Yellowstone: Fairy Falls/Geyser Basins

We spent our last Saturday of summer back in Yellowstone! This time we did the section from Madison down to Old Faithful. Bailey is the best to take these adventures with! She loves life, and wants to see and do it all! She gets excited over things that most kids her age would never appreciate. She loved all the animals, the hike, the scenery, and the amazing geological stuff in the park. She's just like me, and could spend days there exploring every section of the park.

We started out taking the Firehole Canyon Drive so we could see Firehole Falls.

Firehole Falls

Firehole Falls

A couple of weekends ago when we were in Yellowstone, it rained, so we didn't see many animals. Bailey got excited when we saw our first buffalo of this trip. Little did she know, that later in the day, she would be hiking right through a herd of about 50 of them!

 Next we did the Fountain Flat Drive. We stopped at the end, and this is where we started our hike. We hiked an 8 mile loop, and saw some amazing things! We went the long way to Fairy Falls, and on the way we had to hike through a herd of about 50 buffalo. Bailey was so scared! She was convinced that we were going to get trampled and gored to death. I'll admit, it was a little nerve wracking, but SO COOL! We were close enough to hear them snort and grunt, but they didn't seem to mind us at all. We made it to Fairy Falls, and it was beautiful. Then we continued up the trail to see Spray Geyser, and Imperial Geyser. Totally worth the extra mile! We had to hike back to the Falls, to continue our loop. We went to a hill that you can climb up to get an arial view of Grand Prismatic Spring. It is so awesome! You can't get the gist of how great this spring is unless you see it from overhead! Then we finished up our hike by going past Goose Lake, and back to the car.

Part of the buffalo herd we had to hike through.

We took our pictures from farther away, because once we got close, Bailey walked super fast past them!

Hiking to Fairy Falls 

Fairy Falls 

We went by another buffalo on the way to Imperial Geyser, but she wasn't scared of them anymore.

Imperial Geyser

Grand Prismatic Spring from up the hill. So pretty!

Goose Lake

 We learned that 95% of people who go to Yellowstone only get a half mile from the main road. That is crazy! You see the best stuff when you hike to it! So many people miss out on all the hidden treasures Yellowstone has to offer. I'm glad we live close enough to go back often, so we can keep exploring.

After our hike, we toured all the Geyser Basins. We stopped at the Fountain Paint Pots, Midway Geyser Basin, Biscuit Basin,  Black Sand Basin, Upper Geyser Basin, Old Faithful, and Lower Geyser Basin. Pictures just don't capture how cool these areas are.

The Clepsydra Geyser at the Fountain Paint Pots. 

Exelsior Geyser at the Midway Geyser Basin.

Sapphire Pool in the Upper Geyser Basin. 

Black Sand Basin

Old Faithful!

Old Faithful!

Old Faithful Selfie!

It was a great way to end our summer! We are going to try to take one more trip up there this Fall before they close the roads down for winter.

Good Luck Noah!

Mark and Sawyer took a very quick trip down to AZ for Noah's mission farewell. They left on a Friday afternoon, and were back by Monday. Even though the trip was quick, they still had tons of fun spending time with family. It was good for them to see Noah one last time before he left on his mission.

They spent the night with Scott and Amber. 

All the family went to dinner together. 

Noah gave a great talk, and is going to be an awesome missionary!

Family at Noah's farewell.

See you in 2 years Elder Kelsch! You will do great things in Chile!

Summer Guitar Recital

Bailey had her summer guitar recital. She played 'Home,' and 'Boondocks' with the Stickman Band, and 'Kiss the Girl' on her own. She did a great job!

Next month marks 8 years since Bailey started taking guitar lessons from Seth! He's taught her a lot, and she's come a long way in those 8 years!

Home

The Stickman Band

Kiss the Girl

Youth Conference: #embark

We had the best Youth Conference with our young men and young women over the weekend! I'm amazed at the caliber of kids we have living in our neighborhood! They are INCREDIBLE! The theme of our conference came from Doctrine and Covenants 4:2- Oh ye that embark in the service of God, see that you serve him with all your heart, might, mind, and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.

We met Friday afternoon, boarded a bus, and headed up to BYU-I for a fun adventure. We divided into 3 groups and did team building activities at the Ropes Course. So fun! They learned about working together, supporting each other, and building each other up. Then we met at a park for dinner and a devotional. We ended the night with a really cool activity. Everyone was given a shirt with the theme on the front, and their name on the back. Then they went around writing on everyone's backs. They wrote things they liked and admired about each person. They had to wait until they got home and took their shirts off to read what everyone had to say about them. They loved it!

The next morning we met for our big service activity. We spent the day at the Ruth House (a homeless shelter for women and children). We made breakfast for the women and children there, and then went to work on several activities. The kids worked so hard, and accomplished HUGE things! They painted 2 rooms, built a playground, put together 2 sets of bunk beds, sorted/organized tons of donations, and did a huge amount of yard work! We ended back at the church for lunch and a closing devotional. It was such a great experience for everyone!

BYU-I Ropes Course!

Prepping to paint!

Painting crew in room one!

Painting crew in room two!

Building a playground!

Donation sorters!

They guys did tons of yard work! The place looked so much better when we left!

Building bunk beds!

After they finished painting, these cuties joined the yard-work crew!

The Hoplas and Larsens were our awesome Youth Conference organizers!

The youth in the Eastview Ward rock!

Writing their testimonies on the 'EMBARK' banner!

I'm so grateful I get to work with these kids! Hands down I learn more from them then I could ever teach them. They are a great example of what it means to embark in the service of God! They truly are a representation of Christ to everyone around them!

Lava Hot Springs!

We've had to miss a lot of 'Water Wednesdays' this summer because of bad weather, or being out of town. We save Lava Hot Springs for the end of the summer, so we can end with a really good one. Last year we tubed the river, so this year we decided to do the pool area. SO FUN! This one made up for all the ones we had to miss. These kids are hilarious! I'm pretty sure they could have a good time anywhere. 

Bailey, Hannah, Jakob, Dagan, Andrew, Emily, Preston, and Vanessa

This picture is great! The boys are hilarious!

This might be my favorite picture of the day!

Bailey wanted to go off the lowest platform with me. We went up, I took one look over the edge, and went back down the stairs. Jakob saved the day and went off with her.

I'm happy to say that after I did the high dive, I got my courage up and tried the platform again. This time I did it! It was scary to look over, but the jump wasn't too bad. 

The kids swam and went off the diving boards, but the slides were the biggest hit! It wan't very crowded, so they went on them a million times! I had the flu at the beginning of the week, so I thought I'd just lay in the sun and read my book the whole day while the kids played. Ha- I didn't read a single chapter! I might be a sucker for water slides too!

An awesome day in the sun with an awesome group of kids!