Who's that girl?

Couldn't resist posting this picture. She is adorable! Maura with hair! Black, nasty, wig hair - funny! Love you Mookie! Miss you sis!

Brady chases a calf!

Because we knew that we were going to spend the entire day at the
Jr. Rodeo, we decided to sign up all the kids to compete in an event -
just to make it more fun. Brady was a great calf chaser. He bravely
chased down the calf - grabbed the ribbon from his tail - and then
let go of it because another kid had a hold of it too! Brady is just
such a nice kid - he wouldn't keep a hold of it. Gave it up to be the
nice kid. Kelly is always encouraging him to be more aggressive in sports
- but I'm really glad that he's always the nicest kid around!
Lining up!
Chasing down that calf!
Finishing empty handed - but with a smile!

Cowgirl

Rae is a barrel racer! She is having a blast this summer with barrel racing.
She goes to barrel club each week and really works at improving her time.
She is riding a new horse this year - Lady - and so she has been really
working at getting Lady to put up some fast times. They are getting there.
Barrel club is on Thursday nights and every Thursday Rae bounces off
the walls with excitement - just can't wait to go to barrel club.
Grampa Jonesy and Colleen have been great about taking her and we really
appreciate it - Rae is having a great time! She was able to compete this
last weekend in the Jr. Rodeo in Thayne. She didn't place, but she did get
her fastest time ever. She was waaaay proud! Way to go Rae Rae!

Coming fast around #1
Turn #2
Last barrel and bringing it home!
Yea Rae and Lady!

Hats

Cuties in Hats! Say no more!

Brady the tree climber

Brady normally isn't very daring - so I was really shocked when we were eating lunch under a tree and looked up so see Brady halfway up the thing! He was all smiles! He enjoyed his birds-eye view for a while, and then stressed about getting down! Kelly helped. All was well! Cute boy!

View from my back window

This is a usual sight for me as I look out of my house during the summer. Rae is such a fun girl! Reese loves it when she takes her for a ride!

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!