Girls Trip 2010

About two weeks after the wedding I got a much needed getaway. My sisters, Chantelle and I all headed to Austin, Texas for the annual girls trip. I was the last one to arrive and was picked up by Chantelle and Eric at the airport an quickly whisked away to a nail salon for pedicures. The lovely Mnisa(and Eric) treated ALL of us to pedicures...I wish I could to that every time I fly!

After the pedicures we all piled in the car and went to Chick-fil-A for some yummy food. Then we did what girls do best...went shopping! Karin had a fun idea to go to a flea market, we found some great bargains there.

Once our shopping was done we headed to our "resort". Eric and Mnisa have some friends who let us kindly stay in their beautiful home right on Lake Austin. We had a lovely time there filled with paddle boarding and kayaking.Of course we always get a little silly just visiting and playing games.Mnisa, Janae` and Julie after church. It was a nice relaxing week filled with tons of fun! I always love being with my sisters. They were great company and even let me practice my first Woodbadge presentation on them. Their feedback was awesome!

Easter 2010

This year for Easter we went to Blackfoot. Matt's Aunt and Uncle drove up from California and brought his Grandma with them. Matt hadn't seen her in a little over 2 years so we made the trip over so he could see her. Of course we enjoyed seeing everyone else too.
When Bailee was a baby we put in a special request with the Easter Bunny that he visit our family on Saturday so that we could keep Sunday set apart to celebrate our Savior. So when the kids got up on Saturday morning they found their baskets form the Easter Bunny. After having some fun playing with their new things and their cousin, Jack we all headed up to the hospital to see Stephanie and have an egg hunt for the kids. It snowed over night so we did the hunt upstairs on the rehab floor where Steph had just been moved from. They were very kind to let us take over the floor for about 1/2 hour. The kids had a blast finding the eggs that were all over the place. Owen cleared one hall all by himself! We forgot to bring the baskets with us so the kids used Patient Belonging bags form the hospital. They were Pretty cute finding all of the eggs. Bailee is getting so big and was good to let the little boys find the easier eggs and she would look for the harder ones. Owen wouldn't let go of his bag and drug it behind him everywhere he went in the hospital.

Family Vacation Part III

Friday we headed up to the Upper Loop in Yellowstone. Our first stop was at the Artist Paint Pots, they are so beautiful. The colors are amazing.

The view from the Top

Steph and Bailee

After the Artist pain Pots, we went to Norris Geyser Basin. Matt and I did not go on our honeymoon, but now wish we had. It was very neat. The colors there were very different form those in the lower loop. It was amazing the vastness of space there.

Matt and Bailee taking their first look.

The beautiful Greens

Mom and Dad

Owen and Papa

After lunch we went to Mammoth Hot Springs. Once again, there was something new at every turn.

Bailee and Owen

When Matt and Steph were Bailee and Owen's ages they had a picture taken of them at this same place. Bailee and Owen were not quite as cooperative.

All of us.

We thought that this looked like a river of gold.

On our way out of the Upper Loop, we were caught in a lot of traffic. We were excited to find out that the slowdown was caused by a little black bear. We didn't get any pictures because the Rangers chased it off of the side of the road. A few miles down the road there was another big slow down. we were crawling along for quite some time. We got the message from another tourist that there was a Bear up ahead. We were excited and hoping we would get to to it before it was chased off as well. The moment I caught sight of it, I jumped out of the car and ran down the road to get a better picture. The little grizzly was up the cliff from the road and I was able to get a few decent pictures of him. It was so fun.

At the end of the day we of course had our picture taken in front of the Yellowstone sign. We had a great time in Yellowstone. I always want to go back when we leave. It is so beautiful.

Family Vacation Part II

On Thursday we headed into Yellowstone National Park. Matt took me there for my first time on our Honeymoon, it was fun to go back and take the kiddos. Matt's parents, Steph and Jack met us at the cabin on Tuesday night so they could come with us. We decided to do the lower loop for the first day.
On our way into the park we got the wonderful opportunity to see a nested Bald Eagle. The nest was fairly close to the road, we saw two or three others, but they were not nearly as close. This was the first time I knew that I need a lens for my camera with a better zoom (hopefully for our next trip).

Our first stop was at Firehole waterfall. I love waterfalls, they are so beautiful.

Steph and Jack

Our next stop was to see a herd of Bison, Bailee wasn't too sure about them, but it was amazing to be surrounded by them. It is hard to imagine that this is a small herd compared to what used to live in our country.

The wildflowers were beautiful and were everywhere. All the rain we had in June made for a lovely scene in the mountains.

Our next several stops were at some of the many beautiful and strange looking thermal features throughout the park.

Bacteria Mat

Boiling mud

Owen made us laugh several times on the trip because he would often point out the window and say "Oh Wow!"

Papa, Owen, Bailee, Jack and Maama

Our sweetie, Bailee has some sensitive senses. She does not like loud, bright and especially doesn't like stinky. The thermal features commonly smell of sulfur...she didn't like that.

The colors in some of the springs are so vibrant. You see things in nature of Yellowstone that you don't see anywhere else.

The Grand Prismatic Spring

Emerald Pool

Sunset Pool

All of our many stops led us to our main attraction for the day. Old Faithful. Unfortunately because of where we were siting we mainly saw steam.

Owen and Matt

Matt, Terry, Owen and I went for a walk on a 3 mile trail to see some other geysers while Debbie, Bailee, Steph and Jack rested. We were lucky to be on the other side of Old Faithful when it went off again. We had a better view on this side.

I had so much fun taking pictures with my new camera. I took about 600 over the four days, but this is one of my favorites.

Three Generations of Hansen Explorers

One of our favorite attractions in Yellowstone is this Sapphire Pool. I love the blue color, the water is so clear that you can see how deep the spring is.

My silly husband.

Old Faithful is as far as we got on the lower loop, the kids and adults were all getting tired so we headed back to the cabin where we had dinner then smores while we waited for Kelly to join us.