Growing Up Girl

Matt's parents have been wanting to take Bailee for a few days for a while now. We thought that it would work well for Bailee to go home with Mom and Steph after our Scrapbook weekend and then we would meet them in Twin Falls and go to the Temple Open House together. So the time came for them to leave and all of a sudden I realized that she was leaving me! I have left her to go on the girls trip and to go backpacking, but she has never left me for more than a trip to the store or a date with Daddy. Mixed feelings flooded me, but I knew that it was all just a test to see if we (Bailee and I) could handle her leaving for a whole week sometime. Leaving home for the first time and not sad about it one bit!
Bailee had so much fun with Maama and Papa. They took her to the IF Zoo and to see Papa at work. She had so much fun being the center of attention for a few days.
We met them in Twin Falls to go to the open house and also take Bailee home. Bailee was so excited to go through the beautiful temple again. It is so great to see the little children recognized the good feeling they get while they are in a house of the Lord. I feel so blessed to be able to learn through a child's eyes. They always see things in a simple and true way.
Since we went to the Temple, Bailee will put on her white sandals (she calls them her wedding shoes) and tell me that she is going to the temple to get married. It is so cute. I just love hearing her perspective on things.
My best friend, Amy got to come with us to the temple Open house too. I was so glad that she got to come with us. Amy was my Maid of Honor, but because we were married in the temple she didn't get to do a lot of what a traditional maid of honor does. I was so glad that I got to take her to see what it is like in the temple. She was able to see the beauty of the sealing room, I hope that she was able to feel how special the temple is to me and my family. I am thankful that we are a forever family.

Scrapbook Weekend!

Since Matt was on a scout backpacking on our anniversary (with my permission) I decided to invite Steph for the scrapbook weekend we have been talking about having for years now.
Steph and Matt's Mom came over on Wednesday night and we cropped all weekend, when we were not shopping, yard saleing, eating, sleeping and taking care of kids.... Needless to say we ended up doing more other things on our "Scrapbook weekend" then scrapbooking. It was a good thing that Mom came, because she helped out with the kids a ton. We had such a blast though!
Some of the pages that I did over the weekend. I had fun putting extra detail then I normally would into some of my pages.

5 YEARS!!!!

Wow, it is hard to believe that it has been five years that we have been married. The time has flown by. I am so thankful that I found Matt and that I get to share eternity with him. He is such an amazing husband and father. I couldn't ask for more.
This year for our anniversary we celebrated a few days early because Matt was going to be on a backpacking trip with the scouts. Matt took me to the Mona Lisa Fondue Restaurant for dinner. I have been wanting to go there pretty much since we got married. The atmosphere in the restaurant was so romantic and it felt as if we were the only people in the restaurant. It was a Tuesday night so it wasn't to busy and so we didn't have anyone sitting near us. I think that the desert was our favorite part of the four course meal, but it was all good.

Owen has his first Grahm Cracker

While we were at Julia Davis Park, Owen so badly wanted a peanut butter cookie. He even got one to his mouth, luckily I had a grahm cracker stashed in my diaper bag for him to try. He loved it!

Visits from my Sisters

My sister Julie came a few days earlier than originally planned so she could watch Bailee and Owen while Mat and I went backpacking. She is the best! Bailee had so much fun with her kids. I owe her big time because Owen wouldn't take a bottle and so she had some long nights. She must really love me.
Karin moved to Arizona last year and decided after last July that she will never spend another July in Arizona. So she took a three week vacation and spent a week of it here with us. Since she was coming Julie and Kristin decided to come here too so they could see her and of course us too. We had so much fun while they were here. I can't believe all of the stuff we were able to fit in to one week. In a weeks time we went to four parks and had picnics. Picked raspberries at GG's,and made jam with them. Made cards, roasted marshmallows, had two BBQ's, had several volleyball games, played Dance Dance Revolution, and laughed a lot. We went to Idaho City for a hike and yummy ice cream. We also went to the Twin Falls Temple Open House. It was so fun to take the kids. Bailee had been looking forward to going to the temple for weeks and was sad when we couldn't go in again. (we are going again because Matt didn't get to come with us, she will be so happy.)

Backpaking in Rainbow Basin

All year we have been waiting for our backpacking trip to Rainbow Basin. Matt and I left Thursday morning and drove to the trail head at Trinity Lakes. We met our friends Jared and Lori at the trail. The four of us started off on our four mile journey to Big Rainbow Lake. The weather was perfect as we climbed the first mile to the ridge. The next 3 miles are an easy stroll through the woods. There are 8 lakes in a 2 mile stretch in the basin. Matt enjoyed finding a few geocaches along the way. We arrived at Big Rainbow Lake and set up camp near the lake. We grabbed a bite to eat then headed to Little Rainbow Lake to go fishing. We had fun catching the little brook trout.

Friday: We woke up pretty early and went to check out the view and wildflowers near our camp. Our friends woke up around 9:00, they were either wore out or enjoying some sleep away from their kids. We ate breakfast then head cross country to Hideaway Lake. It was really steep and we had to cross a LARGE rock slide. This is where I learned I am very, very afraid of crossing rocks. We eventually made it to beautiful Hideaway Lake. While at the lake we enjoyed catching fish and eating our backpacker's pizza. I even took a nap, who knew I could sleep so well on a log. There was still lots of snow around the lake so Matt and I took the chance to make snow angels in July. From there we went to Middle Rainbow Lake to take a short break and enjoy the scenery. We went back to camp to eat some food and enjoy some fishing before we retired for the night.

Saturday: We woke up early, ate breakfast and packed up camp. On our way out of the basin we stopped a Big Lookout Lake. The were some large trout that enjoyed taunting me and getting my hopes up of a big catch. I can say I am a true fisherman now because I had a big one on the line but he got away. From there we tackled the steep journey on our way back to the car. We had a great time getting to know our friends Jared and Lori and enjoyed Rainbow Basin for a second time.

GG's Raspberries

Ever since I was a kid I have gone to my Grandma's house to pick raspberries in the summer. It is one of my favorite things to do. My grandma always has cream and sugar to go with the raspberries, it is so yummy. For me that is the taste of summer. This year Bailee was old enough to pick them too. She has been waiting for several weeks now and was so excited when the day finally came that she got to pick them. We have been over there and out to see the raspberry bushes a few times and she has been hoping each time that she would get to pick. I was so excited to share that summer tradition with her this past week. Teaching Bailee what a ripe berry looks like.

She was so proud of how full her bucket was getting, even with Daddy's help.
They are so beautiful.

Fourth of July Fun

We went to this great park here in town with out friend the Neilson's. There are some of the coolest toys there. All of the toys are on this turf that is kind of squishy and bouncy.

Even Owen had fun.

At 11 a.m. they start the water in the splash park. Bailee loved it.

After the park we took my mom to lunch at the BEST burger joint in town, Main Street Burgers. The burgers are all made to order with all organic ingredients. Matt loves it because the burgers don't need any sauce, it is just a great tasting burger. Oh... and the fries are so yummy too!

Later in the Evening we met the Neilson's again and headed out to the little town of Melba for a picnic and to watch the fire works show. We had a great visit and had fun tossing around the Frisbee.

To pass the time I brought a kit so the girls could make their own candy necklaces. It was a little hard for them, so the dads did most of the work.

Bailee and Bethany loved them and they kept them pretty busy for a while.

When the fireworks finally started the girls were amazed with them. But our busy body Bailee soon lost interest and was ready to start playing again. The fireworks were amazing! Just when you thought you had seen the finale they would shoot of one or two more to let you know that they were still going. We didn't sit down where the main event was, but the town is so small that we were still able to hear the music that went with the fireworks from a few blocks away. We had a great fourth and were so glad that we got to spend it with the Neilson's.

Extended Cousins

Bailee had so much fun at GG's house on Thursday. She usually just plays by herself when we are there, but this was a special day for her. My Uncle Paul was there with his daughter, Emily and his granddaughter, Jordyn. The three of them had so much fun together, once they got over their territorial-ness. They all usually are the only little one when they are at GG's. It was fun to see them all together.