Watkins Reunion at Yellowstone - Part One

This past week, we had a family reunion up at Island Park, ID. If you aren't familiar with that town, it's about 15 miles west of Yellowstone National Park...and only 45 mins away from Rexburg. If we had a reunion anywhere else, it would have been hard for us to make it since we are expecting the baby anytime now. It was great to have the whole family together and show them the area.

We spent our first day at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center. We got to watch the grizzlies be fed, and see some wolves sleep in their cage. We learned quite a bit about both animals.

This was giant teddy bear inside the gift shop there that I really couldn't resist taking a picture with. Kylie, Lexi and Sadie are in the picture with us.

Dad and Ty on the dock at Henry's Lake.

The next day we went to Yellowstone. As we drove into the park, we saw a bunch of cars pulling off to the side, and people getting out of their cars to see something. So we looked to our right and saw some bison right next to the road! They must have been 20 yards away. This was the male, and he was HUGE!

Here is the family watching the bison. There was a female, and a couple of calves with the male.

My niece Kylie and I with the bison in the background.

The next stop were a few geysers, en route to Old Faithful. These were mostly some hot pots we were looking at here. The sulfur made it smell like really bad gas (the human kind).

Here is my very photogenic niece Sadie. I had fun putting my hat on my nieces and nephews. They started to tell each other that if you wore that hat, your hair would fall out!

Ty and Tiff's family.

You can see the steam coming from this pool. The waters were a very crystal blue color.

Here is a good belly shot near Old Faithful. There are some wooden plank walk-ways around the whole geyser, with smaller geysers and hot pots all around.

Here is another hat shot of my nephew Sam. I was surprised I got this shot because he rarely makes eye contact with the camera!

And of course...Old Faithful! It shoots off about every 90 minutes (give or take 10 minutes). We ended up waiting an extra ten minutes for it. There were a lot of teasers where it would spout out a little, then stop...spout a little more, then stop. FINALLY, after 10 minutes of teasing us it shot off.

The Rocker

We finally got the rocker! (I say finally, but it's actually about five or six days earlier than I was expecting it. We were just anxious, especially since we weren't going to be here the days it was supposed to be delivered.) We ran out to do some quick errands--walk around the farmer's market and run to the store for a wedding card for a friend--we weren't gone longer than 40 minutes. When we got back there was a note on our door about a UPS package that needed our signature so they couldn't just leave it for us. WHAT?! It was after 5:30 pm and we were gone for such a short amount of time! They wouldn't be doing business again until Monday, and they marked that they would try again between 2 and 5 pm that day--again, not gonna be here. Lame. So Mike jumped online and called the dispatcher and she said it was at the terminal which closed at 5:30 (ten minutes away) so we called the dispatcher and he said we could come pick it up. So Mike ran over there and brought it back and immediately started putting it together.

I was glad he was so enthusiastic to put it together--I thought he might want to wait until we moved in three weeks, although the chair is easier to move than that box! I had to stop him part-way through though because dinner was ready.

Mike fitting the base onto the seat, lining up holes and all that.

Just dusting off the packaging residue. I love the color! I'm so glad I was able to find it in such a dark wood!

My belly shot for the week. Not a great one I know, but that's it.

Me in about a month.

Daddy tries it out.

Thanks so much, Mum and Dad (and Grammy and Grampy Conner, since Madeleine will like it too)! Now for the really big task: making a seat cushion. Luckily I know talented women. In fact, that is my talent: knowing talented women. It really comes in a lot more useful than people think.

Recently

Doing my internship with INL certainly has it's perks. We got invited to Maleluca Field to watch the minor league baseball team Idaho Falls Chukars play. We got to sit in the corporate box, which is always fun. Especially when it's catered with Texas Roadhouse! =) I'm pretty sure I had three plates of meat/salad, and that's not an exaggeration.

There is the field. It was actually an exciting game! Made me miss watching baseball.

There is our intern group. It's a mix of engineers, industrial hygienists/environmental, and construction management. Universities include Penn State, University of Texas San Antonio, University of Idaho in Moscow, Utah State University, and of course BYU-Idaho.

Today, I got a call from my Bishop wondering if I wanted to float down the Warm River with him. Friday's are my day off, so I jumped at the opportunity! It was so much fun to get out on the water and spend some time with him. He is a busy man.

We ended the journey on Ashton Reservoir, and there was a whole flock of White American Pelicans. They were huge!

There were a few spots where the rapids got us a bit wet, but it was fairly calm otherwise. It was overcast and warm too, which is always a good thing.

4th of July REDEMPTION!

Our 4th of July turned out to be a great success. We ended up going down to Utah to visit family and stay at the Watkins family cabin. It was so green up by the cabin! Mal even said, and I quote "This really reminds me of Maine." Now that says a lot! I think that was the most green and lush I had seen it for a while. We had a really good spring. We spent a lot of time with Grandma Clark too, which was really fun. She is always so nice to host us for sporadic weekend trips. We also got to catch up with some cousins. It was a very successful trip.

We did some sealings at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple on Friday morning. The Jordan River Temple was closed for maintenance, and so was the Provo Temple. Needless to say, it was REALLY busy. We were glad we got to go though.

Alright, here is your belly shot! She's getting bigger! =)

Up along the Alpine Loop road, about 50 yards away from the Watkins Cabin are some horses. We had some fun visiting them and petting them.

This was taken from where the horses were. This is the back side of Mt. Timpanogos, probably one of the most picturesque views.

Quiz: What kind of flower is this?

The morning of the 4th of July, we decided to take a hike to Stewart Falls, above Sundance. Our friends Jo-Nathan and Rachael came to hang out with us for a little bit.

I must say, Mal is quite the trooper. She hiked the 3 miles NO PROBLEM! Pretty good considering she is due in 6 weeks.

Very beautiful grove on the way back from Stewart Falls.

Mal and Rachael prepping the fire pit for the BBQ lunch.

For some reason, Jo went off yonder to drag a dead tree near the fire pit, and ended up stepping in some deep mud. A few minutes later, he stepped into the icy cold river to clean up.

That was my "I'm so hungry" face.

After lunch, we stopped by Sundance Resort on the way down to Orem. They have a glass-making business near the Art Shack. It was cool to watch, I had never seen it before.

Putting the ice-cream maker to the test. It was dang good!

Before we headed back to Rexburg, Grandma Clark gave us our first baby blanket! She made it herself, isn't it awesome? Thanks for the great weekend Grandma!

4th of July CRISIS!

So, Mike and I had planned on taking some friends down to his family cabin in Utah, but some family business got in the way, and now it doesn't look like we'll be heading down. That's fine and all, except that now we have no idea what to do.

Mike wants to go kayaking or hiking or something on Friday, I'm sure. That's fine, except that I can't go. (I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm a little out of commission in the "Working Your Abs Department.) Normally this wouldn't matter since I'm in classes all day Friday, so Mike goes to the temple, then if he has time, on a hike or something. But THIS weekend, I get Thursday and Friday off, so I'll have nothing to do while he's gone. I guess I could go with him and just hang out at the ending point of his trek or something, but that wouldn't be much of an improvement. Although I guess I could take a friend. Or a book. (They're really just about the same to me.)

Again, not seeing my husband for an afternoon really wouldn't be a big deal if we lived at all a normal schedule. But we don't. Mike's work and stake calling keep him the majority of the week/weekend, and my classes keep me the rest of the time we would normally spend together.

But it's more than all that. We also just don't know what to do on the actual 4th. Other than make ice cream. That's pretty much set in stone, since Mike's been waiting more than patiently for the first legitimate holiday to arrive since we've had the freezer. We've talked about going camping again, which I'd be up to. The last two times have been pretty fun. We'd just have to find a couple of couples to go, so maybe we'll invite the same people as were going to go to the cabin with us. I've also suggested a barbeque, watching a movie on a projector (if we can borrow one), and/or even a bon fire out at Beaver Dick or something. But apparently none of those sound interesting/are sinking in to Mike because he keeps asking me what I want to do for the Fourth.

Any suggestions?

Appeasement

I told Mike our internet was working again and he asked me to please "appease the mobs by posting [my] belly shot" so that's what I'm doing.

Ironically, the picture we posted before this was on Mother's Day and this on is on Father's Day. (31 weeks along, my friends. We're gettin' close!)

Speaking of Father's Day by the way, this, I think, was a good one for Mike. Of course, it's also his first, so he has very little to compare it to. I bought him some new scriptures - which he knew he was getting 'cause he told me he wanted some and exactly what kind and even looked at a few with me. He desperately needed some new ones, and he's really been wanting a fresh pair to start studying from. I also bought him a book he's asked me for every time there is a reason to expect presents (except this time) called T

he Lost Language of Symbolism. It's about the symbolism in the scriptures and the temple. It's fascinating! I think it'll come in handy for some up-coming papers I'm writing!

Of course there was cheese cake. A small one, thank heavens.

And then there was this:

This was not supposed to be part of Father's Day. I had already bought all the gifts I was going to. But then I saw this 6-quart freezer on the bulletin board while I was browsing for baby items under "Miscellaneous" and it was only $25! Mike's been talking a lot about getting one, but I kept putting him off. I kept saying things like, "We don't really have the money this month, so maybe next," "Honey, the last thing we need is an ice cream freezer," and "If you can find a hand-crank one for a reasonable price (knowing they're considered 'novelties' now, which ups the price by about $200 for the same size) then we can get one." But I knew I could only hold him off for so long, and for $25?! Of course I was going to get it! The guy said he never even used it, and he seemed unsure of how to even make ice cream, but he bought it to learn and never did.

Of course, I have put restrictions on it: only on birthdays and certain holidays. Which means none of this "Box day is a holiday, right? I mean, it's on the calendar and all." No. Sorry to break it to you, but you're American, and that means you can't celebrate box day.

CAMPING!

We went on our first camping trip of 2009, which is also our first camping trip together. It was a perfect time to break in the gear Mike's siblings bought us as our wedding gift last August. (Just so everyone knows, we loved it all!)

Here's the one picture of Mike (he kept taking the pictures). He's unrolling the tent after we had laid down our tarp. After camping in Idaho two summers ago, much later in the season, and FREEZING to death, I was not going to fool around anymore. A tarp was a necessity. And our new air mattress worked out nicely too.

There's this gray thing that goes to our tent, and I have looked all over that sucker to see what it is supposed to be used for, and found nothing obvious. I can't find the directions, but in a couple weeks, when we go with our ward, I am definitely figuring it out.

We were tucked between two ridges. This is the one across the little dirt road that Mike and John climbed around on while Jennifer and I held down the fort. There was also a little brook that ran right next to us, which was nice to fall asleep to, even if Sam did have to stay strapped in his high chair the whole time to keep him from running/falling down the very steep slope into it.

Jennifer, Sam, and I right after we really got the fire started.

A nice nature pic from Mike's hike that first day.

Re-awakening the fire after we had cooked on the coals of the first one. We kept part of it flaming the whole time, so it really didn't take too long for it to start up again.

A nature shot from Mike's hike the next morning. I like the red wood against the green and white.

Another nature shot. It just looks so picturesque. It was nice to be up in the green of the hills. It's been really rainy for the past few weeks, - which WE are loving! Every day I go to my religion class, Bro. Kinghorn starts out by talking about what people think of the weather. They all complain and say they are ready for "summer to start." I look at him and say, "This is actually how summer is supposed to be." (By the way, "really rainy" is actually only a couple 20 minute showers a week, but it's a lot more than we usually get!)

Chris heats up by the fire on Saturday morning.

Tanni's over the bacon and eggs, and I'm doing pancakes. (I realize my face looks mischievous here. I'm not plotting anything.)

Hanging around the campfire after breakfast. It was fun to get together with some friends, and to test out our new gear! We stayed surprisingly warm and dry all night long, even though it did drizzle at about 6:30 the next morning.