Wednesday

The grand opening of the newly refurbished Church History Museum was today. So we went right after it opened in the morning. The kids enjoyed the interactive displays and we all enjoyed learning more.

 After the museum, we went over to a science museum called "The Leonardo." The name is based off of Leonardo da Vinci and is there to inspire people to explore the arts, science, and technology. The kids loved it! Grant and I enjoyed watching the kids explore and try different things. However, I think we are starting to get a bit tired because we were done for the rest of the day.

BYU!

One of our more anticipated stops was today at BYU. We started by going up to the Broadcasting Building in search of Studio C. And we *think* we saw Natalie while we were there. While the kids were posing next to the nice cutout of Matt Meese, a girl walked out of the studio. We all looked at each other like "Is that...?" She smiled, said hi, and walked by quickly. We decided it had to be her.

Next we headed over to the Bean Museum. It was closed the last time we were here for renovations. It looked a lot more professional and cleaner, but it also seemed smaller.

Then a trip to BYU would not be complete without a trip to the Creamery. Yum. Everybody enjoyed their treats (though, Lucy and I didn't partake--Lucy's tummy would not have liked that).

Right across the way from the Creamery, was the place that Grant and I talked about getting married. So we had to walk up there and reminisce and kiss and embarrass the kids...

Then we headed down to The Bookstore for some paraphernalia. (I love our Alma mater)

 Piper was so excited about her new shirt. So excited! So she took her shirt and ran off down to some trees by the Law Building. Normally we would worry because we had no idea what she was doing. However, it was BYU, and she was going to a dead end--even though it was pretty far away from where we were. All of the sudden, she was standing "behind" a tree changing into her new shirt! I'm sure some students got a kick out of that!

Our feet are so tired tonight!

Phew!

This morning we went to Timpanogos Cave. Wow! It was so much fun. The hike up was crazy! I think it was just because I was not expecting how straight up it was going to be. And with 6 kids it was a bit intense, but we made it! Grant and I were trying to figure out why we never went here or any of the other exciting places that are around here while we lived in Utah.

We had a great guide on our tour who eased two of our kids' fears of being in such confined spaces. She was so bubbly and accepting--it was contagious. By the end, Lydia wanted to be a geologist when she grows up. She found the rock formations fascinating and I think she adored our guide. I think this destination was a lesson to all of us on rock formations, but also on how people like being around happy people and how we could try to be a little happier.

Antelope Island

As we were almost to our destination, we decided to stop at Antelope Island. We had never been there before. It took a little persuasion to get the kids to agree to go (honestly they weren't driving, so they didn't have too much of a say on this one). But once we finally got out to the lake, they were satisfied. They could walk forever out in the water and still only be up to their ankles. They enjoyed skipping rocks which had an uncanny way of skipping forever--maybe it was the salt, or the kids have some great wrist action!

On Our Way Back

We saw these guys coming down the street:

That was fun!

We decided that we would take one last stop before the sun went completely down. Grant and I remember seeing the painting pots when we were each at Yellowstone when younger. These weren't the painting pots that I remember, but they were still neat.

The sun was definitely down when we got back to the car, and so the daylight was fading quickly. We got the kids in the car, and we saw the moon. It looked really strange. Grant noticed that it was disappearing. He realized that it was an eclipse. When we got closer to the West Gate we saw tons of cars parked on the side of the street, and everybody had cameras. So we pulled over to see the moon fully eclipse and found out that it was also the last blood moon. What a perfect place to see it!

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

My Grandma and Grandpa were/are the sweetest! At the end of each college year that I wasn't married, they came down to BYU and picked me up and helped me move home for the summer. They probably didn't think that I appreciated it because we would get all my stuff packed in the car, we would get in the car, and I would promptly fall asleep. And I remember sleeping and sleeping and sleeping some more. We would take several days (maybe a week???) to get home. We would stop by sights along the way. One year we went by the Great Salt Lake and up into Idaho and saw Craters of the Moon. Another year we went up to Jackson Hole, saw the Teton Mountains, and then to Yellowstone. I loved it. I loved being with my grandparents and listening to Rush Limbaugh and (much to my Grandma's dismay) Frank Sinatra. I loved all the food we got to eat and experience. But I did sleep for probably 90% of the time. So a note to Grandma: I did love it. I'm sorry I slept so much. I think it was just comfortable with you guys so I could finally let down and relax and catch up on all the sleeping I didn't do because I was cramming for tests. But they are some of my fondest memories. I just wish I would have taken more pictures. 

So back to present day---I remember being taken back by this sight. It is breathtaking. But this time around I felt like I was going to be sick. Seeing all my kids up by the ledge about did my stomach in. So I took a picture of Ben (I figured he was old enough not to throw himself over the edge while I took his picture), then gathered up the three youngest and went to more solid ground while Grant, Ben, Trevor, and Karmin enjoyed the sights. Even while I am typing this it is making me dizzy! Who knew I was so terrified of heights? Well I did. It is just worse when my kids are around. 

This picture cracked me up. Lydia wanted to take a picture of Piper, Lucy, and me. But at the last second she decided it would be fun to photo bomb the picture. She likes to multitask I guess. 

Fishing Bridge

After Old Faithful we decided that we needed to not take any side tours until our next destination because it was starting to get a little late in the day to make it all around the loop. Fishing Bridge was very important for us to go to. It turned out that while we were going there all the kids (except Karmin--no surprise there) fell asleep. So it was a good nap time.
Fishing Bridge is significant because it is where Grant's mom's parents met. I got to take some of the letters that they wrote back and forth to each other during WWII and type them up. So I feel like I have met them--although I haven't.

 I couldn't help but think about them sitting on that bridge telling each other how much they loved each other. It was so romantic :)
We were almost to the other side of the bridge and we hadn't seen one fish. But then finally one lone trout made its way by us and up to the bridge. Grant's grandpa was an avid fisherman so I thought it was very fitting that we at least got to see one fish. So I took a picture of it. (It's in the bottom 1/3 and on the right side of the picture)

Old Faithful

We made it to Old Faithful. We had a little over a half an hour when we got there until Old Faithful was supposed to go off again. So we took a short walk. Trevor basically had us running around a loop  to get back because he was a bit worried we were going to miss Old Faithful. It did sprinkle on us a bit while we were waiting.

But we finally made it, and everyone was impressed! What a memory!

Next Stop

Our next side-tracked adventure was to the Fountain Paint Pots. This was amazing! The kids loved all the colors, they loved taking pictures, and we all enjoyed the walk. I love seeing how amazed the kids are at all the different sights they are seeing.

Ben HAS to be standing on the edge and his tiptoes as well because there is no way he is THAT tall!

Adventures in Yellowstone

Our kids have always wanted to walk to church. We finally had that opportunity today! The bishop in the ward was talking about a ward party they had this week. They mentioned that it had been postponed from the week before because they had snow when it was originally scheduled! We are so lucky that we came now when it is beautiful outside.

Our first destination on the agenda was Old Faithful. However, as we were driving, Ben wanted to go see the river so bad. And so we enjoyed the journey.

But we enjoyed this one quickly because it was so cold!