Pajama Race

Last night Chris and I told the girls to race upstairs, get their jammies on, and then run back downstairs and the first one back would get a special prize.

A few minutes later they came back downstairs, walking hand-in-hand beside each other.  Caitlin finished changing first but waited for Ashlee so they could both win the race.

It was enough to melt our hearts, so sweet.  Their special prize was a hug from Mom and Dad, and boy did they deserve it!

Tea Party Extraordinaire

The girls set up a huge tea party for many of their toys, themselves, and me.

(The very LARGE space in the front with the little orange slice is for me-thanks girls)

They gave jewelry to the more "girlish" toys and divided their play food out to everyone.

It was quite the party!



Yellowstone

Annie came and visited for a week (a week ago) and we decided that we HAD to go to Yellowstone. She and I hadn't been since we were 3 or 4 and Chris could not remember ever going. We set off with plans to thoroughly enjoy ourselves, and see a bear.
It is so nice to leave the gray/brown treeless dessert where we live, and drive to such beautiful country.
While there was ALOT of driving, we had a great time (except Annie and I were quite disappointed that we never saw a bear).

And some pictures:
We stopped at Jackson Lake and took our shoes off to enjoy the cool water.

Ashlee got soaking wet because she would bend down and actually sit in the water

Our family in front of Jackson Lake and the Tetons

Annie in this picture (it gets confusing)

We saw tons of buffalo, most up really close.

Doesn't this picture just say "Wyoming"

We saw some huge elk

Kepler Cascades

At the West Thumb Geyser Basin (with Annie)

Lewis Falls (with me)

The Beautiful Tetons while driving in the car

One of the hot springs near Old Faithful. A blue pool means really, really hot.

By Jenny Lake

It was a great trip, even without any bears. We did manage to also see a herd of elk, many dear, and huge swans.

3 Years Old

Ashlee's birthday is today!
She has been waiting so patiently since our birthdays in early July, and she was SOOOO excited all day.
She wore her birthday hat all day long, except for church.
She has been practising doing "3" with her fingers:

She wanted to tell anyone who would listen that today was her "bir-day"
Caitlin has been excited for Ashlee, and very concerned about making sure Ashlee has a good birthday.
She knew Ash wanted a Eugene (Flynn Rider) doll for her birthday and wanted to get it for her.
I told her she didn't have enough money for that.
She said, "Mom, well you should get her a Eugene doll for her birthday. It's coming up on Sunday, think about it."

Well, little did she know that we had gotten Ash a Eugene doll.
Ashlee was very happy when she opened him.

She told me she wanted a giraffe cake.
This is mine and Annie's best attempt.


Born 3 years ago:


1 year old:

18months:

2 years old:

3 years old and so happy:


Ashlee, you love:

playing with Caitlin

entertaining yourself if you have too

doing puzzles

being the boy, and letting Caitlin be the girl

TOMATOES!

spagetti

your bunny

reading books: by yourself the most, and being read to sometimes

shoulder rides

nursery class

playing dress-up

swinging

using M&M's to practise your colors

the color orange

swimming and jumping into the pool

making people laugh!

We love Ashlee and just can't get enough of her fun personality.

Happy birthday Ashlee!!!

more reasons to love summer

We ran through the sprinklers yesterday

and some friends invited us to Firehole Canyon (part of Flaming Gorge) today.
We had so much fun.
We really need to take more advantage of living so close to the Flaming Gorge.
Now the girls are watching a movie, but Ash is just plain tuckered out.

They're back

These cute girls have been gone for 3months, but they finally came back home this week.
They were all so excited to play together again.
They played for hours and hours without a single squabble or anyone crying.
It was wonderful.