DAY 1652... Yellowstone

All summer I had been dying to go to Yellowstone...

It never happened.

Work consumed us this summer and there simply wasn't time.

So a few weeks ago we had the Sister Missionaries over for dinner and they mentioned wanting to go to Yellowstone.

They had to go on their P Day,

and members had to take them.

I may or may not have immediately volunteered for the job without consulting my husband.

But we were blessed in our endeavors,

and Spencer's big class actually got cancelled on that day.

It was meant to be.

We were a little nervous to be headed out all day on a trip,

we had spent the night before in the Emergency Room with Benson,

croup will be the death of me,

but he did okay.

Better than expected.

Not great.

But okay.

We LOVE our sister missionaries Sister Baker and Sister Naitoko.

Aniston is obsessed with them,

and their attitude and spirit are just AWESOME!

Yellowstone was totally accepting Fall,

and the leaves were already changing.

It was gorgeous!

Typically we see 2-4 Bison,

but there were hundreds of them out this visit.

It was AMAZING!

Like usual,

Old Faithful is worth seeing,

but never quite lives up to waiting for 45 minutes to see it.

The Asian people around could not get enough of Aniston and Benson.

They took many pictures of my children.

So weird.

My favorite part of the day was when we got to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

We had the option of hiking down or not.

Aniston was insistent that we hike down.

So we did.

On the way back up I was DYING!

So out of shape.

But Aniston,

what an inspiration!

She hiked the entire 3/4 mile uphill,

holding tightly to Sister Naitoko's hand,

and she didn't complain,

or asked to be carried once.

She did AMAZING!

My brother just hit his 18 month mark on his mission.

Since he has been gone,

I have felt so much more inspired to help the missionaries.

To feed them and to basically do whatever I can for them.

I send picture and updates home to their families for them,

and they have AMAZING families!

My family will never be able to express our gratitude enough for the people of Ireland and Scotland and for the love they have demonstrated for my brother.

Being a missionary cannot be easy,

but I think it helps when people show them love.

Our Yellowstone trip may have not happened the way we had expected it to happen,

but I wouldn't want to change a minute of it!