The Second Step of Repentence

In Primary we learn that there are three basic steps to repentence. The first is that you recognize you have done something wrong. The second is that you do all that you can to correct the problem. And, finally, the third step is that you try not to do it again. Well, this is our attempt to right the wrong of not posting regularly (sorry Mom). We promise to do better.  

Island Park

We spent a week at Michelle's grandparent's cabin in Island Park, Idaho. We had a ton of fun! Will got a chance to see Yellowstone, float a river, and get dirty, among other things. 

Here is Will before we floated down the river. He looks so cute in his swim suit.

Will spent most of the float trip (about 30 minutes) looking over the side of the raft and touching the water. Thanks Bree and John for letting us use your raft!

Our little river guide!

We floated the river a couple of times and Will got a little tired toward the end.

In Yellowstone, Will was excited to see all of the wildlife and geysers.

We saw some buffalo . . . 

 . . . and a squirrel . . . 

 . . . and an angry coyote.

Will got his very own ice cream cone at the Old Faithful Inn.

And Jody played the part of the tourist and took pictures . . . without any people in them. This is the inside of the Old Faithful Inn.

This is Will sticking his head out the sunroof at 45 MPH! Not really. He was telling his dad to GET BACK IN THE CAR, WE HAVE MORE STUFF TO SEE!

This is how Will looked most of the week . . .  not really  . . . . . . okay, really. He loves dirt and mud and he definitely doesn't mind being dirty.

You've got to know when to hold em' and know when to fold em'.

Lagoon

Neither Will nor his dad had ever been to Utah's #1 Themepark. It's no Disneland, but we did have a lot of fun.

This was the first ride we came to and we were curious to see if Will was going to like riding on the rides.  Survey says . . .

NO!

But Will did like riding on the train. The train ride went through, "The second largest zoo in Utah." There must not be many zoos, because there were about 10 animals total in theirs. 

Will liked seeing the ducks in the pond . . .

and the tigers . . . 

. . . and the camels. 

After a quick nap, it was on to the rest of the park.

Will's favorite part of the whole day was the water fountain at the parks entrance. 

You can't tell by this photo, but he is really having a great time. He had just gotten a squirt right in the face.

Honey Harvest

This year, Michelle's parents tried their hand at beekeeping. It was a lot of fun to see the whole process from beginning to end.

Honey is harvested using a machine called a Honey Extractor. It is a big centrifuge that spins the honey out of the honeycomb. Too bad will wasn't a little older because all he wanted to do was run the extractor the whole day.

Will loves to play . . . I mean help in the kitchen.

We all took turns cranking the extractor. It took about 2 hours of almost continuous cranking to extract all 20 frames. We got somewhere between 8-9 gallons of honey. Not bad for our first year.

Utah's Hogle Zoo

We were kind of worried about going to the zoo after seeing "Utah's second largest zoo" at Lagoon. We were happily impressed with Hogle Zoo. It wasn't huge, but it is a pretty good size. It's clean and they had some great exhibits.

Will has just learned what all the animals say, so when we told him that these were monkies he would just say, "hoo hoo ha ha." 

In the background you can make-out the shape of a white alligator. This was the last weekend it was going to be in Utah. 

Will loved the elephants. We got to see a short training show where they showed us some of the tricks they teach the elephants to help zookeepers care for them.  

Will is such a mimic. We have to be careful what we do and say around him, because he will inevitably immitate everything we do, including taking pictures.

Michelle didn't go into the small animal exhibit with us. She knew that there would be creepy crawlys that she couldn't handle. Will saw this lizard and got so excited. His poor mother.

Many of the exhibits in the zoo let you see the animals very close up, like these porcupines. They were much bigger than I thought they would be. 

The rhinos were playing in the mud when we saw them.

Will just loved the Giraffes.