back to school

boys went back to school today! they were so excited to go.


wesley-kindergarten

wesley let me walk him to his classroom. but, he drew the line when i asked to take pictures of him at his desk. and he told his teacher he prefers to be called "wes". who knew. :)
 

owen-2nd grade

owen was so polite when i asked if he wanted me to take a picture of him in his classroom. "no thank you." i got the same response when i asked if he wanted me to walk him into the school.

these boys are just as independent as they are handsome. i'm so excited for this new school year. 

what?!

what?! don't tell me you don't celebrate a monday diet coming up with an ice cream cone like this!



kevin is the MASTER ice cream cone builder. i love when he will build me a monster cone. 

bangs no more

oh, my sweet maddy! her hair was getting so long and beautiful!


i guess it's still long...in most places. but, last week she got a hold of some scissors and had her way with her bangs and sides. just a few days shy of her 3 year old pictures. :(
 

i think she feels a little bad about it. maybe.

 

 

 we still did the pictures. with a BIG headband and comb over bangs. hope they turned out.

ward reunion continued

saturday morning kevin, kyle, owen, and wesley did some early fishing.



after breakfast lisa was kind enough to do some family pictures. can't wait to see them.

then, some of the big boys decided to go shooting. i think they had fun. 

kyle 

rafa

after lunch we did a little beading with the kids. 

madalyn 

 

brian

then it was off to buffalo river to do some floating. 

wesley 

laura, wes, owen, and me

we did buffalo twice and had a lot of fun.

a few of us liked working on this yellowstone puzzle during our down time. laura enjoyed it the most! ;) she can't resist a puzzle.

laura

that evening we played life-size jenga. many hands helped in making these blocks happen but it was worth all the work. everyone really enjoyed playing.

 

 

 

 

 

it turned out to be a wonderful family get-away!

ward family reunion-yellowstone continued

we stopped for lunch near norris.


brian, owen, and wesley

then moved on to lower geyser basin to see the paint pots and grand prismatic spring.

wesley, owen, and simon 

owen 

madalyn 

 

 

madalyn, kevin, owen, and wesley 

 

owen 

wesley, owen, becky, and madalyn 

kyle, eleanor, aaron, and kristin 

 

staci and madalyn 

owen 

owen

last stop was old faithful. we arrived 5 minutes before she blew. so, it was perfect timing.

wesley, owen, kevin, me, and madalyn

we had a lot of fun visiting the visitors centers, buying souvenirs, and eating ice cream.

on the way out of the park we stumbled upon this male and female elk crossing the river. just beautiful! what a perfect day in the park!
                                                                

 

ward family reunion-yellowstone

friday morning we were up and at 'em early. we packed our lunches and we were out the door by 7:30. laura was in charge of breakfast and had little bags of breakfast out of the table for everyone as we walked out the door. she even attached our cute little logo. what a nice touch laura!

it was about a 40 minute drive to the yellowstone national park entrance. it didn't take long before we started spotting wild life. the first was a HUGE buffalo that crossed right in front of our car.




then, shortly after we came across a herd of elk.

 

 

and not long after that we spotted a little family of elk walking along the river.

i'm sure we were a little too close. but, we were fascinated.

we drove straight to canyon village to view the lower falls and the grand canyon of the yellowstone. the weather was perfect for us and the view was spectacular. 

we did a nice hike to the lower falls.

 
owen and laura

it was crazy to see the people on the other side of the falls who did uncle tom's trail.

 

wesley, owen, and kevin 

rafa and zoey 

simon and owen 

madalyn and me 

wesley and owen

next stop was inspiration point.

wesley

   

 inspiration point