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grand canyon artists point was our next stop. the site was breathtaking, but with little kids running around it was heart-stopping!


our little family

yellowstone's grand canyon

owen

then we stopped for lunch-hoagies, chips, cookies, fresh fruit and veggies. and while we were lunching we enjoyed watching a long-horned sheep and a little fox. we also got to watch that little fear-less fox get tased by a park ranger because it had eaten some human food and was a little too comfortable with the eating visitors.

the boys watching the sheep.

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another picture of the resident bison at our camp site.



that evening we all did our own tin-foil dinners and made smores.

we wasted no time getting started friday morning. mom had "breakfast in a sack" for each of us, an itinerary and map, and an education CD of all the stops we would be making which included scary stories about bear attacks and people dying in the geysers (owen especially liked listening to those ones and would request to listen to the "swimming stories" again and again).

first stop, lehardy's rapids. we were hoping to see spawning trout there, but i guess it wasn't our lucky day. and it was here, our first stop, that wesley lost his new binoculars. oh well!

kevin and the boys at lehardy's rapids.

next stop, mud volcano. everyone else took the long uphill loop around mud volcano and i opted for the short and sweet route. my parents were kind enough to stay behind and entertain me.

we were told to stay at least 25 feet away from the bison but they sure take their time. most of our group was stuck behind this big guy for several minutes. i bet the bison do this on purpose just for kicks and giggles.

poor owen was stung by a hornet twice on this little loop. once on the forehead and once on the finger. poor guy!

on our way to the next stop we saw a large group of people gathered at a look-out and a park ranger had her scope set-up so we decided to stop and see what they were looking at. sure enough, there was a large grizzly walking around out in the meadow. it was VERY far away but if you looked through the scope you could see it pretty good. i don't mind wild animals from this distance.

bear watching-dad, nat, sami, jarom, alyssa, and megan
jarom also brought his telescope.

8th Annual Gregg Manwaring Family Reunion

this year we completed our cycle through all the siblings hosting the gregg manwaring family reunion and next year we start back with the oldest. natalie (with help from the parents) planned this years reunion in yellowstone national park june 18th-21st.

i must admit that i was less than thrilled to go camping for this reunion since i was 8 1/2 months pregnant and i don't really like to camp besides that fact. BUT, when they said we would be camping INSIDE yellowstone national park i almost passed out. i am TERRIFIED of wild animals and we were going to be camping in a park FULL of them!?! luckily, my parents saved the day by purchasing a camper trailer and offered me and my little man wesley a bed in the trailer. BLESS THEIR HEARTS!

we arrived in yellowstone around 10am to try to find six camping spots next to each other (the camping was first come first serve) at norris campground. it got pretty exciting and we were able to find four spots right next to each other, but the last two families to show up (katie and justin's families) had to camp across the street...but, not too far away. we really lucked out!

shortly after setting up camp the rain started pouring. it would stop just long enough for us to get comfortable outside/start on hikes/go fishing and then it would just pouring again. so it didn't take long for us to get REALLY wet and REALLY muddy.

kevin took owen out to the little river by our camp site to fish, but wesley had to stay behind. and to be perfectly honest, he was completely satisfied with fishing in the puddles.

at our camp site there are a few "resident buffalo/bison" that just kind of roam the grounds all day. and they get pretty close.

ben, kaylin, and my dad standing by their tent and checking out the bison

late afternoon we had one MAJOR hail storm and took down a couple awnings and a tent. after that, the sun was our friend.

and the cords...

i TOTALLY forgot to show the best part about this mantle. and dustin designed it himself. we just told him we wanted shelves to put the equipment on and he went above and beyond by creating a hidden shelf.

closed

open


we love having every thing hidden.

after looking at these pictures i already see what i need to do next. PAINT the walls! this terrifies me.

FINALLY!

ahh! it feels good to check things off my never-ending list. and this week i was able to do that...well, not me. i paid someone to!

since we moved into our house i have felt like the drywall mantle was a bit of an eye sore...especially with all our cords showing and having to have a little book shelf near by to hold the dvd player and dvr. so, around november i started calling around to get estimates on what a mantle would cost. all of the estimates were OUTRAGEOUS and we choose the less painful quote. i called the guy, told him we wanted him to do the mantle and accepted his estimate. he said he would be in touch with me in the next week or so and to this day i STILL have not heard back from him! which by the way, this is also the way things are going with our sprinkler system and landscape edging. don't people want my money?! i don't get it.

well, my baby sister started running around with a jack-of-all-trades and he mentioned he could build us a mantle for an unbelievable price. he runs his own shop and does it all.



so, after a couple weeks. we went from this...

...to this!

we love it! it makes the room feel so much cozier and colorful.

THANKS DUSTIN!

it was too wet to play!

"so all we could do was to

sit! sit! sit! sit!



and we did not like it. not one little bit."

barky

owen has convinced wesley that he is actually a puppy named barky! and wesley relishes it. he loves to pretend to be owen's best friend. (;


barky showing owen some love

the best part of motherhood...watching your kids pretend!

father and son outing

last weekend kevin and owen went off on their first father and son outing. our ward put on a campout at green canyon. i don't think i could really say who was more excited...kevin or owen! they had a good time.

most of the campers went swimming after they got their tents set-up, but owen didn't want anything to do with the pool. he said it was because they didn't have a kiddy pool. so he just hung out at camp with kevin and made smores.


owen loved the whole idea of smores! here he is enjoying a smore...barefoot...by the fire. hmm.


he was also thrilled about sleeping in a bed in the tent with his dad.

in the morning they had a pancake breakfast, packed up camp, and then went on a hunt for rocks. owen HAD to throw some rocks into the little creek before they headed home.

then, it was homeward bound! owen was excited to get home to tell his mom about his "camping adventure". and i was happy to see them return safely!

excited to be heading home

when they walked into the house wesley and i were in my bedroom. kevin walked in first was trying to get a hug from wesley, but all wesley could think about was getting to owen. he said, "where's owen? i find owen first!"