I'm back from a wonderful week in Idaho. No kids, no husband, no worries. It was a great "recharger"! The weather was beautiful...no heat, a little rain here and there, but mostly NO HEAT and I got to meet my first great-nephew, Kayden!
With NO sleep for 2 full days and a LONG, tiring wait in the security line at Macarran, I arrived Friday afternoon in Idaho Falls and began decorating for my niece Haylee's wedding the next morning. THAT was fun working with bridezilla! She's their baby and the last to get married and leave the house (This is the niece posted in my blog about the Miss Idaho competition). My brother and his wife are now officially "empty nesters". That evening we went to her shower next door and I TOTALLY DOMINATED the steal the safety pin if you cross your legs game, even though I was delirious from no sleep. That night I was so tired I crashed at 9:00 (8:00 Vegas time). The next morning began at 7:00. The weather was great, my niece was beautiful, I got to enjoy my family and see lots of other relatives I hadn't seen in a long time...everyone had a wonderful day! 
(Haylee 2 1/2 at MY wedding 18 yrs. ago...........JC, Haylee and my brother's family)
Sunday was a crash and burn day. Lots of relaxing, visiting with Ron and Gaylene, having great food (she's a super cook) and enjoying a Johnny Depp movie. Can it get any better than that?
Monday was Yellowstone day. We grabbed a shaved ice in Rexburg and hit the road.
I LOVE shaved ice with cream AND Yellowstone Park. Can't get enough of 'em. We try to do both each time we visit my brother. This is the first camping trip, though. It was sooo cool. Our campground was right by the river and you could see the stars at night for miles. There were elk and their harems at the end of our camp just walking around. It's during the rut and the males got pretty noisy bugling constantly that night trying to attract their "women". Enough already! I sure wouldn't want a guy who made that much noise! After the tent was set, we headed up to Old Faithful before dark. We arrived about 5 minutes before it began to erupt (usually we've just missed it and have to wait about 90 minutes) and it was so beautiful with the sunset in the background. After a trip to the gift shop and dropping some postcards in the mail, we headed back to camp, ate a great fire cooked dinner, made yummy pies over the coals and stayed up talking around the campfire, listening to the sounds of the river, elk, and a few car alarms while gazing at the stars.
(Old Faithful and the stupid bull elk that wouldn't shut up that night!)
(50 feet from our campsite)
Tuesday was a perfect day! We traveled around the entire park visiting the usual geysers, rivers and waterfalls. I got to see my FAVORITE waterfall, Lower Falls. Ansel Adams black and white of this falls made me fall in love with it. This trip we saw bison, coyotes, antelope, deer, more elk, and the hard to spot bears. We happened upon a momma brown bear and her cub, and shortly after a huge grizzly down in a meadow full of bison. The only animals we didn't spot this time were moose and grey wolves (I hoped to get a good pic for ya, Michelle). This was a great trip!
(momma and her cub)
After we left the park, we wandered around the town of West Yellowstone on a quest for 23 painted bison statues. It was dark, started raining, and my camera battery died, but we got pictures of most of them thanks to my sister-in-law, Gaylene!
Wednesday was a sad day with some disappointing news from home, but it was salvaged later that afternoon when Gaylene took me to Artco (the place where about 90% of all wedding invitations come from) to buy paper and cardstock for scrapping at $1 a pound! I spent almost $3 and got close to 100 pieces! My craving for shaved ice and cream was again satisfied. Thursday was Eastern Idaho State Fair day. We traveled to Blackfoot, got a great parking place, and entered the fair grounds to immediately experience the wonderful, greasy food smells. If you think about it, fair food is probably the absolute worst for you, but it smells soooo good! We had ice cream, scones, tornado chips called "tortatoes", burgers, and funnel cakes (not all at once...we were there for several hours), toured the livestock corrals, and entered lots of drawings for free stuff.
(HUGE pig...200+ lb. pumpkins...a sheered lamb)
The night was topped off with an outdoor Chicago concert (with Peter Cetera). I LOVE CHICAGO! Jon and I have seen them several times in Vegas (without Peter Cetera), but this was THE BEST experience! We had track seating, which was basically general admission-find your own-type seating on the dirt track in the outdoor arena. Thanks to Gaylene, we were right in the middle and about 10 feet from the stage. Lots of memories in their songs...it was GREAT!!!
(Peter Cetera)
Friday morning sadly came, I said my goodbyes and headed for the airport. I missed seeing my family but still wanted to stay longer. For the first time in 25 years I was able to enjoy my brother without any distractions. No kid fights to break up...no "when are we leaving" as soon as we get there...NOTHING! I will cherish this trip as long as I live. It was sooo cool!
Before I left on my trip, Meggie and I had a conversation about airplanes and the sky. She had asked me "Mommy, what do clouds look like on the top?" So I took a few pics from the plane on the way home to show her they look the same on top as they do on the bottom. She thought it was pretty cool!
Needless to say, as soon as I got home the dream ended immediately.
Let the cleaning begin.
