The Baker Reunion in Yellowstone

The Bakers had a family reunion in Yellowstone this year!!  It was a ton of fun!!!! I am so glad we were able to make it. There was a lot of family there, but we missed the ones who weren't able to go.

We left on a Thursday and when we got to Provo, we stopped to eat and let the kids get out and run around the Mt. Timpanogas Park. It was so beautiful there. The river was Caleb's dream come true!! Braeden stayed in the car because he wasn't feeling good.  

But when we were done at the park, we finished our drive that night in Pocatello. We got up early and stopped at the Idaho Falls Temple to take a picture. 

Then we took some time in Rexburg to look around.  None of us wanted to get out and get a picture, so I just took this one of Mark with the Rexburg Temple behind him.

We got to Yellowstone and it was gorgeous.  We thought we were so lucky to get a Bison this close to us so we took a picture.

Then we saw this Bison just sitting on the side of the road. The kids thought it was neat to look like they were holding it.  And then after this picture, it wasn't that exciting anymore to see Bison. They were everywhere and one even walked right by us at a picnic. Grisly bears were the thing to be seen.

We hiked down some switchbacks to see Lower Falls. It was a crazy hike with Caleb. We put on one of those kid leashes and he didn't like that.  He wanted to do it by himself, but there were too many people and too many cliffs he could fall down, so he didn't win that battle. 

But it was so worth it. Look how gorgeous this is.  Being that close to a water fall.  You only see those things in the movies. 

We could have gotten a better shot but the dang park ranger told everyone to leave this elk alone.

The Mud Volcanos.

All of this stuff we did within the first 6 hours we got to Yellowstone. We didn't know you couldn't check in the cabins until 4:00, so after all that, we played a little football in the parking lot until we could check in and unload our stuff.

The first couple days were soooo cold. It rained the first couple nights and it was sooooo nice!!! 

At a picnic.

Elli and I were VERY LUCKY to get to go on the Chuck Wagon with some other families.  We took a wagon down a trail that ended at a fun little area where we ate an all you can eat dinner with the yummiest food.  It was a ton of fun!!

CUTE STORY:
There was a wagon driver and another lady who entertained us and told us stories about Yellowstone on the wagon. The lady asked all of us if we could tell everyone your name, where you were from and what your favorite thing about Yellowstone was. It got to Elli and she said her favorite thing about Yellowstone was sitting next to a cowboy. The cowboy was so embarrassed and got a red face. It was really cute. She loved sitting by that cowboy.

The kids in front of the wagon.

At the dinner. They had steak, potato salad, beans, and some other yummy things. I don't think these girls ate enough though.....

They had more fun playing with this creek and logs. 

I love Elli's nose.  It got dirty while playing with the logs.  (She wasn't very happy about not sitting on the end.)

On Sunday, we took an easy walk to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Caleb is the kind of kid who likes to do things on his own.... with no help.  So he liked walking by himself.

Cute little Elli and Emma.

Caleb did get tired and needed mommy to hold him.

Notice the backpack Mark is wearing. We put Caleb in it and he was very upset about being put in there.  He wasn't in the mood at that moment to be carried. Caleb is actually screaming in this picture. He  didn't know what he wanted. But it's a cute picture nonetheless.

After we made it there.

He was on one that day. He screamed at everything we did and we made him sit in time out. He wasn't happy about folding his arms.  I took this picture so when Caleb grows up, he will know what a little stinker he can be.

Then there's Elli.  I noticed her in this position for a while and didn't think anything of it. Then someone told me that she was waiting for someone to take her picture. I can't believe how stinkin' cute this girl is. What a cheeseball she is.

This was at a picnic on Sunday. The coolest thing happened to us. We were packing up our stuff and getting ready to leave when we noticed some cars parked across the way.  And when cars are parked on the side of the road, it means there's an animal.  So we looked and noticed a grizzly bear swimming in the water. He was kind of far from us and then the current moved him toward us.  I wish we could have gotten a video of all of us and not just the bear.  Everyone was standing there watching the bear. Then as it slowly came closer and closer to us, everyone panicked, grabbed their kids and started screaming. He got so close to us.  I didn't get a picture because I forgot my camera this day (I stole this one off of Facebook)  Once we realized he was gonna stay in the water, we stopped and just watched him swim to the other side and walk up that hill behind us.  Kind of a cool moment!!

OLD FAITHFUL:
This was us eating a little lunch minutes before Old Faithful was to go off. 

Kids playing in the tree after lunch.

Waiting for Old Faithful

Caleb has a thing for babies.  He kept kissing baby Sarah

Go-Gi (Logan), Bryce and Elli in the Old Faithful Inn eating sugar.

After Old Faithful, we took a long hike to the Lone Star Geyser.  It goes off every 3 hours.  We thought we would be right on time to see it because some other hikers said the last time it went off was at 2:30 and that if we got there at 5:15, we would be fine. Well, we got there at 5:10 and it had gone off at 4:45.  We walked up to it 5 minutes after it went off.  We just missed it. But we watched the video of the Lone Star Geyser from someone's camera and it was all good. We had fun hiking with some of Mark's cousins that I haven't really met before. 

We stopped to look at the Yellowstone Lodge Inn and this is a picture of everyone just outside of it. 

It was gorgeous everywhere we went! This is Elli and her cousin Alexis. They had so much fun together.

Braeden kept begging us to sleep with Caleb. We finally let them sleep together and it was so cute!! Love sleeping babies!

We took another trip to the Mud Volcanos. 

These cousins are so cute together.  Those boys are inseparable.

At another picnic, Caleb and Eli had fun playing with each other.

At Upper Falls

We took a picture of everyone at the reunion and the kids were playing around waiting for us to tell them when to hop in the picture.

The whole Baker Clan.

Driving to another picnic. I swear these kids car hopped everywhere we went.

This was the coolest place we had a picnic.  We ate lunch and then took a 100 yard walk to a river to fish.  I made my kids get their swimsuits on because I didn't have any extra clothes.

Elli surprised us by catching 2 little fish with no help.  So funny!!

Braeden caught 3 fish.

Just as we were packing up to leave, this Bison walks by us. He did his "business," then kind of walked toward us a little, starred at us and then walked away.  This was him walking away.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of him when he was closer.

After Yellowstone, we drove up to Montana with Mark's oldest brother's family. They had a friend who owns some land up there with a private river.  We thought it would be fun to see Montana and go fishing there. As soon as we got there and got out of our car, the mosquitos swarmed us.  We could hardly enjoy it there because we had to stay in our car or in Kirk's motor-home. But it was absolutely gorgeous there. Mark went fishing and caught a Brown Trout. (We ate it for dinner later and it was so delish)

Caleb just ran the second he got out of the car.  Look at how beautiful it is there.

The fishing there wasn't for kids at all.  We couldn't just sit on the ledge and fish. It was swampy and too much grass. Elli was pretty sad she wasn't allowed to fish.

Caleb was in a good mood then and kept laughing at everything.

Elli finally cracked a smile.

In the motor-home. The kids kept wrestling each other.

STADIUM OF FIRE:

After Montana, we drove to Provo and stayed there for 5 days. We got to go to the Stadium of Fire!! We have never been to that before and let me tell ya..... it was AMAZING!! I loved every second of it!! 

We made the kids stay together as we walked to the stadium.

Sitting in our seats.

I thought this was a cool picture.  They asked members of each part of the military to stand when they named their rank.  This guy stood up and it brought tears to my eyes. I am so grateful for the men and women who selflessly fight for our freedom. I have family in the military and I can't say enough for all they have done for our country!!

I love how they focused on the real reason why we celebrate the forth.  It wasn't just about the concert and fireworks.

The sunset was so beautiful!!

Then the entertainment started......

Carrie Underwood came on stage.  She was AMAZING!! I have loved her since American Idol.  She has such an incredible voice. She can definitely sing!!!  So entertaining!!

Elli fell asleep on my lap 5 minutes before the fireworks went off.

She got woke up and I got some pretty cool pictures of the fireworks.

Such a great fireworks show!!


The next day we went to Vivian Park down the Provo Canyon and had a little picnic and played some football. The little ones played in the park.

The boys had a little too much fun playing "skins vs. no skins"  I'm sad because this was the only picture I got of them playing football. But I have a ton of video of it. The little guys thought they were professional football players.

Mark got lucky and Sarah cuddled with him for a while.

This was us waiting for Mark to come pick us up. The kids climbed this wall. It was fun watching the cars drive by. They stared at the kids and probably thought I was crazy for letting them climb it.  Braeden made it all the way to the top and climbed over the top of the wall.

The we went to Salt Lake and showed the kids a few things. We went on a day when NO ONE was there. It was the day after the real 4th of July and I guess everyone had plans other places.  We took Kirk's son Austin with us.

The Tabernacle

We got a small tour of the Conference Center and got to walk around on the roof.

It doesn't even look like a roof, but we were on top of it..... crazy!

We were about to leave and Elli needed to go potty, so I took her.  While I was gone, Caleb got a photoshoot of himself.

We put so much insect repellent on everyone and Caleb's poor skin didn't like it.  His cheeks were so red the whole time we were up there.

Our last stop was at "This Is The Place"

We were getting ready to head home but we left really late on Tuesday so we decided to stay in Las Vegas for the night. The next morning we headed to the M&M Factory to get some M&M's. I put pigtails in Elli's hair and when we were leaving the hotel room, I noticed there were braids. Elli had braided her own hair. And she did a pretty darn good job.

Walking to the M&M Factory

Elli got pink and purple ones, Braeden got USC colors.  We only got a pound and half of M&M's...... $18 LATER.... geez. We could have gotten 10 lbs at the grocery store for that price.

And this was the last picture of the trip....whew!! Thanks Spongebob!!

And 2 weeks later.... we are home..... doing a gazillion loads of laundry..... cleaning car seats and strollers..... washing the car (well that hasn't been yet, it was supposed to rain this past weekend)..... and just getting back to reality.

It was a super fun trip!!! Glad we went!!!