One of the great things about my job is we get an 8 week sabbatical every 7 years. My sabbatical started around the 4th of July, so we decided to take a "little" family vacation. It started off with a Wheeler family reunion in Yellowstone National Park. It's probably been 6 years since we've all been together as a family. Other than my brother Scott's three oldest children who no longer live at home, we crammed the entire family together--48 people in all--into two beautiful cabins in Island Park, Idaho, near the west entrance to Yellowstone. After spending a week in Yellowstone and playing in a river near our cabins, my parents and five of us siblings drove to Meridian, Idaho for our nephew Nathan's mission farewell. He'll be leaving this week to serve a two year mission in Phoenix, Arizona. It's amazing how quickly he has grown up. He'll be a fine missionary.
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| Celebrating Mikey's 4th birthday just prior to our sabbatical! |
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| Mikey has come such a long way in these four years and we are so thrilled he is still cancer free! |
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| We're on our way to Yellowstone! |
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| We found a bison trying to make a break for the exit |
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| The bison was just outside our window, close enough for us to touch! |
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| Hiking down to see a waterfall |
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| "Chuck" Norris Geyser Basin |
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| We carried Mike and Brooke on our backs for part of our hike, but tried to let them walk as much as possible. |
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| Mammoth hot springs |
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| On some of the off days from Yellowstone we went paddle boarding near our cabins |
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| Liz got the hang of paddle boarding rather quickly |
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| Whitney paddle boarding with her cousin Josh |
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| Hanging out after a hike to Lower Falls in Yellowstone |
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| Old Faithful |
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| Wheeler Family 2015 |
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| Are we done taking pictures yet? |
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| The cutest kids ever! |
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| Family photo just outside our cabin |
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| Mikey and Whitney drinking from one of the water features at Settlers Park in Meridian, Idaho |
It surely looks like the Wheeler family had a grand time in Yellowstone! Happy 4th birthday to Michael!! It was so fun and such a treasure for us to meet Mikey and Brooklyn in person at our Cox family reunion on June 30th. Michael has the most beautiful blue eyes I think I've ever seen! Brooklyn was a little leary of me, but she is such a cutie pie, and reminds me soooo much of Liz when she was Brooklyn's age. Sarah, Whitney and Spencer didn't remember us of course, they were just too little when we saw them last at Christmas of 2009, (I think that was when you came to Rocklin?) We missed Tim at the reunion also! Thanks for your post, we love you ALL! <3
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