Slip-n-Slide

Summa, summa, summa TIME!

Baby shampoo works great to make a slippier slide!

Mommy Moment

Yesterday I had a definite mommy moment.

It was the first time Sawyer has gotten into something while I wasn't looking! Sawyer was being a little too quiet in the kitchen and this is what I found:

He was so pleased with his find that I had to let him play in it for a while :) I guess we'll need to put the lid on the flour a little tighter next time.

Tipi Camp

Tipi camp is one of those magical places on earth. How wonderful that Alethea gets to LIVE there all summer and we get to visit! It's located in Wilson, WY and has a view of the Tetons.

Sara, Kaden, Sadie, Sawyer and I made the drive up together from Cedar City. It went surprisingly well. During the 8.5 hour drive Sawyer would periodically play the "Ma Game". This is where he yells out 'MAAA', just to make sure I'm still in the car. We then would proceed to say it back and forth to each other quite a few times before he was satisfied that I was truly there. Kaden and Sadie were a great help with Sawyer in the car keeping him entertained and full of cheerios.

Mac, Steph, David, Alethea, and some of their friends climbed the Grand Teton before we got there. Here are some pix of their hike:

Steph on top!

However, this was not her main goal of the trip...it was to see a moose, and she did, YES!!!

Our trip was filled with walking, rafting, canoeing, swimming, frog catching, service berry picking, picnicking, camping, tipi-ing, grilling, reading, visiting, cooking, hammocking, dogging, napping, and playing!

Alethea volunteered to watch the three kidlets so we could do the white water section of the Snake River. Thanks gush!

This is our raft just after the Big Kahuna rapid. Notice our guide chose to swim this one out, ya Maccy!

After the white water section, we took everyone down the scenic route which ended right at tipi camp just in time for some homemade pad thai for dinner. During the float a bald eagle swooped just above us, which was awesome! Unfortunately it was at a critical point where we needed to paddle, so we tried to stay on task. We also saw a Golden Eagle nesting on the ground...it was huge, bigger than Sadie!

Sawyer nursed half the float trip and then fought with his life jacket the rest of the time.

He did enjoy playing in the raft before push off tho!

Sadie on her own little canoe ride.

Bug had a run in with a porcupine. Sadly dogs never learn to leave the porky's alone.

Cookout at Grand Teton Nat'l. Park

Love this type of climate, gorgeous summers!

Poor Bug - Sawyer LOVED him and was always saying 'DOOO' looking for the doggie to harrass. Bug was very tolerant and kindly moved away after he'd had enough poking and prodding from the baby.

Sawyer loves camping!

Possibly the best spot at tipi camp - we spent some quality eating time sitting beside the Snake River gazing at the Tetons. Alethea made us german pancakes every morning. Thanks for spoiling us gush!

Steph has the touch!

Duncle Dave babysitting Sawyer :)

David teaching Sawyer which plants are edible...or at least not letting him eat the poisonous ones.

Maccy relaxing in the hammock the day after hiking the Grand Teton.

Party in the tipi! Alethea spoiled us yet again with lemon, lavendar, and rum truffles while Sara read a chapter to us from Where the Red Fern Grows. Perfect evening.

We camped two nights in a tent (pictured above), and two nights on futons in tipis. Sawyer was a champ. I put him in his down snow suit and he stayed nice and toasty. He even cut his second tooth on this trip!

Alethea's summer abode - 19' tipi

The majestic, rugged Tetons. Beautiful.

3 Decades WOWZA!

Somebody is really old. His name is George :) He's still as handsome as ever and we love him SO much! We're so happy we get to be with him for decades and decades to come!

It was a pretty low key day. George had to work so before he left I made banana waffles with homemade raspberry-blueberry syrup. And since he was gone all day I was left to play in the kitchen...for dinner we had Grandpa (Grandma is in AK), Sara and her kids over and ate chicken fajitas with homemade tortillas. Then Brett & Kate and their kids joined us for rhubarb pie and ice cream.

This was the first time that I've ever been 'on top' of getting all his gifts together and ready beforehand. I'm not sure if that is a good thing though, because I just wanted to give them to him early!

His main present was a book '30 Reasons We Love George' where I had compiled reasons why everyone loves George from both sides of the family and arranged their quotes with pictures from his childhood on up to current photos. It turned out great. Thank you all so much that took the time to share the love to make this book happen! I embedded a link for anyone that wants to take a closer look.

Happy 30th George!! You're the best husband and father, we LOVE you :)

Click here to view this photo book larger

Busy Boy

Sawyer has been a busy little boy this past week. He took his first step on July 29th, and he's up to four continuous steps now. He also cut his first tooth on the bottom on August 5th. Our baby is growing up, ahhh!

Did I mention he got his license too?