This isn't a picture of Darbye's wedding, but had to put it in. Poppi has the magic touch because he was able to get Aiden to go to sleep.
We left on Saturday, July 25th for the trip we have been waiting for all year! We were celebrating our 25th anniversary with the Astin's and the Gerrard's since it also their 25th anniversary year. We left with Randy and Wendy. Loaded up the scooters and the bicycles and off we went!
Wendy bought Alan a dew rag for the scooter rides so we would look like real riders, which we ARE NOT!
We let Randy and Wendy make all the plans and had no real idea of what we were going to do. They just said pack for cold and hot and bring the bikes and tents. The big surprise was that we were able to stay at Wendy's parents cabin in Island Park just outside of Yellowstone while we were in Yellowstone. We are so thankful to her parents for letting us stay. We ate too much, laughed a ton and were busy the entire time we were here. Lots of biking and hiking and eating ice cream every night in West Yellowstone. This was our first morning. What a great trip and it was so fun to see Brad and Marilyn. 
We all went on a bike ride just outside of the park. It was a 40 mile ride around this beautiful lake! We certainly felt the altitude. We were at over 6,000 feet. We are so lucky to have such great friends!
Wendy and I went out and got our license to drive motorcycles so we could drive these scooters that the Astin's brought. We are now "biker chicks". We got a kick out of this since we looked a little funny on these little scooters, but it was fun. We rode them up to Old Faithful and it started to rain. It was cold, but really fun!
This buffalo was right on the side of the road. Just a little too close for me.
The Lower Falls at Yellowstone.
Our wilderness Hike. Three miles round trip. It was so cool.
On this hike we saw a lot of hot mud pots. It's hard to believe what our earth is doing. We found a skeleton on the way. This is with Marilyn Gerrard and Wendy Astin. 
A picture of one of the waterfalls at Yellowstone. 
After our hike. We saw an elk and a buffalo. They were far away, so we felt pretty safe. There were a ton of elk in the park, a ton of Buffalo and many other critters. 
Marilyn bought us all matching shirts to wear. We looked like we were having a family reunion, which in a sense we were.
I tried to sit on that rock for a pick, but ended up standing in an ant hill. This hike took us back to some Beaver ponds. It was five miles round trip. Lots of hiking miles this week. After this hike we went to some hot springs just down the road. This hot river with water about 150 degrees flowed into a cold river and the water mixed. It was awesome!
I can't believe that we live less than five hours from Glacier National Park and this was our first trip to see it. After we left Yellowstone, we drove with the Astin's to see the park for a couple days. We stayed at a campsite here on Lake McDonald which is a few miles from the glaciers. What a view! The two mornings we were there, we would take our breakfast to the beach and sit and look at the lake while we ate. 
We drove up the Going to the sun Road. Okay, I had been warned about how scary this was because the road was VERY narrow and had just a small rock wall to protect you, but the view was awesome and it wasn't too scary. It was well worth the trip.
They were doing road work so we had the chance to stop for a photo op with Randy and Wendy.
We took a hike that started at the parking lot at the top of Going to the Sun Road. This picture is a picture of the mountain that Brad and Jarom did a couple years ago. Our hike was 6 miles round trip. It was pretty steep, but absolutely beautiful and worth it. We saw a ton of mountain goats that just were walking on the path. 
I had to put this picture of the goat in because it was actually comfortable enough to go potty in front of us. It is squating to go potty. 
We think this goat was paid to just sit on the rock so people could take pics with it. 
Above Hidden Lake with Randy and Wendy. We had a great day and thought this was the best of hike of all the hikes we took this week.
We decided to stop by this rock that had water coming out of it. It was quite the hike.
This is the lake when we finally made it down to it. Beautiful!
Wendy and I.
This is how clear the water was. There were a ton of fish all swimming upstream in the section of the lake that ran out into a river. 
Here are the Randy and Alan looking at the fish wishing they had a fishing pole.
Hidden Lake had a river that flowed out of it and we were able to go see the waterfalls that came from that river. It was beautiful!
This is a pic of a glacier in the park.
This goat was walking down our path. We weren't sure what to do, but it just walked around us and kept going.
This is a Bighorned Ram. There were three of them in the road. This one eventually ran down on the road right in front of us. They are pretty ugly, but cool to see. 
Rand and his Dew Rag. Since we can ride the scooters and feel like bikers, he wanted to look official. We had such a great week! No worries, no planning and great friends! Thanks you guys!!!!
While Jessie's family was here we were able to bless Aiden. We did it at our house on Friday evening because Alan and I left for vacation on Saturday and wouldn't be in church on sunday. Jessie's mom, Lucy made Aiden's blessing outfit. It was adorable. Here is a pic with Poppi, Grandma Shar, Aiden, Jessie, Brad and Gigi.
Cute little family. It was so nice to have Jessie's family there, along with our family. It was very special. 
Aiden with his SURPRISED look.
Just wanted to post a couple pictures of baby Aiden. He is 8 weeks old now. I can hardly believe how fast the time had gone. He is starting to fill out and smile a lot and he is so cute. We are so lucky to have him living with us for a while. We love you Aiden!
Tyler finally received his mission call and he will be going to the Las Vegas, Nevada Mission. We were so excited! He reports to the MTC on November 4th. His mission covers a broad area. It goes all the way north to the Idaho border and then south into California and east into Arizona. He could be anywhere from the mountains to the dessert. I personally am glad that he will be safe, or safer than he would maybe have been than going to a foreign country, but Vegas could be pretty sketchy. At least he can receive packages quickly! We are so proud of you Tyler and your decision to serve a mission!
These pictures are for Meagan since she wasn't able to be here. Darbye looked beautiful and Darbye and Lyle looked so cute together. We are so happy for you!
Tyler is always so happy when Tawni and Ryan come into town!
We love Amy so much! Amy, Alan, Mylie (Amy's baby), Tawni and Ryan.
Alyssa is in town until winter semester.
