Day 7 - Home Again

 

A beautiful Sunday morning, and time to say good-bye to beautiful Wyoming.  We packed up our camping gear and kids and headed south, back through Grand Tetons on our way home.  

We stopped again at stunning Jenny Lake, took our scriptures and some water bottles, and went on a little hike part way around the lake.  It was an absolutely perfect hike.  Wildflowers everywhere, tall pines provided shade, and a cool breeze was blowing through the shimmering aspens.  The view up ahead was the majestic Tetons, and to our right was tranquil Lake Jenny.  Perfect.

After  short hike we found  a perfect spot where we could be alone, a little bit of shore that we had to climb down to.  There we sang a few hymns, read scriptures and had a family testimony meeting.

One of the scriptures we read was Alma 30:44.  "...all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth and all things that are upon the face of it, yea and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator."

We discussed all the beautiful and interesting things that we had seen on this trip, and acknowledged the Lord's hand in all of them.  How grateful we are that the Lord created this beautiful world for us.  It was fun to think about what it had been like when the Lord decided to design Yellowstone, and laughed about how he might have come up with the idea of bison. It was the perfect setting for such a discussion.

After a family prayer, we hiked back to the car...

 

  but first we stopped at the ranger station so the boys could receive their Junior Ranger patches that they had worked so hard on.  Because of a technicality, (lack of communication from one ranger station to another) the rangers almost wouldn't give them to the boys.  But finally it was all settled and in this picture the boys are solemnly giving the junior ranger pledge, promising to be good to animals and preserve the national parks, etc.  

 

One last picture of the Grand Tetons.

On the road again.  We were even more packed in the car than we were on our way up, even minus all the food we ate - or maybe because of all the food we ate.  We drove home following the Idaho/Wyoming/Utah border, crossing back and forth into Idaho several times, back into Wyoming, and then Idaho then Utah and Wyoming again before finally crossing into Utah for the last time.  The kids thought we were going in circles and couldn't figure out why they kept seeing "Welcome to Wyoming" signs when we were supposed to be leaving Wyoming.  Alex kept telling us we were lost.

We stopped for a picnic lunch in a tiny little Cokeville, Wyoming which had a handful of tiny homes and a big Mormon church - that's about it.  I couldn't live in a place like that - but was impressed by the fact that the whole town was shut down for the sabbath.  We were happy to find the city park with a picnic table , a bathroom, and enough grass to stretch our legs on.

We drove non-stop through Salt Lake and all the way to St. George to stay at Marlynn's place again.

In the morning we all slept in because we were exhausted and not anxious to get back into that car again.

Alysa told me about a store I HAD to check out in St. George, Tai Pan Trading, so I snuck out of the house to find it.  Luckily it was literally right around the corner.  Good thing since I don't know my way around St. George at all.  I was expecting a fun little boutique - and that what I found, except for the "little" part.  This place was HUGE - the size of Home Depot - a Home Depot for girls.  It was so much fun - home decor, amazingly lifelike silk flowers, just so much stuff, and all displayed so beautifully!  I got so many ideas.  I was so bummed because I knew I couldn't buy much because our packed car wouldn't allow it.  I was so excited to find out that they are opening a Tai Pan Trading in Rancho Cucamunga next month.  That's only like an hour away from my house.  Yeah!  It was so fun, and I spent almost 2 hours there browsing.  But its the type of place where you really have to bring a friend.  Anyone out there up for a girl trip to Rancho next month?  

When I returned to Marlynn's place, I saw that the front window of her house was broken, and I was pretty sure it wasn't broken when we arrived the night before.  Sure enough, Caleb had broken it when his brothers locked him out of the room, so he went outside and banged on the window with his fist.  Nice.  Sorry Marlynn!  So we spent the drive home on the phone, calling around to find someone to come and replace the window.  At the beginning of our trip, we had promised the boys that we'd stop at Buffalo Bill's on the way home and ride the roller coaster, but the new window will cost over $200, so when we got to Buffalo Bill's we just drove right by.  Too bad.  A roller coaster ride sounds like a lot more fun than replacing a window.

In Yucca Valley we stopped to visit Dennis' dad at the convalescent home he has been in since he had a stroke a few months ago.  His mom was there and we had a nice visit. The boys had so much to tell them about our trip and Nathan nearly gave Grandma a heart attack when he told her about being attacked by a mountain lion.

 Caleb made me crazy, though.  At the Yellowstone gift shop, he had begged Dennis to buy him a green fishing type vest that had Yellowstone Junior Ranger embroidered on it.  He HAD to have it.  It was pricey, you know how it is at gift shops, but he knows how to flash his big brown eyes, and get what he wants from dad. Well, we told him to put it on for grandpa to see, but he refused.  He said he didn't like it, and that people would laugh at him, and he refused to wear it - even on threat.  Flat out refused.  AARGH!  We said we'd give it to Lukie.  He said "fine".  He really was glad to be rid of it!  Don't you just love it when kids do that?  Now Luke has a new ranger vest, that swims on him.  Kids are great.

So now we are home.  I had insisted that the house be spotless before we left.  I don't know why.  Its just the thought that my house was clean for two straight weeks makes me so happy.  (Maybe it is the clean underwear thing - you never know when your going to get into an accident.)  I just thought it would be nice to come home to a clean house, and it would have been if I had insisted my kids and all the stuff just stayed in the car.  But the sublime joy of a clean home lasted for exactly three seconds.  Rowdy, car-crazy kids running around, dirty camping gear dumped into the entryway, and LOADS of smokey laundry piled in the laundry room have replaced it.  The vacation may be over, but the fun is just beginning!