A Grand Adventure!

We just got back from a great vacation with friends (Rob, Leta, Sophia, and John and Gus, Josie, and Henry) up in Grand Lake, CO. We had a fabulous, fun, three full days! We went up and home through RMNP, which is always gorgeous. We spent a lot of time playing outside, riding horses, hiking, playing in the lake, and sitting around the camp fire. I don't have pictures of all the activities of the trip because we traded off who had the camera, but here are some snapshots from our time away.

Sitting around the campfire - eating S'mores, of course!

At the stables waiting to ride horse.


Kaylynn practicing roping.


Riding horse. Kaylynn rode "Star".



Henry rode "Josie" and John rode "Cheyenne", the same one Sophia rode earlier that day on her trail ride.

At the petting zoo.


Down by the "Winding River" - North Fork of the Colorado


The kids spent a lot of time trying to catch minnows.


On the way home Kaylynn was sleeping so we didn't stop the car, but I still took a few pictures out the car window. Antler skyline!

Visits with Friends and Family

Several weeks ago some old friends from UND came to visit for a long weekend. Eric, Betty, Danielle and Kevin made the trek down from Bismark, ND. It was so great to have them here. Kaylynn and Danielle had a great time together. Each are very into princesses so they spent a lot of time in K's princess dresses playing. One day we drove up to RMNP and saw a couple of really nice Elk with velvet still on their antlers. We tried to startle them by setting off the panic alarm on the car (oops!) but they just kept on grazing right past us. As you can tell from the pictures below, the girls were thrilled (and Kevin slept through it...until the car alarm went off!)!

We went on a hike up to Alberta Falls with the clan. Everyone seemed to enjoy that, though the Dad's did spend some time carrying the girls!

And here are our little princesses dancing!

On Sunday we also went to our church's annual summer picnic out at Ryssby church. The girls each made "Bloom Crowns" which are Swedish flower crowns. They really enjoyed those (and back in the princess dresses!)


And on with my catching up, we went up to MT at the end of June. Here is K's picture next to "the sign". Kaylynn said, "We have to do that again?!"

She got a kick out of the old school scooter.

And one day Maggie went in to get a haircut. Kaylynn wasn't sure what dog they brought back from town. She looked much different!

And then we threw a surprise birthday party for Kaylynn. She thought that was pretty cool! Grandma told her she was going to make her a cake but Kaylynn said she wanted it to be a surprise so then all day we talked about "Sophie's surprise party". It was pretty cute. Then she acted very surprised when we brought the cake out and sang "Happy Birthday!"


She got lots of fun presents (princess theme, shocking!)

To top the day off, we then had a private fireworks show put on by Uncle Pete and Cory. Kaylynn got a kick out of the sparklers. Nobody lost any fingers so it was a success. Afterwards Kaylynn said to me, "Mommy, thank you for my birthday party, it was wonderful!"

And on the way home the car hit the 100,000 mile mark!

And one final other quick photo, another birthday present that she loves!

Lightning! This time, not our cat.

A few weeks ago a thunderstorm rolled right off to our north so we set up the camera in our bedroom and took some pictures as it went by. The foreground is not the best, but the lightning looks pretty cool!

She's 5!!!

Kaylynn would say, "FINALLY!", we say, "Already?!" I know we all say it, but really, where does the time go? Kaylynn had a great 5th (golden) birthday today. She started off celebrating yesterday with her present from Mommy and Daddy - a trampoline! She loves it and we have to beg her to get off! We had a pool party this afternoon with all her friends. They had a great time, she got some fun gifts, and we snuck it all in before a drenching rain hit, whew!! Here are some pics from her birthday.

Her new trampoline!!

Jumping with her dolls (after Mommy got too tired!)

Party at the pool.
Lots of kids swimming (not all part of K's party!)

Singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the candles. The cupcakes fell out of the car and landed upside down when I was unloading them, oops! They still tasted good though (good thing the kids don't care what they look like)!

Opening presents with her friends. By the end of the party it was starting to cloud up and spit rain. The kids were actually starting to get cold - Who would have thought that would happen on July 5!!

Happy 4th, too!!
We have many more pictures of our adventures over the last few weeks that I will try to post in the next few days. Hope to catch up soon.