A trip to yellowstone for me is like therapy. A much needed getaway for some time to recharge. And nothing makes it better than spending the days there with my two favorite boys. Plus this time we added my yellowstone loving dad (it's an inherited thing), step mom, our littlest brother, and another brother and his darling girlfriend! And i'm absolutely convinced there's nothing prettier or more magical than fall in yellowstone. We can't wait for next year to introduce our little girl to her mama's favorite place!

Hands down my favorite thing about labor day weekend- the sheepdog trials. This event has become one of the top sheepdog trials in the world and these dogs are simply amazing! The dogs have 13 minutes to bring 5 wild sheep 700 plus yards down the side of the mountain through a series of gates. They must separate the sheep into 2 and 3 and still maintain control of both groups- then to finish they herd them into a gated corral. The dogs do this only by listening to their owners whistle commands from the bottom of the hill. Its awesome- every year the festival gets bigger and bigger and we enjoy it more and more. After all we are slightly partial to sheepdogs! 

We just returned from a lovely five days in the mountains. We went with the intention of spending time doing nothing and just enjoying our time together. And i'm happy to report we did just that- the drover spend time perfecting his paracord bracelets (seriously that man is a knot tying genius) and i started the hunger game trilogy (now i see what all the fuss is about). We ate tin foil dinners- cuddled on the hammock- spent the sunny mornings sleeping in the tent- and let mr. dog and his girl "red" enjoy the great outdoors. And as soon as i dig myself out from under the piles of laundry and messy house i'll be back with lots of pictures. 

Last week got to enjoy the beautiful Sun Valley for a few days courtesy of the drovers work. While it wasn't quite as sunny and warm as we had previously hoped we still enjoyed a few rounds of golf (in the snow), lots of yummy food, and the 

beautiful fall mountains. And after as crazy as life has been it was defiantly so nice to go and spend a few days relaxing with each other. 

Well another year of the Mayfield family reunion has come and gone. And although the camera was a permeant fixture to my side i really didn't take many pictures. I was too busy enjoying my four days of nowhere to be and nowhere to go attitude. But here are just a few of my favorite highlights- 

• a quick sundown picture trip with the drover (more on that later)
• our caravan getting stranded on the side of the highway with the trailer containing all the refrigerated food- family bonding time people! 
• a six year old second cousin who told her mom the drover was the cutest boy at the reunion and i was lucky to be his sweetheart- its true i am lucky! 
• 6:30am caffeine trips 
• getting to help cook and serve 200 people 5 meals- i cut more cantaloupe and watermelon than i ever care to see again
• another little 2nd cousin spending 45 minutes alone playing with mr. dog (whom she called tom tom) and his friend william turner all while speaking in a british accent 
• one of my photographs was one of highest bid items at the auction- whose proceeds benefited the reunion fund! 
• getting to know our extended family better- uncle gary you seriously had us throughly entertained 
• 4 days sleeping in a tent without air conditioning, computers, email, phones, or tv- it was the perfect nowhere to be nowhere to go weekend! 

My love for yellowstone runs deeply through my veins. So deep in fact i believe it was my great great grandpa who ran a sheep camp in and around yellowstone before it was actually a national park. My dad has been kind enough to show and teach me everything he knows and loves about yellowstone- some of my most cherished memories are riding in his truck around yellowstone listening to his childhood stories. And in turn i've instilled my love of the park into the drover- like it or not myself and yellowstone kind of came as a package deal. And so last weekend we were happy to play tour guides to the drovers parents- we had three goals to accomplish. 1) see old faithful- check 2) see a grizzly bear- check (myself and the drover have a reputation to uphold-  we have never been to the park and not seen a bear so we had to find one for them) 3) eat a buffalo burger- check. Overall it was a great trip- and i'm already counting down until we get to go back.