Friday, August 26, 2011

My beautiful girl...

I can't believe my beautiful little golden haired baby girl is turning 30 today! Yikes! Where did the time go? Words can never express the joy this beautiful woman has brought to my life. No one can make me laugh quite like Julie.

The most darling and chubby little toddler ever!


 
My little princess.
 People used to stop me in the store to look at her golden ringlets and say "she looks just like a little doll you would buy at Pennys."
Matching Easter dresses - quite a tradition.

What a darling first grader!
 Katie, the big sister, was always so proud of her little sister and wanted a sister more than anything!
Easter baskets were always so much fun!

Chillin' with her big sissie.

We all love Halloween!

Christmas pictures are so cute!

She'll kill me for this one.
My lovely girls...
Julie was also very happy when she got a little sister! She loved taking care of Becca when she was a baby. There is nothing a like a sister - big or little!


Julie was so excited to be an Auntie!


Julie was very excited to be a mother.

All babies are cute when they are asleep!

Julie's third birthday.

Julie and Ava

I love this picture of my beautiful daughter with my dear dad.
Jubilant, joyful
Unique, understanding
Lively, loving
Intelligent, incredible
Enthusiastic, extremely funny

Happy Birthday, Jewels! I love you more than my luggage!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Oh, yeah! BUNCO!

We had a 3 way tie for most "BUNCOS" of the game. We had a roll off. Each one of us rolled as fast and furious as we could to see who could get three of a kind first. The twos were kind to me.

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

The traditional trip to Big Springs

We had to go to Big Springs to Johnny Sack's cabin. It is so beautiful there, and we love seeing the natural spring. It is amazing how the water just bubbles up out of the ground and creates such a good sized river that then feeds in to the Snake river.
 Ava got brave and tried the water.
 Becca joined in the fun.
 Julie didn't want to be left out - boy was she ever in for a shocker! That water is always 52 degrees. Waaaaay cold!  They decided to have a contest to see who could keep their feet in the longest. Yes, their screaming resounded through the trees and frightened the fish!
 It took her a few minutes to catch her breath.
 Ava is wondering what the heck is wrong with those two. I think her feet were numb by this time.
My crazy girls!

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Moose Sightings and Other Forrest Friends

We saw Moose galore this trip! Rod and I tried to go out early in the morning and then again at dusk to catch a glimpse of a Moose. The first one we saw was a momma and her twins! The mother looked small to me. I think she was very young and that perhaps this was her first birthing.

I spotted her as we turned into Harriman Park, right of the side of the road and down in a gulley.

One of the baby twins. They were so tiny and cute!

 The next Moose sighting was very early one morning as Rod and I hiked around Silver Lake. Rod spotted her down by the shore. We tried to sneak up to get a closer peek, but she spotted us and bolted. She actually ran right to the path that we were using and then trotted on ahead of us for quite a while.

Rod getting his Moose picture.

She turned around and looked right at us

As they trotted ahead of us, we could hear their steps on the wooden bridge. It was so cool!!!

This elk crossed the road right in front of us, then turned around and looked.
Rod is very proud of this baby buffalo picture.

The guys thought they owned the picnic area.

We saw a beautiful deer in the velvet one night by the river feeding in to Silver Lake, and other stags as we drove down some of the forest service roads at dusk. We also saw some amazing pelicans flying up the river in formation just like the Blue Angels. You could hear their wings beating the air. 

The mosquitoes were very bad! Wish we hadn't seen any of those!
One night we stayed up very late so we could take the girls out to see the stars. We drove out to the road that goes to Mesa Falls and parked in a pull out. It took our breath away as we looked up and could actually see the Milky Way. There were shooting stars. We all saw a great big one, and Ava said in the cutest little voice, "I see it. I see it!" We all laughed at her joy and delight in this experience of her first shooting star. I will always treasure this time with Rod, Becca, Julie and Ava.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

S'more Fun!

 So Julie brought stuff to make S'mores while at the cabin. She got these GIANT marshmallows. Her vision of this whole thing was to make the S'mores in the oven so we wouldn't have to get smoky by the fire. She assembled everything and we stuck them in the oven. I told her the marshmallows were too big. She said no, they were just right. I still cut some of them in THIRDS and the S'mores were still very messy! We laughed so hard. Good Times at the Cabin!





Rod tried to be neat with his...

Did I mention the S'mores were ultra messy??

Gooey, Chewy, Sticky - and delicious!

I think we will always remember these GIANT S'mores and how much fun we had making and eating them!

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Such a beautiful place!

I just want to post some pictures that I think are really beautiful of Island Park and Yellowstone. We went on some incredible walks and hikes and just drank in the beautiful scenes.


The swan was actually fighting with a goose - pretty noisey!



I love Mesa Falls!

Nature makes such beautiful bouquets.




The wild flowers were so beautiful!
Three happy campers - at least for a second.