Thanksgiving (Wyoming, Utah and Idaho)

Well, it's been a while since my last post so before i tell about our trip i'll catch everyone up on Gareth.  We went for his development evaluation last Tuesday.  We wanted to have his speech checked since he isn't talking as much as he should and we weren't sure if we needed to have him in speech therapy.  So, we got there and there were 3 people evaluating him.  There was a speech therapist, a development specialist and a nutritionist.  They watched him play and interacted with him and ask us questions.  The development specialist was very impressed with him and said he is very well developed and that we had nothing to worry about in that area.  The speech therapist determined by our answers to questions and observing him that he is a little delayed which we figured since he had his ear infections but that she wasn't worried or concerned.  He is progressing and he is prob about 3 months behind what he should be.  She told us that children that are delayed need to hear a word 500 times where as a child who isn't delayed only needs to hear a word 100 times.  She told us that if he hasn't progressed much in 6 mos to have him re evaluated but for the time being he is perfectly fine.  We were pretty sure that was what they would say but wanted to be on the safe side and are glad we had him evaluated.  He's getting to be such a big boy and is saying some of the funniest things.  Work is still the same for me and for Micah.  

Ok, onto our trip!!!  So, we weren't planning to go away for Thanksgiving b/c Micah had to work.  Well, on Tuesday morning before Gareth's eval, Micah sneezed and through out his back.  He called his chiropractor and got in for an adjustment but he was still really tight and sore and could hardly move his neck around.  So, on Wed morning he called his chiropractor and got a dr's note for work and got the whole weekend off.  Micah's brother and his family moved to Pinedale, WY this summer and we haven't been up to see them and Micah's Dad, stepmom and younger brother were all going up there for Thanksgiving so we made a last minute decision to load up and head up that way.  We left wednesday afternoon around 4, when i got off work and headed to SLC.  We got to Salt Lake at about 11 and went to my Mom and Dad's.  They were so excited that we were getting to come and stay the night.  We spent the night there, got up early on Thurs morning, had breakfast with mom and dad and hit the road for Pinedale.  Pinedale was about a 4 hour drive from SLC.  The drive wasn't anything special and it helped us to realize that the next time we make the trip we will definitely fly and rent a car instead of driving the whole way...lol  We got to pinedale around 3.  It was soooooo cold.  It was great to see all the kids and clint and kelli, i think it had been like a year since we had seen them.  So, prob 30 min after we got there we had thanksgiving dinner, it was great having most of the family there.  It was Micah, myself, Gareth, Taylor (micah's younger brother), Kim (Micah's dad), Shauna (Micah's stepmom), Clint (Micah's older brother), Kelli (Clint's wife), Cole, Lainee, and Toree.  On Friday Clint had to work so Kelli took us around town and showed us the local sights.  It was sooo pretty, we drove up to Fremont Lake and the surround areas up the mountain.  It was beautiful but it was sooo cold that we could barely stand to be out of the car to take pictures.  On Saturday Cole had roping lessons and so we all went to watch him.  He did so well and the kids had so much fun.  We were there for about 2 hours and then we just relaxed and hung out the rest of the day.  Everyone left on Sunday to head home and we decided we would go up to Yellowstone and spend the night and head back down to SLC on Monday morning.  The drive was absolutely amazing, it was snowing and we were driving through the Teton Mountains.  We got to Jackson Hole and hung out for about 2 hours and had lunch and just walked around the town.  It was a lot of fun.  We left Jackson Hole and headed up the mountain toward Yellowstone.  We had driven for about an hour and half when we came to a sign saying road closed.  We were so upset.  Apparently the southern entrance into Yellowstone is closed for the season, how weird....who closes down a national park???  Micah was soooo pissed, i can't exactly repeat the things that he said...lol  So we head back down to Jackson Hole and decided to stay there for the night, so i called and got a hotel in Teton Valley.  On our way to our hotel our gps had us take a small road off of the main hwy.  It was crazy, all we wanted to do all day was see a moose or an elk or something and we were having noooo luck.  So here we are driving down Moose Wilson road and i look over to our left and what do i see??!!  2 female moose were standing in a river bed, it was so fun to watch.  We stopped and video taped it for about 5 minutes and then they started to move away so we had to pack up and keep driving.  Not even half a mile down the road micah stopped the car and told me to look, i turned around and up the hill to my right there were about 20 elks.  We were so excited, it was absolutely gorgeous.  Well, we went another 3 miles and came to another road closed sign.  So again we had to back track another 30 minutes and ended up going all the way back to Jackson Hole and around.  We got to our hotel in Teton Valley at about 5:30, it was a 4 star hotel and was super nice.  It was called Hotel Terra.  Absolutely beautiful and very modern decor.  Everything was organic and it was a completely green hotel.  It was right on the mountain and the slopes were right there next to the hotel.  We were so tired from traveling all day that we just decided to get some dinner from the Mangy Moose next door and stay in for the night.  Monday morning we got up and headed toward Salt Lake but we decided to take the scenic route instead of going back the way we came.  We went through the Teton Pass, which was kind of scary b/c it had snowed like crazy and the roads were pretty slick and it was all up hill.  We went over into Idaho and down.  We got to see some of the Oregon Trail and some more really pretty mountains, national forests and more lakes.  We got to Salt Lake at about 4 and hung out with Mom and Dad until Wes got off work.  Dad grilled some steaks and we all ate dinner and just hung out for the evening.  It was great getting to see my fam and being able to spend some time with them.  Finally on Tuesday we made the long haul home.  We got back to boulder city at about 3:30 and home never looked so good.  We traveled a total of 32 hours over the last 7 days.  Wow, it was a lot of fun and i would have never expected Gareth to travel in the car for so long so well but he was such a good boy and never fussed.  He prob napped a total of an hour and a half in the car the whole trip.  He never sleeps well in the car but luckily he rides really well.  We are already planning our next trip up to Wyoming it will prob be in the spring and we are going back to Salt Lake for Christmas.  Now, it's back to work tomorrow....haha