Goodbye Summer!

I can't believe summer is almost gone! It always goes so fast. The past couple of years, my family has gone to Bear Lake once harvest is over and spent the day on wave runners. It seems to mark the end of summer and beginning of fall for me. That's how we spent Saturday.

We started the day off earlier (some of us much earlier than the rest) by either participating in or cheering at the TOU half marathon. It was fun to run with my sisters. Here we are post-race and really sweaty.


And here's Cole starting the day at Bear Lake off with a nice sandy slip-n-slide.


Annie was a little sleepy (we spent the night at my parents and sleepovers are not one of her special talents). Luckily, Daddy is a good pillow.


Cole getting ready for his turn. He's quite brave and loves the water, so he had a blast.


Sand angels...brilliant.


I think maybe he missed a spot...nope, he got it everywhere.


Some intense and totally serious sand digging.


After Bear Lake, we stopped at LaBeau's and then Tony Grove on the way back through the canyon. I hadn't been there yet this summer and it's worth going there at least once every year.



We had to strap Annie into the stroller because she just wouldn't stop eating the sand.


It was a nice way to end the summer...now I just can't wait for fall.

Rocky Mountain High/"That John Denver's full of ****!"

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS MANY PICTURES AND MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR VIEWERS SHORT ON TIME!

We spent last week in Colorado. We go on lots of trips with our extended families, but it's unusual for us to go just as a little family. We had a good time. First, we spent a day in Fruita (just outside Grand Junction). Kind of a random stop, but they have some great dinosaur stuff. Betcha can't guess who that was for. We went to a museum for a couple of hours and then went to Dinosaur Hill where you can walk around and look at several dig sites. I got a little hot for that part, but Cole "found" an Apatosaurus spine that he was thrilled about. He told us to be sure to call the scientists and tell them.

The next day, we rode the Durango-Silverton train. It's an old-fashioned steam engine that travels to a little mining town high in the rockies. It was such a beautiful ride. I knew Cole would like it given his previous fascination with trains and he did. But little Annie surprised me. She was glued to her window nearly the entire 3 1/2 hour trip watching the river (she did take a short nap snuggled up next to her daddy). We stayed overnight in Silverton - it was strange to be there without a vehicle, but it was a very small town so we didn't really miss it.






The rest of our time was just spent being amazed by the mountains, playing in the dirt and water, and swimming in the motel pools. Oh, and riding in the car.


Candy store in Durango - yummy!


The color of this river was really interesting - likely due to acid mine drainage, but let's just pretend that it was "natural minerals" since the kids were playing in it.


Cole sticking his head in the sand to make Annie laugh - she gave it a try also.


Here we are riding a quaint little bicycle for 4. Not as easy as it looks, but it was fun.



And this pic is my favorite. Every time we got out a snack while driving, Annie aka Sweet Tooth and the Bottomless Pit would stick her little hand up over the side of her car seat and say, "mmm, mmm" and then "uh, uh, uh" until you gave her some.

1-year pics

Here are a few of Annie's one year pictures. She was very happy and smiling like crazy, but would not sit still. It took a bit of effort to get these pictures.

Here are pics of Floyd and me when we were a year - any votes about who she looks like?


And lastly, a quick story from picture day. There's always at least one when you go to get pictures taken. There was a teeny little baby - no more than 2 weeks old. They stripped her down, which she obviously hated, and strapped these ridiculous white wings on her. She was so hating it. Then they sat her there and for like 10 minutes were trying to get her to close her eyes and look like she was sleeping (keep in mind that she was now totally awake from all the changing). She never did close her eyes, but she did poop all over the set. Not a bit surprising, but very funny. Props aren't really my thing, but I realize lots of people like them. Fine, I guess they can be cute...but seriously, 2 weeks? I think they could have held off a bit.

how does your garden grow?

Here's what ours has been growing lately (minus the raspberries, we picked those at Grandma Johnson's house). I love having a garden and I love eating the food from it. It has been delicious! The broccoli has done outstanding, we will be planting more of that next year. The lettuce is about to take over the neighborhood. It really is good, too bad I'm not much of a salad eater. I'm trying though. The only thing not doing so great is the cucumber patch. They are a little wilty, but we keep nursing them along so maybe we'll get a jar of pickles out of them.

 

Walking!

Here's some pictures and footage of our little girl walking. The other night, she took 27 steps from her room to Cole's and only stopped because she made it to his bed and sat down to play. I think she's officially a walker - such a bittersweet milestone.

Yellowstone

Last week, we went to Yellowstone (or Ye-yo-stone as Cole calls it) with my family. It was a last-minute trip, so Floyd was only able to be there for the weekend. I am including TONS of pictures (remember, I take too many), so here it goes.


We went to the Bar-T 5 Chuckwagon Dinner - Cole was a grump, but Annie loved it.


Annie was perched like this the entire wagon ride - watching the horse behind us.


Not the greatest pic, but here we all are at Hidden Falls. Cole stopped to see every bug and rock and branch on the way up. Hoping to speed him up, Floyd challenged him to a race on the way down. He ran the entire way down, screaming at his cousins because he wanted to win. It was charming.


Annie in the pack.


While mom chased Cole down the mountain, Dad enjoyed a leisurely pace that put Annie right to sleep.


My kids, once again, turned into fish anytime we were remotely near the near-freezing water.


Moose Falls, beautiful, but mosquito-ridden so we had an abbreviated stay.


Cole wishing to get off the rock and into the churning water. Mom said no.


Annie with a mouthful of sand/rock.


Me and my sibs.


Grandpa and the babies - Annie and Landon.


Aunt Karlee and the girls enjoying an ice cream at Old Faithful.


Uncle Jake with Annie.

Other random trip moments:

1) My mom, Cole, and I were walking on a trail. Cole ran ahead to catch up with Grandpa. At one point, another trail joined up with ours and a group of motorcycle riders in their motorcycling attire (bandanas and leather) passed in front of Cole. He abruptly stopped and just stood there. When my mom and I caught him, with wide-eyes and a little excitement he said to me, "Mom, did you see that herd of pirates?" I'm not sure if he was excited or scared, but it was funny.

2) My dad was holding Annie on a boat ride across Jenny Lake. She was holding some tourist information paper and it blew out of her hands into the lake. She looked down at it, then looked at Gramps and said, "uh-oh." Looks like my job teaching environmental friendliness is finished!

3) Cole chose a pack of forest animals as a souvenir. One morning, he was sorting them according to whether or not they were nocturnal. As he did so, he said to my mom, "Grandma, Annie is nocturnal." Indeed.

I was so grateful that Karlee and Jake were on this trip - they were so good to chase after kids and hold kids and whatever else we needed. Thanks so much you guys! And thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for another fun trip. We had a great time.

Annie's Birthday

I'm quite slow getting these pictures posted. We had a lot of fun on Annie's birthday. Grandma Rose and Aunt Kelli and her kids came over for cupcakes in the afternoon. It was a good warm up for cake and presents with Daddy in the evening. She was very spoiled and has enjoyed playing with and not sharing all her new toys.


Cole was very "helpful" all day long.


This was her second try blowing out a candle - the first time she didn't do anything. This time she opened her mouth.



This was a new stroller for her baby dolls. Easily her favorite present.


She immediately put the doll in it and started pushing it around.


See what a proud mommy she is?


I love this picture of her snuggling the doll - she is very tender with them.


She's such a quick learner, on this try with the candle she actually blew.


Anyone want a bite?