Merry Christmas!

Life has been pretty crazy this last month and therefore I haven't had much time to update. But, I thought I would give you all a quick update before we join the world of no internet. Yup, this is our how our last few days have been spent....doesn't it just look like SO much fun! :) Hopefully by Monday we will be all packed and moved into our new/temporary house in St Anthony, just in time for Christmas! This year we get to spend it in SV with all of my family and I am SO excited. The only bummer is that my brother won't be there (dang missions ;) and my sister Lacie and her sweet little family won't be able to join us, but... for good reason. That's right! Her amazing little babies FINALLY made it home yesterday after spending 3 LONG months in the hospital! I cannot wait to be able to hold and snuggle them and tell them how much I love them! :) Congrats little ones and good luck mommy and daddy. Well since I last updated I was able to go down to Preston to a baby shower for Lacie. It was fun to see everyone down there and see all the SUPER cute stuff Lacie got from everyone for these little ones. I was a bit nervous during the drive cuz I had to take this down with me. Isn't that the cutest cake you have ever seen??? A fellow Fairviewite that lives here in Rexburg made it for Lacie. She is beyond talented. (http://www.ashleyscakesbydesign.blogspot.com/). Thanks so much Ashley and I'm SO glad I didn't ruin it in transit! :) After the baby shower we only had a week or two before Thanksgiving which we got to spend in Shelley with Dillon's family. It was a lot of fun and full of food, cards, hot tubing, food, and fun. The day after Thanksgiving we headed up to the mountains to find us a Christmas tree!! I know, we are crazy for getting a tree and decorating for Christmas when we are moving right before Christmas but I couldn't bear the thought of not decorating at all, so we did it anyways! :) Getting a tree is always fun, but I do have to admit I was a little bummed that we couldn't find a better looking tree. Don't worry....I got over it and think that it turned out pretty cute. Sorry I don't have a picture of the final product so these will have to do. Since Thanksgiving we have just been working, doing school work, Christmas shopping, working, doing finals, packing, and going to Christmas parties (there is an advantage to having 3 jobs amongst 2 people! :) We are now REALLY excited to have some time off from school and work to be able to relax and enjoy family and get settled into our new place. Since we aren't gonna have internet for a while (it may be a long while or we might get it sometime soon...we don't know) I will update whenever I can.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

"Thankful" by Josh Groban

So tonight as I was working away, cleaning my house (finally) and I flipped the computer open and turned on some Itunes with Christmas music. While I was cleaning this song came on..."Thankful" by Josh Groban. As I was listening to the words of this song I guess I kinda had a change of heart. This Thanksgiving season I have known that I have a lot to be thankful for but I haven't taken the time to sit down and think about ALL that I do have to be thankful for. Instead I have kinda been struggling and have been complaining and dwelling on the negative things in life. Thanks to this man I was quickly able to flip all those stresses into something I am honestly and truly thankful for. I decided to share some of that list with you.

This Holiday Season I am thankful for............................
-the fact that I had to say goodbye to my only/little brother for 2 full years because it means that he has lived worthy and is willing to go and serve the Lord and spread the word of the gospel to the great people in the Phillipines

-the opportunity I have to worry, sympathize, and encourage my sister and brother-in-law while they are struggling with having 2 babies in the NICU cuz it means that their babies have beat the odds and are alive

-the chance I have to come home exhausted and beat everynight cuz it means that I have not only one, but two jobs

-the stories I have to tell about how hard the kids I work with in preschool are cuz it means that I am able to work with kids that are struggling and/or have special needs and that I just might be making a difference

-the fact that I am now beginning to worry about important grad school decisions and finances cuz it means that I have a great husband that cares about getting a good education

-the opportunity I have to struggle with the fact that we have now been trying to get pregnant for six months because it means we have only been trying for six months

-the large check that Dillon had to write out to the computer doctor today cuz it means that we now have a working computer again

-the chance I have to sit and add up how much money we have wasted on rent this past 1 1/2 years cuz it means that we have a nice place to live

-the times Dillon and I argue about silly little things cuz it means that they are only silly little things

-the lectures I'm able to give Dillon about doing the laundry right cuz it means he cares enough to help me out and do the laundry/dishes for me when I'm not home to do it

-the little time I get to spend with Dillon cuz it means that we are both working hard and trying our best so we can have the best in the future

-and the list could go on and on.........................................

wow

WOW, it's been a while since i updated so i should probably give a little update. well.....dillon's work load has slowed down a little bit now that he has gotten the GRE under his belt. what a relief! now it's onto grad school application and the wait to see where it is we could be headed come summer. he only has about 5 weeks left in this semester then only ONE MORE before he graduates with his Bachelors! YAHOO! other than school and work, work, work we haven't been up to a whole lot. we celebrated Halloween by watching a few scary movies and handing out candy to only 3 sets of trick-or-treaters. we've been able to spend time hanging out with my family and getting ready to say goodbye to the little dude since he only has about 5 days until we ship him out to the MTC. (WOW cody....i think i'm really gonna miss ya!) We were able to go down to Logan and go through the temple with him and go home to SV last weekend to see him speak in church and party it up with him. (sorry no pictures this time, long story short...he have been fighting the computer monster that seems to REALLY wants to destroy our computer and the poor thing have been in and out of the doctors for over a month now and is there as we speak. if it wasn't for our good friends the Doyle's we would have been completely computerless this whole time! THANKS SO MUCH BRANDON AND DAF (and Jaylee! :) Sheesh, now that i sit down to update you all, it doesn't sound like we've been all that busy but wow...it sure feels like we have been running our butts off. The craziness that I have felt isn't gonna slow down either. This weekend I'm off to Preston for Lacie's baby shower while Dillon goes hunting... next weekend I'll be in Pocatello for a Child Conference...the next weekend is Thanksgiving weekend... then it's DECEMBER and that is always an insane month. Oh oh oh, that reminds me, we do have some BIG news!!! but it's not what all of you are thinking.
Instead we are moving. Our contract is up the end of Dec so sometime in the next 3 or so weeks we will be packing up and making the big move to St Anthony. Dillon has a great grandma that lives over there but she isn't there in the winter so we will be moving into her house until we head out to grad school...where ever that may be. SO, that's about it. I'll update when I have some time and something to actually update about......if anyone even cares enough to look at our blog anymore :)

Utah trip

I got home last night from my trip to Utah and let me tell you...although I missed my husband SO SO much, I really wish I didn't have to come home. I LOVED the time I was able to spend with Lacie (and a little of Jake) and little miss Sofia. I'm sure Lacie wasn't apposed to me leaving tho since I did cause her a little bit of a headache I'm sure. LOL. Sorry Lacie...but it was a fun adventure, right?? :)

The originial plan had been for me to head to Logan Monday and pick Lacie up from her doctors apt and take her to Ogden and stay the week with her there while Jake stayed in Logan to work but, as we are discovering, with 2 babies in the NICU plans change QUICK! Sofie was taken by ambuance from Ogden to SLC Monday afternoon. She needed to be in Primary Children's Hospital to have surgery done that would place a port (resivoir) in her head to draw fluid off her brain. Although this was not much fun and put the 2 babies in different hospitals in 2 different cities it was nice on my end since Primary's has a far different policy than McKay Dee and since she was now at Primary's I was gonna get to see her!!! :) So Monday night around 4:30 I was able to see little miss Sofia Adell for the first time. It was amazing and heart breaking all at the same time. Although I had seen countless pictures, nothing compared to seein her in real life. Since only 2 people could be at her bedside at a time we had to do some rotating (thank you Lacie and Jake for letting me spend time with her). Since her surgery wasn't until the following afternoon we spent the evening with her Monday then went and got settled at the Ronald McDonald House just a short drive down the hill. Little Sofia's surgery Tues afternoon was short and sweet and did just what it was supposed to do! :) A few hours after surgery Jake had to head back up to Logan to work the rest of the week, leaving Lacie and I on our own in SLC. oh man! Close to an hour after Jake left Lacie and I jumped in my car to head back up to the hospital to spend the evening with Sofie. We pulled out of the house parking lot and instantly I knew something was NOT right with the car but didn't know what it was. I pulled out onto the main road and after going only a few feet I KNEW we had a flat. UGH! After a few blocks of trying to get over so I could pull off the road we got stopped and jumped out to see a terribly flat tire. Now what???? Lacie called Jake and he was already back in Ogden and I called Dillon (since it was his car) for some advice. Lacie and I really didn't know anyone that could be there quick to help up out. (ok, let me explain something that we BOTH had to explain to our husbands...we were on the right hand side of South Temple road in SLC with a flat tire on the on the front drivers side of the car, in the freezing cold, just as it had gotten dark....YES we probably could have put the spare on ourselves but NO, we weren't about to try given the circumstances). So...after a few mins of sittin in the car coming up with a plan we decided to walk the 2 blocks back to the Ronald McDonald house and ask the house manager's husband to come help us. We got back and explained the situation to the lady sitting at the front desk (not the house manager) and she just kinda looked around and didn't know what to say or do. Well right behind her was a guy washing windows. The conversation to follow went like this...

Man (kinda sheepishly): I can do it

Lady: Ok, I guess that can be part of your community service

Man (putting down window washing supplies): Where is your car at?

Me: Um...about 2 blocks down the road on South Temple

Man (lookin at the lady): 2 blocks? Is that ok if I go 2 blocks?

Lady: Yeah that should be fine

Me (silently screaming "AHHHHH"): Thank you so much!
Well, the man was very nice and followed us to the car, got the spare on, and walked on back to the Ronald McDonald house (well that's what he said at least). Lacie and I just kinda stood behind the car together hoping the man wasn't doin community service for something TOO major and being VERY thankful we were on the side of a VERY busy road. (no we didn't snap a picture...dang it). With the spare (very small and scary spare) on we carefully climbed the hill to the Hospital to see miss Sofia. We were there for only about 10 mins then got kicked out of the room so they could bring in a VERY sick little baby. We weren't able to go back in that night cuz the baby needed so much attention having just gotten there. So...we limped back down the hill to our room. We decided to stay put for the night. That night we laid in bed and talked until almost Midnight just talking and laughing and being silly sisters! :) The next morning I drug Lacie out of bed bright and early and headed to a Big-O, that was luckily just straight down South Temple, to get the flat fixed. After the flat was fixed the man working told me he was a little concered about the tire since it had been driven on. I explained that I was driving home to Idaho on the interstate the next day and the nice man rotated the bum tire to the back and told me I should be fine. So...off to the hospital, just in time for free breakfast! :) That day great Gma and Gpa Hunter made a suprise visit to see little miss Sofia (nicknamed by all her nurses as the "dancing queen" since she LOVES to move around). After their visit and as they were leaving Gpa gave me a little toy to keep me busy in the NICU. So of course I propped it on top of Sofia's incubator as some Halloween decor. Well by that night the poor little guy had fallen (when the top had been off to work on little Sofie) and gotten stuck in the incubator. OH NO! The nurse that night was kinda grumpy and didn't really seem like she wanted us there (she had good reason that I won't explain cuz it is WAY too sad and breaks my heart thinkin about it) so we didn't know what to do to get it out ourselves without askin her to "pop the top." So Lacie worked at it a bit but manager to pop the little guys arm off (OOPS) but eventually got him out. She quickly made me shove it in my purse and never get it out again! lol. Well the next day was our last and unfortunately a very quick day. We went and saw Sofie that morning then had to head out and clean our room at Ronald McDonald house before we could check out and leave...then had to meet a guy and pick up a pup for my dad. (I will definately leave out all that drama for ya'll, but to give you an idea, I named the pup Pita. It stands for "Pain In The A**, she was cute tho). So we got her and headed to Ogden to drop Lacie off to see her little man Lukas. I dropped her off and me and Pita hit the road again. I dropped her off in Preston with Bill and Nicole (thanks again for meeting me at the exit you guys!!! :) then FINALLY found my way home to my HUBBY!!! WOW...that was a long post.

But THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Lacie, Jake and Sofia for letting me come and invade and spend time with all of you. I know I caused a little added stress to your life Lacie (sorry) but it really was fun and I'm SO glad I got to come down. I miss you all already! (just wish I could have met my man Luke, oh well, rules will be rules).

LOVE YOU ALL SO SO MUCH!

Time for a break!

WOW...I can't believe that it is Oct 1st and the weather is FREEZING! Time is flying by. Life for us has been just plain crazy busy and just really not much fun lately. BUT, I am SO excited that we live in Idaho right now and that I am working for an Idaho school district so that I can have a FULL WEEK OF WORK OFF!!!! YAY! Because of no work next week I'm headed off to Utah to stay with my amazing sister and her beautiful little babes! (by the way...if you haven't figured it out, these little ones have their own blog so check out the "Bastow Miracle Babies" link on my blog list). YAY! Too bad BYU-I doesn't let their students out for Harvest Break, which means that I'll be leavin my hubby home alone :( Even though I'll miss him lots and lots I know he'll be just fine. He probably won't even notice I'm not in the same state as him seein as how we never see eachother anyways. Sorry you don't get a break honey...I'll enjoy mine extra lots for ya! :)

Update

Sofia and Lukas are truly fighters and are continuing to make amazing progress! Both are still in critical condition but both stable. An ultrasound was done on their heads and both looked great. Both blood counts are good and neither have infections. They are both under billi lights (to be expected) but Sofia should be coming off antibiotics tomorrow. Lukas may take a little longer as he is a little more fragile than his sister. Mommy is doing great and is looking to be released tomorrow so she can head down and be with the little ones. Although things are looking up these little ones still have a LONG road of recovery and everything else ahead of them thus creating quite the medical bills. With Jake still trying to go to school and Lacie now (obviously) out of work, things will be tough. A fund has been set up for the Bastow family for anyone that has even a little to spare. Everything and anything is MUCH appreciated and will be put to VERY good use! I know Lacie and Jake truly appreciate all the prayers, concern, love and compassion they have already and continue to be shown! THANK YOU!! If you wish to donate just click the button on my sidebar...it's just that simple! Again thank you to all and continue praying for these beautiful little ones.

The latest...

Lukas' feet compared to grandma's thumb

Sofia's hand compared to grandma's thumb

Sofia's feet

The diaper their little bums are in compared to Lacie's chapstick

Prayers...

Please keep these precious little ones and their mommy (and daddy) in your prayers! My sister Lacie had a suprise early early this morning when these 2 decided they wanted into this world and NOW! Both at a whopping 1 lb 10 oz and 13 inches long, Lukas and Sophia, are doing suprisingly well. Although they are doing well now they are for sure not out of the woods. All prayers are MUCH appreciated!

aren't they adorable???

mister lukas - sept 15, 2009 2:26am

sister sophia - sept 15, 2009 2:05am

(showing off them sexy legs already! ;)

Where did summer go?

Well, summer is officially over! I can't believe how fast it went and how little we got to do. I started work for the school district about 2 weeks ago but we just started with kids this last week. I'll spare you all the details and just tell you that it has been very very stressful and very very tiring but kinda is and hopefully will start gettin easier soon. I am still workin at Frontier Pies but only about 3 nights week. So...needless to say Dillon and I haven't seen eachother much and when we do I am beat! Dillon is back to the grind and started school Thursday. This was him that morning before he left for class. I'm not sure what made him more unhappy... me insisting on a "first day of school pic" or having to start classes again! :) He is still workin at the mini-mart but again, only about 3 nights a week since he now needs to spend his time outside of classes studyin for the GRE that he is signed up to take towards the end of Oct. We were able to get one last fun time in on Labor Day. Since school was out for me and school hadn't started for Dillon I asked for work off at Frontier Pies and headed down to Blackfoot to the Eastern Idaho State Fair. We spent ALL DAY there. It was a fun day with lots and lots of people and we were both beat by the time we got home. We got there bright and early to save front row seats for the horse races. I was first introduced to them last year by the Merrill family. Dillon's fam, his gma and gpa and this year an aunt and uncle sat and watched and we bet quarters on horses amongst ourselves. Dillon and I didn't do near as good as last year but still came out exactly even. :) But our favorite part of the horse races?? The indian relay races! There are randomly between the real horse races and are by far the best part. Take a look for yourself......


Yes...there are lots of injuries and yes, that guy is really biting that horse's ear. These races are SO SO much fun to watch. The teams are made up of a rider and about 3 other guys. The rider takes 3 laps, each lap on a different horse. These indians are CRAZY and have to have the strongest legs to hold them on since they are bareback. Very entertaining and very much needs to be it's own event at the fair.

all grown up...

I can't believe that my little bro is old enough to go on a mission! But he is. A couple weeks ago Dillon and I headed up to SV for a weekend of fun that included the big white envelope.

The moment we'd all been waiting for....

He's headed to the Olongapo Philippines -Tagalog speaking Mission and enters the MTC November 18th!

Congrats little dude...we're so proud of you and love you! :)

Also while we were home we got to spend some time floating the great Salt River and freeze our little bummies off, playing outside, hiking to the Intermitting Spring, roasting mallows around the fire, meeting our puppy Skeeter and love on him, play with him, bath him then still had to leave him there :( (we can't have a puppy in our apt obviously so my WONDERFUL family has graciously offered to keep him until we get a place that we can have him...well I'm not so sure they offered, maybe just agreed to keep him! lol, either way...THANKS FAM!!!) It was so fun to get away from work and Rexburg and hang out with my family for a good 4+ days. Which reminds me. The original plan had been for Dillon and I to head up to SV Thursday afternoon when Dillon got off work then it got pushed back to Friday morning. My mom and Emily decided to come down to IF school shopping that Wed so I decided to get someone to cover my shift that night and just go home with them and Dillon would come up when he could. Well since this wasn't the "plan" nobody was expecting me. Especially Payzli and Heather. :) Lyndi and Payz came down to my mom's shortly after we got home so I went and hid in the pantry. Emily brought Z to the door to "get her a treat." As soon as she opened the door and turned on the light I was standing there...right in front of her face. Z didn't know what to do, she just stared at me then came to me and just laid on my shoulder completely stunned. She wouldn't look at me or talk to me for a good 5 mins, just gave me loves. She soon came to and was wild and crazy! :) Heather's suprise was a bit better. LOL. So, Heather and Lyndi go walking every morning at 6 am. Well....since I was home I decided to join them Thurs morning. I was so excited to get some exercising in that I was wide awake at 5:15 waiting for my alarm to go off at 5:45 so I could get dressed and meet Lyndi at her house. I hurried and got to her front door as she walked into her living room. She told me I had a good 10 mins before Heather would be there but I didn't wanna sit and wait...I wanted a head start! :) So I started walking and got tired and decided to sit in the weeds between the top of my parent's road and the neighbors. Well, soon (well kinda, Heather had slept in) Heather and Lyndi came walking past and of course I had to jump up to finish the walk with them. :) Let's just say....Heather was just as stunned as Z just not quite as quietly! But then again, Lyndi did scream louder and she knew I was there. BAHAHHAHA. It did take Heather almost just as long as it took Z to get over her shock and actually acknowledge me and see why I was in town already. :) Oh how it makes me laugh just thinking about it and writing this....it was GREAT!!! (Love you Heather!) Overall it was a FABULOUS weekend and so great to be home with family, just wish the Alaskans could have been there, next time. Now, here's a few pics, ok a lot, enjoy!

enjoying the warm fire

Z doin the splits

playin outside (do my parents live in the most beautiful place or what??)

The spring and Jake and Lacie bringin up the rear comin down from the top (don't worry...she's not that slow, just preggo with twins, no biggie! :)

um...this picture pretty much just sums up Dillon and I's life together. lol

the hiking crew (Cody was too lazy to come...hardly, instead he was just finishin up a 25K, again, no biggie! :)

the float...tryin to not FREEZE

too too cute!

Daddy and Skeeter

um...i LOVE this for some reason

silly silly girls (Z is wearing the 3D sidewalk chalk glasses)

Cowboy Gabe and Skeeter's sister he named "Sweetie"

Shopping brag

Ok, I have to brag for a min. Tonight Dillon is at work while I'm at home (again) and I had a gift card and some coupons so I decided to run to IF and do a little bit of shopping. Aside from spending...lots at Winco (and saving lots too, good old Winco)...I spent a total of $23.23 and came home with this -- It doesn't look like a lot but for what I spent...I am very proud. The Bath&Body loot was a whopping $.97 (should have been $51) and the shirts a whole $22.26 (should have been $44). YAY!!

Priest Lake

The day after we got home from our anniversary adventure we packed back up and headed to Priest Lake, Idaho. Dillon's family has connections to a cabin up there and this was the week for them to go! After 8 hours of driving...we finally pulled in to a very full cabin. We spent the next 3 days hanging out with lots of aunts and uncles and cousins, layin on the dock soakin up the sun, boating, jetskiing, fishing, motorbiking and swimming! It was SO relaxing and a MUCH needed vacation. Unfortunately our stay wasn't as long as we would have liked thanks to crazy work schedules but we did make sure to make the most of our time off. We came back very sunburned, very sore, very tired and very happy! Here are a few pics, most of the good ones are on Dillon's mom's camera so this is it for now...enjoy.

the view of the cabin from the lake

Dillon kneeboarding

Dillon wake boarding

the view coming down the mountain after a very long, very pretty motorbike ride

us and our styling glasses on the motorbike

the view of Priest Lake from the top of the fire watch tower on the top of the mountain
me cussin Dillon before we took off, telling him to be nice to methe view from the back porch
Thanks Merrill's for inviting us and providing all the food and fun! :)

One year!

It's official, Dillon and I have been married for one whole year. I can't believe it has already been 1 year and at the same time I can't believe it has only been 1 year...I feel like we have been together forever and can't imagine what life was like without him. This year has been full of laughs and crys, learning and growing, adjusting and changing and falling more and more in love with eachother. Before we got married people would say, "You think you love eachother now, just wait." I couldn't imagine loving him more than I did the day I married him but now I can't believe I love him this much more and I know that that love will only continue to grow as we experience what the rest of life has in store for us. So, to celebrate one year of marital bliss we both took a few days off of work and went camping. We had a hard time deciding where to go but finally decided on Henry's Lake (close to Island Park). We headed up fairly early the morning of our anniversary (Sat the 25th) and started our interesting weekend of fun right off by almost gettin in a head on collision only about 20 mins from our destination. To make a long story short we were in full view of an idiot driver and he still tried hitting us but we survived and I'm still not really sure how. We both wanted to turn around and give the man a piece of our minds but Dillon said we just had to keep driving because we couldn't afford to pay for broken windows. So...after driving around a bit we found a place that looked like the perfect campsite and set up camp. We bought a tent a little while back on a really good sale and I was so excited to get it set up and see how big and nice it was! :) Well it turns out it really was a good deal and the tent was HUGE! It is hard to get the full affect from this picture was it was so big it even had a little pop-out spot to put our bags and such in. Once we set up camp and got things settled we decided to head out and find a place to fish the day away. We quickly discovered this to be harder than it sounded. We thought we knew where we wanted to go and thought we knew how to get there but after some serious offroading and driving around (I think in circles) for over an hour we got to where we wanted to be. It was a little dangerous getting down to the water but once we got down it was beautiful. Dillon decided to try some very redneck tube fishing and to no avail came back to join me on the bank. Although the fish weren't biting, at all, and it was very disappointing the day was still beautiful and we were having fun...that is until the clouds started rolling it. It started with some thunder and lightening in the distance that quickly turned in to black skies and huge gusts of wind, turning the water not so clam and not so pretty. We hurried back up the cliff and to the car just in time for the rain. It didn't look like it was going to last too long so we decided to drive around a bit looking for another fishing spot while the storm passed. Well, again, long story short the bit of driving turned into a bunch of driving...like 3 or so hours of driving and no fish. But hey, the storm passed! :) So, we gave up and headed back to our campsite. We were playing card games in the tent when we decided to start cooking dinner since the clouds were rolling in once again. Again, long story short, the wind came and tent had to be collapsed, the rain came and we had to sit it out in the car, and still....dinner cooked and turned out fabulous just as the wind died enough to put the tent back up and eat inside while it POURED! After a little while of being trapped in the tent the rain stopped and a fire was started or attempted since the wood we had gathered was now d-r-e-n-c-h-e-d! Since it was our first anniversary we couldn't kill the tradition and packed the top layer of our cake into camp with us. I said it just tasted like cake and Dillon said it tasted like cake that had been frozen for a year. So, we tasted it but that's about it! :) My sweet hubby also surprised me and went into the tent and came out with some wine glasses we had gotten for our wedding and bottle of Martinelli's. So we sat around the fire sipping Martinelli and roasting mallows (but not making s'mores cuz we forgot the graham crackers). The next morning Dillon had woken up REALLY early and I got up shortly after. We decided to try out luck at fishing one more time then head up to spend the day in Yellowstone. Well, again, long story short, we sat around for about 3 1/2 hours waiting for someone to drive past that could jump start our car and by the time we found someone it was too late for fishing so it was off to Yellowstone. It started out pretty lame with TONS and TONS of people and not so much in the animal division. We had a picnic somewhere in the park, drove around, saw geysers (yes even Old Faithful but we had to sit and wait over an hour in the scorching heat with a very very stinky European family sitting in front of us), and eventually got to see some wildlife. The highlight was the 100's of buffalo crossing the road (BIG traffic jam) and lounging around a big open meadow. We ended up making a bigger loop into Yellowstone than we thought we had and didn't get out until almost dark so we stopped in West Yellowstone for some Arby's and headed back to camp. The plan was to see how much damage had been done to camp from the days storms (yes, again) and decide whether to stay another night or not. We got back and things didn't look too bad so we stayed another night. We stayed the night but did very little sleeping. Dillon ended up gettin sick just a few hours after we crawled into our sleeping bags and we spent a little while sitting around a fire in the middle of the night. Once his belly started feeling better and I couldn't stay awake any longer we headed back into the tent. Luckily Dillon was able to fall asleep and we rested until morning. We were in a little bit of a hurry to get our of there Monday morning since we had a lot to get done that day so we could leave the next day for our next adventure (details to come later) and we both had to work that night. So we woke up, hurried and cleaned up camp, got all packed into the car and again, long story short, Dillon had to take a little walk to find someone to jump our car yet again. He found someone and we went on our way stopping to get gas and once again having to have the tourists at the pump next to us give us a jump start. Well, we got home, hurried and emptied the car, took much needed showers and were off doing errands getting ready to leave again in the morning and buying a new battery for the car. All in all it was a very adventurous weekend and nothing like we had planned but it was still great and a wonderful way to celebrate our first year of marriage.

Thanks again honey for a wonderful weekend away and for marrying me! I can't wait to see what the next year and eternity has in store for us.

I LOVE YOU