Yellowstone, Custard, and Rushmore

So I finally am getting time to post today...How is it that I spend hours in the car riding but never seem to remember or get the time to post on my blog?? The girls just loved Yellowstone National Park with all the animals. It was beyond beautiful there and so not what I had envisioned it would look like. There were so many different types of landscapes including: geysers with boiling pools and steam vents, forests, plains with buffalo grazing, and crystal clear lakes with ice capped mountains in the distance. What a variety, but all amazing. There were tons of animals to be seen as well. We saw the most of bison and antelopes, but we also saw elk, mule deer, and pronghorns, mountain sheep, grizzly bears, and black bears! The girls favorites were the bears by far! The grizzly bear was literally 5 foot from the car...not on purpose! Yep, I was like Girls DO NOT ROLL DOWN YOUR WINDOWS!!

After Yellowstone our next destination would be Mount Rushmore. We made a pit stop at Little Big Horn to see Custard's Last Stand. What a beautiful area of rolling hills covered in prairie grasses as far as the eye can see.

Mount Rushmore is just as beautiful and majestic as you think it will be. Unfortunately the sun was at an awful angle for pictures but it was still just breath taking. The girls thought it was neat for about .... oh 2.5 minutes until the wow-ness of heads carved into rock wore off. After that running around all the tourists and climbing on the park benches was much more entertaining.

We are now spending the night in Norfolk, Nebraska. Nathan spent several years living here while he was growing up. We will be visiting to some of his old family friends both this evening and tomorrow morning. It really does amaze me though that every time we meet up with a family (old family friends or stangers at McDonalds) who have a little boy Emma has found the new love of her life. Now mind you she is F-O-U-R and already about to commit her father to the nut house with her boy craziness! No matter how much we instruct her that boys/dating/marriage/kissing are only for adults and adult conversations she still constantly says "I'm going to marry him" or "He's cute!" Yeah......really scary! Like my mom said, I'm surprised she's not got a ring on her hand already from all the young boys she's met on this trip! Seriously kid you're going to give me a heart attack in like 8 years! Boy crazy at 4?? What happens when hormones kick in and we hit the du du du (sound effects) P-R-E-T-E-E-N years??? Prayer, that's what happens a huuuuuge amount of prayer!