Special Delivery

Dear Mattie,

     Our little blonde baby brought this to me the other night and let me know it was a "message for Mattie" she really wanted to send it to you in the mail. We don't have your current address so I quickly snapped a picture so I could share it with you and then she picked out an envelope to put it in and a "stamp" (sticker) to put on the outside. I helped her write your name "Mattie My Birthmom" and we took it out and put it in the mail box. It was the sweetest thing <3 We love you so much!

Six Flags!!

We made it down for our annual trip to Six Flags last month! Maysie gets her and I free tickets through school by reading more than 10 hours I think (she finished her hours by October this past year with me logging hours when I remembered to) She's a READING MACHINE!! I think next year we're going to shoot for Disneyland instead though :) The girls LOVED it! They both enjoy the rides more than the animal shows. I could take or leave the rides myself. Mark is a super good sport and goes on all the dizzy rides with them since just being at a theme park seems to give me a headache. They were very good listeners, Maysie walked all day because I forgot the double seat for the stroller and she was still bummed out when we had seen and done everything and it was time to leave. The dolphin show is always my favorite. Such amazingly brilliant animals! We're able to bring our own food in because of my food allergies, thank goodness, because one funnel cake for Mark and the girls to share was 12 bucks!! Crazy! Elise got to ride her first ride without a grown up. I was really nervous because the only thing holding her in was a pathetic excuse for a seat belt. Of course Maysie was sitting next to her, but still. She did good though and didn't try to climb out or anything. It was a super fun day!

 Maysie's favorite.

 Elise's favorite

 This was a very hoppy frog!! Elise didn't want me holding her but I was afraid she was going to bounce right out of the darn thing!

 Mesmerized by the dolphins.

 This is the pathetic excuse for a seat belt I was referring to.

 Cutest picture ever of my three loves <3

 Cutie Pies

Anniversary Trek

We finally got around to celebrating our twelve year, TWELVE YEAR!!! Anniversary in July. As a side note I do NOT feel old enough to have been married for twelve years! We explored a new area of the National Forest this time. Oma was sweet enough to watch our little munchkins so that we could have 32 glorious, quiet, child-free moments to ourselves. It was gorgeous up in the mountains! We hiked about 9 miles round trip. We hiked out on a trail for most of the way and then we followed the Jones Fork of Silver Creek back down toward Wrights Lake a ways and found a beautiful little spot to set up camp and fish some more. There were LOADS of mosquitoes but nothing a little deet and several layers of clothing couldn't ward off. We were in a great spot just down from a huge granite slab for star watching but alas some clouds rolled in that evening and obscured our view. The trek back to the car was a little more tedious the next day as we weren't on a trail. Lots of boulder hopping and scouting out paths through the bushes :) We SO enjoyed our time together, I just love this guy more and more everyday. I couldn't possibly be more blessed <3

Caught a little rainbow trout with his fly rod.

Random Summertime Activities

Hold on mom, I'm on the phone...er...diaper sprayer :) Good thing it hasn't been used for it's actual purpose in a really long time! Silly girl.

Decorating rice krispie treats.

Berry picking with my helpers. Maysie picked about 2 dozen and Elise picked.......a really nice sun bleached cow bone :) In her defense, all of the ripe ones were out of her reach. They were really good and stayed right by me, which was good because we saw a rattlesnake! I made 10 half pints of blackberry jam with our pickings.

Pioneer Days at Lotus Park

Cousins <3

Snowcones!

Bubbles! It was so windy that blowing wasn't really even necessary.

Because he's cute :) He usually comes in at night just long enough to eat his dinner and snuggle for a while, but I was working on the computer so he lay down in a cozy spot close to me. Such a good kitty.