Minnetonka Caves

We have been having a fun and busy summer! One of the fun things we have done is go on a little outing to Minnetonka Caves and Bear Lake. It was a great day. Brannen and I made it through half of the caves before he got waaaaayy to hungry to continue. So we slipped out the back of the tour and went back by ourselves. Kind of spooky in a long, big, cave by yourself for 15 minutes! Well - Bran was with me, so I was okay! After the caves, we had lunch at a fun drive in - and played in their hammock, then got a little wet at Bear Lake. We had a really fun day.

Relay for Life

One of the fun things Rae has done this summer with the Royalty
girls is participate in the Relay for Life - to raise money for cancer victims.
They had a team that walked all night long. Rae had a blast - and was REALLY tired.
Fun stuff!!

Poor Baby

Brannen looks like he's been attacked by a wildcat! The kid has had a cold for 3 weeks, and he's getting tired of having a stuffy nose. I really have been keeping his fingernails short!

Jr. Princess

We really had a great time going to parades this weekend . Rae is quite the horse girl! She has a fun summer ahead of her. She is so excited! We are too! She is such a beauty - love you Rae!

The funny Brannen

It has been more than a week since you saw the kiddo! We can't have that! I'm sure you are going through terrible longing and pain. So here you go -- I'm setting you up. What a CUTIEEEEE!

Thanks Rylee for the hat! He loves it!

Reese is Beautiful!

Here is wonderful Reese and her new haircut! She really wanted to get her hair cut for summer - and I really LOVED her long, long hair. But we decided that it would be okay to cut it if we gave all of her hair to Locks of Love. So that's what we did! You have to have 10 inches to donate - and she had that for sure. She sure looks cute with her new hair cut! These pictures kind of got out of order, and I can't figure out how to move them - but I think you'll get the idea. We love you Reese! What a kind thing to do!

She Did It!

Horray for Rae the Rodeo Princess! She did so very well - and we are really proud of her. She won the horsemanship category and the speech category (the only two that they separate out and give prizes for) so she made her win a clean sweep. Talk about a girls' dream come true! She has been talking about this day since she could talk. She was on cloud nine for sure.

To explain a little more - the girls get judged on specific things and earn points accordingly. Here is the run down:
Photogenic- 50
Modeling- 50
Appearance- 50
Speech- 125
Personal Interview- 125
Horsemanship- 150
Calf chase- 50
Presentation Ride- 30 (the big wave around the arena while on her horse)
Horsemanship Appearance- 50

We knew Rae would do well in the interview and speaking - she's a talker (of course) but we were a little worried on the horse stuff. We thought that she needed more polish on her patterns - but she showed us! She won that too! Great job Rae! We are excited to see you in all the parades this summer riding and waving on your noble steed!!!

Brannen the Cutie

Just some random pictures of the boy that I think are so cute. He is so fun!

Told You So!

Say no more.

Rae the Cowgirl

She's getting ready to try out for Rodeo Jr. Princess - and she so excited. We had her pictures taken on Saturday - they look really great! I just snapped this one fast in the car - we were running a little late or else I would have done better. Anyway, she is really excited. She LOVED both of the beautiful shirts that Colleen made for her - thanks Colleen! Now she just has to spend the time working with her horse and perfecting her speech for tryouts. Good luck Rae Rae!

Outside at Last!

So you know, in Star Valley, when the weather gets above 50 degrees - we get all excited! I just have to call Martha a say, "Let's get outside and cook something!" So we did. Last night we had a great time being outside. Jeff and Kelly cooked some burgers - kids jumped on the trampoline and played basketball - it was great! The first cookout of the year! Yahoo!
So I hear it is supposed to snow tomorrow . . . . . . . . ho hum.

He's Still Kinda Funny Lookin!

But Oh So Cute!!!!

(Yes people, the Bumbo is on the counter - I'm aware. I'm being careful - I had to take a picture. Don't comment and tell me I shouldn't do it - I'm a big girl.)

Me and the Younguns

My kids were taking a few pictures the other day and wanted me to post them on the blog. So here are a couple Brady took. He was all about the close up. Wow - Reese is looking older! Me too - but don't tell anyone.

Gotta Dance

Rae and Reese just finished their dance classes for the year, and they both had such a great time. The theme this year was "Dancing with Disney". Reese danced a tap routine to the song "Tiki Room" (not the annoying bird version - a cool, new, updated Hillary Duff version. Much better - and more cool for a 7 year old), and a ballet dance to "Part of Your World" from the Little Mermaid. She did so well! She really loved it. Rae's class performed a tap/ tumbling routine to the song "Bet On It" from High School Musical 2 and a GREAT tap performance of "Step In Time" from Mary Poppins. It was so much fun to watch. The "Step In Time" number was really long and fairly difficult. Both of the girls had a great time performing and the did so very well!

Love You G-Man!

Brannen and His Girlfriends

Brannnen loves to just hang around all day with his pals. They chat. They watch movies. They argue about who ate all the cheerios. Fun stuff. What a doll! : )

FUNNY

I posted the cute ones - now here are the FUNNY ones. I can't believe some of these! What a crazy looking little baby! What a GOOF!




He definitely does "surprised" very well! I'm thinking he looks very Hobbit-like here. Or maybe a troll doll. What a MUG!

Cute Baby Boy

Haven't posted pictures of the kiddo in a bit - so here are some cute ones. He's getting so big! He is 8 1/2 pounds now - and he'll be 2 months old on Wednesday. That is crazy - he's a tiny tot! That's what Rae always calls him - "Tiny Tot". We love the little bugger!

A Car Kelly Can't Take a Crow-Bar To

So the man finally bought a decent car. He is really appreciating it too - after spending many, many, many years driving more interesting cars. His Beeeemer will now allow him to look down his nose at everyone he drives by : ) Kinda fun for him to finally have a nice set of wheels! Let's see how long it takes him to lock himself out. Start timing now!

I'm IT

Okay Bekki - here goes.

10 years ago I was:
Living in our cute little house in Afton. I was pregnant with Brady - he was born on June 14th. So I guess I was pretty miserable (I remember that right now very well!) and chasing after a not quite 2 year old - Rae. I was really happy at this time in my life. I remember that for sure! Rae was cute and so much fun to listen to and play with. She was a non-stop talker! Didn't get over that aspect of her personality! I was excited for the arrival of Brady. Little did I know that I wouldn't be walking for a month after he was born - and that having 2 little kids is HARD work! The rest of that year was tough!

5 years ago I was:
Just barely living in our new house that Kelly built for us here in Grover. We moved in at Christmas time. Rae was 7, Brady 5 and Reese was 2! Wow! Time flies! Kids grow fast! Kelly was still enjoying teaching school. And I loved hanging out with Reese everyday while everyone else was at school. Two is a fun age. She was such a cutie. I was really enjoying being a stay at home mom.

5 things on my to-do list today:
Feed Brannen
Change Brannen
Do the Mommy-Mambo (you bet, Jen) with Brannen over and over again
Get Brannen to sleep (please, oh please - make it a long nap - I have lots to do!)
Try to feed and help take care of the rest of my family
Grocery shopping
Laundry
Sleep - hopefully
Oh - that's more than 5 - count the baby stuff for one --"Take Care of Brannen"


Snacks I enjoy:
All of 'em. Every single one. I enjoy 'em.

Places I've lived (naming a few)
Safford, AZ
Dolores, CO
Bedford, WY
Laramie, WY
Powell, WY
Lyman, WY

Jobs I've had:
Live-in Nanny
Cheese chopper and waitress at SV Cheese factory - wasn't it SO MUCH FUN, Sandy!?!
Wrangler (for far too many years! - I know you miss me, Jonesy)
Print Star Clerk
Reading Mastery Teacher
Mommy

5 things I want to learn or do:
Tap dance
Ski like a normal person
French braid very well
Make imovies as well as Rae
Be more soft-spoken (yea, well, I'll try- really hard)

That was fun - thanks Bek!
Get on the wagon Jenny Jen!