A visit to the Cowboy state

Greg and I were able to take a few days off from work and fly out to Wyoming to celebrate his parents anniversary. Congrats Jan and Craig on 33 years of marriage!
It was an absolute blast!
We flew out of the Mesa/Phoenix airport for the first time. Even with driving the I10 at 4am with no traffic it still took us 45 minutes to get to this airport. This airport reminds me of the Waterloo IA airport. Very simple and small but great customer service. Its just in the middle of no where:)Actually our friend Mandy was on one of the first commercial flights to that Airport. They had all the news channels there and were served champagne.
It was a fast two hour flight. The stewardesses were very friendly. I guess on every allegient flight they do a raffle. We bought one ticket and didn't win. Though a few ladies sitting in front of us bought 100 dollars worth. And they won all their money back:) It was worth a shot anyways.
We were lucky to be on the side of the plane that saw all of the sites! We flew over the Grand Canyon, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and you could see Red Lodge ski resort;) Plus lots and lots of snow:)
Greg's Dad, Craig was nice enough to spare one of his many vacations days he has left and pick us up from the airport in Billings Montana. He treated us to an amazing breakfast at Stella's. If you like cinnamon rolls, you need to know about Stella’s!!! One roll looked like it filled a whole plate! Their french toast was amazing!!! We went from starving to over stuffed in less than a half hour!
In Cody we were greeted by Greg's Sister Jama, Greg's brother Pat and his son Ethan. We really just wanted to relax and spend as much time with the family as possible. Ethan has an adorable selection of words right now! Everything is either a doggie or its HOT. He will touch something and say "ouch" pull his hand away and look at you and say "HOT". I wish I would of caught it on tape it was pretty cute.
Later that evening we had dinner at Bubbas BBQ, where I mistakenly ordered what looked like half of a chicken, little wing and all! Oops! My bad! Our friend Kara drove up from Thermopolus and we met up with her and her friend Jessica at Rawhide Coffee shop downtown.
Friday November 6th was Craig and Jan's actual anniversary so Greg and I woke up early, like usual, and made them cinnamon French toast with bacon for breakfast.
Greg spent Friday with his Dad taking the camper to get winterized, helping with electrical projects etc. It was nice father son time for them. I know Greg really enjoyed it. I was able to spend the day with my mother in law Jan. We went shopping in downtown Cody. It was seriously Christmas/antique heaven! I loved every store we walked into! They had such neat little trinkets. A lot of which you could see were hand crafted. I can not wait to display my new candle topper Jan!!
While out shopping Jan had mentioned she would LOVE to make a bundt cake. Just so happens we found a mixture at one of the shops.
As you can see in the pictures, mine didn't turn out as pretty as it looked on the box, but it sure tasted good!!! Ill have to use pam instead of Crisco next time;)
Funny story, the evening before a lady went to the Caldwell's door with a bouquet of flowers and said "Oh Im sorry I have the wrong house". Of all the days that could happen.
Craig did surprise Jan with some beautiful yellow roses and she proudly put them on display. Jan Craig Greg and I went to the Cody High school football game. The weather started out ok, since it had been in the mid 60s-70s the past couple days. But after the first quarter we started to freeze!! I had two blankets a fleece and gloves!!!! It was an exciting game though, Cody won!
We did leave part way thru the game to head to La Comida to meet Jama Ashley Pat and Ethan for dinner. Let me tell you Ethan LOVES blueberry Tootsie pops! We took tons of pictures and enjoyed the atmosphere.
Saturday we slept in a little and headed to the Cody Shooting range about 830am. Greg and Craig had picked up some ammunition from Cableas and were ready to get rid of some stress. Of little ear plugs helped but they didnt do a whole lot to cushin the amazing noise these guns make! Not to mention it was REALLY chilly this day! It had started to rain and was snowing in the mountains. Finally Greg and Craig talked me into shooting and I wont lie it was actually really fun. Especially when I started pinging my targets! Greg says Im a natural haha
We headed home to watch the Iowa football game. Jan had gone all out with veggie and raspberry cheese balls, nachos and chocolate rice krispie treats! It was a sad game but we all had fun supporting our team together and looking very stylish I might add.
After the game Jan Craig Greg and I took a scenic drive to the Yellowstone east gate. We went thru all types of weather imaginable. It was definitely a lot more fun this trip since our last trip to Wyoming I had the flu. I could of taken a million pictures easily. You are just surrounded by peaceful beauty there. Thanks to Jan for all the couples shots and Craigs reminder of our trademark snowman:)
While we were out and about Ashley and Jama were baking like crazy and setting up for the anniversary celebration. They were very creative and tried to recapture their wedding day. They laid out pictures from when they were dating as well as their wedding album. Ruffles seemed to be very popular then, for the men that is:)Awesome job on the cake toppers ladies!
We headed out to The Rib and Chop House downtown. Greg and I both agree we each had one of the best steaks in our lives here! Greg ran into his friend Shane. You rarely run into people in Phoenix than you know, no let me re phrase that, You NEVER run into people you know at restaurants so it was great that he was able to catch up with him.
We headed home to play the game Acquire. Anyone that knows Gregs family knows this is a very "popular" Caldwell game. It is very intense and the joke is it has ruined friendships. After playing a mild game I can see how this "joke" could possibly be true:) You spend so much time creating this strategy and with one swift move another player changes the whole game and pretty much sends you packing! I will admit I did have a lot of fun and now that I understand the game Im sure I will be able to conquer all next time;) HA