For our vacation this summer, we wanted to center it around going to see our grandma on a mission in Montana, so we took a road trip that went through Wyoming, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and then back to Utah. It was our whole family of seven plus Uncle Jeff. We just drove through Wyoming and Nebraska, and then stopped in Rapid City, South Dakota for a few days. We saw Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument, and went through The Wind Caves, which were all amazing! After that we drove up through North Dakota to Billings, Montana to visit Grandma! It was fun to see the little mall, and the area that she was in, and, most of all, her. We spent the day with her and then went to Yellowstone. After a day there we drove down to Idaho to meet our cousins at Lava Hot Springs. Ron, Brooke, and Jeff all had their reasons to return home early, so we split here. They drove home, stopping to see the Idaho clan, while we took our time and stopped for the night. We didn't go to the Hot Springs, but we went to the awesome swimming pool. After that we went home at last! Here are some pictures from all the different places we went:
Of course we saw some funny/really weird signs:
Some of us didn't like sitting in the car very long....
There were some wild donkeys that would just come up to your car, and this one stuck it's head in to say hello to us.
Here are some more....
Mount Rushmore was amazing. Even though it didn't take up the whole mountain, like we expected, it was still incredible.
The Grand View Terrace.... (duh)
Ha ha! Look at that happy little boy!
Jeff will get mad at me for this picture, but it's pretty much the only one we have of him.
This is "The Pose." You will see it more...
This is a waterfall in Yellowstone that we hiked to see:
Aw.... Kodak moment.
Here's Laura, contemplating life.
More waterfall...
Now it's Brooke's turn to contemplate life. I should have had her open her mouth so it would look like the waterfall was coming out of it.....
"The Pose...."
....x 2
Here we have an Elk.
More wild donkeys....
We went to the TOP OF THE WORLD!!!
Deer....
The buffalo would be proud of this picture if they saw it.
Here we are with Grandma! It was sooooooooooo great to see her!
Here are Dad and Alex butting heads when it was time to stuff the baby in the backpack.
Here we are in the cave. Don't let the flash fool you, it was cold and dark in those caves.
Ha ha! Surprise! I took a picture!
:) As you may see, by Laura's face, it was so dark in the caves that when you took a flash picture, it hurt your eyes.
Here we have the Billings, Montana temple.
Here's the sunset when we were on our way to Idaho, gorgeous, huh?
Austin and Jayden at Lava Hot Springs:
Alex love swimming in the hotel and at Lava so much!
At Lava Hot Springs, there are 3 platforms that you can jump off of, and when Ashlyn and I learned we were going to leave soon, we decided to do the highest platform. Let me tell you, that platform is high, and when you hit the water, you get the most painful wedgie of your life. Enjoy!
Alex was actually really good while driving, but we still had to entertain him. A good way to do that is to teach him to sing and dance! Here are the products of our teaching:
While we were in Yellowstone, we were driving along a road when a buffalo walks into the middle of it. Jeff was just waiting for the buffalo to go along it's merry way when the car behind us started honking. Jeff waited for the buffalo to go to the other side of the road then started inching past it. Just when we were driving by, I (oh, so stupidly) yelled, "Bye bison!" and then it snorted and started running after the car. The car was too fast for the buffalo, but I got it on camera! I didn't get when it was charging us, because I was too scared and turned the camera off, but if you listen, you can hear it snort. Check it out:
