Summer Days

The girls have been getting up early for the past week (sometimes as early as 4:55 am!) to make coffee and breakfast for Scott and me before he leaves for work. It's incredibly sweet...in more ways than the obvious. I've ended up drinking double the amount of coffee I normally do; in efforts to balance the amount of creamer they use in my coffee, I dilute it with more black coffee.  And, not being one to waste perfectly good (and delicious) coffee, I drink. It. All. :)

So thankful for my sweet girls, though. Two of the mornings, they have also had little notes or cards waiting for us. It's near impossible not to start off the day in a happy mood when these are the gifts that greet you.
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It has been HOT here lately. So hot, in fact, that unless outdoor activity involves being submerged in a swimming pool, it's pretty near impossible to stay out longer than 15 minutes. Popsicles buys little extra time, but still...

This is where I find again that I am SO grateful to have a basement/play room! It's pretty open down there, so the kids have arranged all sorts of games for themselves. They have a "work-out" room in the morning, complete with obstacle courses made from toys, pillows, blankets, and anything else they can find. They clear the area to have space for "gymnastics." They make forts, shut the window blinds, get out flashlights, and tell scary stories. They spread old table cloths on the floor (to protect the carpet) and have arts and crafts time...water colors, markers, craft scissors, glue... You name it, they've probably done it! I've been pretty impressed by their creativity and how well they've played together. :)
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On our way home from church Wednesday night, we stopped by Sonic for some slushies, and Scott got some kind of brownie-batter-ice cream-blast-y type of thing. He gave a little to Julia:

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Julia is not walking on her own yet, but she is getting much closer. She cruises along everything, pushes toys or laundry baskets around the floor, and loves to hold onto someone else's fingers to walk around. Yesterday, the girls introduced her to "Ring Around the Rosey."

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Collin got an Incredible Hulk toy for his birthday (the big family celebration at Nana and Papa's house). It talks and moves its arms, saying things like "Hulk Smash!" and "You want more? Hulk GIVE you more!" (...all in its hulk-y voice, of course.) Julia LOVES it and growls back regularly. (It did take longer for her to cooperate in the video, but it's there...at the end.)

You can tell she has older brothers. She loves to be gently snuggled by most people, and she surely has her dainty little ways, but get her around Ian and Collin or "boy toys" and she is ready to wrestle! Ah, kids are so fun!

The Flying W Ranch

It seems like a place I love is on fire nearly every summer. Just last summer, a year ago yesterday actually, the Las Conchas fire began and proceeded to threaten my hometown of Los Alamos. This summer, Colorado is burning.

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of our vacations to the Colorado Springs area. Yesterday, the Waldo fire raged out of control and progressed more quickly than anyone could have predicted, and one of my favorite places burned to the ground.

When I was in sixth grade, we had to fill out one of those "get to know you" type surveys at school. One of the items was "My favorite singer/musical group is _______." Most people in my class filled in the blank with the New Kids on the Block or Vanilla Ice or MC Hammer; I, being the perfect specimen of 6th grade coolness (*cough, splutter*), unabashedly filled in...The Flying W Wranglers.

Ahem.

I don't remember catching any flack for it, but I also don't remember any other person having any clue who I was talking about.  And that was fine. The group I knew, consisting of Scotty Vaughn, Vern Thomson, Wes English, Sam Nicola, and Dennis Bailey (who was replaced by Joe-- I can't remember his last name), charmed my socks off with songs that made me either laugh till my cheeks and sides were sore, or tugged on my heart in a deeper, richer, more pensive way...or sometimes, maybe a combination of both. They presented the Gospel clearly during their chuck wagon dinner shows, and the entertainment was clean, family friendly, and...fun. Though we haven't had any good opportunities to this point, I always kinda hoped to share this place with my own kids one day.

(One of my favorites, Scott Vaughn)


(My favorite voice...maybe of all time, Wes English)



(Vern Thomson)

There are so many more I could link, too, but here is the Grooveshark link to the search that yielded these.  Have a listen, if you're so inclined. :)

They're saying they will rebuild, so we might still have the chance to take our family...but it won't ever be the same. I know, I know, it already wouldn't have been the same; the band is completely different, and undoubtedly lots of other changes have occurred in the past 20 years (yeesh, I'm getting old), but I've seen enough of the carnage left by forest fires to know that it will ALL be different...the land itself is forever changed.  It makes me so sad. :(

(The group singing the song above is the group I remember.)

Fun in Frisco

We returned home yesterday from a week long stay in Frisco with Scott's family. We had an absolute BALL, and it was tough to leave such a relaxing, fun vacation to come back to the "real world." Thank you, Michael and Brenda, for everything over the past week! We are so blessed by you, and we really appreciate all the ways you made us feel comfortable and so, so special!

I think I'll just narrate through some pictures from the week. I should warn you up front, this is going to be pretty long! :)

Collin and Julia playing
We had plenty of time to rest and chillax at the house, visiting with one another and...

...playing games! Here, Nana and Papa play "Guess Who?" with the girls while Uncle Shane and Ian watch.

Father's Day, pre-cookout and minus Nana (who was in the kitchen)

Then Papa busted out the cool foam plane, and the guys all flew it around while the burgers cooked.

Nana let Katy help her cook/get dinner prepared

On Thursday evening, Scott and I were treated to one of the most awesome dates EVER! We went to iPic Theaters and saw "The Avengers." The movie lived up to its reputation, but the atmosphere and total package of the theater just hit it totally out of the park! Follow the link above to see more of what we got to experience. 

The next day, Friday, was a huge family birthday bash.  Since our family is going to be overseas for the next four years, everyone got together and celebrated everyone's birthdays at once! Collin was the life of the party, haha! (He was a little tuckered out from playing at the pool all morning.)

All the girls got these little grass skirts, which they wore over their swimsuits. Awww...

We had great fellowship...

...uhh...

...and great food!!

Here are my other two beauties in their hula attire. :) (Blogger isn't cooperating to let me move this picture up by the one of Julia. Gr.)

Julia enjoyed some BBQ, too!

Mom face: caught. (AKA "If I see you running through here with this balloon one more time-- Are you seriously taking my picture?!") Ha!

Uncle Alan, the real photographer

Then, it was present time! Collin was up first. He wasn't too sure about being in the spotlight, but afterwards, he wouldn't put his new umbrella down. :)

Ian was thrilled by all his superhero stuff, especially the awesome batman costume

Katy got Hello Kitty galore! Here she is with her nifty umbrella

And here's Emily with her posh polk-a-dot "grown-up" umbrella :)

She also got tons of accessories, most of which had bling-encrusted soccer balls.

Oops, another pic out of order...but here's Katy being silly with her silly turtle earrings :)

Even Julia got her very own umbrella

Daddy helped her open all her gifts, and though she was totally enthralled with the tissue paper, she loved this sweet musical, light-up toy too.

Cousin Brandon with his new binoculars...

Uncle Garrett was really excited about his binoculars

Uncle Shane got a new bike a few days earlier...

...so he was super surprised by his cool new chains :)

I could barely contain my excitement ;)

It was "almost" like I'd picked this stuff out for myself! ;)

The excitement was contagious

Scott, unlike Uncle Garrett, never received instruction on opening birthday gifts

"Oh my WORD! JUST what I always wanted!!!" :)

Uncle Alan couldn't believe his eyes

"My precious..."

Last, but certainly not least, was Grampa Art

Enough puzzle books to keep him busy for...at least days. ;)

The super-dee-duper radical, ginormous cake with EVERYONE'S names on it...and a cupcake for each kid

Each person got their own candle

Blurry, but still awesome :)

Cutting the cake, Eidson style, with a sword! :)

Now you know where Collin gets it

Julia and Candy :)

Emily wanted to pose for a silly picture. I really don't let my kids eat like animals. :-/

We truly did have an AMAZING time! We spend lots of mornings at the neighborhood pool, Scott and the men went out and shot paper to smithereens, Brenda and I had the BEST girls day out...ahhh. What a wonderful trip and a great time with our incredible family. Love you all!!!