Update

Things have been pretty laid back the past couple of weeks around these parts. We did celebrate my brother Stuart's 22 birthday yesterday. He is now the double deuce - I can't believe he is that old!!! We shot the 22 gun in honor of his age just like we did when I turned 22. Sean, June, and I went up to Island Park over the weekend for the annual Tracy camp out. Most everybody else had gotten there earlier in the week, so we missed most of the fun activities, but we still had a good time visiting with family. On Saturday the three of us met up with some of our friends and went swimming up at the Island Park Reservoir. It was a hot day, and the water wasn't too cold, so we all had fun getting wet. My little June bug just loves the water and I think she would like me to just let go of her and let her swim, but I think I will wait a few years before I let her do that. Oh, I can't forget that Sean decided to have a handle bar mustache for a few days this weekend. I don't really like facial hair, but it did look pretty funny, and he got a lot of comments and weird looks from people. The mustache had to come off before church on Sunday though.
Most of the time it is just me and my sweet girl chillen out together, and I wouldn't have it any other way. She makes my world so happy, and everyday she does or discovers something new. Here is just a list of some of the fun things we do together: go for rides in the stroller, swim in our pool, blow bubbles, ride our bike, read stories, dance to music (Coldplay's Viva la Vida is our favorite song as of today), cook and bake, play with June's toys, and my favorite - give lovies (June gives the best hugs and kisses ever).

Mission Accomplished

They made it!!! Stuart and Preston reached the top of the Grand Teton at 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning. Way to go - I have the best brothers EVER.
Look at the muscles on Preston, what a man. This is Stuart on the Wyoming side of the Tetons

Climbing the Grand

My two brothers are up in the Tetons climbing the Grand today. They left early Monday morning and they will summit on Tuesday morning. I may be a tad bit jealous that they are doing this without me, but it is great that the two of them are experiencing this together. They have always been best buds. So, if you are in the area look up to the Grand - use your imagination - and you will be able to see them. They said they would wave to me, so I will definitely be on the look out!!!!! Good luck Stuart and Preston.

Extreme Camping

The annual Marshall camp out was over the weekend, and we had such a great time. I will be the first one to admit it, but before I became a Marshall I wasn't much of a camper. The Marshall's have changed my way of thinking though. Camping is down right fun when you are with them. Our campsite was up near Spencer Idaho, and even though it was a little on the dusty side, it was a very scenic spot. We went on lots of 4-wheeler rides, tried out my nieces new dirt bike (which totally rocked), got into water fights (Sean and I have killer squirt guns so we were the King and Queen of the water wars), ate way to much camp food, stayed up late chatting after all the kids had gone to bed, fished, and competed in an obstacle course on the 4-wheeler where you had to balance a cup of water while riding. Needless to say, there was always something going on.

One of the new things we did this year was a skit night. Every family did one or two skits, and it was very entertaining. The picture above is of three of my sister-in-laws, my niece, and me (I'm in the middle) dancing to "Summer Time" from High School Musical 2. We could hardly breath in those pillow cases, but it was a blast. Sean and I did a "Cool and Creamy" skit where we sang and then covered each other with shaving cream. We got very messy, but the kids loved it.
My June was a good little camper. She got very dirty, and she loved every minute of it (until I tried to clean her up). I loved this shot of her in the wild flowers - my little pretty next to all of the little pretties out in the wild.

Independence Day 2008

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. The summer heat, parades, good food, family,water fun, fireworks - what's not to like about it. This year was a particularly good one. We went to the parade in the morning. My mother and father-in-law were in the parade this year, so it was fun to see them pass by. My brother was also home for the fourth, and at the parade was when I got to see him for the first time. He is selling Comcast in Seattle, but he got to come home for the weekend. After the parade we headed over to our good friends the Smith's for their annual 4th of July Barbecue. The food was excellent, as it always is.

Later we went back home to get ready for our own party we were hosting at our house. It was with Sean's side of the family, and it was a swimming party. We had two pools set up. One was warm because it had been soaking up the sun for a few days, and the other one was pretty chilly because we had just filled it up. The kids liked the warm one the best and swam for hours.
We also set up some slip-n-slides and they turned out to be the hit of the party. I am pretty sure that us big kids had more fun on them than the actual kids. We flipped, twisted, flopped, skied, and splashed our way down - sometimes getting pretty grassy and muddy at the end.
We also barbecued up some hamburgers and hot dogs for everybody before we all headed over to the fireworks. Below is three of the hottest mama's you will ever find soaking up some sun.

The fireworks we spectacular like usual. They say it is the biggest firework display west of the Mississippi, but that could just be a rumor. We visited the Marshall side of the family at their usual spot and then headed over to where my family sits - which is so close to where they light the fireworks off that you actually get bits of firework debree that sometimes falls on you. June wasn't too sure about the big BOOM that the fireworks make, but after the first few she decided that they were very pretty and she liked to watch them.
After the big fireworks we went over the Sean's parents house and lite off more fireworks. I love a good sparkler, so I danced around the yard with a few of those. The kids loved picking fireworks and watching them go off. June was asleep by this time, so I didn't have to worry about her burning herself. We ended up staying and chatting with some of my brother and sister-in-laws until about 2:00 a.m. It was worth it because we got to laughing pretty hard, and I love when that happens. Altogether it was a great holiday.

Thank You Michael

At the moment, Thriller is my most favorite CD to listen to. June and I have danced and sang our way though the house while cleaning these past two days, and it is all thanks to the King of Pop.