievable. We never thought we would see her alive again. The day was so emotionally draining and I don't think poor Shane has never been so worried/scared in his life. Anyway, here are the after shots of the stitches and whatnot...

Just Stuff...

It's nice to finally be able to go outside and play. We got a little pool and it's just fun!! And Chloe likes Popsicles!!

Drying off after swimmin...

Road Trip Ideas...

I have decided that we need to take a road trip. The longest trip that we have taken is down to Logandale - and it's not really a road trip when it only takes 4 hours....

SO, does anyone have any great ideas? Places we could go over a weekend? **With lots of nice stops on the way?** We've been all over this area of Utah and Shane knows it like the back of his hand, hence we need something NEW!! Maybe northern NV or Idaho? I'll take a poll and whoever wins gets a souvenir! Just kidding.... no souvenirs, just the satisfaction that your idea won me over. **Somewhere with lots of good photo-ops too!!!**

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone has been on any day-trips that were very interesting and out of the Utah Valley area (Park City area will be excluded from this "poll" as well!). We just need to get out of town for a little bit without spending a lot of $$$$

WALKING

Not a pro yet, but she's getting better!!

Walking.... Perhaps....

Ok - so Chloe is over 14 months old. She has been a MANIAC crawler since she was about 10 months (LATE) and has truly perfected that. I don't think you will ever find a faster or better crawler! However... the walking.... not so much. Until last night

We were sitting around discussing how the pediatrician said they start to get a little concerned if babies aren't walking by 15 mos. Well she was 14 mos on 5/18 so it's getting close! Anyway, everyone was saying how "it will be any day now" and all of that. I just couldn't see it happening even though we practice all the time!
She sits on the bottom step and just stands and sits and stands and sits. It's really cute :)
Anyway, we stood her up to see what she would do. She has been taking a couple of steps here and there and then face-planting!

So, we sit in a circle and just get her in "the stance"... Then - **magic** happens. They weren't totally steady steps, but she made a LOT of progress. She even changed directions at one point :)

My baby is growing up and I LOVE it!!!