By the title of this entry, I would have to agree that a lot has happened in the last 9 days. We went to Yellowstone, moved back to Wellsvillle and Dev took a trip to the emergency room.
June 9th Jedd, LaDawn and Derik drove to Idaho Falls and picked us up to go to Yellowstone. MY FIRST TIME! Oh my goodness, it was so much fun!! We stayed 3 nights in West Yellowstone. When they picked us up, we went to Popeyes, Louisiana Kitchen for dinner. D's family had never been and we thought that it would be a fun experience for them. It was pretty good! We drove out to West Yellowstone and when we got there, all we really did was a little bit of shopping. We were pretty exhausted. We also knew that if we wanted to see any wild life the next morning, we would have to be in the park pretty early.
June 10th we woke up bright and early!! 5:30 came really fast. The first thing to see that morning was buffalo! They were crossing the river. The little babies were soo cute! All I wanted to do was snuggle them. The mama buffalo would jump in the river, and plop! Baby followed. It was adorable. We went on our way up to Mammoth. On our way up we saw our first bull elk. He had a funny looking antler. Kind of like it was growing straight out instead of bending. Before reaching Mammoth, we finally saw what we were really there for. BEAR! A grizzly mama and her 2 cubs. They just stayed in their little spot, circling and playing. We stayed for probably 30 minutes just watching this cute creature do her thing. We stopped at the springs that are by Mammoth. They were very, very pretty. Orange, yellow, brown and white with the beautiful water running out. I guess in Mammoth, elk just hang out on people's lawns. There were multiple elk and baby elk just laying around up there! The babies bums are spotted white. Reminded me of Bambi. We started to go to the direction of the Bear Tooth Mountains. We were driving along, I was just looking out the window and I see this cute little black head turn to look at the car. ANOTHER BEAR!! I FOUND A BEAR!! Derik quickly turned the car around and there she was. A black bear with her 2 cubs. Devin was getting ready to take a picture of them when a stupid RV just pulls right in front of us and stops. Scaring the bears away. I was super upset. He got half a picture of them. At least you can tell that they were bears. 6 bears in like a 2 hour period. HOW COOL! The Bear Tooth's are beautiful, high up, but beautiful. Some parts I just had to put my head down and not look. On the way back, Derik saw the butt end of another bear. We were driving over to Tower Fall when we noticed that there were a lot of cars over by where we saw the black bears I had spotted. We drove on by and there was ANOTHER ONE! 8 bears in one day. I couldn't even contain myself. Tower Falls was beautiful. Lots of people so it was a little crowded. But what do you expect? Haha..
June 11th we didn't quite get up as early. We were all so satisfied with the bears we had seen that there really was no point to get up at the 'butt crack of dawn' (I say that all the time..) to go animal searching. We were just driving along..minding our own business, when there is this huge herd of buffalo walking on the road. They literally had no where to go but on the road. People were getting so upset at the cars in front of them because they wouldn't go around the buffalo. That seriously grinds my gears. You are in THEIR HOME! Why should they have to attend to your needs and wants when you are there. It is a national park. Don't be in such a hurry. Enjoy the scenery and the animals and don't be a total jerk. One car was feeling pressured to go around the buffalo because of said dummies yelling at them, and a mama and baby got separated. Well poor people got their car kicked by the buffalo! I felt so sorry for them. Finally we were able to pass them. We went to the hot springs and I was terrified. The week before the guy from Portland, Oregon had walked off the board walk and basically boiled himself. If you missed that story, you can find it here.
Next we went to Old Faithful. Beautiful! I really, really enjoyed it. I was so happy that I was able to spend that time with my hubby. No one else I would have wanted to be with. -- Remember how I JUST BARELY said that people can be real idiots?? After Old Faithful was finished tooting its horn, we were all walking back and there was a buffalo and the grounds. 50 feet away from us and you have those stupid idiots trying to take a selfie with it!! UGH it DRIVES ME CRAZY!! I am not a racist person. Everyone knows that. I've lived in Mexico, foreigners don't bug me. UNLESS you are being a complete idiot. The park ranger came and was literally yelling at people to back away from the buffalo because it's tail was raised. That means it's agitated. One lady (sounded like a Swiss accent) was running around in a sarcastic voice saying "don't go near the buffalo its tail is raised that means it's agitated." It really bugged me. Like I don't go to your country and play with your fish or monkeys or whatever. Don't be an idiot.
Our animal seeing days were definitely not over. Devin got some awesome pictures of another black bear climbing a tree. And then we saw one more black bear with her 2 cubs. 12 bears total on this trip!! We went and saw the Yellowstone Movie in IMAX too. It was so cool. Learning about how Yellowstone was founded.
Another thing that we did was we tried to see how many license plates from the different states we could find. We ended up finding all of the but 1! (well 2 if you count Hawaii...) the only license plate that we did not see was..Rhode Island. So if you were in Yellowstone during these dates..and you have a Rhode Island license plate..let me know! I will totally count it.. :)
June 12th we drove home. Stopped at a spring in Island Park and went to Fuji Hibatchi. It's nice having a restaurant that D really enjoys. Fuji Hibatchi is that place that he enjoys. They have the best rice ever. They cook for you and it was just really fun.
June 13th - June 16th we spent our nights packing. Why are we packing? We moved. Again. Devin's dad's business is growing rapidly and he offered Devin a position as Vice President of Marketing. This has been a very difficult decision for D and I. We did a lot of praying. I did a lot of crying. We have wanted nothing more than to be home. But don't get me wrong. Melaleuca is a fabulous company. But it's not in Wellsville. It's been a scary decision. Devin and I had a really nice life up in Idaho Falls. He had a great job. He LOVED the people that he worked with.. The income was secure. That has been the thing that has been scary. I know with all of my heart that Devin is destined for great things. He excels in everything that he does. Devin does not fail. So I know that this job with his dad is going to good for us. It's going to take some time getting used to things again. We really grew to depend on each other up there. We didn't have any of our immediate family there with us. Yes, we did come home a lot.. But wouldn't you? If it's the one place that you love to be? D's new job is a little bit commission based. So it will be hard at times, but if anyone can do it..it's Devin.
June 17th we said goodbye to our apartment. Our first official apartment together. I cried. Devin's family left Wellsville at 530 AM to come and help us get home. With the Uhaul and our 2 cars, we needed help coming home. We were doing really fine until we got to McCammon. We stopped to get something to eat. Dev and I got a corn dog and all of a sudden Devin is choking. He chokes all the time. His throat has these rivets in it so certain foods get stuck and it irritates him. But this time it was really stuck. When he chokes, he has to make himself throw up. This one was the worst I have ever seen. He tried drinking some water to push it down and the water wouldn't go down. It is the scariest thing ever to see your husband not be able to breath. I wanted so bad for it to be me instead of him. We stayed at McCammon for probably 30 minutes hoping and praying that whatever else was still stuck, would pass through his esophagus. Devin made the decision to go to the hospital. His dad took him in Deriks truck to the hospital in Malad. Derik drove the Uhaul, LaDawn drove my car and I drove D's truck. Another thing that grinds my gears... My husband is literally choking. Not able to breath when they got him to the hospital and what's the first freaking thing that they ask him?! Where is your insurance card. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!?! Had my husband like..passed out or died because he couldn't breath because you were too worried about getting paid.. It would have been hell on earth for them. Not even kidding. I walked in probably 15 minutes after they got there and they were still asking him questions.. Like take care of my husband you dimwit! Ugh..I am not trying to complain but I thought that was very, very rude. Finally they put an IV in him and gave him some relaxer that was supposed to help his esophagus expand. Well it almost made it worst. We waited at the hospital for an hour and half. We almost got to the point that they were going to call in an order to Logan to have someone stretch his throat and get whatever was stuck, out. Finally it went down. I cried. I was SO grateful that it finally went down. To me that just shows how much faith my amazing husband has. Before it finally dropped, his dad and brother had given him a special blessing. I am so grateful for a husband that carries oil with him and for his dad and brother holding the priesthood to be able to give him a blessing. It was such a special moment.
We finally made it home. My family came over to help unload and I'll tell ya..all those people sure made for unloading that Uhaul easy! It's nice to be home. It's going to be a little rough at first... But I know that this is where we are supposed to be.
