My weekend

I had the most wonderful weekend away. Talina and I spent the weekend in Rapid City at the Hills Alive 2008 outdoor music festival. She came down Friday night and we left Saturday morning. Derrick was sweet and babysat Nate for me so we could have a girl's weekend away. We got to enjoy artists like Brandon Heath, Tree63, Superchick, Matthew West, Mandisa, TobyMac, Switchfoot along with some excellent speakers. The best part is that its free!

The weather was hot but not near as hot as past Hills Alive that I have been to. We also crammed into our weekend a shopping trip to the mall and a visit to Bear Country. I had told Talina about our visit there earlier this spring and so she really wanted to experience it. I had my camera this time which was fun. We got home around 2:00 am Monday morning so I'm still catching up with my sleep. Here are some pictures of the fun...

Enjoying the time together




The beautiful, one and only, Talina


Superchick

TobyMac & band

Mandisa (I love her!)

Switchfoot

Bear Country, USA

The baby bears are so cute!



These were taken from the car,

with the windows up tight, of course!

I love this shot

Arctic wolf

Reindeer

Elk

Pretty flowers!

Every year I look forward to the beautiful flowers to start appearing in my yard. My favorite is by far the peonies. I love peonies not only for their vibrant colors and sweet aroma but they remind me of the ones in my wedding bouquet. Peonies were my flower of choice for my bouquet but if I remember right they were quite expensive so we decided against them. However, my mom did not give up on my desire and discovered some growing in a yard across town and bravely asked if we could cut some to have in my wedding (we did sort of know the people). The morning of the wedding my mom went across town and hand picked them and added them to my bouquet... needless to say they are very special to me. So imagine my delight when I discovered two big flower beds full of peonies in our yard when we moved to our house!
Here is my first bouquet of the year (the daisies are left over from the flowers Derrick gave to me for our anniversary); thought I'd share the beauty.

Summer days...

Having fun on the fourth of July

Enjoying the park on a very hot day!

Watching Daddy mow the lawn...very exciting!

Rocking with his bear

What a sweetie!

Here is our newest niece and cousin,

KayLee Marie Moring.

Born to Evan and Sabina on Friday, June 27 in Billings, MT.

7 lbs, 6 oz, 19 1/2 in.

She truly is beautiful!!

5 years and going strong...

Yesterday, the 28th of June, Derrick and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. I cannot believe that it has been 5 years already! It has really flown by! Derrick and Nate went on a bike ride in the morning and came back with a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates. They know me well. :) It was a beautiful day full of big fluffy clouds and sunshine, much like our wedding day. Our 5 years together has been full of ups and downs but there is no one else in the world I would have wanted by my side. I love Derrick with all my heart and it is such a beautiful thing to know that he was who God chose for me. In celebration of our anniversary, I thought I'd post some pictures of that beautiful Montana day five years ago...

All in a week's time

Wow, I am finally home again! I just realized that I have only been home 5 days out of the entire month of June. It has been so much fun, but it is good to be home again. I always feel overwhelmed when I get home because there is so much to do but I am trying to not think about it and just focus on one thing at a time. Our week at home was a crazy one! Almost book worthy, I think. My mom and I were thinking back at our week and just had to laugh. I think they (mom and dad) are quite happy to have their peace and quiet back. Here are just a few things that went on this week: a wedding, two family reunions, kids who didn't want to take naps, early mornings and late nights, the flu, sore throats, runny noses, poopy diapers, more poopy diapers, trips to the chiropractor, a 3:00 am trip to the ER (poor Kate had a bad ear infection), relentless mosquitoes, thunderstorms, quarter-size hail, sunburns, visits from old friends, cold showers, a blown bike tire, hitchhiking on the back of a harley (that would be Derrick), picnics in the park, and lots of lattes and mochas!! On top of it Merilee and Geoff and kids ended up driving instead of flying so after this long week they had to get back in the van and drive 20 more hours. (not recommended with two babies) I was very thankful for our short 4 1/2 hour drive home.
In spite of the craziness, it really was wonderful to be together and watch the cousins interact with each other and observe each little personality. I hate the fact that we all live so far away but am thankful for each chance that we can be together. All week long we talked about getting the four cousins together in one place (not easy to do) for a picture and, unfortunately, it never happened. But here are a few that we did take...

Cousins: Luke (16 months), Nate (15 months), and Kate (8 months)


Kate: what a doll she is!

Luke enjoying some watermellon at the reunion on the farm

Nate loved the farm!

My mom and Nate

Father's Day dinner

The boys making some music

Nate loves his Papa

Kate always has a smile on her face

Mylo and Nate in "Papa's chair"

Luke escaping down the stairs

Just waking up

The newlyweds: Anna and Matt

So pretty

Our little family

(Ok that was more than a few pictures. Sorry.

I have been meaning to figure out how to use the slideshow feature

but I haven't had the chance yet)

Lewistown trip #1

So Nate and I returned from Lewistown Sunday evening. It was a fun and busy week. My main job was to make sure Mom wasn't over doing it (it was a hard job). I kept having to say things like "I can get that, Mom", and "Are you sure you should be carrying that?" and "When was the last time you laid down?" and she usually took my hints. I feel like the week flew by so fast that I didn't get as much done for her as I had hoped, but she was satisfied so I guess thats all that matters. We leave on Friday for Lewistown again for my cousin's wedding on Saturday, and a familly reunion on Sunday. Then Derrick will head home again to work a few days and Nate and I will stay there (Merilee and Geoff and kids will be there!) Then we have another family reunion the following Saturday. Lots of family...I'm so excited! I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures to post when I get back but here are a few from this last week. Mylo (my brother Jeff's daughter) had such a fun time with Nate. It was sweet to watch their interactions.

Mylo slowly giving Nate a ride

Nate's first taste of licorice...thanks to Grandma

Brush those teeth!

(I placed this picture after the licorice picture in case

anyone was worried about his teeth...

okay, maybe it was just me:)

Storytime with Papa