☼ Fun in the Sun ☼

Summer feels like it's finally in full swing and I don't dare complain about the heat!! We've waited so long for it & are happy to finally embrace it!! Laura was nice enough to have us all over to kick-off our summer weather & have some fun in the sun!

This little sand & water toy was a huge hit!
I've never seen one toy totally entertain 6 kids at once!!

By mid-morning it was hot enough to dive into the pools of cool water. I loved listening to the little squeals of delight that would follow each splash into the chilly water. Such fun!

There was also a fun seal sprinkler hooked up to the hose that would spray water up into the air. They all had lots of fun inching their way up to get a sprinkle of cool water, but then immediately would dash back to the safety of snuggley warm towels.

Evie was the only one brave enough to actually "touch" the strange creature. :)

Sandboxes, sweet treats & swimming pools, it was quite a delightful day!
We left with sunkissed cheeks, sticky popsicle hands & smelling like sunscreen.

Sounds like a pretty successful summer kick-off to me!!

[simple things]

I love the simple things in life.

I love sunshine & watching Jackobi blow dozens of dandelions in the breeze. We've had a great couple of somewhat sunny days & have loved every minute of them!! Jackobi is at an age where the most simple things are fascinating. We've cloud watched, chased bubbles & sipped lemonade. What a simply wonderful week we've had!!

Last week, for Father's Day, my sweet friend gave me a little questionnaire for Jackobi to answer about her Daddy. She's a little young to understand and answer some of the questions, so we went with the simple version. Her answers were too cute not to share! I'm excited to ask her the full version next year and see how her answers compare!

What makes daddy happy? Throw me high!! Yea!

What makes daddy sad? Chichr (Chipper our dog) barking – no no no!! Chichr naughty. [she answered this one very seriously}

How does daddy make you laugh? Tic-tle (tickle) me … daddy silly

What does your daddy do when you are not around? Ball … Daddy at ball ….

What does daddy do for his job? Wrk (nodding her head)

What is your daddy’s favorite food? Daddy, daddy eat meat! Meat yummy! mm hmm!!

If daddy were a cartoon character, who would he be? Hmmm. tink tink tink (think, think think) … naaaa!! [she thought I was so weird for asking this!!]

How do you know your daddy loves you? Daddy love me! Mmm hhhmm!! Me love daddy too!! and Mommy & Grama & Papa & Daddy! Yea!

Where is your daddy’s favorite place to go? Ball! Daddy and Jackobi and Casey play ball. Yea!! (I totally had to ‘translate’ this answer! It was mixed with a lot of excited jibberish!)

{Falls & Fun}

Friday was a gorgeous day! We headed up to check out Shoshone Falls with my favorite family of five & had an awesome time!! It was the perfect day, and wasn't too crowded! Jackobi loved the waterfall & could have gazed at it for hours if we had let her!

The water levels were low, but it was still really neat. The rocks & rustling water made for a beautiful site! I sure love Idaho and the gorgeous things we have so close by!

Jackobi rarely will smile for me when I want to take a picture. Don't let this fool you! She was flashing those pearly whites in attempt to get Carter to come and sit by her! Too cute! [he didn't take the bate ... rolling down the steep hill was MUCH more appealing for him!!]

Jackobi was dazzled by the falls, but these crazy boys were totally fascinated with the rock chucks! Too funny! They scavengered around for rocks & sticks to throw at them. Love little boys and their fascination with things like this! They thoroughly entertained Jackobi all night, it was fun to watch her copy Kase at dinner. They were ALL she could talk about on the drive home! [them and gummy bears on her ice cream ... a new treat they taught her! :) ]

We had a great night out with these guys! So much fun!
Thanks again Logan & Heather!
Here's to many more fun summer adventures!!

Park Paradise

The other morning was an absolutely gorgeous day! Jackobi and I woke up to chirping birds & sunny skies. We knew it would be the PERFECT day to spend at the park! Which lately, we've learned we have to capitalize on the warm days, because there hasn't been one since! We met up with some friends and play & played! What a great day! The park was packed (apparently we weren't the only one's with this great idea!), but we chased kids, ate lunch and had a simply wonderful time!

This little four-some of kiddo's are the best!!
It's so fun to watch them play and grow together!

Apparently, they've learned to NOT look at me when I want their picture ... smart kids! Didn't take them too long to figure that out! I seriously tried from a few angles ... and this is the best I could get with all four of them!

Such a good day!! I love sunny, summer days!
I love these kiddo's and their fabulous mama's.
I can already tell it's going to be one great summer!
(even if the ☼ sun doesn't want to shine!! ☼)
Hopefully it's filled with many more days like this!

[early celebration]

Sara was home last weekend. Her birthday isn't until the 16th, but she'll be celebrating in Chicago this year, so we decided to have our own little celebration a week or so early!

The weekend was perfect.
Sunny warm weather.
Long summer-like walks.
Midnight chats.
Pink & orange cupcakes.
I love sister time.

Happy Birthday Sis!

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary ...

How does your garden grow??

We're so so excited to have planted a garden this year!!
We had the perfect little spot next to Nate's shed & decided to go for it! Jackobi really liked the rototiller & thought it was great fun to help us push it around. Hopefully she keeps the 'Work is Fun' attitude! We were able to till up the soil a few weeks ago, but then were hit with some pretty nasty weather & weren't able to do much. So to keep Jackobi excited about the garden (and entertained inside!) I decided to let her make little signs for each of the rows of vegetables. I had NO IDEA what a hit this would be!!

She colored her little veggies pretty diligently (even thought the onion is partially fuchia) and did a really good job remembering all of their names. She already knew most of them, but squash & tomato were new ones!

She literally played with these for over an hour!
Funny girl! It always amazes me what entertains little ones!

FINALLY ... we were able to capitalize on a warm morning & spend several hours outside finishing up getting the ground ready & actually planting our little garden. Jackobi was really pretty interested & helped me plant the peas, carrots & corn. What a good little helper!

Even more excitement came when she got to put her little veggie signs in front of the rows. I could tell she was pretty proud of herself.

I can't wait until little sprouts begin to peak out of the ground & she can see what comes next!! For now, we'll excitedly check our garden each day!