We LOVE Yellowstone!

Lower Falls in The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

We really do love Yellowstone! Every other year, I convince my parents and sisters to come with our family for a trip to Yellowstone. We have so much fun together. It brings back lots of memories of the trips we took when we were just 5 little girls, instead of 5 grown-up girls with husbands and children. This year we went with out my youngest sister who is serving her mission in Philadelphia right now. We missed her, but we still had a blast.

My sisters and I on some vacation
(Brittany is missing in this photo, so I am probably 8 or 9)

Look at us now...10 kids later!

We went on hikes, visited the geysers and hot pots, ate a picnic every day for lunch, slept in cabins, and saw a TON of animals. That is our favorite part, well maybe the family bonding and memories, but animal sightings are definitely one of the top highlights of the trip.

This year we spent a few days in Grand Teton National Park after our four days in Yellowstone. Our entire goal was to see a moose. And we came down to the wire--we saw two moose, both within an hour of leaving the park.

We are already making plans for 2015. The rest of this post is just a few of my favorite pictures from this trip--we took 368 pictures. Crazy right? It was hard to choose favorites, but here they are!

First, the animals...

Mama black bear and two cubs!

Coyote

River otter

Fox

Beaver

Mama moose

Daddy moose

Boy Elk

Mommy elk and baby with spots...so precious!

Now for the memories...

Seth loved walking around the cabin.

Dax LOVES waterfalls.

We hiked around this little lake with the cousins.
Randy led while I brought up the rear...just like little ducklings.

We love hiking, but sometimes 4 year old feet get tired.

Mark and Dax with Josh at Wraith Falls.

Everyone on the stagecoach ride.

A lot of time is spent using binoculars in Yellowstone.
No, this isn't staged....I turned around and hurried to snap this photo.

I love the way this picture turned out at Storm Point.

Happy Brothers!

Gotta have a walking stick.

More waterfalls...nope, he can't just smile!

Ockey boys

Hidden Falls in the Tetons--A really big waterfall.

Mark matched the flowers so nicely.

Seth and Dax before the wagon ride.

We went on a wagon ride to a cook out.
Mark is slightly afraid of the Indian in the background.

See that road? Randy must travel every possible road, so we traveled on this one.
We didn't see much, but we met some nice cowboys.
The Tetons are beautiful!