July

July was extremely eventful in the Washburn household.

We started the month off by going with the Washburn gang to Yellowstone.  We did spot 2 large elk and took the trek down to the river to take a better look.  Then we drove around for a few hours listening to our children, plus a cousin or two yell and talk and scream and laugh and be noisy in general.  I was very happy to get out of the car in West Yellowstone and watch the kids drive away with the men back to the cabin in Island Park while the ladies all went to The Playmill and watched Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

 We stayed up in Island Park and took a couple pictures by Jason's Cabin before we headed to Grace to finish our Washburn reunion.

 July 4th dawned and found us in Soda Springs, Idaho.  We are so glad Soda Springs has an excellent parade.  They throw tons of candy.  The kids go absolutely crazy with the sight of all that sugar.

 And I am even more excited when we found a face painting booth!  Just in case there is any question, Jemma's face was painted as a fairy princess.  Jacks thinks he rockin' a star, and Bennett is very patriotic with his American Flag.

 The men also tried to kill themselves off. They played in a 3 on 3 group.  The "old men" were pretty winded and sore after their games, but they did alright keeping up.

After the tournament, we jumped in our car and headed back to Lander, Wyoming. We wanted to be home to watch fireworks since Matt had to work the next day. We made it in time for the rodeo. Unfortunately, our excursion was cut short. Bennett touched a horse and not 5 minutes later started swelling up. We raced him home to get him some medicine. Luckily the allergic reaction stopped and we were able to enjoy the fireworks that were exploding all around town.