Day Two Grebe Lake

 The next morning we woke up late after our long hike. Russell made us pancakes for breakfast and they were delicious.

 Eliza was sad because she was out of pancakes. But Russell hooked her up with another one before too long.

Aiden caught a little frog by our campsite

 Here he is with his critter.

Our next campsite was at Grebe Lake. It was about a mile and a half hike from our first campsite. So it was a pretty easy hike over. There were trumpeter swans and their babies on the lake and also a mom and her babies.

Here was our tent site right next to the pines.

We went for a water walk in the lake

Eliza loved wearing this bug net. The bugs were really bad.

Jack worked hard sawing this log in camp so we could have firewood.

This was the result a nice roaring fire.

For our meals this day Russell made pancakes, pita bread with chicken salad, macaroni and cheese with red lobster biscuits, and marshmallows to roast for dessert.

Backpacking Through Yellowstone-Chain Lakes Trail

In March Russell had a crazy, fun idea to do a backpacking trip in Yellowstone.

He did the research and found a family friendly hike, we applied for the permit and found out the first of April that we got in. Russell did so much planning and prep for our three night, four day hike and it turned out fabulous! Russell threw his back out five days before we were suppose to go, but with everybody's prayers and $500 worth of massages and physical therapy his back felt great for the hike.

We started our hike on Saturday to Wolf Lake. It was a pretty warm day, and our longest hike of the trip at 4 miles.

We all carried good size loads. Here is Jack. His backpack is about as big as he is, but he did so good! He did not complain and had a great time on this big adventure.

We passed Little Gibbon waterfall and it was really pretty.

We had to cross a few streams. Some had logs for us to teeter across.

The boys crossed the logs on this one, but Eliza, Russell and I decided to get our feet wet and it felt good on a hot summer day.

This crossing had no logs, we had to get wet. Here are Eliza and Russell heading across. And then the picture below the rest of us are coming along. It added some excitement to the trail for sure.

We made it to our campsite at Wolf Lake! There are only two backcountry sites at this lake so we pretty much had it to ourselves.

Here was our tent site. It was so pretty.

Aiden packed in our IPad so that we could watch a movie before bed. This night's feature was Shrek 2. It was fun to cozy up in the tent and watch a movie together.

Russell made all of our food for the trip. We had Chicken Tortilla Soup and Chocoalte Chip muffins for dessert on this day.

Some Summer Highlights

We only have a month left of summer, so I thought I better get some pictures up!

Jack started the summer with a cast. He had to go to swim team for a couple of weeks with a cast and then the rest of the time with a brace. He didn't complain and did a great job swimming.

We set up a bigger swimming pool in the backyard and it has been loads of fun.

 Sweet Baby Jayne. Kenny and Megan have been in Utah all summer because Kenny lost his job (good news he just got a new one) so it has been awesome to see a lot of the Eyrings!

We had a little party since my parents were down for a visit. Jayne was the star of the show!

Eliza getting ready to swim the backstroke at the swim meet.

 She won first place in the backstroke! In fact she won first place in the backstroke in all three meets she competed in this summer!

We have been playing in Grandma's irrigation.

 We hiked the Timp Trail, not to the top, a few times this summer to get ready for our backpacking trip. It was so pretty!

 Here I am in front of all of the cascading waterfalls.

Eliza found a perfect spot for a fairy garden.

 We even found some fossils in the rocks. It is a fun place to explore.

We went to the Orem Parade and it was raining so Jack bought this umbrella hat. He looked good in it.

Jack getting ready to be called up for his swim race. He ended up getting third place in the breaststroke and IM in his last meet and came home with ribbons so he was happy.