Todos Lobos Trip 2024
SURRENDER
Yellowstone
MONDAY:
Phew! We went to bed at 1:30 and woke up at 5:30 to try and get off at 7:00. We didn’t leave til 9:00. We just had so much stuff going on before this trip that we couldn’t give it our full attention til Sunday at 7:00pm!
Today was hard. The drive was so hard. Brigham dropped something every could have minutes and because the big boys wanted to sit up front and the little ones wanted to sit in back, I couldn’t help. So they had to help. The first three hours were miserable. The second leg was okay and we listened to Lion Witch and the Wardrobe. The last leg we finished the book and started the movie. It was the perfect movie to help foster a spiritual tone for the week.
When we got to camp it was raining. And we got a less than ideal spot, and it was really cold. And I started my period unexpectedly. “Is this even worth it!” Went through my mind lots of times.
But we got camp set up. And dinner cooking, tin foil dinners, and we did our scripture study as a family, and the boys LOVED their notebooks for taking notes. And we did our devotional, where we introduced the THEME of the year “Surrender.” Which the definition we used was Surrender=allowing something or someone to influence your life. We talked about Edmond from The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe. And who influenced him initially and then in the later part of the book. Then we talked about who we want to allow to influence us. The boys wrote the sweetest things in their journals. And I’m in bed now feeling like “okay, this is worth it!” But holy moly it’s FREEZING!
TUESDAY:
I slept two hours. At 4:00am I was wide awake and freezing! My head was spinning about a lot of things. But I had this idea around 5:45(partially selfish but also good). What if we just woke up took our packed lunches for breakfast and did Yellowstones Grand Canyon while everyone is doing breakfast. Then we can come back for lunch. So by 6:30 we were on our way!
The Grand Canyon was beautiful. We decided collectively that the three MUST see points were:
-Red Rock Point(lookout is right next to that so do that)
-Artisan Point
-Brink of the Lower falls.
Red Rock and Lower Falls does require some walking but they were magical.
We got back to our campsite and it was POURING. So got into our tent and watched the rest of Lion Witch and Wardrobe. I was really grateful I downloaded this movie. And I was grateful I brought our BOOM. Cause the rain was SO loud. By the time we finished the movie the rain had settled. So we headed out for a hike.
We went on Elephant Back Hike. About half way up the mountain it started to thunder. We decided to keep going. But by the time we were at the top, you could see those clouds coming!! Yes we ended up hiking down in a hail storm. It was cold and wet and hard. But the boys were tough and I prayed that we’d see an animal, and at the very end we saw a deer and her baby. Which the boys felt good about.
When we got to camp we were freezing! So grateful that I had pre cooked all of our dinners. And that Landon is just a camper. We had taco salads and then family scripture study. And then Landon gave a devotional about fire. And how when a red coal gets pulled out of the fire, it almost immediately turns black, but when it is pushed back into the coals, it will turn red again. We are stronger together as a family! I am so grateful I get to be on Landon’s team. Hopefully tonight is warmer and sleepier than last night.
WEDNESDAY:
We headed out at 6:30! We got to Old Faithful and walked around all the boardwalks above Old Faithful. The geysers were cool. We got back to Old Faithful in time to see the eruption. It’s cool it’s so consistent. We sat on the back side, because well, we hate crowds. Maybe not as close, but still neat.
Then we walked to Mornjng Glory Pool! Which was probably all of our favorite geothermal attraction. Maybe an expectation thing! And just good spirits thing. On our way there we watched the eruption of Daisy Geyser. I guess there is a schedule of when Al the geysers erupt. But see two was enough for us!
We drove back to the Grand Prismatic pool. That was cool. I think if I had to do it again, I’d do the Fairy Falls just next to Grand Prismatic. That would give you a Birds Eye view. But by that point it was 12:30 and crowds were present and we just didn’t care that much. So back to camp!
I can’t believe what happened this afternoon. We left camp around 3:00. We packed up our dinner and our camp stove so we could have dinner while watching for wolves. On our way to Lamar Valley we saw 3 grizzly bears!!! It was the first unique animal we saw and we were all freaking out. Brigs strapped himself back into the car seat because he was so scared! We saw 12 pronghorns, the bucks are beautiful! We saw 2 foxes playing tag and it was magical, 2 bald eagles, at one point on the drive we were up to 97 Bison! Ty was like 3 more and we have 100!! We turned into Lamar valley and ended the day with 1500 bison!! WHAT??! It was so wild. At about 6:30 we found the most beautiful spot and set up a picnic. The boys played spike ball, we cooked, and looked through binoculars. And then drank hot chocolate and tea and looked and looked for wolves. We didn’t see any, but our spirits were so high from the magic of the afternoon. And Jax and Ty both voted to wake up at 5:15 to go look again!
On the drive home it was dark. The boys pulled out their journals (where they’ve been keeping track of animal sightings and license plates and devotionals). We read about Moroni. Then I gave a devotional about spiritual lenses. The boys using binoculars and spotting scopes helped them see that while our eyes can see SOME things, they can’t see everything. We talked about how in life we can see somethings but we can’t see it all. That’s what parents and grandparents and good teachers and leaders, and prophets and Heavenly Parents are for. You can’t always trust your own view. It’s now 11:00pm and we need to wake up in 6 hours so nighty night.
THURSDAY:
Well 5:00am alarm went off. We were drive aware at 5:26am. Freeeezing. We read that the best time to see wolves was in the morning or dusk. So we were hoping to Lamar Valley right as the sun was rising. BUT of course we ended up behind three HUGE semis. It slowed us down by almost 30 minutes and by the time we got to Lamar Valley it was light. And we saw no wolves. I prayed that entire 75 minute drive that we would be able to see wolves IF there was a way to see them. That the semis wouldn’t be the reason for our slow down.
As we drove out of Lamar Valley everyone was feeling pretty bummed. But then I saw a group of sooo many people standing on a hill. It was at Slough Creek. And I had actually read about that at 5:07am that morning as another potential place. So I yelled out “babe turn down here.” As we were driving up there were more and more cars and more and more people. We rolled down our windows and said “what is everyone looking at”
“WOLVES”
“NO WAY! No way.”
So we spent the morning searching for the wolves. So grateful for a nice lady pro who helped us each see the wolf once. I saw the mama grey wolf and Landon and the boys each say the baby cub. We left feeling so grateful we each saw one. And everyone wanted to go back in the evening to try to see the wolves more. We learned where their den was and that there were two mamas and 5 cubs. The oldest wolf in the park-907 is 11 years old in wolf years and she had three cubs just last year!!
We drove through mammoth hot springs. Which at the point we decided we cared more about getting back to camp and eating lunch and repacking to see wolves again, then seeing more geothermal stuff. So that’s what we did.
On our way back to see the wolves we saw more grizzly bears and tried to find moose and threw rocks in the stream for Brigham. But at 6:00 we were back at Slough Creek ready to spot wolves.
So many people wolf watching as a hobby. We ended up sitting next to five pros who follow the wolves around Yellowstone three months at a time! On our right was a family like ours, amateurs, hoping to spot them. But they had the coolest spotting scope where the camera was attached so kids could see the view from the phone.
We saw the wolves come out of their den and play with each of the mamas watch them and it was the most magical evening watching the wolves and being outside and chatting with everyone there.
And we are back at camp. I’m feeling so fulfilled and triple layered. Because I’m not going to be cold tonight!!!!! Oh and our last devotional Landon went over our logo.
A wolf face=landon, but also, family, loyalty, hard work, togetherness, toughness.
Four evergreens=four boys, but also they continue to grow through all seasons, they are rooted together under the ground, and so much more. Hoping each family will be an evergreen.
Moon=me, also light, and the wolf and the moon working together, and the moon gets its light from the sun. Which Is ultimately what’s it’s all about… Heavenly Parents and Jesus. We could have any of that picture without the light from the sun ☀️
Okay, good night!
FRIDAY
Phew! Made it home. The boys were so unified this morning and packed up so happy. The car ride home was great til about the last two hours when I started feeling stress and the boys started feeling cramped. We rolled in around 8pm. Unpacked everything. Everyone showered. We hooked up the boat for lake day tomorrow with the youth. And just like that, we are home and off to new things. When does school start again zzzzzzzzzzzz!
Saturday:
Lake day with the youth from our church and date night! We love our church family!
Sunday:
Churchy things, visits and the third annual block party!!! We love our neighborhood!!
