rat race

Lately I've felt like blogging has been a rat race, which I'd never get caught up.  Since yesterday I had toenail surgery on both big toes, I can't do much today.......... so that's why I've been blogging for hours without guilt! It will be so nice to finally be caught up!
So back to our July fun.  This month has seriously been SOOOO BUSY! After our fun-filled 4th weekend, we had a few days recovery, but not without some fun going-ons. The girls and I went on a little trip to the pool with a group of mommy's and kiddos from the ward. I have such great friends up here!

July 8th LUKE AND I CELEBRATED OUR 5th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!

We technically celebrated with our Havasupai trip....... but we still HAD to do something fun together on our big day.  We wanted to spend the time with our girls too, so we first had a yummy dinner of stuffed shells and such, followed by some divine chocolate dipped strawberries. Then just before bed, we slipped out and let the girls sleep with a babysitter at our house while we went out on the town. 

We saw Eclipse and splurged on popcorn AND soda! When I say splurge..I really mean it! It was $10 just for the snacks! RIP-OFF!!! But hey, it was a celebration, right?

Oh... and my sweetypie spoiled me again. 

That weekend we stayed with my aunt and uncle in Alpine so that we could go to my cousin's temple sealing on Saturday.  We met one of their fun neighbors who insisted I try out his nice ride........ and gave us (well, my aunt, who gave it to us) a free child's picnic table. We haven't had time to test it out yet, but I'm sure it's going to be really fun!

Draper Temple to witness my cousin, Julie's adopted baby being sealed to them. It was such a special day! And such a fun reunion. 

That night we said good bye to our sweet girls for a whole week.  Luke's sister drove them down from Salt Lake for us.  I had girls camp the next week and this was the best time to get the girls down to the grandparent's houses.  It was sad to leave them! But wonderful to have a few days to prepare for camp without "help".  

Tuesday thru Friday was girls camp and sadly, I don't have any pictures.  I was too busy to take any! But let me just say... everything turned out perfect! Every second of our 6 months of preparations was worth it.

There was no drama, no fighting, no complaining. All the girls participated and loved everything. It was fun and very spiritual. I enjoyed every minute of it! 

After a  good night of sleep, Saturday rolled around and we met up with my family in SLC to pick up our daughters. WE SURE MISSED THEM and it's so good to be home. 

home for a day or two anyway. 

Happy Birthday America- a 4 day celebration!

Well, now that June is finally caught up, on to July....
This was our first (and probably only) 4th of July spent in good old Cache Valley. We opted out of our traditional Independence Day events and took advantage of some much needed HOME TIME!

Friday night we had our good friends, the Smith's, over for a pre-firework's dinner.  Then we went up near USU to watch the firework display with them.

Playing with the Smith girls the day before.  

On Saturday we were nice and lazy.  We eventually made it out on a nice bike ride. We intended to go to the car show but instead went to a park, watched the cruise in, and enjoyed our time together!

Sunday-- 4th of July-- we had a YUMMY dinner, ate brownie sundays, and lit some of our own firecrackers

Aren't they adorable?! Even with their chocolatey faces! 

Sparklers were a big hit with both girls. Adelia did not share the same enthusiasm for any of the popping firecrackers or snaps.  

Luke had Monday off and we were so happy to continue our celebrations. We had a fabulous time at the Hyrum parade and made out with a boat load of candy! 

Tianna was absolutely giddy each time she saw princesses! Good thing there was about 5 floats worth!

We eventually made our way to the park and enjoyed some awesome FREE WATERMELON

We topped the day off with a trip to the movie theater to watch TOY STORY 3, used our coupon for ice cream at Casper's and watched the Hyrum fireworks at Luke's cousin's house. 

Needless to say, we were exhausted by the time Tuesday rolled around!

Summer FUHUUUNNNNN

Wow. Is it really the end of July?! Just because I thought this summer was going to be less busy and I had made all these mental plans to go on long bike rides, hikes, the swimming pool a bunch of times and just RELAX, this summer has proved to be as busy as ever.

I'm so far behind.  (And blogger is being dumb and keeps rotating my pictures randomly. Sorry for the inconvenience but i can't get them to work right no matter what I do. )

So first off, FATHER'S DAY WEEKEND 

 

It was the first nice weather weekend where we were home so we went camping! A beautiful place up Smithfield Canyon.        

 Don't know why it keeps rotating my pictures.

gotta love the "trying way too hard to smile" face kids get sometimes

We went on a nice walk and Adelia enjoyed it thoroughly.

Such a BEAUTIFUL and fun place to camp!

Later that day we packed up and came home. Then we made an appearance at the Summer Fest in Logan.

On Father's Day we had our next door neighbor over (who is a single man) for dinner and had a great, relaxing day at home. Ahhhhhhhh

On June 24-27th we had our next big adventure-- the LAKE REUNION @ Indian Creek Campground

Tianna's favorites from the reunion: making finger puppets, riding the horses, winning a gold medal, and "just dancing around"  From observation, I would say she also LOVED seeing her cousins and playing from sun up to sun down, sleeping in the trailer with Aden, and getting as absolutely dirty as possible.

 again with rotating all on it's own. UGH!

This picture is really special.  Luke's grandma is a major runner and has been in so many races. For an activity with the kids she put on mini-Olympics... and as the prizes?  HER OWN MARATHON MEDALS! How special is that!!!!!

Adelia's favorites: eating rocks. eating dirt. eating sticks. Not eating much food.... (sense a trend?) also getting as dirty as humanly possible, loving on Raleigh, her first horsey ride (LOVED IT) and learning how to HOWL like a wolf from Grandpa Bert... oh yeah, and eating more dirt.

Luke's favorites (as far as I could tell)  First of all, just plain camping makes him happy, especially when he gets to take his girls on horse rides, fishing, roast marshmallows with them and

 I think he enjoyed taking a load off and relaxing a bit (wait. something is amiss with that chair!)

Mary's faves:  Enjoying the beauty of nature, taking Tianna on a horse ride, snuggle up with my babies, and making the finger puppets!  Oh... and going on a run with 1/2 marathon trainees. I about died but ran 7 miles! WOOO HOO

Potters Pond at Sunset. WOW

Oh... and chasing Baby Hitler around while we went fishing

As always, the Lake Reunion was a total blast. We loved seeing everyone and enjoying God's great creations with family. Thanks Courtney, Dale, and all others who made it a success! 

Last 6 months

Dear Adelia,
Since the last post was getting rather lengthy in pictures, I am breaking it up.
The last six months with you have been just as exciting as the first. You get more personality and sass every day.

January 2010

On Mommy's birthday

Now that you crawl, you and Tianna get into some mischief as you "play" together

Dancin' with sis

February 2010

You got really sick (RSV) and Tianna knew just the way to make you smile. Obviously, it worked!

Pulling yourself up onto everything

Telling Raleigh to "stay"

March 2010

Walking with the walker

Getting pictures of the 2 of you is harder now-a-days. You move too much

The night you started walking unassisted. March 5, 2010

April 2010

What am I doing holding a carrot when there's chocolate in my hand?

Cutest little Easter Bunny around

May 2010

One purse is never enough

With The Graduate

JUNE 2010

Here we have come full circle.  It really has been a delightful year. We love you!