After leaving Idaho we headed up to one of my MOST favorite places.... COOKE CITY, MT! This place holds so many fun memories from childhood to college and now I get to share it with my little family! This year was really special because my grandparents celebrated their 70th Wedding Anniversary! 70 years ago my grandma and grandpa eloped and got married cause their parents did not approve of the marriage. My grandpa was a Lutheran and my grandma was LDS. Now 70 years later my grandpa works in the temple as many days a week as he can and sealed Joey and I when we got married! They are such great examples and I love them so much!
We drove in through Yellowstone and it seemed like this year there were so many more buffalo!
Which made getting through the park take longer than I wanted it to.....
Once we got there, Avery quickly found Grandma's boots and wanted to head down to the river in front of the cabin. Joey took her down and they caught some small fish.
The next day all of my siblings, my dad and his brothers headed over to Absarokee to do some white water rafting.
We divided the rafts into the younger kids and married couples.....
and the "old farts" as they put it! The water was 53 degrees (I don't remember it being this cold in years passed) and I thought to myself, surely we won't do any water fighting or raft battles throwing each other in this year!
That was not the case! We demolished the "old farts" with the exception of Kathryn jumping aboard our raft to take the water gun back. It was definitely cold, but tons of FUN! So much fun that....
When we got to the cliffs for cliff jumping the water temperature was no longer a concern. Here is my dad doing his dive off the cliff. No matter how much of an old fart he is, he will always act like a kid :)
So my jump was not as pretty. In the past I have always done a back flip off, but this year I didn't fully rotate around and.... lets just say its a good thing Rose didn't get a pic of the landing!
Bryan jumping off! (He is afraid of heights so we were all excited when he jumped off!!!)
Super cute pic of Rose and Bryan
Joey and I in front of the rafting place
Then we went to Roscoe to the Grizzly Bar for dinner. It was delicious & in the middle of nowhere!
On our drive back to Cooke City the views were breathtaking. We would round a curve on the mountain and another lake would appear. The best part about the lakes is that the water is so clear you can see straight to the bottom! Did I mention, I love this place!
Pilot Index
The salt block in front of the cabin attracts a lot of wildlife, but this night was my favorite. A baby moose with its mama:) Avery loved this.... it was all we could do to keep her quiet.
That night after rafting we could not get Avery to go to bed. Then after finally falling asleep she woke up in the night, 3 am, with a stuffy nose. After she had pretty much woken up the whole cabin...Sorry guys! we headed to the store to buy some medicine. The best part about this is that the nearest store open at this time that sold children's medicine was 1 1/2 hours away. Joey and I (with smiles on our faces) ventured down to Cody, WY to Wal-Mart. (Luckily, Avery fell asleep in the car so we didn't have to listen to the crying the whole way! ) We were grateful! That was a fun trip and Joey and I kept laughing about it because where I am from is really small and Wal-Mart is about a 20 min trip. He said he wouldn't complain about that distance anymore after this total of 3 hour trip:)
We stopped on our way back and read about the history of these mountains. The Nez Perce War was fought in this area and it was interesting to read about.
We also got to get a some pretty views of the sun coming up over the mountains.
After a nap, my mom watched Avery and we went four wheeling with Rose and Bryan through the mountains.
Everywhere we went it was BEAUTIFUL
Hey Rose, nice coat:) hahaha
Here you can really see just how clear the water was
More beautiful scenery
& Here is the town of Cooke City. Not sure what the population is but on average this place receives around 500 inches of snow a year!
We took Avery for some rides on the "little truck" as she called it!
Fun playing with the cousins
We were four wheeling around the land (paradise acres, isn't the name fitting?!) and as we were going over the bridge, we saw some legs coming out of the bushes. These legs were really long! Then out comes a moose! We were so close to it. I could not believe how big these animals actually are!
Avery and Taylor in their pjs about to play games with Grandma and Grandpa
Jacob helping Joey build the fire
Come on Daddy, "Wake up" Avery is ready to play some more!
The next day we went horse back riding. We went back and forth as to if we were going to take Avery or not. We didn't have to make a decision because they don't allow doubles so we just brought her to take pics, pet the horses and walk around a little bit!
She didn't want to get off...she kept saying, "I kiss horsey" and give the horse a kiss!
Daddy and Avery
Through the river we go
Group picture
"Hey Honey!"
One of Avery's favorites this year and last... THE HAMMOCK
Grandma and I played beauty parlor and I fixed her hair and makeup for the anniversary party! She looked Stunning... even Grandpa said so!
Mom, Aunt Debra, Jenilyn and everyone else did a beautiful job decorating the barn for this fun event!
THEY ARE SO CUTE; I LOVE THEM! (The motorcycle couple represent them eloping, I thought that was so cute) We told some of our favorite stories about them, ate, had cake and then a karaoked!
Me and my mom! She didn't get in enough pictures because she was helping make sure everything turned out well and watching Avery so I could get some playtime in! THanks mom! You're the Best!
Before we could leave, Avery wanted one more trip down to the river.
Avery making her fishy face with daddy!
Our little Avery is growing up before our very eyes! We've reached a few big mile markers this past month and before school starts getting crazy again, I wanted to take the time to document it! (+ we got a new camera, so picture taking is so much more fun!) Above is a picture of Avery bouncing around before church, and ready to hurry and get to NURSERY!!!
I love this picture because it sums up Avery and her outgoing, never-ending, fun loving personality! :) (It was time to go to bed and she comes into our room, jumps on the bed, then plays a hiding game with dad, that he can't resist, and this results in bedtime getting pushed back another half hour...)
Although I put a diaper on her at night, for the most part she is officially potty trained!!!! YAY!!! I have not changed a dirty diaper in 3 weeks, and today I took the plunge and left her in her "big girl panties" to go shopping and run errands.... NOT ONE ACCIDENT!!! WOO HOO! We practically used the restroom at every other place we went to, but I was so proud of her! I love the idea of not changing diapers:) above: I found Boots (the stuffed animal in the pic above) in the bathroom and Avery tells me, "Boots go potty too." 
Avery also got a "big girl bed", courtesy of "Gwanma and Pit-paw Pogo"(Thank-you). So, for about 3 months Joey and I were waking up to a surprise guest in our bed (Avery). She would sneak in so we would not tell her to go back to her own bed and since we have been desperately trying to break this habit. Ever since she has had her "big girl bed" (she is so proud of it), she has only snuck into our room once! :) She will wake up and tell us, "I sweep well, in my bed the WHOLE night!" We just go on and on about what a good girl she is and that keeps her sleeping in her own bed! [The sunbonnet quilt was made by my 90 year old Grandma for her bed and she loves the little girls. Grandma always does such a good job]
So, I am always wanting Avery to let me do her hair and for her to actually keep her hair bands in her hair, but she always pulls them out :( A couple Saturdays ago she made my day.... I had just finished doing a hair cut on a friend of our and after he left Avery climbed up in the chair and wanted a haircut. I took full advantage of this opportunity, draped her and started trimming away. She was so good and excited that she even let me round brush blow dry her hair, put a bow in it, and she kept it in the whole day! Here is a picture of her that day, She is so stinkin' cute and she sure made her hairdresser's day!!!
