Yosemite: The Valley

On Sunday, we went to Yosemite Valley to attend church.  There's a little red one-room-school-house style church, with meeting times for different denominations.  Latter-day Saints met at 1pm.  So, we packed a picnic lunch, ate before church, and then enjoyed Sacrament Meeting.

After church, we drove to Curry Village, hopped on a shuttle bus, and went to Yosemite Falls.  The Motts met us there.

In the church yard.  Behind us is Yosemite Falls.

On the shuttle bus:  Mike was standing up with our stroller.  Alone with my 3 little girls, I got lots of stares and hushed comments.

Yosemite Falls

While I fed Sally, Mike and the girls threw rocks and pine cones into the river.

My brothers, David and Victor.

On the way back to camp, we stopped at "Tunnel View."  In the background are El Capitan, Half Dome, and Bridal Veil Fall.

Yosemite: Swinging Bridge

Ok.  Get ready for picture overload.  (I promise I was choosy.)

One of our favorite places to go in Yosemite is Swinging Bridge, above the Wawona Store.  The beach where we normally set up, right by the bridge, was mostly under water this year, so we moved downstream a bit.

In past years, I have always jumped off the bridge (usually several times).  But this year, just as I had made arrangements for my children, and Mike and I were heading up to jump (well, I was going to jump; Mike was undecided), Laura came back down from the bridge and said a ranger just busted them for jumping and said it was against park rules.  He said there was a sign at the entrance to the park (none of us saw it).  He also said we couldn't float our tubes down the water slide rapids:  "This is not an amusement park," he said.  Next time, we'd be hit with a $350 fine.  Luckily, most people in our group had already enjoyed the illegal activities.

The whole group at Swinging Bridge

Our Day Camp

Dad, the Pack Mule

Panning for gold?

Can you think of anywhere more breathtaking?

Elaine and Pace were often cohorts in crime.

Throwing rocks.

Tasting rocks.

This angel slept for 3 1/2 hours the first day at Swinging Bridge (not so the second day, or anytime since, for that matter).

This was the second day.

Elaine with Grandma Orva

Alice, Elaine, Orva

I had to include a picture of the bridge, even though I didn't jump this year.  This is my niece, Gwyneth.

And this is my brother-in-law, Loren, going down the illegal water slide rapids.  Shame.

I found some pictures of me jumping 20 years ago:

Roly Poly Bug

My little Sal Bug has been a roller since day 1 (actually, day 2).  I remember telling a midwife that she rolled over.  "Oh, she won't do it again," she said.  Well, she did . . . and again, and again.  She rolled over from her tummy to her back several times in her first couple months.  At 2 months, she started rolling consistently (almost every time I put her on her tummy).  And now, she has hit the stage where she rolls over in her sleep and wakes up.  Grrrr.  Not fun for her mom.

This is a rare sight (unless she's sleeping) . . . relaxed on her tummy.

This lasts for a couple minutes max.

And then, over she goes.

(And, yes, a white onesie is common baby attire around here.  Sorry.  At least she's wearing something.)

Big Sister

I love these pictures of Mariah with Sally:

Yosemite: Wawona Campground

Sally slept in the boppy pillow right next to me.  Two months is a perfect age; she didn't care at all that we were in a tent.  Actually, the older girls loved it! We borrowed Grandma Shirlene and Gramps' 3-room tent.  It saved us, really, to have a separate room for each of the older girls.

We bought this used strider bike from my sister.  Mariah enjoyed riding it around our campsite.  She was not yet ready, however, to join the rest of the strider gang:

Cousins Bradshaw, Paul, Weston, Pace

Elsa, Weston, Paul, Pace

Elsa and Sally

These photos of Laney made me think of some pictures of me when I was just a year older than Elaine:

Yosemite

In July, we had a reunion with my family in Paradise (aka Yosemite).  I LOVE this place!!  Really, I struggle putting into words how awe-inspiring it is to me.  I also have a strong emotional attachment to Yosemite.  My mom's family went there growing up, and then my family went there growing up.  And now, we're all grown, almost all with families of our own.  I have so many amazing, wonderful, joyful, tender memories of Yosemite; I loved having my own family enjoy a place I love so much.

The last time we went, I was pregnant with Mariah, so this was our children's first time there.  At the end of the week (yes, we slept in a tent for one full week, with 3 children under 4), they didn't want to leave.

Everyone except one brother-in-law (we missed you, Brent) was able to make it this year.  We were 39 people strong.  People traveled from Florida, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and Utah.

We managed to take about 1500 photos.  So . . . . I will try to be choosy, and I'm going to break up the reunion into several posts, both for my sanity and yours.

Elaine and cousin Orva, a few minutes before departure

Planning, packing for, and carrying out a week-long camping trip is no small feat.  It was especially tricky this time because we had already been in Utah for 3 weeks, and 16 of us were staying at my parents' house, which meant food preparation and packing was insanity.  Trying to prepare and pack a week's worth of food for 3 different families, using 1 kitchen was amazing.  Laura and my mom were in there for a few days straight before we left . . . seriously!  (We should have taken a picture of that!)

My parents, the Allens, the Stewarts, the Gibbs, and we all left from Utah and played a bit of traveling leap frog along the way.

  

Alex and Lindy came with us; we were happy to have them.  I especially enjoyed getting to know Lindy better; they were just married in April.

We broke the drive into 2 days.  The first, we drove to Tonopah, Nevada--a happenin' place for sure.  (Anyone from Wymount know if the Bodily's are still in Tonopah?)  The girls did great on the drive.  Sally slept for the first 4 hours, to Ely, Nevada.  We stopped there for dinner.  That would have been our only stop, but from Ely to Tonopah, Sally was not a happy camper.  We made several small stops to settle her.

We left Tonopah early the next morning (Saturday), after a good night's sleep, and drove 5 hours straight to our campsite.  Timing was perfect.  Sally needed to nurse just as we got to the entrance to the park, and the line of cars was so long that I just fed her in the car while we waited in line.  She finished just as we reached the entrance booth.  The drive to camp is actually one of my favorite parts, because the whole park is so incredibly diverse and beautiful!  It's about 2 1/2 hours from the east entrance (Tioga Pass) to Wawona campground, at the south end of the park.  We were neighbors with Marian's family (Stewarts), and they were already setting up camp when we pulled in.  Everyone else, except Motts,  trickled in Saturday afternoon.  Motts joined us on Sunday, having driven all the way from Texas!