Trailriding Adventure

Leon needed some photos for a painting so his neighbor Mel Griffith took him up into Alaska Basin on his horses and was kind enough to let us and Jordan and his fiance Anna (who we love) tag along. It was BEAUTIFUL. Though we couldn't make it to the top due to snow we had an amazing time.

Jordan and Anna (in the orange hat, though you can't see her face) and Mel. Mel was a biology teacher and so we'd stop every so often and have a mini biology lesson, which was really cool.

Troy and I. And YES I wore my cowboy hat because I love it.

Jordan, Anna, Troy, Me, Kathy, and Leon when we stopped for lunch. Notice all the beautiful black horses? They're the Americana horses and BOY did they have a lot more energy going up and down that rocky trail than any trail horse I've ever been on. It was such a blast! P.S. Thank you SO much mom for watching Rockwell the whole day!

What a Busy Summer

So it seems like you either have time to blog and nothing to write about or a ton to write about and no time to blog. This summer has been the latter. We've been boating, camping, hiking, gardening, riding horses, sewing, and swimming and then some. Below are a few posts about some of the fun things we've been up to in the last month

A Long Overdue Post About our Camping Trip

We went camping one weekend with Fred and Nita, Brennan and Grace, and Charles and Nancy to the calderas. It was quite an adventure hiking all our gear down in there but well worth it because it was beautiful and out of the wind. Most of the photos aren't too exciting but we sure had fun just hanging out in the great outdoors. We had some food issues but we now know better what to pack next time.

It was Rockwell's first camping trip and he had a lot of fun playing in the dirt. He slept in the sleeping bag with Troy and I and did pretty well.

Rockwell's Favorite Things

Our little guy is growing up and keeping us on our toes! He is always moving and always into something.

One night I was cooking and he was whining so I handed him leftover green onion I was chopping. He LOVED it and gnawed on it for the next half hour.

He loves playing in water unless we want him to. One night we taught him to drink from the sprinkler.

It takes about 60 seconds for my house to go from clean to disaster. Just look at that mischievous face!

I still can't believe my sister's cat let him do this. Like most babies he loves animals. He chases our cats around and has his own word/noise for them that kind of sounds like a meow.

Most of all Rocky LOVES his daddy. I'm nothing when Troy is around and I try not to get jealous ;) I just wish this picture turned out better.

Family Photos

A while back my sister Sarah took family photos of us. Here are a few of our favorites:

Independence Day

We had such a fun and busy 4th! Troy had to work most of the day but Rocky and I made it to the parade. He liked the first few minutes of it with the fire engine sirens and horses going on.

It was a good parade but honestly, if you've been to one Rexburg parade you've been to them all but it was fun and I love going to it (although the chocolate milk truck didn't make it this year... too bad :( ) Hey! it's the gang on their bikes in the parade for Sign Design.

Eventually Rocky got bored and started stealing people's chairs.

Then we went to a picnic at Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Leon's house. I didn't get any pictures of the actual BBQ. This kid is so attracted to dirt. I think he can smell it a mile away. He's playing with his cousin James

We took an afternoon nap, got some work done and had another BBQ next door (no pics) By then we missed the rodeo and were to tired to make it to the Rexburg Fireworks (arguably not worth the 5 minute trip). So we put Rocky to bed and were trying to figure out what to do next when we hear fireworks close by. Our good friends the Keeleys down the street were setting of fireworks so we grabbed the baby monitor and joined them.

I had fun playing with our camera's night portrait setting. not bad. I look like I'm in pain and Troy looks like he doesn't want his picture taken (probably because he doesn't) BUT it's a fun setting.

Thanks Keeleys!

Woah! this picture looks cool!

Troy doing his patented fire dance.

What a great country to celebrate. Happy Independence Day everyone!

21.097494 kilometers

My mom and I did a half marathon in Island park this weekend. It was hard but it was fun! And I'm super proud to say we jogged the whole thing-no walking.... go us! Our time was 2:37 minutes which isn't bad considering the high altitude and the rough dirt trail and that it was our first time. The most fun was training- going jogging with my mom 3 times a week and having a set goal to get us out of bed each time. So, even though we got passed by some old ladies (who totally cheated) and came in almost last, we had a great time and will probably do it again someday.

Before:

After: