"LAND THAT I LOVE"!

Tim and I decided to celebrate our 10-year anniversary about 7 months early since the opportunity presented itself. Tim had a meeting in West Yellowstone at the beginning of May, so at the end of his meeting I flew out to join him (all of this made possible by two sets of fabulous grandparents)!



First of all let me say, we had to drive through a May blizzard (serious blowing snow) to get from Bozeman, MT to West Yellowstone. We finally made it 3 hours later (3 a.m.)! The next day Tim had his last day of meetings so I went into the park to Old Faithful. The views and wildlife were just as spectacular as I had remembered. It is so comforting to know there is a place that changes very little throughout the years. It looked the same today as it did 14 years ago when I first visited the park.... breathtaking, alive, amazing, and scary! I mean it is the caldera of a volcano. During our 3 days in the park we saw countless bison and elk; 5 wolves and 6 Grizzly Bears (I think I have my counts right); Big Horn Sheep; Pronged Horn Antelope; and more geysers, including Old Faithful; more thermal features than you can count; and beautiful waterfalls.
It was a little strange being a tourist in the park and not an employee of the park but it was wonderful, magical, refreshing, and memory evoking. If you cannot tell, I LOVE this park and the people that it inspired Tim and I to become.

It is so hard for me to describe Yellowstone and its significance to us as a couple and individuals. While there I was asking Tim about his hiking experience and outdoor manual labor experience prior to Yellowstone, and to my surprise it was virtually nothing. He and some of his high school buddies had done a little hiking/camping in the Albert Pike area a couple of times in high school and he'd never really operated a chainsaw. His time outdoors had been spent on the tennis court growing up with summer forays outdoors at his farm in Wisconsin where he camped, fished and explored. However, it was in Yellowstone where he learned all about the outdoors: fishing, hiking, camping, outdoor safety, trail clearing, fighting fires, emergency rescues etc. It was Yellowstone that inspired him to go to school and obtain a degree in Forestry and to write his thesis on back country use in the park.

It was in Yellowstone that I had my first overnight camping trip (Ribbon Lake). Prior to this trip my idea of camping was at DeGray Lake in a Motor Home and my idea of hiking was the paved Feaster Trail! I'm sure my experience "pottying outdoors" was very limited too! Well, let's say on my first hike into the back country I took a brush, make-up, pjs.... you get the picture... and Tim carried everything else. It was an experience! I also fell in love with the Old Faithful Inn (1906) my first visit there and with the history of the park. A year and a half later, I started graduate school at MTSU in the historic preservation program and would spend the next two summers working in Yellowstone in the Cultural Resource Division doing research on my thesis and work for the park. During these summers I did countless hiking/backpacking trips with Tim and our friends and lots and lots of fishing (still cannot take a fish off of the hook)!

I truly believe that our experiences in Yellowstone made us the people that we are and allowed us the opportunity to grow and experience so many wonderful things together.... and yes to "fall in love" (mushy I know)! So you see, looking back it is very interesting to see God's plan in all of it, from my dad mentioning in class about a program called "SCA" and Tim hearing him (this is what Tim applied for that first summer) to both of us choosing graduate schools that allowed us to pursue careers that we love and to write our thesis' on Yellowstone.

14 years later, it is safe to say that there are not many places on earth that speak to my heart and soul the way Yellowstone does. I cannot wait for the day when I can take the boys to this park and I hope the awesomeness of the park will capture their hearts and inspire them the way that it did us. I will forever be grateful for the friendships I made while there and the experiences gained. Ben, Megs and Willie.... you guys know what I'm talking about! We hope that one day when the kids are grown and we are retired, that we can return to the park to work in some capacity during the summers.

We finished up our trip and celebrated Mother's Day (sans the kiddos) at historic Chico Hot Springs Spa & Resort near Emmigrant, MT. It was the perfect way to end our trip. It was nice to have a break from the everyday distractions of life and to simply enjoy being with my husband. That said, I missed my boys and was so excited to get home to see them..... even if that was delayed by a flat tire and flat spare tire at the airport! Tim and I looked at each other and said, "back to the real world"!

*** O.K., so this is what Yellowstone means to me and it is my BLOG.... I'm sure it probably means a whole other thing to him! ;-) Also, I have over 300 pics but that would take forever to put on here so this is a SMALL sample of the beautiful things that we saw!

The Windy City and Kidney Stones!

What a title! At the end of April I got to meet my sis and best friend Melissa Daily Pitts in Chicago for a much anticipated and needed girl's weekend (remember I am the only girl in my house as is Melis)!

We arrived on Thursday afternoon and spent the evening eating Mexican food and shopping at Fieline's Basement (this soon became our favorite Chicago Obsession) which carries high-end clothes at discount prices..... one dress I picked up was still$1,000 but originally it was $3,500.... what a bargain! Ha! We were so excited because they had lots of good loot here you just had to dig around and find it. It was so much fun seeing each other in the various clothes and commenting on how we each looked.... I think a lot of people got a good laugh out of us!

It was nice to get uninterrupted sleep.... however, surprisingly enough, we all had a little trouble sleeping. Friday we spent the entire day shopping again. It was so much fun. Never in a million would Tim spend a whole day shopping watching me try on clothes and re-try on clothes! My girls didn't mind though.

That night we ate at a wonderful Italian restaurant. After dinner I started hurting in my back... I kind of panicked because I knew it felt like a kidney stone. I told the girls to go shop without me and I went to the room and took some medicine and laid down. I started feeling a little better so we went to see the "Back-up Plan" (excellent and hilarious). However, I had a really rough night and the next morning I was in tears and knew I'd better head back to AR... I no longer felt like shopping. Made it home took some heavy pain medicine and felt a little better. Hurt off and on for about a week but I think I passed the darn sucker (another one still hanging out in my kidney)! I think the boys were disappointed I was home early because they were having so much fun with daddy! Thanks Rich and Tim for making that wonderful trip possible! I love my sisters (yes as my dad always said, Melis was his closet child ;-) )! We were so busy we didn't get too many pics!