Jackson Hole!

My favorite place in the world.  Jackson Hole.  Let me start by saying that 2 days before we left, Landon refused diapers.  So we were potty-training on our trip.  He is just like me, who at 18 months declared "Jeffy wear no diapers, I wear no diapers."  Landon said "Undies! No diapers!" Ever since, he hasn't worn a diaper.  He's doing pretty well with the whole potty-training thing and I am SO proud of him.  You will see multiple pictures of him peeing in rivers and bushes because when a 2.5 yr old has to pee, he has to pee right then.  What better place to potty train than in the great outdoors?

I'm not quite sure how she does it, but Aspen gets cuter every single day.  On this trip she started crawling. I am SO proud of her! She also cut 1 tooth and is about to cut another any day now.  That makes 3 bottom and 2 top teeth! i wish she wouldn't grow up quite so fast.  She doesn't crawl much, or very fast.  She has to be pretty motivated to get her to move. Oh this little girl has me wrapped around her finger.

 Moose sighting!

 We went for a drive through Grand Teton National Park, about 5 minutes from our hotel.  We decided to go up to Jenny Lake because the last time we were there it was too cold to get out of the car.  Daddy helped Landon down to the lake while Hunter, Aspen and I charged down in front.

 Me and the girl

 We weren't anticipating getting in this water.  It is runoff from the snow and the glaciers up in the mountains, but my little southern california boys got down to their skivvies and hopped in the water.

 The 3 munchkins

 Yes, we did pee in the lake.  Good potting.

 Big mountains! It's a little smoky because there were some fires in Idaho (right over the mountains.)  It's normally super clear and it is just gorgeous.

 After the park we went in the pool.  Aspen loved watching her brothers swim.  Landon is now about 99% independent in the water.  He can even dive 4.5 feet deep and pick up toys off the bottom! Isn't that crazy? People were pretty amazed by him in the water and would ask us all kinds of questions about him.  He's incredible to watch.

 Snack break.

 Another moose sighting!

 They left us robes - 2 that were the same size as the boys so we all posed in our cute little robes (and Spiderman pjs.)

 On our anniversary we went whitewater rafting.  It was amazing.  We love doing these adventurous things together and have about 3 reasons as to why we don't do them as much anymore.  It was fun to spend the entire morning just the 2 of us in the gorgeous Snake River.

 Afterwards

 We came home for a few hours to play with the kids and take them in the pool.  How adorable is this girl?

 That's Hunter doing a cannonball.

 This is Landon's favorite facial expression these days and I am so excited to capture it on camera.  I think he is the most sarcastic person with his facial expressions. I love this little boy and his funny funny personality.

 The boys get ice cream and Aspen got water.  How does that seem fair?

 This is where we went on our anniversary for dinner.  It was so awesome to have almost a whole day alone with my Love.

 Quaint dining room.

 After dinner we walked around the cute little town.

 We woke up in the morning to my 3 stooges :-)

 Cute little kiddos.

 The next day we went on the Alpine Slide at Sno-King.  None of us had ever done it before and we LOVED going with the boys.

 Aspen enjoyed sitting in the grass.

 The slide went up 2500 ft and you had to take the ski lift to get there.

 Hunter loves playing with Aspen lately.  When he is being gentle, it is really sweet and cute.

 Daddy and Landon went first.

 Daddy and Hunter

 Mommy and Landon

 Mommy and Hunter

 That night we went to the Chuckwagon dinner.  It was SO much fun and the boys loved it! We went in horse drawn wagons to a down home country dinner that included being serenaded by a cute little folksy band. As soon as we pulled up the person who was making us park was wearing the same shirt as Hunter.  We were excited to fit in so well!

 Waiting for the chuck wagon!

 Here we go!

 This was our guide.  Sweet girl from University of Utah.

 Peeing in the bushes.

 Cute band - a 17 yr old fiddle player and a lyrics like "If my nose ran money, I'd blow it all on you."

 They called all the kids up for "Coming round the mountain" and my kids were completely lost. So cute though.

 Dancing to the music

 The whole family.

 Waiting to pet the horses.

 Upside down girl!

 She's so smiley!

 Hunter got to drive the wagon.  He loved telling the horses (Smith and Wessin) to "Step up!" and repeats this at home all the time.

 Then Landon got to drive.  He really just wanted to sit up front.

 The next day we went down to the river so the boys could throw rocks (something I never let them do at the beach.) There were tons of dogs there that were super friendly.  My boys helped exercise them by throwing their balls into the river and playing with them.  Landon had to pee and went in the river.  Then, he wanted to swim in the river so he laid down in it...with all of his clothes on! Long story short, my naked boy stood on the riverbank waving as the scenic floats went by. Welcome to Jackson! Haha.

 Later that day we went to the pool.

 "I WANT THAT!"

 Then it was date night again and we went to Snake River grill - a favorite place.

 On Thursday morning we went horseback riding.  We took a 2 hour ride through the mountains and the Meadow.

 BIG horse!!!

 Aspen trees

 Big golden Eagle

 Landon and his little friend Cash were playing at the stables. Cash is our babysitter's son.  We are so grateful to have such awesome babysitters in Jackson - it makes the trip even more fun for us!

 Then it was Hunter's turn for a ride.

 Landon wanted to go for a walk with them.

 Then Landon's turn.  He talked about going for a ride all the day before and the morning after.  Then, when we put him on the horse, he was scared. He went for a little ride but wasn't super excited about it.

 Aspen even got to sit on the horse.  (I was right behind her holding her up on there.)

 Right after horseback riding, Nate came! How exciting! The boys were beyond thrilled. We went in the pool that afternoon and then out to dinner with Nate. He was the missionary who baptized Brian and we were excited for him to spend a few days with us.

 Stagecoach rides around the square.

 Waiting to watch the shootout.  Landon and Brian were in the car.  Landon woke up just in time but hated the shootout and ended up back in the car.  Hunter cried at the end of the shootout.  He has such a gentle soul - the thought of all of these people dying was so sad for him.

 Not enjoying it.

 The next morning we went to Jenny Lake to try to fish.  It wasn't great for fishing so we had fun playing by the water.  When we were leaving, there was a black bear nearby.  Yea, he was REALLY nearby - about 50 feet from us.  There was a park ranger yelling at the poor bear, scaring him more than we were scared of the bear! I felt awful for him.  We are in HIS home and he's just looking for food.  He started running at us, just to get away front he ranger.  I got really scared for a second but I was thinking about how I would protect my babies, not about getting away - I was kind of surprised about that.  I didn't need to because the bear once again changed directions and ran off into the campground.  Good going, Ranger.  Interestingly, the south entrance to the park was closed for 48 hours because there were 6 grizzly bears in the area!!!  One had attacked a car the day before, crazy huh? We weren't near there.

We then ventured out to Victor, Idaho for huckleberry shakes (YUM) and some fishing in a stocked pond.  That was much more exciting.

 Nate and Aspen.  He is so good with babies.

 Right before we went to the airport we stopped by Tom Mangelsen's house.  The boys wanted to play in the "backyard" with the dogs.  Every little boy should grow up like this.  When we left, Landon was hysterically bawling that he didn't want to leave.

 How picturesque.  Tom lives at the edge of the National Park and frequently has moose and bear traveling through his backyard.

 Landon insisted he didn't want to leave so I offered to leave him with Tom.  He refused.

 All of us with Tom.

 Here is one of the moose we saw.  We hiked down a little ways and weren't too far from her.  Cool huh?

 Picnic at Jenny Lake with Nate

 All 3 babies!

 Watching Nate fish.  It was way too shallow so we had to go somewhere else.

 Peeing in the lake - like a good Wyoming boy.

 FISH!

 Making our grumpy face.

 Nate and Aspen

 Fishing at the stocked pond in Victor, ID

 He caught one!

 Happy to be fishing.

We had an uneventful trip home.  Landon missed his nap (again) and when we watched George that night he fell asleep in my bed.  Sweet little boy.