Toone Family Cabin Trip to Island Park

 Ahhhh....I love summer vacations. Especially this one. The first weekend in August, my whole family (including Mom and Dad from PA), ventured up to Idaho for our annual family vacation. This time, we started it off with a Toone Family Reunion in my dad's hometown, Grace, ID. Oh how I love that place. The Toone Dairy Farm holds such a special place in my heart...many fond memories of summers at the farm, feeding the calves and jumping in cottonseed piles and on the trampoline with my cousins. Riding the 4 wheelers, visiting the newborn calves, playing with kittens and eating Aunt Peggy's homemade scones...mmmm. The older I get, the less I do these things, but I miss it, and always enjoy going back.

My dad and others organized a big get together at the ward building right down the street from the farm. It was great to see aunts, uncles and cousins. We had a nice lunch, went around and "introduced" ourselves, learned a little about our pioneer heritage, visited and took family pictures. The kids had fun with different games and outdoor activities, and Cami managed to color all over herself with marker at some point. Silly girl.

We left the reunion and drove up to Island Park Saturday night, and arrived at this beautiful cabin tucked away in the woods. It belongs to my mom's longtime friend, who rented it out to us for the week. The past 2 years, we've stayed in Grandma Yospe's cabin with my family, but with the addition of 2 new babies, as well as Grandma Willes and David's brother Jose, there was no way we could have all fit. This cabin was a perfect fit- and our little family actually stayed in the additional cabin above the garage, along with Bree, Cassity, and Grandma Willes. That's the cabin pictured above, and this is the living area in the space above the garage. Such a cool place!

 It even had a kitchenette, perfect for Cassity and I and our weird natural specialty foods. :)

Our first day there was Sunday, so we got up, got ready, and went to church at the Island Park ward. I guess they didn't expect so many visitors that week, because it was completely full and overflowing. Hundreds of people were literally outside, sitting on lawn chairs or laying on blankets on the grass in the hot summer sun, taking the sacrament and listening to fast and testimony meeting. It was a sight to see, and pretty amazing that so many people are dedicated to going to church on vacation! We staked out a spot and made ourselves comfy, and Cami and Ari kept themselves busy with coloring. Jake is basking in the sun. :)

 And Lexi was just a doll, enjoying the afternoon.

 After church, we visited Big Springs, like always. I love this place- it's always so peaceful, beautiful, and inviting. The fish are less and less each year, but it's fun to still spot some in the water. And you'll have to excuse me, all the pictures of me are less than attractive, but the Toones have a thing for taking pictures, so there's lots of them. We love to document all the fun times! Here's our little family, plus Ari.

 Aunt Bree and the twins.

 Super flattering shot of Lexi Lou and her killer leg rolls! Love my little doughball.

 We took a stroll through the woods to get to Johnny Sack's cabin. We love taking pictures here, especially in this wooden chair. I think we tried to get Cami to sit on Grandma's lap, but she didn't comply. I just like Grandma's smile in this one.

 The classic Cami Ari picture, 3rd year in a row, and hopefully many more to come!

 Butterfly girl

 Beautiful view of Big Springs

 The whole fam! Britt and her fam, Dad, Mom, Bree, us, and Allison and Nathan. I loved having us all together.

 Yay for the grandchildren picture! It was such a task to get everyone to hold still for the picture, and poor Katelyn was not in the mood, but it was fun to watch Mom and Dad with them all. Cute Grandma and Grandpa.

 Siblings!

Just hangin out at the cabin later that evening. I photo bombed Bree's picture.

My favorite part of the whole vacation was Sunday night, when we all sat down and had a testimony meeting of sorts. We shared our feelings, laughed and cried together, found out Allison is pregnant, and heard about Bree's awesome girls camp experience and the song she wrote for it on the guitar. I just loved the entire night, and love my family so much!

 We also played some rounds of Hand & Foot, our family favorite. I love this picture (Thanks Allison!)

On Monday, we took a trip to Mesa Falls, which is always beautiful and breathtaking.

Cute daddy daughter pic with Nathan and Katelyn! He had the right idea, bringing the carrier along. We totally forgot ours, so Jake had to carry Lexi all over the place- bless him!

 Yay for everyone!

 Ohhhh how I love these two.

 Totally rockin the sunglasses. This is one of those pictures that I want to save and have them cherish when they're old.

 We randomly came upon these bikers with dead animals on their helmets. Kind of amusing!

 Helloooo bugs. Cami has a thing for bugs. She actually says "I like ants on my hands".

 Ohhh Lexi. Such a cute rosy cheeked bundle of joy with a floppy hat.

 That evening, we went into West Yellowstone to walk around and window shop- always a favorite! Here's Cam making friends with a bear.

 Trying on hats...

 Taking a breather on some super cute patio furniture outside a little cafe. I love their faces here.

Crazy hats in the gift shop!

 haha Jake looks good.

We had a good time walking around and letting the kids play at the park for awhile, and then we headed home to get some sleep before the big day of Yellowstone ahead!

I enjoy Yellowstone every year, even if it's the same year after year. The sights are amazing, I love spotting animals all over the place, the waterfalls and picture spots, everything. This year we did the lower loop going clockwise, so that we ended at Old Faithful. We did first go to Firehole Falls before driving the other direction. Cute little family pic.

 Sweet little baby Owen, sportin the sun hat.

Hello model Brittney.

We're all wearing our Yellowstone shirts we bought in West Yellowstone. :)

 Cute daddy cuddles for Lexi.

 We stopped at one of the spots where you can hike down to see the hot pots. I stayed at the top and thought this was a cute sight of Mom and Grandma, hiking back up together.

Papa Toone! Thanks, Bree, for this picture. I love it. Pure Dad- in his element, enjoying the outdoors, happy as can be. (He told me that this picture was taken when he was in the middle of hiking and had stopped to lean and catch his breath. :) Looks good to me!)

And he still had energy to carry Lex on his shoulders.

Enjoying a lovely picnic lunch in the woods.

Artists Point! Or is it Inspiration Point? Lookout Point? I dunno, but it's my favorite spot and view of the falls. Super gorgeous. Here's the gang.

 Hey lady!

 The girls and their daddies. Cam has a silly face.

 We actually saw a grizzly bear! We waited in a huuuge line of traffic forever, and when we finally parked, we found out there was a bear across the river, chowing down on the carcass of a dead elk. Awesome! A photographer lady next to us said that he's known as Snaggletooth, and that he's about 6 years old and had frequented that area lately. It was really cool to watch him and be so close.

 When we finally got to Old Faithful, our favorite thing to do is get ice cream at the nice big lodge. Cami chose strawberry and was quite delighted.

 Atta girl, Bree! Mmmm it looks so good right now.

Lucky for me, they also sell dairy free mango sorbet! Score! It was super delicious and refreshing. The perfect ending to a long day.

The eruption, and Cami's quite oblivious to it.

 And so is Lexi. But I'm glad I got a picture of her first time seeing it.

 We stopped at one more spot to see some colorful paint pots, just as the sun was going down and it was getting chilly. Cami and Ari were having fun with their hoodies.

 Love those two little teeth!

 Awww. I'm not a big fan of kissing pictures, but this one's ok. :)

 This trip was a whirlwind, because before we knew it, we were packing up to go home! Went way too fast. But it was absolutely lovely. And Lexi enjoyed Island Park for the first time.

Jake, David and Jose drove the 4 wheelers from the Yospe cabin over the river and through the woods to this cabin, so that they could enjoy them for a couple days. Cami took a super long ride with Daddy and Grandpa on our last day.

 So teensy in the back!

 Dad, ready to roll. They ended up riding all the way up the mountain near the cabin and had a spectacular view from the top. Quite an adventure!

One last shot of all the grandkids before we left. Love it! 

 Nathan and Allison moved to Missouri a couple weeks after this trip, so it was like a last hurrah for all of us to be together. We miss them already! But we had such a good time, and I'm so grateful that Mom was here all summer and that Dad could fly out here for this cabin trip. It was perfect- thanks for the memories. :)