BOOKs

Nothing warms my heart more than seeing CC reading to MJ.

Nothing. Nothing.

I love hearing her read this book in particular.

And listening to MJ giggle at the parts she thinks are funny.

The library is one of our favorite places to visit.

One of the greatest gifts, I think America has given its people is the public library system.

You can learn anything you want from a book.

I tell my girls that all the time.

I encourage them to find books about new subjects they are interested in.

They love it.

SPLASHING IN THE RAIN

It was raining hard this afternoon.

The gutters filled and spilled into the street.

Sierra and I ran up and down the gutters until we were soaking wet.

I am glad I have this girl to remind me of the simple pleasures of life.

MADISON FACES

I love Madison faces.

Yesterday, we went on a picnic to the park.

Sierra rode her bike without training wheels. She was excited and proud.

We took a box of cereal and some milk and paper bowls and spoon.

They loved eating and playing.

On the way back home Sierra crashed.

Afterwards she said that it was worse day ever and we shouldn't have come to the park.

She did skin her elbow pretty bad.

Don't worry it got better...

We went to the thrift store and found a full china set for five dollars.

We are excited to use it for an upcomming tea party/birthday party.

Then we got snow cones and the snow shack.

We stopped off that the red box on the way home and bought Tangled for five dollars.

I thought it was quit the deal since all my DVD's are scratched anyway.

I was suprised it didn't skip at all, so it is settled I will do it again.

I almost finished Emily's blanket.

I have to send it off to my sister tomorrow.

Then I went to Sister K's farm and planted herbs and made jam perserves.

All in all, a full day. It was perfect day.

SUMATION of A RANDOM WEEK

There was a garden party with all of women in my church.

A women with a beautiful backyard hosted it.

We all dressed in pink.

We talked about books we had read and had wonderful food.

Kelly made this ice cream that came from heaven itself.

I love Maxine in the picture below she is the one on the right.

She always has a cleaver story or a funny joke to tell whenever we get together.

She carries sunshine where ever she goes.

Darcy invited us to the Grand Junction Fun Fest.

You can see MJ playing in her sunglasses.

MJ has a rough time in crowds.

She wanted to be held the whole time. She wouldn't participate in any of the fun.

She finally got down after one of the dental booths gave her a sucker in the shape of a tooth.

(Sucker Dentists...kind of an oxymoron don't you think.)

...but I didn't complain I was just glad to have her out of my arms.

I have an amazing friend that came to Grand Junction on the local train.

She brought her daughter along with her.

It was so fun to see her.

She is one of those unique people that makes a print on your life that you carry always.

She has taught me so much in the six years I have known her.

We went antique shopping and out for lunch at one of the local coffee shops.

We played down at Sister K's farm.

We were going to take the girls to a little tea party.

There is a local shop her painted like a castle. The little girls get to choose out a white pinafore and a hat to wear for the occasion.

They serve tea and dessert.

Sadly, you had to have reservation a week in advance.

Luckily, they let us come in and look around.

There was a vintage clothing shop attached to the tea shop.

I was looking around because I love vintage clothing.

I told the owner I have dreamt of designing vintage modern clothing since high school.

She said, if I would design a line of six to eight pieces she would throw me a fashion show, around the holiday season, in her shop.

Although we are Grand Junction not New York and her shop is small and quaint, I was excited.

Hey, it would be the start of a portfolio.

Remember this dress.
Sigh... and then I think about all the work... maybe.

We watched the Red Riding Hood movie. Lame.
We talked about life, she encouraged me to make a bucket list.

BLACKBERRIES

I love this little girl.

We picked blackberries today at Sister K's farm.

She was eating them faster than I could pick them.

Can you tell?

Sister K had an appendectomy yesterday.

She was hobbling around holding her side.

I kept insisting I would pick the blackberries alone, but she wouldn't have it.

CC loves playing in the irrigation that runs past Sister K's yard.

I brings joy to my heart to watch her play in it.

I use to play in irragation ditch when I was small. (At my grand parents house and at my Aunt's house up in Lewiston.)

Her favorite part is digging the mud up and piling it on the side of the ditch and molding it.

She makes me laugh.

She is always covered from head to toe in mud when she is done.

She loves it.

I just throw her in the tub when we get home.

My girls are now clean.

No more hiding at the farm.

I have to clean my house. Sigh.

EXCITED ABOUT THIS ONE

Well, here is a sneak peak.

Emily insisted she wanted one.

I am going to get a picture of all the blankets I have made this year and do a post on it later in the summer.

I love applique.

Something quarky about me.

I especially love doing baby quilts.

SWIMMING FUN

 We had a new family in the ward over to swim in our tiny pool.

We had a good time.

The children were very sweet and well behaved.

I hope if I ever have that many children they are as well behaved.

Speaking of which...
CC did wake up this morning and said she had a dream that she had a little brother.

I thought it was sweet.

Speaking of CC...

She was helping me get a bowl yesterday to put the cut pinnapple in.

She chose one of my large glass ones.

She tripped.

The bowl shattered in about about a trillion pieces, when it hit our hard tile. 

Then she landed on the shards of glass.

I picked her up and asked if she was okay.

She looked fine. 

I grabbed the broom.

Two seconds later I looked at her, and she was covered in blood. 

Her face.

Her arms.

Her knees.

Luckily, none of her cuts were deep, but there were a lot.
I think MJ was screaming more than she was.
Nate had to comfort MJ, while I bandaged up CC.

PICTURES

I am hating blogger. When I upload my pictures they become pixilated and de-saturated. I am beyond frustrated. Does anyone know why?

Thanks,

Me

CAMPING ON THE MESA

We went camping up on the Mesa.

We had a beautiful valley and pristine lake all to ourselves.

It may have partly been do to the thunderstorms, rain, and blood sucking mosquitoes, but the girls didn't seem to mind or their father. 

I will keep my opinion unexpressed.

Late into the evening, after the sun had long set the girls were having giggling fits.

I couldn't calm them and decided to let them create whatever mischief they may as long as they kept it in the tent.

I went to the fire and read my latest book, the biography of Cleopatra.

Nate got back from the lake and opened the tent and dived in the middle of the girls and told them stories of his scouting adventures as a young boy.

They loved it and I am sure they will never forget it.

GROSS, I KNOW, BUT SHE LOVES IT

 Here is Mr. Lizard, with a nice tasty treat.

CC and her Dad caught him in the desert. They bought a home for him and now he is CC's pet.

CC collects grasshoppers from Sister K's farm to feed to Mr. Lizard.

She shrieks with delight when Mr. Lizard eats his supper.

Yuck!

Here are some fun pictures Ryan sent me of the man trip this last weekend.

Fun, huh?

4th of JULY

CC was so excited to see Ryan. She insisted she had never seen him before.

He reminded her of all the times he and Nate took her to the zoo in Pittsburgh.

She still couldn't remember. She said she needed a pictures so she wouldn't forget again.

Ryan said he and Nate had a great time fishing. He came back exhausted. Ryan said they packed a weeks worth of vacationing into two days. Even after they got back, Nate wouldn't let him sit on the couch to rest. He wanted him to go out in the desert and shoot something or drive up to see the Monument. Ryan begged me to turn on movie to distract him.

Nate wanted to be sure he had a good enough time that he would come back again.

He promised he would.

(He loves showing off his state and especially the fishing it has to offer. I am sure if anyone else wants to come and play he would love to have you.... Michael, Phillip, Derrick, Neil, Spencer, Brandon, Paul or Mike.)

The girls had a fun forth of July.

Funny thing about MJ....

She ran into my room in the morning and I told her we were going to have a party. She said, "A happy birthday to me party?" I said, "No, a happy birthday to America party."She said, "Oh." I asked her what we should buy for the party. She said, "We need hats." I thought it was funny that was the first thing she thought of. She also wanted a cake and balloons. We didn't do hats or balloons, but she did get a flag and a cake.

Funny thing about CC....

She asked, "Mom why do we have a party of the 4th of July." I said, "To celebrate our freedoms and give thanks to all those who died fighting to preserve them and to give thanks to those even now who fight to preserve the freedoms of our country." She said, "Is that why I keep hearing guns and explosions? Are they fighting right now." I laughed and told her no, those are just fireworks.

HAPPY SUNDAY BEFORE THE FOURTH

PAINTING WITH LIGHT

 Yesterday, we went to the library.

Sierra makes me laugh at her book choices. She always visits the non-fiction section and picks out books on things she is interested in. This times it was frogs.

She is allowed to pick out one movie each time we visit. This time the movie she chose was about ocean life.

Last night, Nate's best friend from dental school Ryan flew in from Indiana.

He was leaning on the counter looking at a jar of insects Sierra caught yesterday on the farm.

He laughed and said, "You two already have a boy."

I insisted we didn't and that we are still going to have a little boy.

He smiled and said, "Well that Sierra certainly is a tomboy."

I didn't argue because I love Ryan and he meant it as a compliment. I agree with him that her father couldn't have hand picked a better little compainion. However, Sierra is so many thing and I hate the title of tomboy. She is a princess, a lover of fairies, and mermaids. She loves to dress up and play with her doll house. She loves her princess polly pockets. She loves her long hair and especially loves it when it is curled. She loves having her nails painted. Yes, she has a huge fascination with all things nature. She loves plants, rocks, insects, and all animals. She loves to hike, camp, and fish. She loves to read about all sorts of things from princesses to frogs. I love all these things about her. She is very much a girly-girl that loves nature.

(And that is my two cents about it. :)

On another note...

Yesterday, because she reached her reading goal she got to pick a prize from the librarian.

She picked a multi-colored light stick.

For fun, we went in the closet and drew with light.

It was really fun.

These are Sierra's pictures.

CATCHIN' GRASSHOPPERS

 After pulling a few weeds, Brother Bob and CC sat on a bench and looked out across their small garden.

I was driving the tractor with MJ on my lap. We were bringing weeds to the cows.

I caught a glimpse of them together. CC was gazing up at Brother Bob and her little mouth was running a mile minute. I had to giggle, thinking on all the stories she must be sharing.

After I unloaded, I headed back across the farm to get some more weeds.

MJ and I were gathering weeds when CC came running through the grape vines.

She was excited and her arms were out stretched.

She exclaimed, "We caught a grasshopper mom! And it is as green as the grass."

With that she ran back over to Brother Bob's garden.

Brother Chuck, chuckled to himself and said with a hint of sarcasm, "Those truly are a rarity."