New wardrobe for Aubrey

Brianna, Aubrey, and I went to Twin Falls to do some school clothes shopping for Aubs. Deacon wanted to stay with his father because he was having a fantasy football draft party. Dad stayed home because he hates shopping and spending money. The girls and I had a girl's day. It was just what I needed!

Roadtrip!!!

We knew Corrine was working at Maurices and she was also expecting us. I think she's like a regional manager or something like that. We discovered why! She's amazing! When we first got there, Corrine was busy with a customer. Aubrey glanced at their clothes and said nothing interested her. Then Corrine came and asked her what type of prints she liked and what style of clothes. She took it from there! Brianna and I sat back and watched a fashion show. She spoiled Aubrey and kept bringing out the cutest outfits. Aubrey is a tshirt/jeans kind of girl and can't ever find fun outfits. It was so much fun seeing her model the cutest outfits. Corrine was so good to her and does her job so well. I could see her self esteem rising as Corrine told her how beautiful she was. She not only picked cute items, but she showed her what to pair them with and how to wear them. Aubrey left the store with 3 huge shopping bags. We have never had such a fun and positive experience while shopping before.

Brianna bought us dinner at Cafe Rio.

Then we had our yearly Target fashion show.

Brianna is such a clown!

This young lady is so gorgeous. I can't get enough of her beautiful features! She's determined to have the best year in high school. Considering our crazy lives, I admire her so much for setting this goal and feeling so positive.

Corrine left this message for us girls. I love that sweet girl! She was one of Dick's students at Burley High when Giselle was in school. She always did his makeup for his plays.

"Loved loved shopping with you beautiful ladies yesterday such much fun getting Aubrey Call all ready for school can't wait to see you again !!"

Aubrey's haircut

Aubrey cut her hair today. She cut off at least 12 inches. When she was done she shed a few tears but quickly got used to the new do.

Her hair looks so much healthier and I think it looks so cute! 

The Chinese Nightingale

This has to be one of our favorite plays. Dick's mother adapted it from a children's book.When Dick directed it for the Twin Falls High School Drama Department, Giselle, who was 3 years old, played the real Nightingale. Richie, who was 5, played the mechanical Nightingale. Many years later, he directed it for the Burley High School Drama Department. Brianna played the wood witch her senior year and Aubrey, who was 3, played the real Nightingale. Anson was in middle school and played one of the royal servants. Grandpa and Grandma Call (Dick's parents) came to see the play and were very impressed with it and all the special effects. Again, Dick directed it for Burley High School when Aubrey was in the second grade. This time Aubrey played the kitchen maid. She was only 7 years old but took this role very seriously. Her best friend back then, Mark Tanaka, played the Emperor. When Dick had his first rehearsal, Aubrey had all her lines memorized. She was amazing to be able to memorize so many lines! Anson was one of his techies and did props. For this show, Grandpa Call and Yoko came to one of the performances. Yoko who is Japanese, was very impressed with the play. She loved it! 

Maybe this is why we love this show. Our whole family has been so involved in it many times. 

Dick will be directing this play again in Logan, Utah this fall.

 He will be directing it for the Unicorn Theatre,

 which was founded by this mother.

 I thought it would be very appropriate that I post a picture of this little girl who played the kitchen maid when she was 7 and in 2nd grade and now is 15 and going to be a Sophomore in high school this school year. She was so cute, so smart, and so brave! She still is!

Anson's 1st greenie and goodbye beautiful cabin...

We received our Monday email from Elder Call.

Anson's 1st Greenie.

Anson is now a district leader and a trainer.

He said his new companion is 6 feet tall and only weighs about 90 lbs. He's a cross-country runner.

 If his companion is 90 lbs, Anson must have lost A LOT of weight

 because Anson doesn't look much bigger. 

He looks just as goofy as Anson. I think they'll be a great companionship.

Elder Call and Elder Hamilton

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What a blessing that we didn't have to pay for a hotel. Such a beautiful place! The kids got to play in the morning before we'd go to the park and in the evenings when we'd get back, we'd just relax.

 Brianna, Aubrey, and Deacon having a snack outside.

On our way home.

We stopped at Gator Jack's for lunch on our way home.
Brianna and Travis had lunch at this place last year and loved it.
The food was really good!

Yellowstone National Park 2014 (Wyoming, Montana, Idaho)

THE PERFECT SETTING!

We spent all day in Yellowstone and then in the evenings we stayed at the cabin for relaxation, a homemade dinner, television, visiting, and play. It was awesome!

Yellowstone... one of the 
7 Natural Wonders of North America.

Much of the entire park is a volcano.
 The bubbling geysers and hot springs are an indication of the churning activity below the surface.

Throughout the years I always felt like once you had seen Yellowstone, you didn't have to see it again. But now that I'm older, I see nature and wildlife totally different. I don't know if it's because I always had young ones to chase and make sure they didn't fall in a geyser or get kidnapped, but I really enjoyed the beauty so much more this time. I also think that the older you get the more you appreciate the mountains, the trees, the seasons, your yard, etc. We saw the whole park in three days and saw almost every form of wildlife. We saw buffalo by themselves, in a large group, and in huge herds. They were constantly crossing the street in front of us, and Deacon thought that was pretty awesome. We even saw a bear on our last day there. We didn't see a moose but it's okay because we saw plenty this summer in the Logan Canyon.
 Even though I do remember them much bigger in Yellowstone.

*************
1ST DAY
West Entrance, Madison, Old Faithful, West Thumb, Bridge Bay, Lake, Canyon, Norris, Madison, West Entrance

Dad and the girls waiting for Old Faithful to erupt.

...and there it goes!
After the eruption we went to the Old Faithful Geyser Grill and had a burger. We love Giselle's friends. They sure were fun!

 These next pictures are from Norris Geyser Basin.
 These geysers are the hottest and oldest in Yellowstone.

 This one was like mud boiling constantly.

 This one wasn't only boiling. It made a horrible loud whistling noise. This is what I imagine Hell would sound like and I guess feel like if you fell in there. Yikes!

Yellowstone Lake

 2ND DAY
West Entrance, Madison, Norris, Mammoth, North Entrance, Tower Falls, Northeast Entrance, Tower Falls, Canyon, Norris, Madison, West Entrance 

Mammoth Hot Springs

Tower Falls

In the past, you could go all the way to the bottom of the falls and go behind them. I just took these pictures from the overlook but  Aubrey and Giselle hiked down with Giselle's friends to see the falls closer. After a 2 mile hike, they discovered the trail was closed because it was so wet from the rain so they couldn't get to the bottom.

Deacon waiting patiently outside the souvenir shop waiting for them to get back from their hike. In the meantime, his parents got him an awesome bear claw necklace.

Upper Falls of Yellowstone Grand Canyon

Lower Falls of Yellowstone Grand Canyon

3RD DAY
West Entrance, Madison, Norris, Canyon, Fishing Bridge, East Entrance, Fishing Bridge, Canyon, Norris, Madison, West Entrance 

There's the Teton Mountains. I had seen them from the other side but not from this view.

When we drove to the East Entrance, we drove about 2 miles and discovered a cute restaurant.

We went inside the restaurant and noticed they had their Christmas music playing and Christmas decorations up. We thought it was a bit strange at first to be celebrating Christmas in August. Then our waiter told us that it was the owner's birthday and they were going to close the restaurant early and exchange gifts. He said Christmas was her favorite holiday and that they do this every August on her birthday.

 Aubrey had a buffalo burger. I had a regular beef burger.
 With all the bison we kept running into, I thought it would feel awkward eating a buffalo burger.

Deacon sporting his new Yellowstone shirt and a very serious expression.

I gave Aubrey my camera since she's in year book this year. I thought she should have her own camera and not have to depend on the school one. She's also very interested in photography.

Dad must be the "animal whisperer." He kept telling us we would see a bear and on the last day we sure did.
 My cell phone doesn't take really good pictures at dusk so you can't see the bear as good as we saw it.

The little town, West Yellowstone, is right by the west entrance of the park. It's like a miniature Jackson Hole. There's fun places to eat and shop. It's also only 21 miles away from the cabin so we always entered and came out of the park through the West entrance and spent some time in West Yellowstone.