Memorial Day Hiking

Some friends of ours told us about a nice family friendly hike called Leigh Lake in the Grand Teton National Park.  We decided Saturday would be a perfect time to go check it out.

We loaded everybody's backpacks with the essentials for a hike and off we went.  It was beautiful!

I'm so glad we have trained these girls to love the outdoors.  They always say they don't really want to go but as soon as we are out the door they have such a great time. 

When we got to a stopping point at the end of the lake the girls took off their shoes and went for the water. They had a good time playing for a while on the bank of the lake. 

Alissa is shrugging her shoulders because she just dipped her whole arm into the water and now her sweatshirt is wet.

Aparently without thinking Molly, Ella and Lincoln all just went for the water before taking off their shoes so we had to come up with an idea to help them hike back to the car.  I put their socks on and found some Ziploc baggies we didn't need and put them inside their shoes.  We have had this experience before so thankfully soaking wet shoes didn't ruin the trip.  In fact neither did these mass amount of bugs all along the bank.

They were a little cold after getting out of the freezing water so we found some sweatshirts for them all and a chocolate bar and everybody was happy.

The scenery all throughout the park is amazing! 

Sure love these babies of ours who make everything so much more fun!  

And for the beauty of the earth that God so creatively made. 

For fun we stopped and took our picture by these state signs as a new tradition for the kids. 

And mostly at the request of this little one.

Happy Memorial Day!

Ella turns 11!!

For Ella's birthday all she wanted was a turtle.  She had been letting me know this for quite a few weeks before her actual birthday but I just wasn't sure I wanted to commit.  Her teacher at school has a turtle in the classroom and her job has been to take care of this turtle.  Her teacher told me she did a fantastic job of it and was so cute with the turtle.  The night before her birthday I got her in the car without telling her where we were going and as we drove past the pet store she asked me if we could just go look.  When I told her we were actually going there to buy her a turtle she thought I was kidding.  It made for a good surprise.  Her teacher told me the next day when I took treats to her school class that she came in and said, "I got all I ever wished for.  Now I don't know what to wish for anymore!"  It made my heart happy.  Glad it's still the simple things.

She named him Coconut.

We had her birthday party after school and invited her friends over for a mini make over with nail painting, hair curling and make up.  After pampering we went downstairs to a fancy spaghetti dinner served by some very cute waitresses.  They got salad first, spaghetti and breadsticks and then chocolate cake with ice cream and drizzled hot fudge.  What a blessing to have such fantastic friends!  They went together to the school that night for "Math Night" where they get to display and teach some of the things they have learned this year.

Olivia is our neighbor and little sister of McKenzie Lee who is one of Ella's best friends.  We invited her to come help serve at the party.   Ella even gave them all $1 tip when they were done.

Super showered with love and gifts!  She had Sage Hansen, Kailee Daniel, Dani McLing, McKenzie Gooch, Macie Chugg and McKenzie Lee at her party this year.

Rhubarb

I don't even think I knew what rhubarb was before I met the Braithwaite family.  Every year when the big rhubarb plant starts to grow in the back yard the kids go crazy over it.  Their dad has taught them they can eat it with a bowl of sugar.  I can see him light up every time he sees them with a piece of rhubarb in their hand.   LOVE THIS FAMILY!

Haircut

 Can I just tell you how much this little boy makes me happy.  I mean just look at that smile!!  Every time I give his dad a haircut he thinks he needs a haircut too.  So generally we trim his up which lasts about 3 minutes and he's ready to get out of the chair.  

Dustin got this picture of us.  I love it.  He's my little buddy.

Gymnastics Competition

Alissa and Molly were in a gymnastics competition this weekend to end their year of gymnastics.  Molly competed with her own level this year instead of with Alissa's level and it turned out to be great!  She did fantastic!  The performed on the bar, beam and floor.

She ended up doing a back walkover for her very first time.  Adrenalin was pumping I guess.  When I talked to her about it afterward she said, "I just decided to try it."  ha!  I guess you can surprise yourself if you will just try huh?  Love this kid!!

She ended her competition getting FIRST PLACE OVERALL!  We were so impressed and excited for her!  I hope she always remembers this day and it helps give her the confidence that she is amazing.  

Alissa's competition was much more competitive.  I also think she was much more nervous because of that fact.  

She gets to be in gym with some of her best friends.  Alora, Marie & Lia and another little girl Lucy has joined them this year.  They all have some pretty impressive skills. 

LOVE THESE TWO GYMNASTS

Alissa ended up getting first place on floor which is basically the same as getting 4th place overall.  The coach said the scores were really close but Alissa was just fine with it.  I could tell she was a little disappointed for a little bit while driving home because she was a little emotional but she snapped right out of it.  We are trying to decide what to enroll her in next year because she is pretty skilled in gymnastics and loves it so much.  She can do her round-off back handsprings already which I think is pretty amazing for a 7 year old.  We will see what the future holds for this little athletic kid.

Crazy Hair Day

These kids had crazy hair and pajama day at school last Friday.  They sure did have some crazy hair!  We had fun getting them all ready for school a little different than normal.

Mothers Day

This year for Mother's Day I arranged a lunch with my sister, mom, grandma and great grandma.  It just felt like the right thing to do to find a way to spend some time with these ladies all together.  I'm so blessed to have them in my life for this long.

My kids brought me little notes from school and I LOVE them!  Some of my favorite questions answered were:
What does your mom love? Ella - My dad
What makes your mom smile?  Alissa - When we cook together "I am Sloppy.  You are Joe."

Sunday morning Dustin helped do dishes and get Lincoln ready for church before he left for his meeting.  He even quickly took a picture for us before he left.  His brother Alan was here to see him mom and stayed at our house so he took a picture of our whole family.  I love it.  All morning I was thinking if it weren't for Dustin I wouldn't even have this opportunity to be a mother in this form.  I am so grateful and so blessed.  I love this family of mine so very much!!

My laptop broke this week so without hesitation Dustin jumped online and ordered me a new one for Mother's Day.  He also wrote a Haiku for me at church.  It's something special. :) Made me laugh that's for sure!