First Day of School

Karlee was so excited to finally start Kindergarten...she had been counting down the days all summer and was so excited for her turn to go to school. Needless to say Shelby and I were not as excited...we both knew we were going to miss Karlee. She wanted to the ride the bus to school and so I finally relented and let her. (And yes, I did follow the bus to school and still took her to her class...and no, I actually didn't cry! I cried enough the night before!)
Karlee's cubby! She was so excited for her little cubby to put her backpack in! Home for the day! I was so excited for her to come home and to hear about her day. I was a little nervous about her riding the bus home, but Tanner rode the bus home with her, so I was good! She loved her first day and thinks her teacher, Mrs. Dauwen is the best teacher ever! Her favorite subject is recess. :)

Karlee is 5 years old!

I can't believe that our Karlee girl is 5 years old. It only seems like yesterday that Nicole placed her in my arms. We are so blessed to have her in our home and can't imagine our lives without her! We love her so much!

She wanted a cowgirl party for her birthday and so I made her a little skirt and a bandana. I also made bandanas for all the kids who came. Michelle brought over their pony and gave pony rides to all of the kids...even cousin Addie took a ride! That was definitely the highlight of the party for all of the kids! Michelle was so patient and gave my girls numerous more rides after the party was over. We couldn't thank her enough!

Visit from the Arizona Jensen's!

Not to long after getting home from New Jersey, we got to have Kory, Starr and their kids come for a visit. It was so fun catching up with them and even more fun for our girls to get to know their cousins. They really hit it off with Seneca and were very sorry to see them go! It was Rendezvous here that weekend so it was fun to watch the parade and check out some of the vendors set up. If you are ever in the market for animal skins...this is the place to be!

Valley Forge

Absolutely beautiful place. This was the first time I have been here and the views just took my breath away! Mom, Dad, GP, me and the girls had a great time visiting all of the different historical sites. It was fun to peak into some of the old cabins and fields where the armies trained. Visiting places like this make me so grateful for all those who have and are sacrificing their time and lives for our freedoms.

Washington's Headquarters...this is actually what my dream house looks like. I wonder how out of place it would look in Pinedale?

Of course...mom packed an awesome lunch!

Shelby and the cannon...she wanted to see if she could see a cannonball! Shelby found a baseball on the ground and called it her Yankee Ball...she thinks any baseball should be a yankee ball. The girls were tossing and rolling it back to each other, it went into a field. Gp and the girls went after it...found out later, probably not a good idea. Karlee, GP and I all had ticks attached to us and found them when we got home.

Yankee Stadium

This night was another awesome night...just like Amish country reminds me of my Mom, the Yankees always remind me of my Dad. Gene Paul flew in today in time for the game and to spend a few days in NJ. He was a little tired but had sooo much fun at the game too. One of the best nights of our trip back east with our family all together!
A-ROD!!

Jeter....(Sigh...)

Dad, GP, me and Larlee got the great seats, while Mom, the girls and Ty and Jenna had the not so great seats. If you look closely...you can see Mom in white with the girls sitting on either side of her. The girls love watching the yankees on TV and so it was fun to see it "in real life". By the end of the game they were getting a little restless and so mom got out the baby wipes and they thoroughly cleaned their seats...probably the cleanest those seats will ever be!

Damon was the closest player to us...and he even waved at Larlee...well at least he waved towards our direction! :)

Yep....we were this close!

After the game we all met up...the girls had so much fun with Grandma, Uncle Ty and Aunt Jenna and were pretty tired. They fell asleep in the car before we made it out of the parking lot!

Cherry Picking

We went and picked cherries for Mom to make some jam with. The girls thought it was so cool to be able to pick cherries form the trees!The girls helped Grandma with pitting the cherries...couldn't resist taking a picture of Shelby....she got into Aunt Larlee's closet and came out with her swimsuit. :)

New York City!

The girls have gotten to see soo many things on our trip back east and I am hoping they will remember everything they got to see and do. We went into the city to do a little shopping and of course had to stop for some NYC pizza...that is one thing I would pay big bucks for to get shipped out to Wyoming, if it was possible. The girls like pizza anyways, and I think we had pizza 4 or 5 times while we were back east! :)Before we headed down to Canal street, we stopped in Central Park so the girls could play. They had so much fun playing on the jungle gym and looking at all the trees. (Yes, trees are exciting when you come from an area with not soo many of them!)After the shopping, we had to stop in Little Italy for some gelato...yummy! I have to say, I was pretty impressed with my sister while we were shopping. She was such a good bargainer and we were able to get some handbags and wallets at GREAT prices! I was a little nervous at first, going into some of the places to look at the handbags...but realized it was all okay...sad that my little sister 17 years younger is WAY braver then I am!

Jersey Shore

Man, was it nice to get back to the Jersey Shore. The sound of the waves, the smell of the ocean...brought back so many memories! It was so much fun to watch the girls. They had such a blast...building sandcastles, running from the waves, picking up shells and playing in the water. They could of stayed all day...but a pretty good rain storm came which cut the day a little short. They slept great that night...after a bath removing sand from every possible spot on their littles bodies!

Amish Country

Amish Country....my most favorite place on earth! Probably because of the many special times I have have come with my mom. I love coming to this peaceful countryside...even though with two little girls age 3 and 5, it probably wasn't as peaceful as it could be. They really enjoyed seeing the horses and carriages and the little amish children peaking through at the back of the carriage.

We stopped for some yummy ice cream! It was a pretty warm day and ice cream is definitely the best way to cool down.

We went to a petting zoo, probably the most fun they had. It was fun to see all the animals, petting them and feeding them. Karlee was a little nervous at first when feeding the animals, but towards the end she really enjoyed it. Shelby, of course, had no fears at all! Lots of hand sanitizer was used when we were done!!I took this picture of these cute little fluffy birds...they were only a few inches high and so cute!

Towards the end of the day, we stopped by an outlet and did Karlee's back to school shopping. Mom watched the girls at a little playground outside of the store while I picked out a few things...it is amazing how much shopping I can get done without having to run after the girls, trying to find them while they play hide and seek in the store or having them fight and yell at each other. Sometimes I wonder why they always act in the extreme when we are in public...we really are pretty normal at home...really!