Jackson Hole & the 4th of July

The Goodman's house was in Star Valley, Wyoming. My parents bought a place 15 min. away in Freedom, Wyoming. The Goodman's place is in a neighborhood, but my parent's place is a little more out in the open with land around. My parents remodeled it right after they bought it and this is the first time they've had the family over. I think it only has 5 bedrooms so it doesn't fit everybody, but it's still quite large. It's only a few hours drive for Christopher so that's fun for their family to be so close! Everyone except David's family came for the 4th of July. 

Collin really appreciated the robes at the Goodman's house haha. 

We decided to check out Jenny Lake! Not a lot of options but we got lunch at a local cafe before driving up.

Holy guacamole. 

Jenny Lake is a sight to behold! 

I love that we got to see not only Yellowstone but got a taste of the Tetons on this trip as well! 

We took the ferry across the lake and did a short hike to a waterfall. It felt like hiking in Hawaii. Simply gorgeous and green with water everywhere. Honestly, the beauty of this place felt like what you might imagine heaven to be like. 

There was a line to get on the ferry to go back and no bathrooms. I was in need. I jokingly warned that if our group didn't make it on the next ferry but there was room for one, I'd be ditching everyone. Well, guess what happened?!! It's like I manifested it! They didn't think I really would, but man, nature was calling. So off I went! The kids all boo'd me and the people on the ferry were very confused haha. I'm SO glad I made it on. I was in a desperate situation by the time I got off. 

Isn't this the most magical picture?! It had started to sprinkle and the sky was perfect. 

We stopped in Jackson Hole and ate dinner at Merry Piglets and oh Suzanna! I was not expecting Mexican food that good in Wyoming! This is where Olive's love affair with chimichangas started.

Time for the Jackson Hole Rodeo! I've been to smaller rodeos before but it's been a long time. This was a fun time! I love how patriotic they are. I don't love seeing little caves get roped and slammed into dirt floors. Like, why??? How do those ropers look themselves in the mirror every morning? 

Since Shelley and I had planned this vacation before our parents invited the rest of the family over, some things got planned a little disjointed. Like we had bought seats in the open seating area and everyone else got seats in the covered part. Bummer. It would have been fun to be altogether. Oh well! 

Olive's face after watching the first calf get roped. 

Yep.

I feel you, Olive.

They had all the young kids go down and put a shoe in a pile, then race over to find their shoe. First one wins. Tanner ran down to play with zero hesitation. And promptly got tripped and trampled right after it started. Poor guy! 

These girls with their cute, matching sweatshirts!!

Had some downtime the next morning, before we drove to the river for some rafting!

Marcie opted out, but Austin was game, so we drove to my parent's house to pick him up. This was my first time seeing it! So pretty!

So glad we chose to rent the wet suits. That water was brisk! I LOVED white water rafting in Costa Rica. Best time ever. It was pretty adventurous for me but we laughed and had the time of our lives. Doing it as a family had me a bit more nervous. That was compounded when I saw our twiggy tour guide. I had nothing to fear. It was a very tame river. There really were only two spots it got more adventurous. And actually, we dipped pretty low during one and it popped our tour guide high out of her seat! She said that had never happened before and she thought we were toast. We were such a big group that it was harder to maneuver our boat, but we never capsized. The kids took turns "riding the bull" sitting on the very front with their legs hanging over. I think everyone had a good time! Leah was up visiting family in Idaho at the same time so she drove over to do this with us which was so fun!

The worst part was the walk up to the parking lot and waiting on the buses to take us back to the starting point to return our gear. Brrrrrr!! 

We got lunch at a great place for a crowd called Bull Moose Lodge then drove to Afton to go to the Star Valley temple. The older kids did baptisms and Shelley and Casey were nice enough to play wiffle ball with Tanner and Della outside. It's always so interesting to see how smaller temples operate. They had Travis help with recording the baptisms and confirmations but in Gilbert only set apart temple workers can do that. They were very kind to us and so happy we had come.

One thing I can appreciate about this part of the country... they are serious about their ice cream. And I'm not complaining! It was another successful ice cream stop before having to say goodbye to the Martineaus. Then we stopped in at my parent's place to say hi. Marcie was baking up some amazing cookies! I didn't get a full tour, but what I saw was amazing! 

4th of July!

The moms and younger kids started out the day at a parade in town. It was a cute one! Everyone was dressed up in their red, white and blue and ready to catch some candy. They ended with the fire truck hosing everyone down so we took cover for that part. Except Olive got sprayed in an unfortunate spot! The dads and boys went golfing!

Rachelle invited us over for pizzas for lunch and it started raining really hard. That ruined plans to go to the kiddie carnival, much to Tanner's dismay. Travis, Shelley, Casey and I went shopping at the grocery store for the BBQ tonight and Travis and I found time to sneak into the little ice cream shop nearby. 

Jimmy and Rachelle and some of their kids and Greg and some of his kids came over for the BBQ at my parents house that night. It had rained for so much of the day but it finally cleared up enough to enjoy the outdoors. 

Holding babies is extra fun when they're not yours. ;) 

We had a FEAST. So much food. Hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, baked beans, chips, apple/Snickers salad, fruit, veggies, you name it. 

The shenanigans started after dinner when we saw the older boys trotting off together. Greg had brought a bunch of Roman candles. The kind of firework you hold and it shoots off from your hand. Reminds me of Harry Potter wands. They started playing the game where you stand in a circle and someone spins the firework and whoever it lands on get to grab it while the rest start running. Then the "it" person chases everyone, shooting it at them. They were having the absolute time of their lives. They were laughing and shouting and it made us laugh just watching. Of course, it's a firework so I did contemplate the danger. I decided this fell under pretty average "teenage boy" stuff and I decided the risk was worth the fun. Maybe I was wrong, but that seemed to be the consensus of all the boys' parents. It had been pouring rain so I didn't fear a fire starting. I would bet the boys considered it the best part of the whole trip. 

Later, we lit sparklers for everyone and Greg shot off some big, aerial fireworks. 

Yay, U.S.A.!

Our final day of the trip. *shed tear*

We drove 45 min. north to go to some hot springs Shelley knew about. Unfortunately, we miscommunicated and I thought she made a reservation for everyone and she thought I had made a reservation for our own family so when we got there, only 6 people could go in. They wouldn't budge. The older boys didn't seem so sad to give up their spots, so Shelley and I stayed with the 4 younger kids while they got food. It was a really pretty pool area. Several different pools of varying temperatures. We stayed a couple hours. 

Then we packed up at the house and drove to Alpine to see the Halls' "cabin". The Halls are the family who owns Senergy Petroleum plus a ton of other companies. My dad works for them and is good friends with them. They have work retreats at this cabin twice a year. It is insane. I forget how many square feet but there are like 15 bedrooms, a golf simulator, two bowling lanes, a putting course in back, movie theater, you name it. Oh and an airplane hanger next to an airplane runway. The hanger doubles as a huge basketball court complete with all the sporting equipment you could want. We wandered around, checking it all out while the kid had fun playing golf and bowling. Oh to be filthy rich! 

We had dinner with everyone at the Bull Moose lodge again and then headed to the airport. Shelley stayed with her three youngest a few more days so we took Casey and Lane with us. The Idaho Falls airport is so small and easy to navigate. Then it was handy because we got in pretty late, but Casey gave us a ride home so we didn't have to get an Uber. 

I'm so grateful this trip all worked out! Everyone was healthy. The cars worked great. Flights were on time. Smooth sailing. It's so enjoyable vacationing with cousins! I think we'll always remember this trip!