Watkins Reunion at Yellowstone - Part Two

On Wednesday, we went to float down Henry's Fork with the family. It threatened rain in the morning, but turned out to be a great day! It was a little cooler, but really nice.

My Dad and Lexi throwing rocks in the river.

The 'other' raft.

Sadie striking a pose in our raft.

Mal, Shannon, Claire, and Jeff holding Ethan.

After the float, we headed over to Mesa falls for a little hike and some beautiful views.

Family at Mesa Falls.

On Thursday, those that could went to Yellowstone again. There was some road construction in one area of the park, which meant expected 30 minute delays. We didn't mind really, because we were able to get out, stretch legs, and check out the scenery.

We made it over to Yellowstone Lake to have lunch, which was very pretty. It reminded me a little of Lake Tahoe...minus all the cabins and lodges around the lake.

Here is Mal and I at the Lake. This tree was pretty cool because it was hanging off the edge of a cliff!

After that we decided to head to the Canyon area of the park. This is what they call the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, with two giant water falls.

Here is Mal and I at the Lower Falls at Artists Point.

Mom and Dad at the Lower Falls.

Wider canyon, Lower Falls.

BJ, Myself, Ty, and Dad at Artist Point.

On our way back to the cabin in Island Park, we took a little detour to a northern road. Again, there were a ton of cars pulling off to the sides of the road, and people getting out of their cars. We followed suit, and to our amazement there was a bear on the hillside! This picture doesn't include the bear, but it just looked cool. The bear was to the right of this shot.

There is the grizzly bear! I'm guessing he was a male, since he was all alone. We actually saw quite a bit of wild life in Yellowstone (shocker, right?). We saw bison, a grizzly bear, osprey, bald eagle, and elk. Not too shabby. We are glad we got an Annual National Parks Pass to visit Yellowstone and Teton a few more times before we move in December.

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!