Junior Cheer

The cheerleaders at Lily's school host a Jr. Cheer night for K-6th grades. The girls do a dance and cheer for part of the football game, which they think is fabulous. Lily was higher than a kite, and then she crashed hard when she was finished. It's a fun night for everyone!

Grace turns THREE!

My baby is three! We were able to celebrate GRACE this week as she turned three on Monday. She spent her day doing the things she loves: watching Diego, lunch with her Daddy, baking cupcakes with Mommy, and celebrating with her family and friends. We had a great party with Grace and loved every bit of her third birthday. She loves holding up three fingers now, instead of two! And, yes, she was bonked on her head by her sister a full week before her birthday....

The Pinata was a hit with all the kids!

She wanted cupcakes for her treat, and she helped make them!

Grace got an American Girl Doll from Mommy and Daddy for her birthday, but if you ask what her name is, she will tell you something different every time. Typical!

Lily's FIRSTS

I'll take a break from our vacation and give a report on daughter #1!

First Day of First Grade!

First Grade is quite serious! No more naps and not so many crafts....We are happy to report that Lily is now reading, and she loves First Grade and her teacher, Miss K.

Lily also lost her First tooth this past summer. Three more followed pretty quickly. Ironically, I have not been with her when any of her teeth have come out. I am pretty sure that this is a good thing because the drama that would ensue would be out of control. She lost her first tooth when our babysitter, Erin VG, was over. We were at dinner and got a picture text of Lily with a tooth missing!

Arches National Park

While we were in Moab, we spent a day in Arches. It's so beautiful there, and the rock formations and landscape are pretty amazing. You can drive through most of the park, but we spent quite a bit of time out of the truck. Our kids were troopers and hiked the entire day, in spite of the high heat.

Guess which trail we took? :) It ended up taking us around the back of the Windows Arches, which was beautiful.

Part of one trail took us through this crevice.

This picture is a bit out of order, but we stopped along the Colorado River after our trip through Arches. The kids loved playing on the beach and dipping into the water. The water was an adobe red color.
The two year old was right there with us, scrambling over rocks and keeping up! She only complained toward the end.

We stopped to eat our lunch in this picnic area, and our Mountain Goat (daughter #1) scrambled up to the top of this rock, which was quite high! Daughter #2 is at the foot of the rock, so you can get an idea of how big it is.

We were in between two big rocks, and the girls discovered their echoes! Grace kept howling like a Loon. Don't you love the necklaces, blingy sunglasses and hair bows for hiking?! :)

Camping in Moab

Our first stop for more than one night was in Moab, Utah. This is a beautiful spot, and I would recommend it to any outdoor enthusiast! There are two National Parks in the area, along with the Colorado River and many off road and hiking trails. We stayed in a top notch RV park, Portal RV Resort. Lily found the water faucet quite fascinating. We actually saw quite a bit of water while we were there. There were thunder storms every afternoon, which were so fun to watch! It also cooled the air down about 20 degrees.

We stayed in the 5 star section of the park, which felt a little elitist. We had a great swimming pool and a bathroom nicer (and cleaner!) than ours at home. The views from our window of the dramatic sky and red cliffs were beautiful.

The girls were so excited to play in the puddles that the rain storms left. We also saw some beautiful rainbows. The lightning made Lily quite nervous, though! Two year old Grace was just amazed and oblivious.

Road Trip!

Charlie and I took our first big Road Trip one year after we were married, and the DQ tradition started there. So, when we stopped for gas one (early) morning, we had to get a Blizzard at the DQ that was conveniently located in the gas station.

The landscape in Utah is pretty dramatic along the I-15 and I-70. We let the kids run around at this rest stop, which had some beautiful scenery!

Summer Vacation - First Stop

Yes, I have been quite neglectful of this blog, so now I am playing catch up.

At the end of July, we took off in our trailer for over 2 weeks, heading through Nevada, Utah, and Colorado. We spent an evening and the following (hot!) afternoon packing up, and decided to leave a bit earlier than planned, since we were ready. We made it as far as Barstow, and we decided to spend the night at the KOA. It wasn't too wonderful, so there aren't any pictures, and I am not counting it as part of our vacation! We were out of there bright and early the next morning. While driving to Las Vegas with hopes to get to Moab, Utah, that afternoon, we were battling with needy, crabby kids. We were about ready to turn the rig around and forget the vacation! We decided to keep going, but we weren't going to be so regimented about our schedule. It was the best decision we made the entire vacation! So, since we didn't have a schedule, the first stop was Vegas! We took the kids to the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay, and we ate at a great restaurant, Border Grill.

Lily's latest restaurant activity is playing tic tac toe. Below, she is laughing at her dad, because she just outsmarted him! It's a bit humiliating to be beaten by a six year old at an easy game.

Water and milk....couldn't be better!

Let's not mention that it was 115 degrees there!

Las Vegas was a great stop, and the kids were much more willing to sit in the truck for a few more hours after that.

Awesome

This is one of my favorite pictures from our summer vacation. It's taken at a rest stop along the highway, somewhere in Utah. The picture is totally untouched, totally unedited, and it's beautiful.

Celebrating a Miracle

Last Saturday night we got together as a family to celebrate, and it felt really good! Fourteen years ago, Charlie and his sister, Annetta, each gave a lobe of their lung to their niece, Tami, who had Cystic Fybrosis. The outcome was more than anyone could have asked for or imagined. Tami is now married, working, and has a beautiful daughter, Ally. And, things always come full circle, don't they? Ally and Lily are best of buds. We praise God for the miracle of Tami, and we are praying continuously for Tami's mom, Linda, our friend and sister-in-law!

Sum, Sum, Summertime!

We have been enjoying our yard a lot this summer. Because of economic necessity, we fired the gardeners last summer and bought a large, Forest Gump-like lawn mower. I was not in favor of this move because, if you know me at all, you know that lawn mowing and all that comes with it is not my thing. When I lived with a few other girls B.C. (before Charlie), I used to trade house keeping jobs whenever it was my turn to mow the yard. Fast forward about 10 years, and now I am helping to do our very large yard, even when I swore I wouldn't. And, I am enjoying it! Charlie and I think it has never looked better! Doing your own yard is like cleaning your own house; no one can do it like you do. We'll see if the romance with my huge lawn mower continues when school starts and I go back to work, but for now, if you need me on Thursdays, you will find me trying to keep a pattern in the front yard.

Yesterday we hosted a birthday party for Charlie's Granddaughter, Emily, who turned 3 last week. Kristen and James invited a variety of family and friends, and we enjoyed swimming, some games and eating. Grace and Sophia are hanging out, watching the Dads play our new game.

Brooke and I bought Charlie and Kevin a new game for Father's Day: Cornhole. It's a huge hit and lots of fun to play! You can compare it with horseshoes, but it's portable and not so dirty. In the picture above, you can see the restroom on the left and part of the pool house on the right. We love both! I especially love both because they keep people out of my house!

Kevin is always a huge hit in the pool because he lets kids hang on him, and he throws them around. Above he is flipping Lily, who has really advanced her swimming and diving skills this summer. We're thinking swim team next year...

Here's the Birthday Girl!

Farm Girls

New hoop earings....definitely picture worthy!

Grace always gets her shoes on the wrong feet. Sometimes I don't fix them because she looks so cute.

Evening outing to slimy mud fight!

Charlie started irrigating our corn this week, so the (kind of) lazy days of summer are now over. He is often found on the golf cart or quad on the edge of a field with a shovel at all hours of the day or night. The girls and I decided to go with him last night after dinner to "check his water." We hear that phrase a lot from June through August!

It didn't take much to encourage the girls to cool off in the irrigation water between the rows. Lily's mind started working very quickly, and a peaceful evening ride quickly turned to a pretty innocent mud fight! Even mom got into the action!

Watch out, Grace! Here it comes!

Since Lily started it, she got the brunt of the mud!