Monday, September 30, 2013

July 4th 2013

July 4th was another great one for us. We spent it as we have the past couple years, in the mountain at our friend's home. It's gorgeous there, and we love spending time with them.
The boys always have a great time.  
And the sprinkler was perfect for that hot day. 
We are always fed great food too. How cool is this fire pit grill? 
A table full of goodness. 
But a sad reminder that our "Mimi" is deployed, when we have to eat store bought potato salad. 
There was a lot of playing. 
And Papa Jay loves the boys. 
They are show-offs for him. :)  
Papa Jay has the most amazing flower garden I've ever seen. 
And Steph and I got a fresh bunch of peonies. They smelled wonderful. 
The boys took the dogs to the river to play for a bit. 
And what's 4th of July without s'mores? 
Gooey goodness. 
Mmmmmmm 
Then it was time for the fun. 
I am shocked that this kid was lighting fireworks. He used to want to sit in the car and hide until it was all over with. 
Gotta have smoke bombs. 
And sparklers. :)  


Then we set off the good stuff. 
It was a bummer that Mimi and Chris couldn't be here this year, but we had a great day, and look forward to next year. 

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

instagrams of June (and a couple others)

I am so glad I get to go back and look at these pictures. June was awesome. We spent a lot of time just being together.
My little is not so little, even though he thinks he is. 
Yep, we like to live dangerously and lick the beaters.
Guaranteed there was raw egg in that batter. 
My new friend Crystal introduced me to a place called the General Mercantile in town.
Not only do they have good coffee, a perfect place to sit and chat, and unique items for sale, I found these!
They provided a lot of laughs and fun for the boys. 
And Crystal also introduced me to amazing chocolate. It's a good thing the store is so far from my house. 
Ethan was awarded a physical fitness award (shocking I know), and he was super excited that it was "signed by the President".  
And he even graduated the 3rd grade with all A's. 
Elliott and Ethan love going on bike rides together. Elliott likes to strip the leaves from the trees to bring home for me. He hadn't learned to ride with one hand yet, so I would get a sweaty crumpled handful of leaves. Nothing says "I love you" more than that. 
I got a little scissor crazy with my t-shirts and I'm here to tell you, it was the BEST thing I've ever done. 
Jaymee needed my Cricut for Raigan's birthday party. I love that I can help, even from 4 hours away. 
She shipped me paper and I shipped her this pile of awesomeness. 
In case you didn't know, the Chicago Blackhawks were in the Stanley Cup Finals this pas season.
I'm pretty sure they won because of my amazing nails. 
Or maybe it was the Blackhawks jerseys and shirts being worn daily. 
Ethan earned a custom head for his lacrosse stick. It's so rad. 
That meant we had to "hit the wall". 
I can't wait to see Elliott play in the spring. 
Maybe Jason will join the team too.
Ethan has found another love.
He took 2 mountain biking courses this summer. 
He was in heaven. 
And of course he killed it. 
Jason and Ethan spent a lot of time on their bikes, you'll notice that in the months to come. 
Elliott makes me laugh everyday.
This day, I looked in the back seat to see this. His inner "hippie" was showing. 
The end of the month, Ethan got to go to a week long camp with the other military kids. No phones, no gameboy, no ipods, no mom.............yeah, I was a little nervous, but I put on a brave face while we dropped him off. 
I may have had a tear or two in my eyes. I just can't believe how fast he is growing up. 
I think I may have been depressed that week, I don't have a single picture to show for it. Haha.
But here we are going to pick him up. 
He got the "Best Hair" award at camp. He had tons of fun. 
I think they even missed each other!! 
The trip to home depot was for our first huge DIY furniture project.
Jason used this to try to convince me that we need a pickup. 
Everyone pitched in. 
And victory was ours. A full size pallet bed frame for Ethan's new room (more on that in July). 
We even got to take in some drag races. 
The little old lady that drove this car was so nice. 
I think she'd have let them drive too. ;)  
Now onto July. I can't wait to see what we did. It was a blur to me.