Yellowstone Adventures...

I realize that looking  at other other people's Yellowstone pictures can be a little boring, so I have to warn you all : There are A LOT of pictures!!  That said, I had a lot of fun taking these pictures! Living so close to it, sometimes I didn't get what all the fuss was about. But I have to say......it truly is AMAZING. And we went at the perfect time! All the leaves were changing, and it was so gorgeous! We took our camper up this year and spent a few days there. It was fun to take our time and try to see more of the park. But there is so much more! Anyway, we had a lot of fun as a family, and Macie still talks about it....success :) I won't try to caption every pictures, because honestly, I have forgotten a lot of the names of places, and everything kind of all meshes together in my mind. But here it is, Yellowstone Adventures 2012... 

Checking out the boiling water.

As we were looking down at this river, Reed spotted something RUNNING up it.....up stream!  It turned out to be this deer, and it ran all the way up the river, almost to the falls, and then straight up the mountain, and right below us. Macie and I thought it was going to jump the wall. Macie  might have thought that because I thought that :) then it ran the other way and bolted across the road and up the mountain as far as it could climb. Then stopped and kind of just stood there......"Hmm, what now?" But it was fun to watch. Wonder why it was running so far...weird. 

Here she is.

Watching the bears at the Grizzly and Wolf discovery center in West Yellowstone 

These bears are HUGE!

I wish I could say this was taken in the wild, but it's also at the discovery center. 

So pretty, but he looks so sad :(

In the wolf den....right before Branson stood up and crashed his head into the rock.  Poor kid.

These guys had to go down the slide at this playground a hundred times. Being cooped up in the truck for most the day is hard for kiddos. 

Branson is enjoying himself :)

It's so fun to imagine what the herds would have looked like in Native American and Pioneer days.  

I think the buffalo were our favorite :)

Such a pretty place!

Old Faithful. This to me, was not really worth the wait. Maybe if I didn't have three little kids in need of a nap. 

Branson right after Old Faithful....I had to change his diaper on the tailgate while he slept before we started the drive home.  

ALL of our camping trips end this way :) That's how we like it. 

Pet Froggies...

This year we found quite a few little frogs in our lawn. The sub water was really high this year, so we had a little pond under our trampoline (we dug a pit for the tramp), which made for a lot of mosquitoes. But I didn't put two and two together until the end of the summer. I am glad we were able to breed them for all of our neighbors....whoops.  Anyway, Macie loved playing with these tiny little frogs that we would catch, but she was only allowed to keep them for one night each time...what a mean mom!  

Little Froggie

Letting him go.

Camping: Summer 2012

This was a real low key camping trip that we took this summer. It was just us, and we went up to Kelly's for one night.  It was a fun little change in scenery, and we were able to relax and try to forget about all the things that were needing to be done at home.  We took a little hike to try and pick some huckleberries, but we were too late this year :( Macie was pretty bummed. But it was fun to be out in nature and just chill with our little family for a while. 

Allie is folding her arms, she thought she was so cool :) 

Mmmmm......Chocolate.

Allie found a chocolate chip on the floor by the pantry :)  One little chocolate chip made that big of a mess! She LOVES chocolate! She's usually a pretty clean little eater, but not when it comes to chocolate...

Denning Kids Photo Shoot...Summer 2012

Allie Ruth: 9 months

Branson Reed: 15 months

Macie Marie: 4 years

Macie Turns 4!

I cannot believe Macie is 4! Where did the time go? Then again, sometimes it's hard to believe that she is only 4, she acts older than that, most of the time.  Macie is already turning into a friend to me. We can have meaningful conversations, and she is so sweet. She is always telling me how beautiful I look, and that I am "the best" which is always followed by, "And my Daddy's the best." Lately she has been my workout buddy, and everyday she picks out a video and does it with me. She's pretty good at following the moves too, it's really cute. And then she says, "Mommy, you do it like this. See, this is how you do it." She helps me so much, and is always asking me questions about life and death and Jesus. It makes it so easy to teach her. She really has a love for Heavenly Father and Jesus, and wants to follow them. I love her so much, and feel so fortunate to be her mom. Here are some fun little facts about Macie:

-She LOVES barbies

-Loves playing house or "family"

-Loves new clothes. And she gets just as excited for hand-me-downs or garage sale clothes, which is nice because I know that won't last forever.     

-Loves primary, and especially her teacher Mrs. Westover.

-Is a great big sister, especially to Allie.

-Loves Family Home Evening! Never lets us forget :)

-Loves her family and friends and babysitters!

-Loves to Dance.

-Loves to paint.

-Loves shoes.

-Loves her daddy.

Balloon curtain for B-day surprise. 

I put her gifts in our room because she comes into our room first thing in the morning. 

Opening her gifts.

Her new princess backpack for preschool. And whenever we go on a little trip, or anywhere, she has to pack her back pack :)

New clothes.

This is how Branson is in the morning until he's had a milk, then he's good to go. 

Flip flops.

More flip flops. 

Sleeping Beauty Barbie. 

Macie helped me make her pinata this year, it was fun to do it with her. 

She didn't hit it very hard  ;)

But her cousin Hunter know how. Candy went flying everywhere!

Lighting the candles.

Blowing them out.

I bet she wished for more new clothes.

I outdid myself on her cake this year, I know. Just kidding, but she thought it was great, and that's all that matters to me. She wanted a rainbow birthday.