Anniversary Trip- Yellowstone.

On to the second part of our trip.

Immediately after the Dirty Dash, we jumped in the shower at our hotel room and barely made it out for checkout. Our next night was in Yellowstone... CAMPING. Yes, I went camping. Please be proud of me... but I digress. I had booked a place called Bridge Bay campground, but I only knew that it was near Yellowstone Lake. So I plugged in the Yellowstone Lake Lodge into our GPS, and off we went.

Our journey took us to the east entrance, through the town of Cody. It was a cute town, but I don't know if we'll go all the way out there again.

The museum had a teepee outside... so we stopped.

I'm sitting Indian style criss-cross applesauce.

Brandon tried to be as tough as Buffalo Bill.

The museum charged $20 a person to get in, so we just went to the gift shop and left.

We saw beautiful nature throughout our drive... it was spectacular.

When we got to our campsite, I knew I had picked the right one. We were right across the street from this:

Yellowstone Lake. Beautiful.

We set up camp:

and headed to the general store for some food. Yes, I am the owner of a tent now.

We went across the Yellowstone River, and found one of our friends that we always find out in nature.

Beaver.

Brandon appointed himself "Fire Warden", and we had even bought a fire starter kit that one of the businesses on campus sold. IT WAS TERRIBLE. BYU-Idaho students don't buy the iWood starter kit! Brandon was feeling like his manhood was being stripped, but he finally got it going when we took the starter kit out.

It's one of his lifelong dreams to camp with his wife.

The next day we decided to hit up as much of Yellowstone as we could.

Yellowstone lake.

Continental Divide.

As we drove up to the Old Faithful park, I said, "Hey Brandon, look! Buffalo statues!" He kept saying "Get the camera out!" I didn't get it, until one looked at me... Then I freaked out and grabbed the camera.

Over my right shoulder, there is a group of Amish people. It was interesting to stand by them, especially when they all pulled out their cell phones to watch Old Faithful erupt.

After Old Faithful went off, we went over to the Snow Lodge across the street to email Austin and check if Brandon had any more news from P.A. schools (he didn't). But we made our way back just in time to watch it go off again...

But we got a beautiful shot. The two buffalo were snuggling in front of the geyser. I loved it.

We also found some stunning waterfalls.

I loved seeing the paintpots. They looked like awesome hot tubs... even though they're boiling and acidic and would kill you.

While we were here, a group of people stopped us and asked us how the Dirty Dash went. I guess we should have expected that, since we were both wearing the shirt.

There's this brilliant orange algae all over the hot springs.

Our next stop was the "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone"... it was stunning.

Next time I'll bring shoes so we can hike down to the falls.

We found an eagle's nest... this is super zoomed in but you can tell right?

We found a mama and baby moose, and pulled over to get some pictures.

As we wound around to Mammoth hot springs, we were stopped in traffic due to:

As this was the 4th exciting animal I had seen today, I immediately pulled out the camera. We got a good picture of the buck, just before he charged past our window. Literally, I could have grabbed his antler, but that would have been dangerous.

(My shot as he ran by the window. He was going too fast.)

We really wanted to camp in Yellowstone again, but all the reservation places were full and it was too late to try and get a first com first served spot. So we booked a place in West Yellowstone for the night.

Brandon was happy, because he was able to get a fire going in about 3 minutes.

We tried something for the first time: roasted starburst.

I liked it.

It was so amazing to spend the weekend in one of the most beautiful places in the world. We were kicking ourselves when we realized that the western entrance is less than 1 1/2 hours from our house. And-surprise of the weekend- I liked camping! I just told him that next time I need to have something under me besides the sleeping bag. We also learned that earplugs are good... we had some noisy monster crows outside our tent.

We are definitely coming back!

Anniversary Trip- Billings.

Our anniversary trip had 2 parts- Billings and Yellowstone.

While we were planning this trip, I said I wanted to go to the Billings Montana temple. It was the closest one to Yellowstone Park, and I had heard it was just beautiful.

We got into Billings just in time to go to the last session on Friday night, and it WAS beautiful! It was a really well designed temple, and probably one of my favorites. (Ok, let's be honest, I love all of them.)

During this time, I was looking up fun runs. I found out there was a "Dirty Dash" in Billings the same day we were going to be in town. It is a Mud run/Obstacle course that apparently is really popular... so of course we signed up.

The event took pictures, which of course we couldn't do ourselves. We bought a few of the pictures... I wanted to buy all of them but they were expensive.

A lot of people were in costumes... up to middle-aged men in prom dresses and other middle-aged men in cut off shorts and crop tops. It was hilarious. In addition, they had "carboloading" right before the race. Except the carbs were beer. We passed on that. Apparently Billings has the dubious award for consuming the most beers last year. They also had a beer chug on the 3 mile mark... I don't know how they can do that. I mean, I can't even drink juice before I run.... wow.

But here are the pictures, with the stories behind them.

I was completely failing on the Slip and Slide there. You can see me starting to stand up to run in the background.

The "Grunts", or volunteers, threw hay all over us as we exited the wet and muddy Slip and Slide.

This was on one of the last mud pits. They were also splashing us with icy mud water.

I needed some help getting over the hills.

And of course they caught me splashing Brandon with mud.

And, of COURSE, they asked to do a jumping picture. If you remember, they usually don't work out well.

DANG IT. I actually did jump high that time! Just too late.

What the pictures missed:

-Me failing to make it over a Styrofoam tube and having to call Brandon back.

-Climbing over 3 walls (1 with a boost)

- Running through stables that are filled with mud.

-Jumping into mud and water that came up to my chest.

-Running through a ravine that had mud almost up to my shoulders, just as a water truck backed up to the ravine and started spraying us with water.

-Sliding ourselves under walls. (Or jumping over, in Brandon's case.)

It was definitely a fun experience. We have to throw out our shoes, but still. I think that when I get a new pair of shoes, I'll do another mud run with my shoes now.

The waiting game begins...

Brandon has applied to P.A. programs!

The list is slightly different from before, so here we go:

U.C. Davis- Sacramento, CA

Pacific- Portland, OR

Northern Arizona- Phoenix, AZ

Baylor- Houston, TX

Northwestern- Chicago, IL

Salus- Philadelphia, PA

Quinnipiac- Hamden, CT

George Washington- Washington, D.C.

Barry- Miami, FL

Yep. We're pretty much going anywhere. I pretty much have reasons that I want to go to every one of these schools, and reasons that I have reservations for each place. So, I don't really have a favorite or non-favorite.

Brandon already heard back from Pacific. It was probably just a mass email, but it said they received his application and are looking forward to receiving his supplemental application. That's better than a denial, and they sent it out way before the application deadline. So, we're crossing our fingers. All we can do is wait, and pray for interviews. We'll know sometime around September if not before.

P.S. Brandon just found out he graduated cum laude! (Top 10%) That is with him working full time for much of it. He's awesome!

The week of Dallin's farewell.

WARNING: Picture overload.

Going down to California was the best decision ever. Even when I left I had to refrain from parachuting out of the plane to stay there for another week (no, really).

First up, silly pictures of Dane. He's my favorite, and I did not let him go.

He learned to clap to and crawl while he was there.

He surprised himself.

He warmed up to us, and liked Grandma. She gave him all the treats.

But, one of his favorite people was...

MURPHY. He loves dogs. He liked seeing Murphy from above, because that made him feel bigger.

 I wasn't there for this, but my dad said he cleared his tray when they were eating outside, then ran his feet on Murphy's head when Murphy started eating all the food.

We got there Friday night, and just played a few games then went to bed. Saturday was time to set up for the big farewell, but we did have a picnic that night. Dane loved the ribs.

We wanted to do a big Frisbee game with the family like we did when Austin was leaving, but it's harder when there's a big personality in a little body there. So some of us left early.

Sidebar: Dane LOVES his baths. Alyse was turning on the bathwater, and he heard it and started shrieking and wriggling. Then, he rolled over and crawled further than he had crawled before to get to the bathtub. It was hilarious. He played with a kitchen whisk the whole time, and was so happy to just lay down in the water. (I have a picture of that, but I have a feeling Alyse wouldn't want Dane's naked beauty on the Internet.) But he also loves his towel, and got so excited when Alyse pulled it out.

Him giving Alyse a head bump... his way of showing that he likes you.

Once she put him on the ground, though, he wanted out of that towel. Too much to do!

Sunday was a good day. Dallin gave a great farewell talk, which you can listen to here. A bunch of his friends showed up, including people who don't go to our church. They all sat in the front, and seemed to be eating it up. We had a lot of family over for lunch, and it was good to enjoy their company before the mobs of friends came. Poor Daney was so overwhelmed by so many people wanting to say hi that we took him on a couple of walks that night.

After the friends left, Dallin was set apart. We took a picture to commemorate it.

Before Brandon left on Monday, we went to the pool with the little Sine girls.

Lucia and I were matching.

Of course Dane was there, in all his glory.

Dane wanted to crawl in the pool... silly boy.

This is Dane's Murphy face... big eyes and saying "Oooo! Ooooo! Oooo!"

We took Murphy and Dane on a lot of walks with the Sine cousins (who also loved Murphy).

Before Alyse Tommy and Dane left, we made sure to get some pictures with Dane everyone. This is my favorite one of me and Dane.

Seriously, unplanned same face? Best ever.

After we dropped off those 3 at the airport, we went to Balboa Island with Annie, Caroline, and Claira. I got this picture of them on the Ferris Wheel.

We already know about sending Dallin off to the MTC (here). It was sad, so we decided to go celebrate somewhere special. Where is a better place than Downtown Disney? We went to Goofy's Kitchen, and here is what happened:

Lulu was so excited to see "Doofy", until he got close. Then she freaked out. It was cute, and I don't blame her. He's a dog and like 7 feet tall!

Dale was creepy. He kept blowing kisses at me and squeezing me too tightly. Eww.

 (SO CUTE)

The highlight of the day was when Sleeping Beauty showed up. Lu could not take her eyes off the princess... When she was going to take a picture with Lu, Sleeping Beauty said, "Can you put your waffle down sweetie?" Lu just stared at her and immediately dropped the waffle on the ground. Sleeping Beauty said, "Well, that's no good anymore!" hahaha she was a classic princess.

Until she asked us to pose for a picture with her. Ew.

Derp.

And then there was Aladdin. Bethany and I were excited to party with him... even if he was wearing more makeup than us.

 All the little girls with Pluto. Lu was a little wary.

Rafiki

Baloo.

I'd say it was successful.

Also! I got new running shoes! I'm so excited. I went to RoadRunner, which is a store that measures your feet and analyzes how you run. After that, they gave me these shoes:

They're excellent. The next morning I ran 3.5 miles without feeling like it. And I ran a mile to time myself, and did it in 9:03. Now I have a time to beat!

The next few days were a lot of detox. I just enjoyed sitting at home... I feel so comfortable there.

We got Boba before we dropped Bethany off at a basketball tournament, and then brought me to the airport. As I left, I couldn't help but think "Why can't Brandon get a job down here?" I know, it's wishful thinking.