The whole reason for going on this trip was initially for David's nephew's wedding. Adam is the first of the grandchildren to get married, so it was kind of exciting for everyone. I never got a picture of the bride and groom, but I have this one of some of the grandchildren at the wedding at the Idaho Falls Temple. Grandma Sandy Bean has 30 grandchildren with one on the way!
Dallin and Jemma
Charlotte and Harley are so much alike in personality. They really hit it off and had a great time dancing the night away at the reception.
After the wedding the happy couple were off on their honeymoon and everyone else headed to Island Park, Id for some fun family time. Every night we stayed up way too late and every morning got up way too early. We all usually looked something like this....
The first day there we took 27 people canoeing and kyacking... that was a challenge alone. Our first plan was to head to Henry Lake where those who wanted to canoe could and those who just wanted to swim and play on the beach could do that. We were told to beware of leeches, but didn't take it too seriously. I mean, all fresh bodies of water are going to have leeches, right?! David even proclaimed he would give a quarter to anyone who got a leech on them! But once there we learned this lake was INFESTED with leeches. Just putting your feet in for a few seconds would attracted leeches right to you. My poor niece only stepped in for maybe 5 seconds and came out with 13 leeches on her! We only stayed long enough to eat our picnic lunch and high tailed it out of there! But, Henry Lake was beautiful. This picture is by my niece Jessica.
So plan B came into play. We headed the opposite direction to the river. The Snake river was very calm and super crystal clear, perfect for everyone. I could not get over how beautiful the scenery was! And I kept kicking myself for not bringing my camera. Here is another picture from Jessica. But words nor pictures could never really capture the beauty of our location.
Dallin was pretty nervous sitting in the canoe. He cried most of the time but he eventually fell asleep in the canoe. Charlotte helped paddle in the boat with David and myself. Aliza went with her cousin Laney in another canoe. And Carmen kyacked the entire 4 miles all by herself! Getting 27 people down a 4 mile stretch of river was a little nerve racking but so rewarding in the end. What a fun day this was!
The next day we rented side by sides. Imagine a four seater four wheeler.... I was pretty skeptical of this contraption. How fun could it really be?! But when I saw that they required a pretty hefty seat belt constraint and helmets I started to feel more nervous about them. David took some kids out and then came back and I got a turn. Whoa baby! I was sore the next day - not from paddling down a river all day, but from holding on with the death grip for dear life the whole time. It was so fun, and so scary and so wet! I had not seen anyone come back wet ahead of me, but for some reason David thought it was appropriate to take us through some really large puddles. We were soaking wet and covered in mud when we got back. What a blast!
Carmen went out again with her cousins Emily and Christina and Uncle Nathan. They decided to go through the same puddles, but got stuck! They had to jump out and swim! Carmen came back saying "we almost died, but it was so awesome!!!!".
These girls are all 5 years old and just loved hanging out with each other. Harley, Charlotte, Abby and Amy. They could always be found together. 
Uncle David giving out quarters to everyone who found leeches on them. I think he lost a lot of money.
Playing "Move your Butt"
We had a campfire and marshmallows every night, while everyone told funny stories about growing up and we sang a lot of silly songs.
On day 3 at the cabin we finally made it over to Yellowstone. My kids weren't super excited about going here. They really just wanted to play with their cousins at the cabin. So we made the trip short and sweet. No trip to Yellowstone would be complete without a trip to Old Faithful.
Then we had lunch near all these fallen down trees. It was like life size Lincoln Logs that the kids could move around and build with. They could have played here all day.
Then we headed back to see the Fountain Paint Pots. There is something just so eerily beautiful about Yellowstone. Some places are so green and lush with the gorgeous river winding through it's pastures and other places are so barren and dry and have random pools of hot bubbling water or mud. I've been to Yellowstone 3 times since the wildfire that destroyed a vast part of it in 1988. I went once just 3 or 4 years after it happened and I remember the destruction being massive. I felt so horrible for all those animals that lost their lives or their homes. I remember being reassured that this kind of destruction is actually good and part of the "circle of life" of forests. I went again 8 years ago and signs of the fire were still visible, but there was definite growth. And then now, it was amazing that you could still see burnt trees 26 years later and how tall some of them once stood and the growth of the new trees underneath. I found it so fascinating.
Anyways, the paint pots....
Some of the girl cousins on the roots of a fallen tree. I sure wish we lived closer to these families! I grew up being so close to my cousins and I value those relationships and memories. We were such a support group for each other. I wish my kids had more cousins that they saw more often.
We decided to go swimming in Fire Hole Canyon. It wasn't a super warm day, and it even began to rain when we got there. But we were determined to swim there. The water was actually warm, but the outside air was freezing. It made getting out really hard.
Another gorgeous location.
Poor Kelly didn't have anyone his age up at the cabins, but Dallin loved him! They always wrestled together and Dallin just laughed so hard and ate it up.
Dallin loved playing with his cousins Thomas and Gemma as well.
All the kids made this creative house out of the groups of trees between our cabins. They all different sorts of rooms. They could have spend the entire time playing "house" outside.
We just had an overall great time being together!
All the grand kids that were at the cabins with us!
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