Surgery Update and Yellowstone Trip Part 2

So the surgery went well. They found some evidence that showed my gallbladder had been having problems for a long time and I just didn't know it. Good thing we got it out. Last week was pretty rough but luckily my mom was able to help me with the kids all week, and some great friends brought over some great dinners for us. So thanks to every one's help- I survived! This week is much better. I'm still tender and I have to watch so I don't do too much, but every day I get a little bit better. Thank goodness!! Thank you all for your help and concern!

So now onto the summary of our trip to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Park. **Warning there are billions of pictures and tons of labels with "beautiful" or "gorgeous" in them. I won't be offended if you don't look at the whole thing.

The fam in front of Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park. Those mountains are absolutely gorgeous. Isn't it a bit interesting where the park got its name- needy, perverted French men perhaps. =)

Ben in Jenny Lake
Caleb loved being carried around like royalty.
We rented a boat on Jackson Lake. It was truly amazing. The mountains were gorgeous and the weather was perfect. Danny had been looking forward to this ever since we told him we were going to Yellowstone. He was sure that we were going to rent a yellow boat since we were going to Yellowstone but he settled for a brown one.

Danny loved driving the boat. He even did it by himself for a little bit.
Future fisherman?
Aren't my boys cute!?

What a happy kid! I thought he looked hilarious in this life vest and it looked so uncomfortable but he was happy and even fell asleep in it.
Here we are waiting for Old Faithful to go off. Ben kept saying how he couldn't believe how many people were there and how big of a deal it was with all the hotels around, but when it went off he thought it was pretty neat.
Danny and Old Faithful

These pools were gorgeous- I can't remember what this one was called- possibly Emerald Pool.

The color of these pools were beautiful! It was awfully stinky and hot though.


What are my kids doing! This is the end of a long day at the stinkiest place of them all- the mud pots.
Look at that barren wasteland- yet it's still beautiful!

Here we are at the top of the Upper Falls. It was slightly freaky being so close to this giant waterfall. I made sure we had a tight grip on Danny at all times. =) The waterfalls and canyon were our favorite part of Yellowstone.

I love it- Caleb looks totally in awe of it.
I love this cheesy grin of Danny's. He loved watching the waterfall. We practically had to drag him away!
Here we are at a different viewpoint for the Upper Falls.
You can't even really see me and Caleb in this picture but I love how the canyon looks. Isn't it beautiful?!?
There were 328 steps down to this lookout for the Lower Falls. People coming back up tried to warn us as we were going down that it was tough, but we kept going anyways.

Danny looks pretty tired but he was a trouper.

Isn't it amazing?!
Danny did amazingly well and went a lot of the way by himself. Ben even carried Danny AND Caleb for a little of the way. It almost killed us but it was worth it! It was gorgeous!
Danny was too tired to get out of the car and see this amazing view so Ben went by himself. I'm bummed I missed it.

On the drive home we stopped by Martin's Cove and went through the Visitor's Center and even saw some of my ancestor's names on a wall listing all the rescuers. It was such a spiritually rich place.

The trip was a blast and totally worth it but we were completely exhausted by the end. Family vacations with young kids aren't exactly vacations. Maybe that's what set off my gallbladder. Oh well- I'm so glad we went.