25 states!

         First off, I need to explain why I'm saying that we are just now adding state #25 since a few months ago our count was 26. Our rules for adding a state sticker usually demand that we spend at least 1 night in the state and do something (getting fuel doesn't count!). We got hasty and added West Virginia and Nevada anyhow since we've driven through them. Well, when Eldon re-did our back door to repair water damage, our map had to come off and we got a new one. The decision was made to let those 2 states off and earn them fair and square. 

     On to Idaho! We drove through a southeast chunk after leaving Yellowstone and it was gorgeous! Huge valleys surround by towering mountains and topped with a brilliant blue sky. The leaves are at peak color in a lot of places so that was an added bonus.

      Goodenough Creek Campground  is a free location with level sites, picnic tables, and fire rings! There was quite a grade getting to it but our Ram 3500 handled it with no sweat. 

We found a trail to hike!

Our new map. We've got  some holes to fill!

Yellowstone!

     While we've all been looking forward to this bucket list item, it's safe to say that Eldon and Michael were the most excited about visiting this National Park. It exceeded our expectations in several areas. #1. How cool and freaky all the geothermal features were. #2. The size of the crowds for this time of the year. #3.How huge the park actually is. #4. How little of it we would experience in 2.5 days. All that being said, we had a fabulous time. It felt like we breezed through and simply hit the surface of certain areas without learning a lot so excuse my lack of explanations for the pictures.

We saw so many elk!

Beautiful waterfalls and a sweet little lady.

There was lots of bison too.

I believe this was the Tower area. Lots of neat rock formations in this canyon.

I do love waterfalls!

Ethan took great pleasure in watching the chipmunks.

At Frying Pan Spring you could hear lots of sizzling!

We'd love to live here.......if there was no other people 😊

Steam poured out of many random places!

The Paint Pots were neat too.

It was hard to see the "pots" for all the steam but we sure smelled them!

The day has come when our children can keep ahead of us hiking.......if they want to.

Yup, that's Old Faithful! We even got sprayed by the mist, much to Ethan's delight.

Emily and Michael having a great time.

Fascinating to watch this spring boil!

It made us as parents very happy to see our children loving the outdoors! We nearly had to drag them away at times.

Dragon's Mouth Spring. It really did sound like a dragon roaring!

There was pools of water and neat plants all over the place!

A bull elk bugling in the motel lawn.

Roosevelt's Arch. The quote says "For the benefit and enjoyment of the people." It is thanks to him that we have places like Yellowstone!

Mammoth Springs was............massive! The different colors vary on the water temperature and what bacteria is growing there.

A herd of young mountain sheep ran down the road past us.

An elk calf right out our window.

A kind tourist took this family picture for us.

 It was intriguing to see pictures showing how much Mammoth springs has grown in 10 years, due to mineral build-up.

Gorgeous!

Happy boys! We walked for 2 miles on boardwalks through Mammoth Springs, up and down lots of stairs, and they huffed and puffed much less the the adults 😐

The Aspen trees were yellow and so pretty against the green pines!

We did learn that Lodgepole Pines must have fire to burn off the big trees and allow the pine cones to open so new trees can grow. It's amazing learning all these neat facts about how God created his world!

     So that is a small bit of our visit to Yellowstone. We have lofty plans to go back and thoroughly explore it but who knows how God will lead us?

Carbella Recreation Site

     All summer long we had good intentions of making it 6 hours west to explore Yellowstone National Park but the summer flew by and we never made it! However, it was "almost" on our route that we were taking south so we made a quick stop. 

     Thanks to our huge tanks and the solar we installed this summer, camping with no hook-ups is a breeze. Our favorite website, freecampsites.net, found us this great spot right on the Yellowstone River. Carbella Recreation Site is only 20 minutes from Gardiner, MT, which is where the north entrance to Yellowstone is located.

     The road down to the campsites was bumpy yet not the worst we've been on. Some of these campsites even had a picnic table and fire ring! Our Verizon phones worked great but there was no AT&T service. The one downside was the busyness of the place, however, it was worth it, considering the location. By Sunday afternoon the place had cleared out considerably and we were left to pick up trash after the weekenders 😒.

It was a very peaceful river!

The children loved waving to the rafters that floated by.

And yes, they got incredibly wet and sandy. But, just look at that smile 😊

Our very dirty rig!

Perfect way to spend a relaxing evening!

Wrapping up Baker, MT

     Here we are, at the end of our summer in Montana already! Thanks to extremely slow internet after we moved out to the Standard's ranch, blogging took a major backseat. Today is a travel day so I'm using it to try and do a few posts to get caught up. It's hard to stare at a screen when driving through Idaho and Utah though - so much beauty to see!

     The small taste of ranch life we got was just enough to make us love it but not get sick and tired of the hard work! In September we helped with 2 pre-conditionings. Basically, the cows are rounded up and the calves are given booster shots and whatever else needs done. There was about 20 to brand and a couple that needed de-horning. 

Here come the cows!

     The pictures I have are only of 1 day-Eldon had to work the second time so I didn't take pictures. Actually, Makayla took most of these. This was a small day with only 140 calves to run through and they were in a small pasture so it only took an hour or so to round them up and get them into the corral.

We were shocked and impressed with how these guys hung in there and helped!

     Since the calves were smaller then cows and could back out of the chute, Makayla jammed a bucking bar in behind them as soon as she could so they couldn't back up. Michael grabbed it on the other side and helped hold it. Makayla struggled a little because the bar was heavy and the calves were pretty rowdy but she did a fantastic job, even when she got poop on her jacket. That was the last straw for Emily😉 . Ethan marked them with chalk, which was not really necessary except that it gave him a job and made him feel needed.

Getting the whole 9 yards!

     Eldon caught the head and gave it a shot it the nose, Mrs. Standard injected growth hormone in the ear, and Noel gave it a shot in the shoulder. You can't see Bessie who ran the head catcher and helped Makayla, or me who was spraying them with de-wormer (I think it's what it was anyhow).

So many people swarming around for a job :)

     There was 20 calves that hadn't been branded in the spring so those were roped and we gave them the work-over on the ground. They were a lot bigger then a few months ago which meant it was more of a challenge for the wrestlers to get them down.

Eldon and Emily in action.

     Eldon helped wrestle and Emily followed Jacob around and marked each calf after he gave it a shot. Each person had a certain color so it was easy to tell if a calf was done or not.

Poor traumatized calf!

Picture of most everyone who helped round up.

     We promised the children a trip to the Glendive Dinosaur and Fossil Museum once the 2 oldest could say Psalms 37 and the 2 youngest could say some key verses. They finally earned it and we had a great time! It's creation-based so they were thrilled that everything was true instead of having to ask us about every sign since most places these days includes evolution. The staff was interactive and very eager to share their knowledge with us.

Fossils are just cool!

A Tasmanian Devil

They were given a small activity book to complete then earned a pin at the end.

Mini bike fun

     A friend from church gifted us a mini bike this summer. I was fairly against it at first but finally caved and now I freely admit that it was a good decision! Between our 2 oldest and 4 of the Standard children, that little bike has been ridden for miles and miles. One day Eldon tied the Garmin on it and it had 23 miles at the end of the day! And fixed over and over too, lol.

First Baptist Church of Baker

     I'm trying to do better at taking pictures of places we've visited so hopefully it will jog our children's memories when they look at them! This is the church we attended all summer and are thankful God led us here on our first Sunday. Every one of the children (as well as Eldon and I) made friends quickly and were so sad to leave. They loved Sunday School and the singing, which consisted largely of old hymns that I've been teaching them for the last year. It was fun to see that pay off and watch them sing along from memory. Eldon and I especially enjoyed the Sunday School discussions and the fellowship before and after church. We're going to miss to miss everyone but are so blessed to have spent 4 months here and look forward to coming back sometime.

 

Love hearing this group play and sing together!

      Happily, the church picnic happened when we were still in Baker. We had perfect weather this particular Sunday afternoon at Medicine Rocks State Park. The food was delicious too!

Lots of talent here!

Ethan loves Mister Daniel, as he calls him 😊

Ethan and Jason played nicely for hours with our broken down outside vehicles.

Meet Morgan, Mason, and Makayla, famous trick riders!

     One day these girls spent hours dressing up themselves and their horses. Then they even put on a show for me which involved standing up, riding backwards, and trying desperately to get a horse to rear 😂. 

     We've had a great time in this little one horse town and can't wait to come back - when it's done snowing!