Yellowstone

We went to Yellowstone on a family trip 2 weeks ago. It was tiring and very fun. We camped for 5 days in the park, which was nice because then we were already in the park each day and could go explore easily. 

Mom and Dad Holbrook came with us. They rented a camper van, so that they could camp more comfortably. Dad LOVES Yellowstone. I mean, LOVES IT. He grew up going to Yellowstone every year as a kid, and then many, many times as an adult. So, he knows basically everything about it, which was kind of nice. He taught us so much about Yellowstone. 

We started our trip going to Idaho, to go to dinner with my aunts at Applebee's, and also to visit with Hannah's family on Sunday. We went to church with them and hung out with them basically all day. We had a lovely time with them. And then the rest of our trip went like this: 

Monday

• Got up, packed up the airbnb, and drove the rest of the way to Yellowstone, stopping a couple of times for wood, gas and to get the kids their Jr ranger packets at the visitors center in West Yellowstone. We also spotted at some souvenir shops in West Yellowstone before driving into the park. 
• Drove to our first stopping point, to hike to Harlequin Lake. It was a nice short, easy hike through a forest of little baby pine trees to a lake covered in lily pads. It was lovely, the perfect hike for the kids. 
• Stopped for a picnic before heading to the campsite. On the way, we stopped at a little shaded picnic spot for lunch. Just sandwiches and fruit and veggies, which is what we had for lunch for the whole week, much to the despair of the children. 😂 They started complaining halfway through the week, and I was like, "tough luck."
• We drove the rest of the way to our campsite, not stopping to see anything. We had to drive through Hayden Valley on the way to our campsite, and we saw a big herd of bison. They were right there on the side of the road and crossing several cars in front or behind us. 
• Set up camp. This took us basically the rest of the day. We got there in the late afternoon and just emptied the van, set up tents and chairs and Hammocks. The boys played happily in the dirt in between moments of helping, and when we were finished, we did tin foil dinners over the fire. There wasn't much time for anything else most nights. We tried to get to bed at a decent hour every night, which was rather hard. The girls usually didn't get into bed until after dark, and some nights, the boys, too. 

Tuesday 

• Drove part of the lower loop. We mainly went to see a bunch of hot springs. We went first to the West Thumb area to see the hot springs there. They were so cool! They were all different colors, some of them very bright and beautiful. It was all right next to the lake, and it was a nice walk around to see them all. Dad taught us so many things while we walked. 
• Went to see Old Faithful. We made it just 15 or so minutes before it was predicted to go off, so we just sat on the side of the path and waited. It was pretty cool to watch. We hit the visitors center while we were there. Jack was very anxious to go do some shopping. Unfortunately, the shops were closed that day, of all days. But we walked through the museum part, and Daniel got the kids fishing licenses. 
• Another picnic at another picnic spot by Old Faithful. 
• Grand Prismatic Spring. Our last stop was this walk that stopped by a few more hot springs, including the Grand Prismatic. It was quite hot by that time of day, but the pools were lovely. It was crazy to walk past them, though, because it was hotter right next to them. This spot was also particularly beautiful because it was right next to this big beautiful river. 
• Star gazing at Yellowstone was incredible. Our campsite had some awesome trees around it, one of the only ones with good trees, which was so great. It was the only thing to get in the way of a great view of the sky, because the rest of the campground was basically a sage brush dessert. We happened to be there during a new moon, and so it was completely dark, and we could see so many stars. It was amazing! I did a little star gazing every night we were there, and one night, when we let the girls stay up, we put a picnic blanket on the ground and laid down to see them better. So pretty! 

Wednesday 

• First thing after getting up, breakfast, packing a lunch and heading out, we drove the other direction on the lower loop and went to Fishing Bridge, which is apparently tradition. We walked across the bridge and tried to see fish, but there weren't any. That is, we couldn't see any, until we went under the bridge, right on the banks of the river, and then we saw hundreds of little tiny baby fish. 
• Mud Volcanoes! We walked a couple of trails and boardwalks to see a bunch of them, and they were cool. It was very smelly over there, especially near specific mud pots. Brooke really struggled with the smell and opted to stay in the camper van with Gramma for part of the walks around. She also declined going to see the stinkiest of the mud pots. 
• Waterfalls. We went to 4 different viewing spots for 2 waterfalls, which was a little overkill. It was beautiful to see them, but Daniel and I would've been happy to go to one overlook. I also really loved when we hiked down to the top of the lower falls. It was a pretty steep downhill hike, with lots of switchbacks. But the view was so beautiful. 
• Shopping. On the way back to our campsite from the water falls, we stopped at a shopping center to look for souvenirs. There was a visitors center and a few little cafes and souvenir shops. We stopped at a few shops to look for souvenirs. We did a little shopping at other spots along the way of our driving throughout the week. All the kids were pretty anxious to get some fun things, particularly our Jack. Things are kind of his thing. 😂 By the end of the trip, everyone had something. Mom and dad bought each of us a souvenir, Daniel and I got each of the kids a souvenir, and then some of them bought something with their own money. And everyone was *mostly* happy... the boys wanted me things than was reasonable, obviously. So they had to make due with what was offered, haha. 
• Dinners were fun on this trip. Daniel had bought some pie irons for using in the fire, and we did a fair amount of experimenting with them. We did pizzas over the fire, fruit pies, and some other things. We also did tin foil chicken quesadillas and hot dogs. We ate pretty well. Unless, of course, you got tired of sandwiches for lunch. 😂

Thursday 

• The upper loop. We drove the upper loop Thursday, to see another waterfall and have ice cream at a shop and go to mammoth springs.
• Mammoth hot springs was underwhelming. It was super hot and the boardwalks were all directly in the sun, no shade. The springs were mostly dried up, and all of the kids were over it almost immediately. Unfortunately, we took the longest hike around possible, spurred on by the fact that dad wanted us to see it all. It was probably the least favorite part of the trip, for all of us, and if it were me, I'd have skipped the whole thing and just driven by to say, "Wow, that's cool." 
• Sheepeater cliff for very late picnic. We stopped here on the way back from Mammoth. The kids were starving and just done with hikes for the day, so we stayed for a while, the boys climbed up the cliffs and we all played and walked around in the river there. It was nice to take the rest of the afternoon a little easier, and it was everyone's favorite part of the day. 
• All the kids and Grampa were sad to miss Norris geyser basin. But we needed to get back. We did stop at yet another waterfall spot, after driving a very pretty and secluded one way road. It was beautiful, though. It was called... Virginia Cascade? Maybe? Well, something Cascade.
• We also went on a little nature walk, Pelican nature reserve, right by the lake, and stopped by the lake to play and take pictures. The girls walked into the lake with Gramma and Grampa and had a great time. Daniel and I took the boys back first, so that we could get them ready for bed and start dinner. On our way into the campground, we saw a bunch of elk grazing in the grasses. We stopped and pulled over to take picture and admire. Then we saw 2 more right at the entrance to camp, right by the side of the road. And when we were driving up to our campsite, there was this huge bull elk in the campground. It was so amazing!!
• Another day, can't remember which, we saw a fox! The kids were so thrilled about it. I was taking Jack to the bathroom at camp, and waiting outside for him and I saw it stalking something and just strutting through the campground. We also saw a lot of deer, and one buck, which was so beautiful and cool looking. 

Friday

• Brooke's 13th birthday! 
• We started off the day by 1) going back to Pelican nature reserve because Camille left her bag by the lake (we found it, thankfully); and 2) going to the nearest visitor's center so the kids could do a ranger program and get their Jr ranger badges. It was adorable seeing all of them say the pledge and get their badges. In times past, it's only been Jack, or Jack and Sawyer, doing the program. This might be the only time all 4 of them do it. The girls will grow out of it pretty soon. 
• My favorite part of the day, and possibly of the whole trip, was our hike out to Shoshone Lake. It's a 6 mile round trip hike, pretty easy, not much incline and a beautiful hike through woods and meadows and streams. It was so peaceful out there, the hike was so nice. I was worried that the kids wouldn't make it... that's quite a lot of miles for little kids. But luckily it was an easy hike, and at the end of the trail is the lake, so it broke up the hike into two 3-mile hikes. We stopped when we got to the lake and played in the water for a while. The lake was cold, but not awful. Of course, I can say that because I didn't get all the way in the water. 😂 I didn't bring a swimsuit, so I just waded in to about my knees. But it was so serene and peaceful at the lake, and so pretty. If it hadn't been for the biting flies, it would've been perfect, and I could've stayed to relax all day. 
• That night, we celebrated Brooke's birthday with fire pizzas and s'mores and chocolate chip cookies. Michael showed up about 9pm with Damon and McKenzie. He had flown a tiny plane himself in the afternoon and then rented a car and driven in to camp overnight with us. 🤷🏽‍♀️ They left before I was even up the next morning, haha.  

Saturday

• Packed up camp
• Drove home. We drove through the Tetons on the way home, which was the long way home. But the drive was so pretty, the mountains were super amazing, and we drove the rest of the way through some of the prettiest rural parts of Wyoming. My whole view of Wyoming changed with this trip, because all the parts of Wyoming that I saw were beautiful and lovely. 
• We got home very late at night, and we were all cranky and exhausted, having played a little too hard and sleepy a little too little. I also developed a bit of a cold the last few days of the trip, which I was quite annoyed about. But it was pretty mild and only really lasted about 5 days. I missed Damon's homecoming talk the next day, though, because I didn't want to get anyone sick. 

It was a pretty amazing trip, and we had a great time. 

Brooke had her first day of middle school yesterday. I dropped her off mid-morning, when her band class was starting (her schedule is a tiny bit complicated, with her going only on A days in the afternoon, after lunch; but Wednesday is an early out day, so the schedule is a bit different those days). I walked her into the office area, because the doors were locked, and then I left, and let her figure it out. I started at the office door and watched her walk out into the school and start talking to someone. She seemed so nervous, even despite her 7th grade orientation day. And I had a hard time holding back the tears. I'm sure some of the adults could tell I was feeling it, but I managed to hold back just until I walked out the front doors. I cried from nervousness for her and because she's so big, and where has the time gone? She's in middle school, and in a few years, high school, and a few years after that, she'll just be gone. And I can't handle that line of thinking. 

I took Sawyer in for kindergarten testing after dropping Brooke off and running a quick errand. He did pretty well, but didn't remember all his letters and the sounds. I'm sure he forgot a lot over the summer. I was still proud of him for what he remembered and could do. 

We've been getting a ton of peaches from our tree. They're pretty good, and we've been eating a lot of peaches, and have had to be creative in the eating. Brooke made a peach pie on Sunday and I made peach cobbler with Sawyer last night. And we've been having cut peaches with honey and milk. And eating them plain. It's delicious. 

This week has been crazy. I feel so busy and am trying not to feel overwhelmed and anxious. But I'm doing school with the kids, and getting last minute public school prep done (stuff for Brooke and Sawyer's kindergarten testing, last minute shopping, etc), and also trying to get the house cleaned up because Schpuck's family is coming right after Yellowstone, and also trying to get ready for Yellowstone, and also there are some things for Relief society that are coming up soon that need to be addressed, which is made more complicated because I'm gone for a week and then have family here for a week... Needless to say, this is a busy week, which them extends into a busy month. 

Brooke had her 7th grade orientation day, where she went to the school and went to her classes to learn the lay of things. Sawyer also had his kindergarten bus day, where he practiced getting on and off the bus. They took the little kindergarteners to the school for about 20 minutes, and then brought them back home on the bus. All of that went well. And then in the evening, Brooke and I did some last minute shopping for her. 

But my favorite things the last couple of days have been: 

• Camille, doing some internet research on her favorite book series that she's been really into, the warriors series. She's been getting a ton of those books from the library.
• Watching Jack do his funny little dancing strut to the music we listen to while we do after dinner chores. It's possibly the cutest silly dance I've ever seen. 
• Sawyer, loving and asking to do school lessons with me. We are working from the pre-kindergarten good and beautiful book, and he loves it. 
• Going on a little mommy date with Brooke to do shopping. We got swig afterwards. 
• Reading from a kids Yellowstone book and learning all kinds of cool things about the national park
• Seeing Mrs Anderson at back to school night on Monday. Jack was so so so excited to see her, and we a little sad that night, thinking about how he wouldn't be at the school anymore to see her. She retired last school year, but she has volunteered with the pta, and so she's still going to be doing things at the school. We loved her as a teacher, and I think Jack and I both loved seeing her and were a little sad that we're not in her life anymore. 
• Walking through Sawyer's kindergarten classroom on back to school night. He seemed to feel okay about going to school after that. He's been telling me for weeks that he doesn't want to go to school, he'd rather stay home and homeschool with us. I hope this is a good decision I'm making for him. I honestly would love to have all my kids home this year, but since the other kids all went to kindergarten, I felt like I needed to do that for him too. 
• Being with my kids all day at home. ❤️ my favorite place to be. 
• Reading and learning with my kids. We started a little hearts and hands science unit about weather. It's been fun so far. 

Camping in Strawberry

This weekend we went on a camping trip with our friends on Strawberry Reservoir. It was quite the eventful trip, and we experienced some bad luck: 

• The wind was so strong when we got there Thursday afternoon, so setting up the tent was ridiculous. The camp hostess came and helped me get it all staked down, but the wind was so strong it ripped the lining of the rain fly on one side. We eventually got it up, and the wind died way down at nights, which was very good. But there were times in the afternoons when it was really windy, and the tent sort of collapsed in on itself, and I'd have to go tighten the stake and open the windows to let the wind through. 
• I scratched up my hand really good while helping DeAnna chop wood into kindling. I should've been wearing gloves, but I wasn't, and I bled pretty good from those little scratches. 
• Our tin foil dinners took forever to cook Thursday night. Daniel is much better at cooking tin foil dinners. 
• I somehow hurt my shoulder really bad and couldn't move it in certain positions without feeling a lot of pain. I was worried I'd done something really bad to my rotator cuff, because it hurt quite badly. But it started feeling better the evening we got home. 
• Daniel brought our new canopy that we bought, and the wind bent one of the poles, so we'll be returning that. 
• When we went to the lake Saturday, Daniel pulled out the kite to play with with the kids, and he let Jack fly it while he was dealing with the canopy blowing over, and Jack let the kite go and it flew into the lake and we lost it. 

But, we had a lot of fun, too. The kids loved playing with their friends all weekend long, exploring in the wilderness and playing in the back of the Freis new truck, playing games together and hanging out. 

We went to the lake Friday and Saturday to kayak and wade in the water and play on the beach. We had campfires and ate good food and treats and s'mores, sang songs by the fire while Brooke played guitar. The weather was pretty nice. It was really sunny, and there was hardly any shade at the campsites, so we all got a little burnt and quite a lot of sun. And we didn't use enough sunscreen. 😬

The Freis, Christensens and Norrises went with us, so everyone had plenty of friends to play with. Daniel came late Friday night, so he missed most of camping, but it was nice to have him help clean up camp and make food Saturday morning for everyone, especially with my shoulder hurting

. 

Starting School

I decided to start school early this year. We are going to Yellowstone in a couple of weeks, for an entire week, and so I wanted to get a jump start. Plus, now that we've started, I think it's been good for Brooke to get going on homeschool work before she starts having to go to school every other day. 

I spent Monday of this week getting some last minute things done, and trying to clean up the house so we didn't start school with a messy house. I don't know why that would make any difference, because I knew the house would get messy again soon anyway. But it just didn't feel right to start the school year all messy. 

I also had to take Brooke to the middle school that afternoon so that we could get her student ID and her Chromebook that she apparently needs for school. We talked to her counselor about her schedule, because they had her in a full time at school schedule, so we changed things around. Now, she's going every A day for a few hours after lunch, and then she'll be riding home on the bus. I think that's the best case scenario for what we wanted to do this year, because I can drop her off at school and then pick Sawyer up from kindergarten about the same time. 

We did our back to school dinner that night. I just ordered Thai food takeout because I was not prepared nor did I have much time to make dinner. But the kids loved it. Daniel did father's back to school blessings for family home evening and we talked about our school theme this year: I am good, I am kind, I am important. It was a good night. 

Our first day of school was Tuesday, August 5th. But it was a weird first day. We went on an outing with mom and dad Holbrook. Dad's company was putting on a family activity. They took us to see How to Train Your Dragon, the new live-action one, and then we went to his office to have lunch. We had a great time! My kids loved the movie. 

On our way home we stopped at the park to say hi to the Riches, who were here for some appointments. It was nice to visit with them. 🥰

So we started school after our activity and visit. I didn't ask my kids to get everything done. We did our normal starting routine (tidy basement, devotional which mainly consisted of me talking about how the school year would look, and read our book -- we're reading The Ordinary Princess, and it's delightful), and then I asked them to get one main subject done, and that was it, really. Kind of a soft start of school. 

But everyone was excited to start and enthusiastic about the school plan. I'm doing a few things differently this year. I bought some sticker incentive charts at Smiths when we were doing back-to-school shopping, so the kids can earn stickers, and once their charts are full of stickers, they can turn it in for prizes. I way overbought on prizes, haha. My prize box is overflowing, and I have bags of candy on the side that wouldn't fit. But the kids were excited about this little change.

The first couple of days this week have been really good. We're slowing getting into a solid routine, and the kids have been motivated to do their school stuff, which is good. A nice start. I know it'll wane after a few weeks. But this is a good place to be for now. 

Our Last Week of Summer

 We had a most delightful final week of summer. It was pretty busy. We tried to cram a few more things from our summer bucket list into the week as we could.

I went mountain biking with Jamie Monday morning, early. And the trail we did was so fun! And I could feel myself getting stronger and more fit and better at biking. It was a good ride. I've really been enjoying biking this summer. It helps that I've found a good group to go with. I find myself looking forward to Monday rides. 😊

Monday, we built an epic fort in the basement. I had bought a few supplies earlier on in the summer, knowing we would eventually do this. So we put some hooks on the walls in the basement, tied a rope between them and hung flat sheets across it, and then went from there in our building. We used clamps and clothes pins to connect sheets together and stretch the sheets to make the walls. We used the weights to keep them in place and poles to prop up the sheets. It was pretty awesome really. 

When we were done, we read our book for a little bit, inside the fort, of course, and then watched Swiss Family Robinson, also in the fort. Obviously. And it was so cool to watch that movie in the fort, because the Swiss Family had to live in forts for a while. The kids loved the movie, as I knew they would. Jack especially loved all the inventions and the pirates.

Tuesday, we spent some time at the library and back-to-school shopping. For our first science/history project, I'm having the kids do a project about Yellowstone -- either an animal found there, or the history of it, or any of the geological structures. So we went to the library for books. Then to the Good and Beautiful store, where I always come out with way more than I needed. We only went in for Space Science unit and accessories; but I came out with an additional science course book for Camille to do some personal study, a new book series for Camille, a series of fact books for littles, a new drawing book, and the creative writing book series for Brooke. It's quite the problem. I basically want to buy up the whole store. 

We also did clothes shopping at Target and Old Navy, which was okay, but always takes longer than I want it to. But the kids all got new things and seemed satisfied. 

Jack was thrilled that I got him this jean jacket. He wanted to match me and Brooke. 😍 I did not spring for the hat, though. He said it made him look like a cowboy. 

That night, Daniel and Brooke went for a bike team thing, and so the boys and I had a boys and mommy night. They just wanted to watch Bluey for a long while in the fort, so that's what we did. None too exciting, but they really enjoyed it. 

I got a 3 day pass to the local gym so that I could go to Annette Perkins Body Pump class with Jamie and Sarah. We went Wednesday morning. It was so hard! It was basically doing one exercise, like a squat or lunge, for an entire 3 or 4 minute song! I lift weights 4 times a week every week. I feel strong, and I am starting to see a little muscle definition... but DUDE! I felt so weak in that class! And the next day, my whole upper body was sore. But it was so fun, and tempted me so bad to get a gym membership so that I could go to her class more often. 

Thursday, we spent the day with the Winfields. We had invited them to go do the Bridal Veil Falls hike with us, and they wanted to make it a whole day in Provo. So we joined them. Aside from the hike, and playing in the water by the falls, we went to the duck pond at BYU, had lunch and ice cream at the Creamery, and explored the Bean Museum for a bit before going home. It was such a fun, and also exhausting day. It was Johnny's birthday that day (Sawyer's little Bestie), and I felt honored that they would want to spend his birthday with us. 

Friday morning, since I still had my 3 day pass at VASA, Sarah and I went to a High Fitness class, which was so much fun. And I was, again, tempted to get a gym membership. We stopped at Smiths afterwards to get snacks for our girls night. Then, it was rushing home to get the kids ready to go to the pool. We met up with the McMurtreys at the Lehi outdoor pool, and swam with them for, like, three and a half hours. The kids had an absolute blast with those kids. They really get along well with them. It was Calvin's birthday that day, so we were honored that they wanted to spend his birthday with us. 

After getting home, I made a quick dinner for the kids, and then left for my girls night with DeAnna and Sarah. We went to Highland Glen Park to kayak and chat and eat junk food. It was the most delightful and needed evening. We had so much fun together, and it was so peaceful out there and such a nice night. We kayaked on the water, slowly making our way back and forth across the pond and circling around each other, chatting and laughing. When the sun was going down, we headed back to the shore, sat on the grass and ate our snacks. We had one funny encounter with this single dad who came over to hang out with us and just started spilling his crazy and shocking life history and complaining about all the people in his life. It was kind of funny. And then, around 10 or 10:30, the cops came to kick us out of the park, because it was closed. We still had to track down and load up the kayaks and paddleboard, haha. I felt bad they had to wait for us, but actually, the cop we talked to was really nice and didn't seem to mind at all.

It was just so good to hang out with people who know me well and still love me. They are just friends that are good for the soul. 

Saturday morning, Mary Beth Christensen, Sarah and I met up at a piano store warehouse to play music together, which was so fun and also made me feel so nervous and self conscious. I haven't played in front of people for so long, and I'm so out of practice. But it was probably good for my ego, knocking me down several pegs. Haha. We had fun. I'd like to do it again sometime. 

That afternoon, I paid the kids to do some deep cleaning chores, which they were very willing to help with. And afterwards, we had our family water fight, which everyone was so excited for and thrilled to do. Jack said that it was his favorite thing we did all summer. It's always a good time, even though someone always ends up crying and the boys always drop out sooner than everyone else. But actually, the boys played happily for a lot longer than previous years. And there were a lot less tears than usual.

That night, Brooke went to a big kids summer party at Harvey's house. She hung out with all the big kid friends in our neighborhood and ward. When did she get so big? Doing all this big kid stuff?