Out West Part 2 (finally!)

I am finally writing about the second half of our trip to Utah. Things have been a little crazy here and it seems every time I plan to blog the Internet is down (so frustrating!). Anyway Pete began his vacation by flying to Utah to meet us. So I bid a tearful farewell to my parents and a happy hello to the Jeppsons. I am so lucky and blessed to have wonderful in-laws. I love Pete's family so much. We picked Pete up at the airport and went straight to the Utah State Fair (again). Needless to say I've had my fill of fair food and I swear I'll never eat another funnel cake - at least not until next summer :)

Sunday dinner is over the top at the Jeppsons. Pete's mom is a wonderful cook and she made a turkey dinner the first Sunday we were home. Soooo delicious and pretty. They use their china every Sunday. It's a nice tradition and perhaps one day we'll make it ours too (when they make dishwasher safe china so I don't have to hand wash all the dishes).




The first couple of days in Bountiful we visited friends and hung out with family. Then on Wednesday - actually EARLY Thursday morning we drove up to Island Park Idaho, where Pete's family has a cabin. We left in the middle of the night hoping Samuel would sleep, he HATES his car seat and doesn't do well on 20 minute trips let alone 4 hour trips, our little plan worked he slept almost the entire way. There was a serious temperature change from Utah to Idaho and I didn't pack the warmest clothes, so we improvised with what we had.




It was SO beautiful up there! We just couldn't get enough of it, it really made us homesick for the West and the mountains. His dad had some ATVs up at the cabin so we rode all over Island Park - it was so relaxing and fun. Notice the orange bundle on my lap - that would be sleeping Samuel, something about the constant vibration of the the ATVs always put him right to sleep.





Little Boy Heaven






The early bird gets the worm or at least some pretty pictures. Our little guy is an early riser and we didn't want to wake everyone in the house up so we went for drives down deserted dirt roads - that way Samuel could help dad drive.







Some pretty waterfalls we went to nearby, I believe they were called Mesa Falls.






Another early morning drive, but this time we went to Yellowstone to see Old Faithful. Pete's mom and dad came along and got Samuel this fun old faithful t-shirt - it glows in the dark!!As a side note I thoroughly loved not wearing makeup all week, it is the best when you have an excuse not to get ready Having a cabin is the perfect way to camp! I showered once, Pete and Samuel not at all - so that's kinda ruffing it, but then you can enjoy the benefits of a nice soft, warm bed at night and a kitchen to cook in, running water, flushing toilet, etc. Hmmm I guess I'm no longer the granola girl I once was, sorry dad!





I climbed to the top this, yes I did. On the last day we drove the ATVs to the top of a mountain and there was a ranger watch tower there. It is no longer in use and has a barbed wire fence around it, but that wasn't going to stop us. Pete, Katie (Pete's sister), and I crawled under the fence and then climbed to the very scary top! I'm super afraid of heights, and there were some rickety stairs, but I really wanted to see the view from the top. It was worth it. The view was amazing, we were on the top of the world, there was actually bird soaring near the tower at the same height as us! If you look really closely in one of the pictures you can see the Teton Mountains off to the left. I'm not at all a daring person so this was a great adventure for me. Lame to you maybe, but fabulous for me :)






That was a little over the top on the pictures, but now you all feel like you were there with us (whether you wanted to be or not!) ha ha! Finally . . .The End