Martin Family Reunion 2023- Part 1

 We had our biennial Martin family reunion this summer up at Island Park in Idaho. On our way up to Island Park we stopped in Rexburg to see Maren and Andrew and had a yummy dinner together:

The next morning we headed out bright and early to go to Yellowstone National Park:

We saw lots of bison, as well as a bear and some elk:

Our first stop was Old Faithful:

We also saw Beehive geyser go off too, and that went really high:

The kids were able to get their Junior Ranger badges there:

Next we went to Grand Prismatic Spring. There were some cool colors of rocks and pools there:

We also went around the Artists Paintpot trail and saw some cool hydrothermal features:

We saw some beautiful waterfalls and scenery on our drive through Yellowstone:

We drove down to Artists Point to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, and that was a beautiful view:

We continued driving around Yellowstone and stopped to play in some snow:

The kids even built some mini snowmen:

The cabin we rented was on Bill's Island in Island Park, and we happened to be there when they did their 4th of July parade. It was fun to see all the families driving around in their 4x4s throwing out candy:

We spent most of the rest of that day out on the lake kayaking, paddle boarding, and paddle boating:

Mindi and Bryan also put together a fun escape room game that the whole family took turns doing:

After some delicious food, we ended the night with some Italian sodas:

The next morning we went to church at Mack's Inn along with almost 3,000 people. It was crazy to see so many people everywhere- in every single classroom, lining every hallway, big crowds on all the lawns, as well as a whole second building full of people for just this one sacrament meeting. It was pretty cool that Elder Stevenson of the twelve apostles was also attending that church service, so we got to hear a bit from him too.

After church we took some family pictures in our matching shirts:

Two little cuties- Ivy and her little cousin:

After pictures and lunch, us and Mindi's family went to see Upper Mesa Falls:

We also drove over to see Lower Mesa Falls:

On our way back to the cabin, we stopped to take pictures with this beautiful field of yellow wildflowers: