The backyard.

Hey, its been a while. I've been on somewhat of a blogging freeze. There's been a few different reasons for that, but they don't matter. We are back and excited for some things i'll be sharing with you soon. Until then though, we want to share a little of our summer.

Our backyard has hosted a handful of parties and its fair share of late nights around the fire pit. There has been lots of memories made in our small fenced in yard oasis. But none of them have measured up to the memories we created back there this summer. I dreamed of swings and little plastic pools for that space and this summer we broke her in. We utilized that space more than ever and boy did it make my heart happy. It might just be a fenced in patch of grass. But, it gets the job done and we love to spend time out there. Here are some highlights of our summer in the backyard.

Keepin' it classy with this next one. One, yes, my child is crawling through the dog door to get into the porch. Thats is her preferred mode of entry. Always. Two, I need to pick weeds. Really bad. Three, hubby needs to repair the screen because she has missed the dog door a time or two. Four, her shoe? Yea, don't know either.

This little dude loves the swing. I mean, loves it. He would nap on the thing if I let him. Actually, he has. 

Not much is cuter than a little naked toddler in a swing. 

Hope you enjoyed your summer as much as we did! Now, I am so looking forward to Fall! Stay tuned for a little Fall craft coming your way soon.

Our Fourth in Pictures.

The Fourth was 20 days ago but it's still July so I think a post on The Fourth is still somewhat acceptable.

I love the 4th. I love the cheese burgers. I love the fruity drinks. I love the fireworks. What's not to love about the 4th? Ryan and I have spent a number of "4th's" at the cabin. But it didn't work out for us to be there for the 4th this year. So, we celebrated with family in town. Moms decorating and detail was something out of a magazine and Dads cheese burgers was out of this world.

Here's our fourth.

Hope you had a great fourth!

To the mountains we go.

*WARNING: Obnoxiously overloaded with pictures, post. Don't say I didn't warn you. 

We packed our car to its max and threw a tail gate rack on the back and packed a little more. It was our first vacation as a family of 4 and we were thrilled to say the least. Four humans and a pup piled in and headed to the mountains. The normal 12 hour drive turned into a 15 hour torture chamber with a 18 month old and a 5 month old. But, we made it. The smell of the wet leaves and sound of the flowing stream welcomed us at 5:00am, Monday morning. We unloaded the car and carefully transferred the kids in their beds. We thanked the sweet heavens that no one woke up during the transfer and climbed into bed for the night 3 hours.

Our first day was interesting to say the least. We were all getting accustomed to our new surroundings that we would be calling home for the next 7 days. Madelyn was sleep deprived and insanely a little crabby. It took her a day or so (and a few time outs) to bounce back.

Day 1 we took it easy and spent a lot of time playing with bubbles and running back and forth on the deck while Ryan worked on a few things around the property.

Ever see what little sleep looks like on a toddler? Here ya go.

There are pictures of Ryan playing on this jeep when he was Madelyn's age too. Pretty neat.
She was determined to start the thing.

Another example...

We took things slow in the mornings and enjoyed big breakfasts made by this dreamy guy.

Every day we went up to The Downing's to visit their horses, Bill and Bob. We brought them apples and oranges. And soon became their best friends. 

Oh, and their pig, Rosebud. She made sure of that.

 

She's a gem right? 

We spent most afternoons on the deck while the babies napped.

Abby, the photo bomber.

 One of our days we decided to venture out to a new place, The Mountain Farm. On our way to stopped to get a few shots of these guys.

Mountain Farm

After naps we concluded the day making smores. 

Don't challenge her to a match of "Chubby Bunny', you'll loose. Trust me.

Towards the end of our visit other family members starting arriving It was great to meet new cousins and catch up with old ones. Madelyn and Ryder are only 2 months apart but you would have thought that they twins. They are shockingly similar and so very adorable.

Two very important things Ryan insisted on doing with Madelyn before we left the mountains were:
1. Search for salamanders.
2. Go on a jeep ride.

Our last day there, we did both.

It was a great trip with many memories sealed in my heart forever.

Until next year...