Big Springs, Mesa Falls and Yellowstone

 I love this family picture! After church in Island Park (which I'm proud to say, we were a half hour early for the 9:00 am block), we went to one of our favorite places- Big Springs. It's always so pretty and peaceful, and a great place for pictures.

 I like Dad's eye squint in this one. :)

 There was a man with a huge bag of leftover rolls that he shared with everyone who wanted to feed the fish. Cami loved throwing it in the water, mostly for the seagulls to eat.

 Here's another classic Cami/Ari picture in the same chair as last year! Love their cute happy smiles. I've found that if I say, "can you laugh?" for the picture, they actually do! And it makes for the cutest pictures.

 Later that day, after a yummy lunch of Brittney's cowboy quesedillas, we all ventured over to Mesa Falls. It had been a couple years since I'd been there, and even though it started raining right when we got there, they were beautiful.

 Can't pass up the family picture photo opps! Cami, Ari and Katelyn enjoyed chillin in their carriers and backpacks for the short little "hike".

 Yeah this was the best we could do.

 The cute cousins with their favorite Auntie Bree!

And on Monday, we made the journey to Yellowstone! Ironically, we picked the one day when it rained all day long, but we got a nice early start and packed the day with sight-seeing. Dad wanted us to leave at 7 so that we'd see the early morning animals out and about, but I think the rain kept them away. Here's some elk that we did see along the river.

 We drove the loop northwards first this time, and saw lots of new things that I haven't seen in the past. It was a little tricky getting out in the rain to see all the hot pots and waterfalls, but we made it work! The girls loved hanging out with Grandma.

 Me and Bree, sportin the hoods.

 Cami kind of enjoying the waterfall beauty.

 They love copying each other, goofy girls!

 Look at all that pretty green! Love this picture of Cam and Bree.

 At one of the stops to see a waterfall, I opted to stay in the car and finish my book while everyone else hiked down to the falls. Jake said Cami was such a trooper and walked the whole way in the rain. They were gone a long time!

 I love the look of gushing water, it looks so cool!

We stopped at Artist Point to see the falls from a distance, and Cam was still a happy camper! What a blessed girl.

 Here's another one of her laughing faces! Love it.

 This was called the Dragon's Cave, and Jake kind of freaked Cami out by telling her there was a real dragon breathing in there.

 These mud pots looked awesome.

 Finally, we made it to Old Faithful, right when it was erupting. So we waited the hour and a half till the next eruption, which gave us time to enjoy ice cream at the inn, visit the gift shop and the new visitors center. I love watching the interaction with these two when they talk to eachother so intently.

 We caught the next eruption, and here's a pic of the tail end with Cami. Can't believe how much she's grown since the last time we took her picture with it!

 Enjoying one more hot pot before making our way out of the park.

 And I'm really glad this was the reason traffic was backed up for about 20 minutes. This huge buffalo was waltzing down the road, preventing cars from passing. haha. He passed right by Jake's window and gave us a great shot!

 It wasn't until about 8 pm that we got back to West Yellowstone, where we were excited to eat pizza at the same place as last year, but the wait was an hour and a half. Booo. So we went to the next best pizza place, according to a local, and finally got to eat at 9. We were starving! Cassity entertained Cam quite nicely while we waited. She's so good at giving the best tickles and "weee's", Cami loves her!

 Mmmm the pizza was sooo good. And we got LOTS of it, thanks to Dad's "too much is better than not enough" mentality. :) Thanks for dinner, Dad!

Loved the day, and love that we get to go to Yellowstone every summer. Such fun memories.