Yellowstone National Park

For the Fourth of July weekend, we decided to go camping near Yellowstone Park just outside of West Yellowstone, where I grew up.

We had a great time looking through the town, showing the kids where I lived and played, went to school and looking for the tricky tree (which is no longer there, bummer).

This October will mark 20 years since my family moved from West Yellowstone, MT to San Jose, CA and the growth of that small town sure shows it. The last time I was there we saw much of the growth, but even in the two years since that visit, a HUGE time share complex has been added. There was also a McDonald's. Growing up we had the D & R drive-in (no longer there) and the Dairy Queen (still there and looks the same!). I even looked for the Bargain Depot which was a trinket store in an old train car. This was the place I bought a pair of black leather pants that I actually wore. (What was I thinking?) We stopped along Canyon Blvd where the first two stop lights were installed the summer before we moved. Along Canyon are the majority of the tourist shops, diners, and other small town attractions. Sydney happened to be the only child without a hat for the weekend, so she and I jumped out really quick to buy one before heading into the park. Later that night when I was looking at the receipt, sure enough we had gone into the Bargain Depot.

We showed them the school I went to which has since been converted into more shops and a new school was built in what we called the New Addition or Madison Addition.

We then took the kids into Yellowstone National Park for some fun sights and not so fun smells. Just as we were approaching Norris Geyser Basin, Jason and I rolled the windows down for the unsuspecting passengers in the back. Austin was sure he would not be getting out of the car since it smelled so bad. I actually thought the smell was pretty tame compared to my childhood memories of the stinky sulfur emanating from the geysers and fumerals.

We hiked in a little ways to Artist Paint Pots to see the beautifully colored pools and the hot mud pots. We were glad to have bug repellent because the eraser size mosquitoes were out in force.
We also made the long hike down to the rim of the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone. A hike I was not looking forward to but was pressured by The Dad to come anyway. Lucky for me, Kelsey stopped holding hands on the narrow steep trail and had to sit out the rest of the hike. At the end of the hike, The Dad turned to Allynn and said, "Now, when you come back here with your husband and he insists that you take this hike, you tell him that there are other look-out points and that you have already done this hike." I tried to warn him.That night the town had a parade and fireworks to celebrate the holiday. Unfortunately we didn't make it out of the park in time for the parade and we didn't make it to the fireworks either. When we came back to our campsite for dinner, we discovered it had rained during the day and all the sleeping bags and blankets got soaked. We spent the evening drying everything so we would be ready for bed. So - we listened to the fireworks and saw a few done by the ranchers next door.

The next day we went back into the park and hurried into Old Faithful. There we hiked around the different paths and watched Old Faithful erupt. Then it was time to get back into the van for the long ride home. We didn't see very many animals.

• Maybe 5 Bison - although the kids did get to experience
• A Bison-jam when the Bison is on the road walking like he is the only thing around and cars have to wait for him to get out of the way.
Poser Bison - who sits right on the side of the road and looks from camera to camera helping each tourist get the best face shot.






• One bald eagle sitting near the nest.


• Several Elk - but not the huge herds I remember as a kid. Mammoth Hot springs had a small heard sitting on a grassy island which caused a traffic jam.


• One white wolf that was scared off by another kid yelling, "Hey I just saw a white wolf!"


• No moose.


• No bears. We were so disappointed. Then four days later Aunt Julie saw several bears. We will just have to go again and look harder.

All in all, we had a great time and will go again.

Hoover Dam

Our next trip took us down to Arizona for Jason's graduation from the University of Phoenix.


We drove down to Las Vegas where we met up with Jason's parents, then headed south. We decided to cram as much into the trip as possible, so we first went to Hoover Dam. We were not able to stop for a tour, but we did get out for a minute (so HOT!) to look around and take some pictures.
They are in the process of building a new bridge to remove trafic from driving over the dam, I believe for security reasons.

Graduation

We stayed in Surprise, Arizona. We arrived early enough in the afternoon and it was 115 degrees that swimming was in order. Once everyone was suited up and covered in sunblock, we headed down to the pool. We had just arrived no 40 minuets earlier and the weather was calm and dry. The air was beautiful until we stepped out to get in the pool. A huge wind storm blew, and blew. I thought for sure there was a fire, but it was just a wall of sand and dirt coming right at us. I have never experienced anything like that before. Kelsey was done quickly, but The Dad and big Kidlets stayed until the pool closed. (I wish I had a picture - Think of Hildago or the Mummy)

(OK - not this bad, but you kind of get the idea!)

The next day was graduation in Glendale, AZ at the University of Phoenix stadium where the Arizona Cardinals play football.

The ceremony was great!! The Keynote speaker and the student speaker were perfect! (short and sweet). Then we watched as Jason walked across the stage to get the rolled up piece of paper that tells you to pay any outstanding balances and order your diploma. It was so fun.

Masters in Information Systems

Then for a treat, Papa took us all to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. This was fun since we had been listening to the book during all of our traveling. The best part for me was coming out of the movie and Sydney started talking about all the stuff that was missing from the movie that was in the book. She does not like to read. I hope this gave her insight to the wonderful world of reading.

The Grand Canyon

The drive home from Arizona was much longer than the drive there. In the spirit of cramming as much as we could into three days, we drove home through the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

I had never been there before. The area before the Grand Canyon was beautiful forest. So green. I had not expected that. The road through the National Park is lined with tall pine trees. Then after parking the car, we walked to the look out points and see the canyon. So beautiful. We wondered if the lines on the rock walls were from water levels dropping. It took us a good two and a half hours to drive the 25 miles through the park.

After two stops, however, Kelsey was not allowed out of the car again because she was too busy, wouldn't hold hands, and was sticking her body through the guard rails. She was not happy. After we fed her at one stop, she fell asleep.
After the park, we followed the road through the reservation to Lake Powell. We didn't get to stop there, but would like to plan a trip to go back. The whole area was to beautiful.

Needless to say, we had a fun trip. We were exhausted when we finally made it home Monday morning at 4 am. The Dad was glad he had the whole day off to recuperate from all the excitement.

This next weekend The Dad and The Boy are headed to Father and Sons camp out. Then the next weekend is camping with the Alger family at Fish Lake. Then school will start. This summer sure has flown by.

I am trying to catch up - IN BETWEEN

Between Memorial Day and the last day of school, the kids and I were able to go to Hollister for a quick weekend to spend time with Mema and Papa. We drove over the hill (Donner Pass) Friday night, and managed to make pretty good time. Saturday we got up, had breakfast, and headed to the beach. The sky was overcast and a little chilly but we went anyway.

We went to Pajaro Dunnes straight west of Watsonville. I was cold, but the kidlets were in the water (at least up to their ankles). KeeKee at one point tried to walk across a small pool of water, tripped and fell in face first. When she stood up, her major concern was that her shirt got wet. She didn't seem to be bothered that she was also covered in sand.

Everyone had a good time. The seagulls were lined up along the shore waiting for the waves to come in. At first I didn't understand what they were doing, but with each wave, small creatures were floating right in as a seagull snack wave. Allynn managed to find a live sand dollar. That was neat. And Austin found two clams. Both children decided they need to bring these creatures home with them. In the car on the way home, Austin was holding one of the clams when it started to open. You should have heard the squeal that came out of his mouth. I almost had to pull over to calm him down. He was sure it was dead when he picked it up. They put the clam back in the water. Then it looked like it was sticking its tonge out. That was a fun adveture.

Then we went to Castroville for fried atichoke hearts and the Giant Artichoke. So yummy!!!

Then back to Hollister where we all went to see UP! (squirrel!). Then Sunday morning it was time to get back to Reno for the last three days of school.

We had a great time and hope to go again one more time this summer!

Updating the Wells

I decided that since I have a final paper due on Sunday that now would be a good time to update our blog.

Since the last blog post; my brother got married; we went to West Yellowstone; Jason finished his master; we went to Arizona for graduation; and have hung out in the house and at the pool.

We are waiting for the pictures from the wedding.

I have pictures of our trip to Yellowstone.

We have graduation pictures with a stop over at the Grand Canyon.

I will have to get those downloaded so I can share them with all.

Too much going on!

1. We made it to Utah!

2. Lots of Rain.

3. We got our rec. center passes!

4. More rain.

5. Groom's (little brother) BBQ -

planned, prepared, executed! LOTS OF FUN!!!

6. Beautiful Day

7. Wedding Day

8. Beautiful Morning

9. Today it is raining again.

10. Bring on Summer (and the rain, I love it.)

Moving is awful!!

This has been the hardest move by far! Our plan was for The Dad to leave Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend. Leaving then would have given him the weekend to get settled before he started his new job Tuesday morning. I was going to stay here with the kidlets until school ended the first week of June.

Well, as with all good plans, this one fell apart quickly.

It took us longer to load the Uhaul and then not everything fit. Turns out we have much more stuff than we thought. So, Saturday night at 9:30 pm we were still trying to load more into the truck and finally filled every space. Much to Allaha's dismay, she was the small person who had to crawl out of the very full truck after getting the last box in.
Since there were still boxes needing to go to Utah, we took out the back seats of the van and filled it with as much as we could. That meant the kids and I had to drive with The Dad to Utah. I had the absurd idea that I would drive to Utah Sunday and drive back to Nevada on Monday. We didn't get out of Reno until 2:30 pm Sunday because we didn't realize how long it takes to load the small car onto the car-transport, then load the small car with more stuff. 45 minutes out of town, I realized I would not be able to drive back Monday, so I made arrangements with the mom of the kids I watch so I could sleep Monday night and drive back on Tuesday.

We were actually surprised just how well the Uhaul + trailer cruised across the desert. We made it to Elko by 8:30 pm where we stopped for some dinner. After eating, we decided to push on to Wendover. Once over the boarder, we stopped to get some rest. We found an inexpensive motel with free WiFi. I posted my homework that was due that night and went to sleep. That was midnight. I then got up at 4 am to get everyone else up and ready to go so we could be in AF at the storage unit before the arrival of our Unload-the-truck help.

We had the best help!!! Dave, Matt, Arthur, Peter, Julie, Whitney, Mom, Dad!! All were there with big smiles and strong muscles to get that truck unloaded to the storage unit, more unloaded to the house, loaded from the house, unloaded to the storage unit, unloaded at Julie's house, and there may have been one more stop in there.

We finally finished about 2:30 pm when we went to Applebee's for some much needed lunch. After sitting at the table for about 5 minutes, KeeKee and Otie fell asleep. The Dad and I felt much the same way. After lunch we returned the truck and began to get The Dad settled so he could focus on the new job.

Tuesday morning as The Dad left for work, the kids and I said good bye and headed back to Reno. Thanks to Redbox they watched Benji: Off the leash, Happily Never After 2, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and one more,but I can't remember it right now. We made it back very tired, but safe and sound. The kids went back to school Wednesday and I watched the extras like normal, just in a very empty house. Only 5 more days and hopefully we will get back to some semblance of normal.

Totally awake at 1 am

Last night some friends took me to dinner for my birthday, which is in a few days. After getting home around 9:30 pm and getting things finished up for the evening, I finally turned off the TV and the light to go to sleep at 11:30 pm. It is now 1:48 am and I am wide away. So now is as good a time as ever to blog.

I woke up to thoughts of the friends I have made here in Reno. I have done a pretty good job of making really good friends in all the places we have lived over the last 13 years. This stop in life has been no different. These ladies have taken good care of me and our children and have given Jason a hard time when needed. I will miss them. I know I will make new friends! I will also be living closer to family, who will always be my friends. Moving to Reno has been the farthest we have lived from family (except for the year and a half in Singapore, but that was 10 years ago so it does not seem to count anymore). These people have become an extended family.

Some of these people have contributed to our family in ways they will never know. Two brethren of our ward will always be close to my heart because they were so willing to spend time with Jason when he was in need of a friend. Weeks after we had moved to Reno, Jason was still getting used to being the boss at work. The staff that he had inherited were not happy to see him, and caused a great deal of problems for him. One evening the fatigue of it all just came crashing down on him. He knew he needed a blessing, but didn't know who to call other than the bishop. When the bishop's wife answered the phone and said her husband was not available, I thought for sure Jason would stop there. Sister Bishop then gave us the name of the 1st Counselor and Jason called him.

Without missing a beat, he and another brother were at our house, after 9 pm, in less than 30 minutes to give Jason a blessing and then stayed over 2 hours sharing their own experiences with management and disgruntled employees. What a difference those two men made!! I will forever be grateful to them.

Others have been there to watch our children while I go to doctor appointments. Even by watching the extra children. Always so cheerful and encouraging. Reminding me that I have good kids. Or calling to ask if they can come over to chat. Telling me they chose to come to my house because they knew I could cheer them up. Little did they know that calling me cheered me up. Thanks, you know who you are!

Others have taken the day off to drive four hours to the Oakland Temple for a family sealing, just to sit outside with our children. Then endure a day of family and a four hour ride home. Or taken another day off just to drive 3 hours to Discovery Kingdom, so I didn't have to be the only adult with four children. Or left work in the middle of the day to pick up one of my children from school because I couldn't go get to her. Or IMing while working. Or looking at scans of cards. Or getting up early to exercise even though they hate mornings. Or hanging out really late playing Guitar Hero. Or playing cards. Or doing cartwheels. Or having spaghetti sauce, a can of corn, butter, or a Pepsi on Sunday afternoons. Not to mention the quite sacrament meetings I had because they had the baby. Or having a good cry. Thanks, you know who your are!!

Then others who came over to chat only to end up reading People. Or to watch TV because they missed it the night before and I had it recorded only to end up talking all through it. Or to entertain six children while I lay on the couch pregnant and sick to my stomach. Or to sit on the shores of Lake Tahoe, talk about nothing and something and watch the sail boats go by. Or go camping with me so I wouldn't be the only adult with four children. Or to always tell me that I am amazing on all the days I don't feel amazing. Thanks, you know who you are!

And really, for many of these things, a number of names could be placed there, so if you relate to any of this... Thanks, you have no idea the difference you have made in my life!!

Hmmm...

It has come to my attention that if the Wells are leaving Reno, they will no longer be the Reno Wells. I guess we could be just The Wells.

I will have to think about this.

Wells on the Move

It's official, the Wells are moving to American Fork, Utah. Jason has been offered a transfer position with Integra Telecom, which is the company he has been working for since October. He is looking forward to learning more about the company in this new area. He got the position because someone was promoted. We like to hear that they promote from within. He is learning a lot about customer service and the business to business telephone industry.

He starts after Memorial Day, so we will be packing up all our stuff and he will drive out that weekend. The kids and I will stay here and camp out in the house until school is out the first week of June.

We are sad to leave Reno, but are looking forward to new opportunities and adventures.

My Mother - The Graduate

Mom is a graduate secretary in the College of Health and Human Performance at BYU. From what I understand, she reads the graduate students thesis papers, edits, and helps them complete all they need to be ready to graduate and is assistant to Dr. Lindsey. She started taking classes to help her do her job better. After 8 years of taking one class per semester she has graduated with a BA in English!!

As another function as graduate secretary, she plans the graduation. She sets the program and plans the meet-n-greet (party) for after the ceremony. She decided to "walk" with the students she has been working with and the faculty she has work with for years. I think it is great that she participated in the ceremony and party she planned.

I didn't get to go to the graduation, but thanks to technology I was able to share in some of the excitement. GREAT JOB, MOM!!! You are such a great example to me and my family!!

For video go here. For fun info about mom go here.

Week 5 of 9

Last week was spring break. It snowed and was very, very cold. Then Sunday was beautiful and this week has been wonderful. Spring break this years was pretty boring. This needed break from school seemed to come very late this year. However, the nice thing about spring break being now is that we only have 5 weeks and two days left of this school year. WOO HOO!!

As for me, I am in week 5 of 9 for my current block of classes, Math & Political Science. I will be glad to finish, although I am enjoying these classes (very interesting), but that will be two more classes completed leaving 5 until I am finished. YEAH ME!

And tomorrow, Grandma graduates from BYU!! We are sad to not be there, so have a great day!

Civil Liberty of Freedom of Religion

Included in the First Amendment is the freedom of religion. There are two parts to this freedom: the establishment clause and the free exercise clause.

What does freedom of religion mean to you?

Another memory

Reading Megan's blog again has reminded me of when I was little.

I am not sure if I remember the story from experience or if I remember it from being told the story a few times from my parents. Anyway, as the story goes, one year our parents decided to give each of us our own Sing With Me. This orange hymn book was a spiral bound book of the primary songs. The first time we were given the books for family home evening, I began to tear the pages out of the book. Shocked parents tried to stop me, but I was determined to make sure everyone had a copy of the music. That way everyone could sing. I didn't know that every page was a different song.

Now it is my turn as a parent to sing those songs with my children. We have the fights over who is going to lead the music, who is going to pick the activity, and which direction the hearts on the FHE chart should move, but we continue. And the child in charge of music stands on the fireplace brick, with a chopstick in their hand, to lead us in the songs. Great memories. Thanks for reminding me Megan!

April Fool's Day

My oldest daughter is so excited about today. She has been grinning and giggling all morning. After getting myself ready for the day, I headed into the kitchen to get breakfast going. I found water all over the floor and NOBODY knew anything about it...except for Kelsey. The big kids forget that she sees everything and tells mom. As I continued to ask who made the mess, Kelsey says, "Sydney, you left water all over the place." Sydney comes into the kitchen like the cat who had swallowed the canary. All smiles, telling me to turn on get some water from the faucet. Then Allynn comes running around the corner to see. They forget that the mom is still a little smarter than they are. Allynn had taped the kitchen sink sprayer so the water would squirt all over. It would have worked if they would have cleaned up the test shot. I am glad they will be at school for most of the day, so I don't have to watch around every corner all day.

Another child hair cut.

One of my first hair cuts I remember was done by my mother at Grandma Busath's house. I do not really remember the hair cutting part, but I do remember thinking I looked like the Incredible Hulk and was very upset.

Mom fill in the blanks. I would like to hear the story again myself.

Child Haircuts

My cousin recently posted on her blog about how her daughter cut her hair (either by herself or with the help of the older, 4 year old, sister). This story reminded me of a haircut I once received.

I am not exactly sure how old I was. I think it was second grade, so I was certainly old enough to know better. Our family was living in Salt Lake City or maybe we were already in West Yellowstone. My parents went out and Uncle Ed was left in charge of us (three little girls). `

The great idea was had that we wanted "Laura Ingles" bangs. Little did my young mind realize, but Laura Ingles had GROWN her hair out so as to not have bangs. Since I didn't know this, I took the scissors and cut my bangs as close to my head as I dared. I remember being under a sheet/kitchen chair fort. After realizing what had happened. We began to wonder how we were not going to get in trouble, so I added a head band and Uncle Ed never noticed. At least I don't remember him noticing.

I do remember that school pictures were shortly after this incident. If I was kind to the readers, I would fish that picture out of a box somewhere, but I am not sure if I am that nice (or that organized).

I am sure I have forgotten some details and maybe mom and Julie can fill in the blanks. I just thought I would share a quick memory.

End of one class...

Today is the last day of Biology. I have passed the class and am ready to move on. So - tomorrow starts MTH/156 - Math for Elementary Teachers I and POS/110 - American National Government.

I am interested to see how the math class works in an online classroom. I will be using the equation writer part of MS Word. I kind of think anything will be easier than biology. The political science class will be a whole lot more writing.

In preparing for this next class line-up with my counselor - she was able to switch around the start date of some of my class with each other, so I will be done in December 2009 instead of Feb. 2010. I am very excited. I have 7 classes left which are fit into 4 nine week blocks. Merry Christmas to me!

Time to post

I have been sick for three weeks now. Congested, tired, and more. Today is a better day. I have also been doing a lot of biology homework. This week is the final week, so I have a short capstone essay due Wednesday and the final paper (1075 words) due Sunday.

Last week we attended the funeral for Jason's grandfather. We were sad to see him go, but he was 90 and not doing too well lately. Grandma will surely miss him too. It was a very nice service. We started the morning at the graveside service. So many friends came and all the family was there. After, was a memorial service at their church. It was a happy service, but something was missing. I have not been to too many non-Mormon funerals. Each time there just seems to be something missing. Mostly the talk about the great plan of happiness which tells us why we are here and where we are going next.

Grandpa Shirley is probably very busy getting reacquainted with his first wife and son who had gone before and getting to know Laurel's (Grandma's) first husband. Then I am sure he will get right to work. He strikes me as the guy that will be chomping at the bit for his temple work to be done. Jason's dad, I'm sure, is already getting the paperwork ready to get that done.

I am thankful for the knowledge I have that we will all be together again as a family.