Christmas 2008

Here are some pics and captions from our Christmas this year:

Kaylee got to be an Angel this year in the Nativity Scene at Grandma Wilkey's

Aunt Kelsi helped

Kaylee got to see Santa, too. She did really well. Not like some kids I know.

Kaylee figured out pretty quickly that there were treats inside the stockings.

She did alright with unwrapping. Once she opened a toy she didn't want to unwrap anything else - she just wanted what she had already. Notice how she's still holding her granola bar from the stocking.

If Kaylee really likes something, she'll give it a kiss. She gave a lot of kisses on Christmas morning.

She also learned a new trick. . .somehow. We said "Say cheese!" and she made this face and made a sound that sounded like "cheese." We don't know where she learned this from.

Now, so far these pictures have mostly been about Kaylee and her Christmas experience, but don't worry. . .

Joel and I are just fine. :)

Merry Christmas to all!

Kaylee has yet another big girl trick to show you!

What the videos show...

• Kaylee decided she wanted to feed herself and she actually did a really good job of it. Notice that the jar is already half gone; she fed herself all of that! (We don't usually feed her baby food anymore, we're just trying to use up what we have left.)
• Notice the noise she makes when spooning up food. It's the same noise she makes when she reads and does other things that take concentration.
• Her hair looks like that about half the time. She loves pulling her hair things out and then it sticks up all over the place.
• 2nd video: She can drink out of a cup herself without spilling! (At this point I'd dumped her food into a tupperware, so it would be easier for her to get- she had started trying to use her hand since it was getting low in the jar and hard to spoon out).

Since I haven't posted about Kaylee in awhile...

I thought I'd post a video that shows a lot of cute tricks in one to make up for it (plus I told my niece, Hailey I would post it).



About the video:

• Yes, she can walk!!! She still crawls about 1/2 the time, but she's getting the hang of this walking thing.
• At the very start of the video she has her arms raised above her head. She'll often do that and say "yay" when she's proud of herself.
  
• She found the beanie on the floor and brought it to me, so I put it on her. She wanted to wear it all afternoon. Every time it came off she'd bring it to me to put back on.
  
• Yes, she does have a black eye (though it's almost gone).
  
• She loves waving and blowing kisses to people. It's so cute! I especially love it when she'll do both when all I tell her to do is say bye bye.
• Her newest trick is folding her arms for prayers. It only lasts for a few seconds, but it's a great start. Sometimes I'll ask her to fold her arms or sometimes I'll say, "should we bless this?" and she'll fold them. I love it!
• Yes, she is still an absolute angel. She's starting to get a little bit of an attitude, but even still it's not bad.
  

Scared of Santa

I was thinking of what I could do for a holiday-related post and then Joel did one on his blog that I thought was pretty funny.

Just click on the link below to see it:

http://theformer786.blogspot.com/2008/12/ho-ho-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.html

Merry Christmas!


P.S. I'll try to get a post up about Kaylee's first birthday soon. I've got my Christmas shopping done (I think), so I should have more time now. I'll also try to change the background from fall to winter (though I'm really hating that it's cold, so maybe not).

Two Years and Eight Days Ago. . .

So, I meant to do this one on the 21st, but things have been a little hectic around here lately so I'm just getting to it now. Yes, this is another flashback post, but the only place I've put this story until now is on the Library Security blog and I figured I'd want it somewhere more family-related.

So here's the story of how I proposed to Bethany. . .over two years ago. . .

The Curse is Broken

Long ago, in a land not so far away, the Hilton boys were cursed with the curse of indecision. They found themselves leaping from girl to girl, striving to make right what kept going wrong, and hoping each time that the next relationship. . .would be the one that led to marriage. (Bonus points to those who know where I ripped that last bit off from.)

But now, one of the Hilton boys has broken through the curse and has given hope to those other brothers around him. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, it finally happened. . .I am engaged!

Hard to believe, I know. But here's how it happened. Bethany and I met in June of 2006. We got to know each other and started dating near the end of June. After a while we got to talking about marriage and we planned on getting married next Spring. Well, as time wore on we both realized we didn't want to wait that long. She expressed her thoughts on the matter, and I told her I'd think about it. Well, I decided that night that I did want to marry her sooner, but I didn't tell her this. I decided it'd be my little secret.

Since then I've secretly been planning and plotting and scheming and, yes, lying to Bethany a bit in order to preserve this secret. I snuck around behind her back and talked to her Dad, I bought presents and the ring and all the time I kept telling her I wasn't ready for marriage yet. I'm a good liar, what can I say? :)

Anyway, sorry about all that background. Well, tonight we went out to her favorite restaurant (Carrabba's) and then afterward I told her that we should get some sleep since we've both been sick lately. So even though she was protesting, I walked her home early in the evening. On the way home we detoured to "our spot" where we used to stop and. . .uh. . .discuss politics when she lived in the ward. Well, we stopped there for old times' sake and talked a bit, and then I got on one knee and popped the question. She was quite shocked and kept saying "Are you joking? You're joking! Are you serious?? Are you joking??" I assured her I was sincere and she said yes and I gave her the ring. And that was that.

Or was it? :) I just barely dropped her off at her house and I left fairly quickly, because while we were out eating, my roommate Mike dropped off a few things in her room. So, at this moment, she is walking into her room and finding a candle she had mentioned she liked, a dozen roses, a teddy bear, a CD I made for her of songs that remind me of her, and a letter I wrote her and sealed up in a envelope. Mushy stuff, I know. And I'm sorry if any of you got nauseous by reading this. But heck, I'm pretty happy right now anyway.

So that's it. I'm engaged. Weird, I know. But it's true.

We'll probably get married in February. We still need to work out the details.

Oh, and the reason I put this on a library security blog? Well, for one it looks so fancy now since we changed the background and also it's the only public forum I have out here on the internet. So. . .yeah. . .

Later!

One Year Ago. . .

Since my little girl turned one today, I thought I'd share my journal entry about her birth, thus preserving it in another place aside from my journal. So if you'll forgive me for indulging a bit, here I go:


Kaylee was born today at 4:15 pm. She was 20 inches long and weighed 8 pounds/8 ounces. And she is just adorable. Everything went so well and we are very blessed.

This morning I was just about to get up and get ready for work when I heard Beth's phone ring. We weren't expecting [to go to the hospital] until the afternoon, but they said that they had an opening at 9:30 so it was time to go. It was funny because we were in a rush because we needed to get there on time, but it wasn't the mad-dash "she's in labor" crazy rush.

We got here right on time and since Beth had pre-registered we went right on in. They got her set up in [the delivery room] here at [the hospital]. The room felt like a hotel room. It was very big and we had a nice view of the temple.

The doctor came in and broke her water right away. . . . Then the labor began. It was hard to see Beth in pain and not be able to do anything about it. She handled it very well, though.

After a while of labor pains they came in to give her the epidural. I thought it was going to freak me out, but it was fine. I was actually really fascinated by it all and I was asking a bunch of questions. It was amazing how it was all set up and how quickly it began to work.

Beth was really tired when the medicine kicked in. And she couldn't feel the contractions anymore so that was pretty cool. Beth's Mom got there and gave Beth some comfort. Beth progressed really quick and when she was dilated to an 8 I called my family to come down.

Beth started to feel really nauseous and even threw up a couple of times. Poor girl.

They put her on oxygen when she began pushing. It was weird to me how different it was from what I expected. I always thought it was an hour or two of labor, a couple of pushes and it was done. But she was in labor for almost 6 hours and then she had about an hour of pushing.

I, once again, thought I was going to be really queasy about seeing the actual birth, but I was just amazed by how it was all working. . . .And when the baby came out I couldn't believe how big she was and that she actually came out of Beth!

She was a blue-grey color and then she slowly turned pink and when they were cleaning her up she was a bright red.

She's a healthy baby girl and it's cute because I think she recognizes my voice. She seems really mild-mannered and alert when she's awake. Beth is very tired and very sore, but she's happy. And I am, too.

It still doesn't feel like she's ours, but it's slowly sinking in. I'm a daddy!





Happy Birthday, Baby Girl! We love you!

Halloween 2008

I'm finally getting my Halloween pictures up. We had a lot of fun this year! Kaylee even had 2 different Halloween costumes. Lucky girl.

First she was a cute little fairy with sparkles all over her face.

Then she was a hobo. And I must say, she was the cutest little hobo I've ever seen!

This is what her hobo makeup looked like before it all got rubbed off. (No, she does not have a rash. It's hard to put a red nose on a baby!)

Hangin' with her Uncle Brent.

This was pretty much the best. Can anyone guess who Joel was? I'll give you some hints: he's pale and he shimmers in the sunlight...


You guessed it! Edward from Twilight!
I was Bella. You can't see it in the picture, but I had a bite mark on my hand that was pale and shimmered a bit (I got her description from wikipedia). I was also wearing less makeup than normal and I was whiny, depressed, and clumsy. This picture is from the 2nd book (we're both depressed we can't have each other). My hand is on his rock hard, cold stone chest.

(For anyone who isn't already aware, Joel and I are not Twilight fans. Joel was Edward - a sparkly, sad "vampire" with no fangs - because he was mocking the books and it was an easy costume to do. I was Bella because it was easy- we're even the same size.)

Rock the (baby) Vote!

Gluten Intolerance

I've been wanting to do this post for the longest time and I am now finally feeling like I can because of my good friend, Gabby. Why, you ask? Because Gabby has started a blog about living Gluten-free and that is what this post is about.

As many of you know, I am gluten intolerant and possibly have celiac disease. I can not eat gluten, which is found in wheat, barley, and rye (and any derivitives of these things, i.e. flour and malt) or I get sick. Some of you might remember, I was constantly going to doctors and specialists when I was young for IBS symptoms and body aches. I was misdiagnosed with everything possible until we just finally gave up on doctors. After living with Gabby for a year and knowing her well for 3 more, I was yet again feeling sick and wondering why when it hit me that I could have a gluten intolerance. I figured this out about 2 years ago and have felt so much better as a result of going off gluten. My sister, Paige, also has a gluten intolerance/celiac disease and most likely other immediate family members do too.

The main reason I've been wanting to post this is because this is hereditary and there are a lot of relatives who read this blog. On both my mom's and my dad's sides of the family there are a lot of stomach aches, joint pain, and other conditions that are unexplained. All of which look suspiciously like a gluten intolerance to me. Especially when considering the statistics...

Prevalence of Celiac Disease in the United States (Edited to Add: I actually believe these numbers are all much higher. The U.S. is way behind other countries in diagnosing and studying gluten intolerance.):

• In average healthy people: 1 in 133
• In people with related symptoms: 1 in 56
• In people with first-degree relatives (parent, child, sibling) who are celiac: 1 in 22
• In people with second-degree relatives (aunt, uncle, cousin) who are celiac: 1 in 39
  
• In the landmark prevalence study on celiac disease, investigators determined that 60% of children and 41% of adults diagnosed during the study were asymptomatic (without any symptoms).
• Celiac disease affects 1% of healthy, average Americans. That means at least 3 million people in our country are living with celiac disease—97% of them are undiagnosed.

And these statistics are only accounting for people with celiac disease. These numbers would be much higher if they included gluten intolerance. One site suggested as many as 1 in 7 people have a gluten intolerance.

Here are some of the most common symptoms:

• Bloating or Gas
• Itchy Skin Rash
• Delayed Growth
• Headaches
• Diarrhea
• Constipation
• Tingling/Numbness
• Poor Weight Gain
• Depression
• Irritability
• Mouth sores (i.e. canker sores)
• Thin Bones
• Fatigue
• Joint Pain
• Infertility
• Discolored Teeth/weak teeth
• Foggy brain (a general feeling of being "out of it")
  

And these are just a few of the 250 known symptoms. You could have a bunch of them, only one, or none at all. Many people (41% of adults) are asymptomatic.

A gluten intolerance may be the root cause of:

• Anemia
• Asthma/Bronchitis-Like Symptoms
• Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Crohn Disease
• Colon Cancer
• Skin Rash
• Joint Pains, i.e., Back Pain, Neck Pain, Knee Pain
• Osteoporosis/Osteopenia
• Infertility
• Depression/Anxiety
• Fogginess of Thought
• Difficulty Concentrating
• Memory Problems
• Alzheimer-Like Symptoms
• ADD/ADHD
• Seizures
• Migraine Headaches
• Liver Disease
• Chronic Fatigue
• Peripheral Neuropathy
• Thinning Hair and/or Premature Graying of Hair

Now, back to my friend, Gabby. I didn't want to do a post telling people I think they very well could be gluten intolerant without having a great source for them to turn to for help and support. I tried to do one on my own (Gluten-less Life), but I didn't have a good direction with it and when life got busy I put it on hold. Now Gabby has started a blog that fills the role of a great guide plus it's better than anything I could've done.

Gabby has been living a gluten-free lifestyle for over 20 years along with many people in her family. In my book, she's an expert on gluten-free. A lot of the sites out there on living gluten-free have a bunch of gourmet recipes and talk about buying tons of gluten-free products. That just doesn't fit into my schedule or my budget. Gabby is practical and frugal, which is why her blog is so great!

Plus, you can ask any question you want and she has (or will find) the answer. Someone recently commented on her blog that they can't eat gluten, baking soda, or baking powder. So Gabby decided to figure out how that person could make brownies without those ingredients. Genius! She really is a great resource to have. I'm lucky I've had her helping me these past 2 years.

So, I guess the purpose of this blog was 2-fold. 1- To make everyone aware of gluten intolerance (especially relatives who are much more likely to have it) and 2- To make everyone aware of Gabby's awesome blog, so they can either use it themselves or tell those they know who are gluten intolerant about it.

The blog is http://www.glutenfreegallery.com/

If you have any questions or comments for me, please ask. I love talking about it!

He Said/She Said

Beth and I went to a concert recently (we won tickets) and so we wrote our reviews separately and now put them up for your benefit and enjoyment. (Sorry about the quality of the pictures and videos. We forgot the camera and had to use our phones.)

Bethany's Review:

Tokyo Police Club - They were awful!!! We got there during their performance and I started wondering if I was too old for concerts. It was loud and I was just annoyed. We ended up leaving to take pictures during their performance.

What we did during Tokyo Police Club

Angels & Airwaves - I liked these guys much better than Tokyo Police Club, but I was still wondering if I was too old to be there. It seemed too loud to me. Especially on some higher pitched notes. As far as the music went, I'd listen to their CD, but I never want to hear them live again. The lead was an idiot. Maybe he missed the memo that he was in Utah or something, but he needed some serious editing. His dance moves bugged me too. He was trying to be too cool. It wasn't cool.

Weezer - This was actually the second Weezer concert I've been to. I went to the first one back in 2002 because Dashboard Confessional was opening for them. I didn't think I really knew Weezer, but I ended up knowing half their songs. It was fun and they put on an awesome concert, so my expectations were high for this second one. I wasn't disappointed. It was great! I knew the majority of their songs this time and the ones I didn't know I really liked. I also absolutely loved Rivers! He was a funny funny dude. He was the complete opposite of the lame Angels and Airwaves guy. He didn't swear when talking to the audience, his dance moves were anything but cool (which made it pretty cool and quite entertaining to watch), and he told the cutest random story about his daughter playing at the Children's Discovery Museum. Nice guy. Oh, and he had a random ball on stage he was kicking around at first and an exercise trampoline that he'd jump on occasionally. I really liked how laid back he was. Another fun thing was one of the radio stations had a competition where people could try out to play some songs on stage with Weezer. There were trumpets, accordions, violins, flutes, and tons more (about 30 people total, I believe). It was really cool!

Rivers dancing.
Notice how he flaps his hand around :).
(BTW, song is Troublemaker.)

Fans playing their different instruments to the song Beverly Hills (I swear it sounded better than it does on this clip).

Overall - Overall, I had a great time! I could've done without Tokyo Police Club completely and without Angels and Airwaves talking, but Weezer made up for it. They didn't even seem too loud to me. I guess I'm not too old for concerts after all ;). Thanks Rob and Renae for watching Kaylee (I still can't believe it ended up being a 6 hour event... sorry)! And Renae for cleaning the kitchen and sewing Joel's pants (I really need to learn how to do clothing repair) and for the cute bib for Kaylee!

Joel's Review:

Tokyo Police Club - Not a fan. They were mostly really loud and noisy with no real music (wow! I sound like my dad!). They were on when we arrived and were finding our seats. After we found our seats, we actually got up and left to look around the E-center. Thank heavens they weren't on too long.

Angels & Airwaves - This concert actually made me like them less than I did before. I liked the music alright (once again, it seemed really loud), but the singer was horrible! His voice is obviously adjusted on the albums. Plus, I wish that they wouldn't have talked in between songs because everything the lead singer said was either vulgar, dumb, or offensive. So I wasn't impressed with them. The light show that accompanied the music was pretty cool, though.

Weezer - Wow. Wow wow wow. Weezer, you renewed my faith in concerts. These guys are true showmen. The music was wonderful and the lights and effects added to the awesomeness. Plus, the band members are very talented.

They switched around positions during songs so sometimes the lead singer was playing drums, the drummer was playing guitar and the guitarist was singing. Very impressive. Weezer was very personable, too.

They told interesting and funny stories, plus they had a part where they had about 30 fans onstage who they had invited to play a couple songs with them. There were trumpets, violins, guitars, an accordion, a saxaphone, a mouth banjo and more. It was a lot of fun to watch and even more fun for those fans, I bet. Plus, it was fun to watch Bethany laugh and smile at Weezer's lead singer, Rivers Cuomo - she think's he's funny.

Overall - It was a great time. I can't believe that they were charging 10-20 bucks for parking, even though the concert already cost 30-40 bucks (for some people - we won tickets, Boo-yah!). We parked far enough away where we didn't think we'd get towed, but close enough so we didn't think we were going to get shot. I liked the giant posters of Weezer's albums they had up to take pictures with and it was fun to be there with my brothers and my wife (and my cousin, Trevor, who we found randomly there). It was loud, though. We actually communicated through text the whole time even though we were sitting right by each other (I sent 94 texts during the concert and received 88). But it was a lot of fun and I would definitely go to a Weezer concert again. . .if I won tickets again.

Sorry, Mike, I had to post it!

Crazy 8's

So I don't always do tags, but I love finding other people who like my same TV shows, plus I did some different things yesterday, so I'm going to do this one.

8 TV shows I love to watch:

1. Survivor
2. The Office
3. Pushing Daisies
4. Lost
5. Scrubs
6. Still Standing
7. Wipeout
8. Veronica Mars
   

8 favorite restaurants:

1. Carraba's
   
2. Tucano's/Rodizio Grill
   
3. Zupa's
4. Pier 49 (they have delicious gluten free pizza)
5. Chuckarama (who doesn't love all they can eat buffets?)
6. Outback Steakhouse
7. Applebee's
8. A & W- for their rootbeer freeze's
   

8 things that happened yesterday:

1. Took and returned a bunch of calls for my job.
   
2. Played with Kaylee.
   
3. Searched online for toys for Kaylee's birthday.
   
4. Cleaned
   
5. Kaylee was restless, so we went to Petco to look at animals and then Costco to get samples. That was fun!
   
6. Peeled the letters off Kaylee's wall, so I can start redecorating.
   
7. Watched Survivor and The Office.
   
8. Cleaned out 2 chickens!!! Probably the grossest thing I've ever done (I've been sheltered, I know). I was trying to be all domestic and frugal, so I bought 2 whole chickens from Costco and apparently they don't take the giblets out for you. I had to do it myself! It was pretty disgusting.
   

8 things I'm looking forward to:

1. Kaylee's 1st birthday. It's going to be a ducky theme :).
2. Halloween
3. Getting a massage on Saturday while Joel and Kaylee are watching the BYU game.
4. Spencer and Tiffany's baby being born (brother-in-law and sister-in-law).
   
5. Ryan and RosaLee's wedding.
6. Working on all my little projects (I always lhave to have a few at a time)
   
7. Christmas
8. The day I get to potty train Kaylee- even though it won't be for awhile I'm still looking forward to it (weird, I know, but I totally want to test out the potty trained in a day thing).
   

8 things on my wish list:

1. Pressure cooker
2. Chi hair straightener
3. Disney cruise
4. Wii
5. A Michael's, Costco, and Wal-mart shopping spree :)
6. A vegetable garden
   (I'm feeling pretty content right now, so this is pretty difficult to come up with stuff...)
7. Cheaper gluten free products
8. To have an awesome food storage (and more space to put it)
   

Kaylee the Explorer

Apparently Kaylee was feeling a little adventurous today. She was climbing on everything and trying to get into every space she could find all throughout the day.

She's always loved climbing under the table and around the legs and chairs, but this was her first attempt to go through the chair. And this is after going under the bouncer seat behind it. There are a lot of pictures, but I didn't want you to miss any part of her adventure, so I posted all of them (the first few pictures are quite blurry... luckily I realized the flash was off so they get better).



When she got to this point she decided she'd just hang out for awhile...

...still hanging...
...and hanging...
...trying to eat the chair...

... and still hanging, but thinking she'd like to get out now. She's just not sure how to go about it...

I needed to stop the camera to help her a bit...


Later on in the day she decided to climb under and through the end table.

And then she read her books in the new spot she found.
She did try to squeeze her head between the wall and love sac, but realized that wasn't going to work, so she found this way out.

I wasn't able to get a good shot of this one before she got out, but she was between the back of the couch and that wooden bench thing. She didn't get far before she realized she couldn't get past the gallons of apple juice and storage water.

What a fun, eventful day Kaylee had!

Now back to our regularly scheduled programing...

Kaylee!

She loves watching the videos of herself that I post. Now she'll be able to watch the video of herself watching herself on video (anyone confused?). She's watching herself crawl in this one.


And for all of you thinking I have a vane daughter, watch this next video. She gets even more excited about watching her 2nd cousin, Bailee, talking.

Little Change

As I've thought about posts I want to do on the new blog I've decided to make it a blog about conservatism, not just politics (though until after the election politics will probably be the main topic). I don't know if that changes things for anyone on whether you'd like to write for it or read it, but just wanted to let everyone know.

And you can now email thefightforconservatism @ gmail.com with your email if you'd like to be a writer.

Political Blog- Anyone want to join?

I've decided to create a blog just for politics and I'd love people to join. It will be a pro-McCain/Palin site, so only people who are for McCain (or just anti-Obama) are welcome to write for it (anyone can comment).

Why am I doing this? I absolutely love discussing politics (for the first time in my life) and I want it to be a discussion which means people commenting and others responding to those comments. I don't think that fits well on my family's blog. I realize politics can be a touchy topic and I don't want having it on my blog to deter anyone from reading it and missing out on cute Kaylee moments (or on the post I'll eventually do on the Yellowstone geysers ;) ). Plus, I'd love to see what others have to say and not just in the comments, so I want to open it up for other people to be authors on the blog (and I obviously can't do that on my personal blog).

If you're interested in writing for it, let me know and I'll add you as an author. Posts don't have to be anything profound or detailed. They can even be a question to start a discussion. There will be some rules for it that can be found here. If I don't have your email address already, send it to thefightforconservatism @ gmail.com.

If you don't want to write for it, still feel free to read and comment. It'll take a bit for it to fully be up and running, but I'm hoping it'll be quite interesting (as well as a good way for me and others to get their political talk out without driving their spouse nuts). You can also send emails if there is any topic you're interested in us writing about.

Here's the address:
http://thefightforconservatism.blogspot.com/

(If anyone has an idea for a better name, I'm open to suggestions.)

-Bethany

We Need McCain

I love this guys YouTube channel (weneedmccain). He has these 3 videos so far and is working on more.

Kaylee is a big girl!

She completed swimming lessons

She loves to read

She feeds herself cottage cheese

She goes down big girl slides

She wears hats
She pulls herself up to a standing position

She crawls like a big girl (no more army crawl)

The only thing not big about her is her size... at her 9 month appointment she was in the 10th percentile in height and weight for her age. Surprising, considering how much she loves her food :).

Yellowstone Wildlife

The Yellowstone posts are going to be quite long, so I'm splitting them up. I'm starting with the easiest: wildlife.

Elk were the first animal we saw entering Yellowstone. I was just on the other side of the river taking pictures. I thought they were deer so I was extremely impressed by their size, but I guess they were elk... and that's a normal size for elk. I'm still impressed. There were a few more adults and two babies.

The next animal we saw (besides the normal crane and squirrels) was a coyote running across the road... and that was on our drive out of Yellowstone. We were pretty sad not to have seen anything else on our first day, but the second day made up for it.

This wasn't actually at Yellowstone, but I'm posting it anyway because I really liked these fish. This was in Island Park at Big Springs before we went to Yellowstone that day. Check out the size difference in these two fish (there's one to the left and above the big one).

We went to a couple of big waterfalls in Yellowstone and still hadn't seen much wildlife and then all of a sudden... one right by the car!

This one was right next to the road, walking parallel to the car for a bit. It ended up walking into the road. This is when we first saw it (it's the big dark brown thing in the middle of the picture).

This is when it was walking parallel to the car

And video of it (not the best video because we were in the moving car, plus Joel didn't want to have to look at the bison through the camera). We couldn't stay as long as we wanted because a mean person came up behind us and didn't want to stop.

We thought it was pretty cool that we actually got to see some bison and then we turned a corner and...

tons! It was really pretty. After that turn there were a ton of bison everywhere we went.

Including near one of the geyser trails. This guy was just chilling by the walking trails.This is how close he was (though he seemed closer). (And Kaylee does have clothes on her bottom half. She's wearing a dress with bloomers.)

This next video shows what I had pictured Yellowstone to be like- everyone having to stop in the middle of the road because wildlife was right next to their car.

It was seriously amazing! We didn't see any bears (well, Spencer almost did), but it was still really cool. I felt like such a kid every time I'd see an animal. The bison were huge and it was so neat to be right by them (though I did freak out a few times that they were going to charge us).

Next up: Geysers!