The Zoo!!

Earlier this year Tara had told me that she hadn't been to the zoo since she was a child.  We had to fix that!  So she decided to take her little sisters with us for a girl's day.  We got up early Sunday morning and headed down.  It was supposed to be really hot so we decided to go a little earlier to escape the heat as much as we could.
I love these skunk-looking monkeys.

This vulture was in the dinosaur exhibit.

Then there's the elephants, one of my very favorite animals!  If I could, I would have an elephant.  The one on the left is Dari, she's the matriarch of the three.  She is the oldest elephant in captivity in North America at 51 years old.  The one on the right is Christie, she is the mom to the baby in the middle.  And the baby is Zuri.  She was the first African Elephant born at Hogle Zoo in 2009.  She is so cute!!

We stood there and watched these guys for a good amount of time.  I could have stayed there all day.  The mom and the baby were being so cute.

We moved on through the zoo and go to the giraffes.  These are another of my favorites.

We went over to the big cats.  It was so hot out that they had misters all over misting the cats area to keep it cool.

Then we walked into the reptile house, you never forget the smell of that place!

 When we got to the apes and orangutans, there was this CA.RAZY lady doing sign language to the ape that was sitting underneath his playhouse telling him to "come here".

We walked back over to the elephants.  They were getting ready to do a show.  Zuri was the star, showing off her tricks.  Can I please, pretty please have one?!

 After it was over, in came momma and grandma for a snack.

 It was blazing hot outside so we decided to head home.  We were hungry and decided to stop at Trolley Square to eat at The Spaghetti Factory, I love that place!  We sat in the trolley and Tara's sisters thought it was pretty cool.  We headed home with full bellies.
I love going to the zoo and I'm so glad that I got to go with Tara and her sisters.  It was such a fun day!

Trip Back to Idaho Falls

I went for a little day trip with my mom, Chelsie and Brian up to Idaho Falls to see the Bodies exhibit.  We left early Saturday morning and stopped at a restaurant in Pocatello for breakfast that Chelsie and Brian had told us about.  The food was really good and they had the most amazing blueberry rolls (like cinnamon rolls).  Oh, they were to die for!  And they each weighed about a pound!

We got back out on the road.  The Bodies exhibit was so busy compared to what it was when Josh, Rosie and I were there the week before.  We spent more time looking at everything.  My mom and sister loved it and Brian was a little uneasy with some of it.  We also walked through the Idaho history part of the museum, since it was in the Museum of Idaho!  We were in there for a few hours and were done.  I really wanted to go to the falls that run through the town and to see the temple.  We walked along the river and looked at the fall and the temple as we got closer.  They have different benches for different things about Idaho.  

The spud bench.

The rainbow trout.

The Appaloosa horse.

The falls were pretty but that view with the temple in the background is just beautiful!

We headed back toward home and stopped in Pocatello to eat at Red Lobster, one of our favorites!

The ride home was so cool.  There was a big thunderstorm coming in and we watched the lightning all the way.

I love when I can spend time with my family.  I sometimes feel like, as the big sister, that I don't spend enough time with my little brother and sister.  And that we are growing apart.  But when I get to spend time with one of them we pick up right where we left off.

Jackson Hole

It was such a beautiful drive from Yellowstone through Grand Teton Nat'l Park and into Jackson.

I love the Grand Teton mountains, they are so majestic and beautiful.  On the way through the mountains of the Grand Teton Nat'l Park we saw a blinking construction sign that said "Bear with cubs, use caution".  We had our eyes peeled to the woods trying to see them.  Unfortunately we never did.
After a long day in the car, we were so happy to finally get into Jackson Hole.  Wow, that place is just beautiful.
We checked into our hotel and went to find somewhere to eat.  Found a nice local restaurant with home-cooked food that was delicious.  We were all so exhausted that we just decided to go back to the hotel and rest for the night.  I kind of regret that decision since it was the only night we were going to be in Jackson, it would have been fun to see the night life.  But once we got back to the hotel, none of us were awake for very long!
We got up early Sunday morning to head home.  We had breakfast and walked around the town for a little bit seeing what there was to see.  I love all the hotel fronts and signs.

We went to the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar that Rosie had told us about.  She told us how crazy fun it gets in there at night.  The bar stools are all saddles, so cool!!

Have to get the traditional pictures by the iconic elk horn arch!  I love doing traditional stuff like this!

 We headed home and enjoyed the scenery.  We stopped at a camp ground just outside of Jackson along the Snake River that was so pretty!  We really want to go camping there next year!
Josh got his moose hat as his souvenir in Jackson!  He loves it and was so excited to find it!  And he has a mouth full of sunflower seeds...a road trip must!

 The rest of the trip home was pretty uneventful except for driving under the world's largest elk horn arch in Afton!

It was such an amazing, memorable trip!  There is so much to see through Yellowstone and Jackson and we definitely plan on going back to see more and more of it!
Thank you to Rosie for taking us on such a fun trip!