Jackson

Probably Reese's favorite part of the whole trip.... our stop for lunch in Colter Bay. I let her play in the water and she loved it. She got to throw rocks and get all wet.

How can you not love that view. The Tetons are amazing.

Reese helping herself to the chicken salad.

We also went to see the Bar J. Reese wasn't at all interested in the music but LOVED the horses. We went out to see them like 10 times. These two were named Bert and Ernie. The pic above is just before the horse mistakes Reese's hair for some grass.

Not too sure what to think about the wagon ride.

Trying to escape the show. Sadly Reese and I spent the entire time outside... she did NOT want to sit in there and eat and enjoy the show. Oh well.

Yellowstone

The second half of last week we spent in Yellowstone and Jackson with my mom and grandma. Sadly Todd had to stay home and work and go to school. It's always fun to go to Yellowstone even though I've been there numerous times. I never get sick of seeing the scenery.

Getting some ice cream after watching Old Faithful.

Old faithful.

Mama and baby Elk. Reese also loved seeing them too! We lucked out on this one by taking a little alternate route. We also saw some deer, bald eagles, and of course some squirrels.

Buffalo. Reese was super excited to see him walking right next to the car.

Grizzly Bear -- my first time seeing one at Yellowstone. It was just on the opposite side of the road about 10 yard up... sooo close.

Checkin out the hotpots.

All a girl needs... blankie, binkie, puppy, and lots of books.

Happy traveler. Much to my surprise she did really well in the car since we were in it almost all day long the whole 3 days we were gone. It was once she got out of the car she was wild and very disobedient (I don't blame her - I'm sure being in a car seat all day would make me want to run all over the place too).

Making a detour to see Mesa Falls (I think that is what it's called). As you'll notice Reese is wearing a leash. I vowed I would never put my kids in one of those but the alternative of her falling down mountains or into hot pools wasn't so appealing. Not everywhere is accessible with a stroller so we opted for the leash.

Best Friends

So this past week was pretty busy. The first half of the week we spent in Downey visiting Todd's family. Our sister in law and niece came for a much anticipated visit. Reese didn't really have a clue what was going on, but we were excited for her and her cousin Annagrace to play together since it's been nearly a year (and Reese was much to young to really play then). It didn't take too long for them to warm up to each other. They are about 8 months apart so they played really well together.

Watching some fireworks at Grandmas.

Being crazy little girls running all over the yard.

Saying Goodbyes.
It was sad for everyone when it was time to go. I wish they could play everyday and grow up to the be the best of friends but sadly unless someone decides to make a major relocation that won't be happening (since they live in Georgia).

We even got to go swimming one day at Downata.

Looking for some steals at the DI. For more pictures check out Welch's of the South blog. I sadly neglected to take a bunch of pics... Candi on the other hand is a shutterbug.

En el parque...

Ok this is kind dumb but today after I got off work Reese and I went to the big city park. Reese miraculously was brave and was climbing all over the place. She was super excited to be around all these other kids and sometimes would just sit in the way and watch everyone else got by. Anyway there are two jungle gyms at the park one that is obviously for older kids and one for like 2 and under. So I made her go over and play on the littler one since she kept kind of being in the way of the bigger kids. So she's over playing on the other jungle gym not in anybodies way and there is this little boy, he was probably 3 (who was also trying to intentionally step on Reese's hands while on the bigger jungle gym) who was viciously kicking Reese in the chest while she was sitting there on the equipment. She wasn't in his way and he kept doing it until I could get over there. His mother was no where near while this was happening --- and I feel it's odd to scold someone else's child. So I just ran over there and told him politely to not kick as Reese is bawling. I rescue her and his mother shows up and apologizes to me (although I felt as though her son should apologize to Reese). The lady however didn't say anything about his behavior while we were there like "you shouldn't kick other people, or kick at all." I'm curious to know where he learned this behavior anyways (like I said he was viciously kicking her -- not like normal kids pounding on each other). Anyways I was just annoyed (and I'm easily annoyed when it comes to peoples manners at the park). My major annoyance is children of an inappropriate age playing on the equipment. I just don't feel comfortable saying anything to other people's kids. I know this sounds stupid - but that was all. Anyone have any similar experiences... I just hate confrontation.

4th

Ok so finally here are some new pictures. I actually took a few when we went down to the fireworks in Idaho Falls. I was excited to see how Reese was going to respond this year since last year she was barely 6 months and she fell asleep during the all the excitement. Even though we didn't even leave Rexburg until it was Reese's bedtime (since Todd had to work) she was still wide awake for the evenings events. We had a few friends saving us a spot down by the river so the major obstacle of the evening was trying to find a parking space within walking distance. Oddly enough we found one fairly close and by that I mean across the river from where we would be sitting, across a main road back in some ally behind some businesses. It was only like a 15 minute walk so not too bad considering how late we got down there.

Reese loved all the excitement surrounding her. There were soooo many people... seriously you can barely see the grass because of all the people. She got to eat junk food and we were sitting fairly close to a 4th of July concert thing so she got to dance to some music until the fireworks started. Once the fireworks finally started she Oood and Awwwd for about 15 minutes then she was busy doing other things like finding more treats, jumping from one lap to the next and of course some more dancing. She was having a blast. She wasn't scared by the fireworks at all.

Before settling down in our spot we went down by the river to look at all the ducks and geese.

Our nerdy little family of 3 -- next 4th we'll be a family of 4!!! Crazy!

It only took us a half hour to get from our parking space back onto the road! Which is like 3 times faster than last year! Traffic is backed up like crazy. Last year we were stuck in one spot for like an hour and Reese was screaming her head off and Todd and I were both really frustrated. However, this year Reese fell asleep as soon as she was in her chair. We had a good night.