Our Little Family: August 2012

With the 4th of July on a Wednesday this year, Chris planned on going back to work Thursday and Friday after using so many vacation days for our Italy trip. The day before the 4th, Chris' boss told him everyone else in the office was taking a 4-day weekend, so he called it an office holiday and gave Chris the days off also.

We couldn't let a 4-day weekend go to waste!

So we decided to head up to Idaho and visit our great friends the Emrichs.

We spent Thursday night eating steak and potatoes with the Idahio-ans. The Emrichs also treated us to yummy ice cream at Reed's Dairy.

Chris thanking the cow for our ice cream

Friday we spent a lazy morning at the Emrichs while TJ went to work and Krista had a doctors appointment. We said goodbye to them the last time before they became parents.

(Krista was induced the following Sunday night and gave birth to their little Hunter Jay Emrich on Monday, July 9th. We can't wait to go back and meet the newest Emrich!)

We met up with Chris' good friend Bobby and his wife Lindsey. They took us to a fun little place in the tiny town of St. ?

After dinner we went to Lindsey's parents house where the boys played football. Then we went 4-wheeling in the sand dunes and through the potato fields.

Bobby and Lindsey's little guy Boston. He loves 4-wheeling!

We left Rexburg and headed up to the West entrance to Yellowstone to find a campsite. We drove through 3 campgrounds until we finally found a spot about 1am.

Saturday morning we woke up and headed into Yellowstone. We grabbed some breakfast and a picnic lunch at a grocery store on our way into the park. We had planned on hiking, but it rained on and off all day. We got poured on while waiting for Old Faithful.

Chris wasn't too impressed by Old Faithful. On Iceland they are much bigger and you are allowed to walk much closer to the geysers.

We hung out in the Visitors Center for a while hiding out from the rain. We decided to drive through the park for a little while then head back to Rexburg for the Demolition Derby.

On our drive through the park we saw two big herds of bison.

Some people are crazy and get WAY too close

This guy was by our car

All the sulfur pots were a familiar smell to Chris. While serving his mission in Iceland, for two years he took showers in sulfuric water.

Chris thought this sign at Dairy Queen was hilarious.

Demolition Derby!

This was Chris' first demo derby and he loved it! He kept saying to me, "This is so white trash but I love it!"

This the car called "Chris L." and it was the winner!

Mud run with the little kids.

This kid got stuck in the mud.

Saturday night we spent with Bobby and Lindsey and their kids. We had so much fun waking up Sunday morning and playing with Boston and Beckette. We had originally planned on heading straight home, but we decided to extend our adventure and head to Grand Teton National Park and get in some hiking.

On our way out of Rexburg we stopped by the Temple.

We drove through Tetonia on our way--home of our good friend Jess Berry and who we can thank for introducing us. Without Jess, Chris and I may never have met and started dating.

We decided to hike around Jennie's Lake in the Grand Teton National Park. It was gorgeous!

We found a friend on our hike. Ranger Jenny told us this is a marduek?

After our hike we still weren't ready to head home so rented a canoe for an hour. It rained a little at the beginning of our excursion, then the sun came out and was beautiful.