Yellowstone

**Due to a mistake with my picture account and a computer crash, we sadly lost our pictures from June and July 2011 - however, some of them ended up in the 2012 Calendar I made**

In July and August, the Anderson crew was trying to do some fun things before my youngest brother Tyler left for his mission.  One of those fun things was a trip to Yellowstone!  It was a bit of a crazy trip for the Cutlers, but we survived!  Right as we got into the park, we were on a very narrow, very crowded road.  Everyone was going super slow, because there was also a buffalo on the road.  There was no place for any of us to go, and I think he might have been feeling a bit cornered; he was trapped between a rock face and cars.  My parents were ahead of us, and we saw the buffalo take a swing at them with his head... well, we were next in line.... and this time he didn't miss!  He left a big dent in our van door.  At first it was a shock and almost humorous, but the more we thought about it, the more sobering it became!  If he had hit it a few inches higher, he would have likely shattered the window that Hayden was sitting right by.  A few inches to the left or right and we wouldn't have been able to use the door any more.  A few inches lower, he could have done damage to the tire, tire well, or door.  We were actually pretty blessed.  He rocked the van pretty well and it shook the kids up a little.  Hayden let out a nervous whimper and the kids still talk about it today.  Mostly they just thought it was really rude of the buffalo to put a dent in our car! :)  Makes for a good memory, though... I guess!?
We stopped for a quick bathroom break and the kids skipped some rocks on the lake.  It was amazingly full!!

Then it was on to Old Faithful!  Our "luck" continued as we got out of the car and I snapped Ken's new fishing pole on accident.  He was nice about it, of course, but I felt so bad!!  We tried to brush it off and went to see the geyser!

We got our seats to watch 'er blow, but we had to wait a while.

Some of us decided to hike around the other mineral pools while we waited.  On our walk, we saw some other smaller geysers go off.

Still waiting...

3..... 2..... 1.....

BLAST OFF!!

Next, we went to find a place to eat our picnic lunch.  We found a BEAUTIFUL spot right by the river!  It was really perfect!  ... that is until Taysum fell in the river... he got right out, but was soaked!  Luckily, I had packed some extra clothes.

Our next "fun" event was on the way to our next stop.  Hayden got car sick and threw up all over himself and his car seat.  Again, luckily I had an extra set of clothes.  We got him all cleaned up and on our way again.  We were going to meet up with the Andersons and Lindsays, but I'm a poor navigator and we missed our turn.  By the time we figured it out, we had to back track a ways.  We met everyone at the intersection to the next stop.  They were going to go on to the next point and wait for us.  We could have gone on, but we didn't want to miss the falls.

My favorite stop in Yellowstone is Artist's Point.

You can see the yellow stone for which the park is named,

You can also see the magnificent falls!

Finally we caught up with our family at the mud pots, but the Lindsays had decided to go on home.  It was a fun day despite the TONS of bathroom stops, the overhaul on our van door, breaking Ken's fishing pole, the carsickness and all the wardrobe changes!!  We were glad we went!

This isn't "our buffalo" but you can see how they just walk around like they own the place!  Can you believe the nerve of this guy?! ;)

I've been through Yellowstone dozens of times and the novelty of buffalo has kind of worn off.  The rest of the day when I'd see them, though... they made me a little nervous!

Ken had promised the kids they could go fishing.  It is really expensive to fish in the park, so on the way home, we stopped at the Buffalo Bill Reservoir west of Cody.  Ken spent most of the time just trying to get the kids' lines untangled.  They were really upset that they didn't catch anything, but at least we kept our promise to them, right?! ;)  To end the day, Bailey had an accident, and we used our last change of clothing.

Ken's a die-hard and was determined to fish, even though he only had half the pole to fish with!!

Finally...at the end of the day... we did make it home! :)