The Corn Maze and The Cabin

I've been wanting to take Thomas to a pumpkin patch/corn maze for weeks, and last Thursday my mom, my little brother Jared, Thomas and I finally made it out to Cornbelly's for a day of fun! It was the perfect day for it too, very sunny and warm. I had been dreaming of getting some adorable photos of Thomas sitting in the middle of a sea of bright orange pumpkins, but unfortunately, I think we waited too long...the pumpkin patch was picked over and wilting, and the few pumpkins left were "lumpy, grumpy" pumpkins (got that from a cute children's book of Thomas'). But there were still so many other fun things, we could hardly do them all! There was a giant jumping pillow, pedal cart racing, corn cannons, giant slides, a fun playground with giant wooden trains and tractors, rubber ducky races, barrel car rides, pig races, a hayride and the corn maze of course! So we kept very busy and were seriously pooped when it came time to go home. We went on the hayride very last, which was perfect because it was dark, and they had set up displays of these amazing, intricately carved jack-o-lanterns along the way. Thomas had a fun time, and even though I didn't get my cute pumpkin patch pictures, I still have the cutest lil' pumpkin of all!!!

The next afternoon Ryan, Thomas and I set out for Island Park, Idaho, a town right outside Yellowstone Park, where we had been invited to go stay at a rented cabin for the weekend by our good friends James and Catherine, who live in Ogden. Catherine and I were next-door neighbors in our dorm during our freshman year of college and we've always stayed close. We got married exactly three weeks apart, and had our first babies 2 and a half months apart, both boys! Our husbands get along great and have a good time together too. We don't get to see each other as much since they moved out of Utah County, so we were excited to spend some time with them! J&C also invited their friends Jon & Michelle and their cute 2-year-old daughter Kaylee, who drove all the way from Nebraska! So we made some new friends over the weekend as well.

One of the big reasons for the trip to Island Park was for the fly-fishing...there's world-famous fly-fishing rivers nearby, and James is a fly-fishing fanatic who had always wanted to go there. Ryan had always wanted to try it so he was happy to tag along with someone experienced. So on Saturday the boys went fishing while we girls and the kids went to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in nearby West Yellowstone, Montana. It was basically a mini-zoo with grizzly bear and wolf habitats, and lots of interesting displays about them. It was crazy seeing these HUGE grizzly bears so close! I definitely wouldn't want to encounter one of those in the wild. We spent some time looking at the animals and the displays, and then just letting the kids run around and play...they were so cute together! Then we drove back and met the boys...Ryan had a great time fishing, and we had lots of fun enjoying the cozy cabin in the evening, eating, watching movies and playing games. Although, I was seriously scared when I walked outside in the dark to get something out of our car, that I would be accosted by a grizzly bear!

Sunday we drove into Yellowstone to see some of the sights. We realized that one day is not nearly enough time to visit Yellowstone Park! We checked out some of the sulfur pools and smaller geysers, where we saw TONS of buffalo up close (serously...too close), then went to Old Faithful and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Yellowstone is such an amazing place, and it was fun to take Thomas there for the very first time.

Monday we cleaned the cabin, said bye to everyone and drove home to get ready for another fun-filled couple of days...Halloween! It was a fun weekend...thanks Catherine & James!