Here Comes Fall

The last couple of weeks it has been raining... a lot!  And I mean real rain.  With thunder and lightening and everything.  It's been awesome, I love big storms!  And as it turns out, so does the Little Miss.  As soon as the drops start coming, she has to be out playing.  

The rain play is quickly coming to an end though.  We watched the rain fall all morning yesterday, and when we finally ventured out for the day we had to put on jackets.  The "4th quarter of the year" chill is starting to poke its head around the corner.  The weather is still teasing us some - cool one day, hot the next. But we've officially opened up the sweater boxes, and Brin has latched on to our first official Fall home decor, lovingly referred to as "baby pumpkin".

I'm a little anxious to see Fall actually, I love Fall!!!  I really need to get our house looking a bit more festive.  

The real priority for now though: What should our little doll be for Halloween??

Any suggestions?

Fair and Hair

I tried to deny it for a while, but we have officially come to terms with the fact that we are no longer the parents of a baby.  Brinlee is ALL little girl these days.... 16 months going on 16 years and already quite the drama queen.  She carries around a little pink purse full of toys.  She loves wearing dresses and tutus.  She twirls around and shakes her hips.  She refuses to let us help her do anything and throws  pretty impressive fits (real nice).  She carries around a wash clothe and broom and cleans everything.  And she loves ice cream.  Little woman in the making.

She's even gotten super good about letting me play with her hair, which is good because I love hair-do's!  We're still waiting for real hair to show up.  But we have been able to do pigtails for a while now, the other day I got 4 in, and yesterday we successfully did 6.  

Having a little girl really is fabulous!

We are 100% in love with this little busy body  :)

On a less hair-related note, the Eastern Idaho Fair came and went.  The ride cost us 5 bucks, but Brin loved the merry-go-round.  Every time they came around the little smile on her face was priceless!

We spent way too long in the animal tent so she could pet every furry thing, all of which, according to her, make a "woof" noise like a dog.  Minus her picking up, and sucking on, a nasty rock from the sheep pen (seriously, gag me!), it was darling.  I wore out my bottle of hand sanitizer that day... but we had a good time.

Still Summering

The weather's still been lovely!  We have been taking advantage of the heat and have been doing some more running around the last few days.  But first of all, is this not the dang cutest little face you've ever seen?!  She has gotten so good about letting me play with her hair and the other day we got these in.  Love!

The cutest little princess!!!

Yesterday we went to the swimming pool.  Brin actually did pretty good.  As always, I thought she would love it more.  But we did have some setbacks.  The little pool was closed for a bit (read: needed some help after some kid couldn't make it to the potty... nice).  We had to wait out a little rain too, and a bit of a cool breeze picked up.  Not the perfect day I guess.  

By the time we got into any water that was Brinlee appropriate she was a little tired.  We'll have to go back and try again on a hotter, less surprise-filled day.  But she was so cute, and loved her first Happy meal.

Today we spent the morning and afternoon hiking around Craters of the Moon.  This one I was prepared for Brinlee to not be so fond of, but surprisingly, she did awesome!  She kept her hat on, talked, smiled, and waved to everyone, loved the rocks, and even handled a couple caves.  

May I point out that these pictures over accentuate the fact that we are an incredibly white family?  Yikes.  We were hoping to be surprised today by some rain, or even some consistent cloud cover.  But alas, we were just hot.  Should have switched pool day for moon day I guess.

I managed to skimp on Brin's second application of sun screen, which left her arms a little fried  :(  But she was an angel, and we certainly got our exercise.  We are sure loving this summertime family time!

Rain Rain Go Away

We were teased with several days of super nice, warm, sunny weather... 

and now we're back to chilly rainy days.

We are all anxious to see some more sun

A Beautiful Thing

Right now, outside, it is 23 degrees...

sweet bliss!

Who would have thought 23 degrees would ever feel like a heat wave?

But it's a drastic improvement from the -13 it has been most mornings lately.
Such a chilly winter.

My car sat outside all night and I didn't have to scrape windows this morning.

Now that, is a beautiful thing!

Yellowstone

Last week we took a few days and enjoyed a family trip up to Yellowstone.  Really, we were trying to figure out why this was our fist time, we've been Eastern Idaho folk for over three years now...

But, none the less, we went and we had a blast!  Everyone says that this time of year is the time to go; all the animals are out and the crowds are down.  I don't really know what Yellowstone looks like in the summer, but the animals sure were out, and we felt like we were the only people in the park.  It was awesome.

The one downside though: it was chilly (read: super cold!).  The name of the game became bundle up and the objective was to stay warm.  Brinlee was the team captain... poor baby.  You know in the movie A Christmas Story when he says that "preparing for school in the winter was like preparing for extended deep sea diving"?  Yup... I at first was afraid I had overpacked, but she wore every layer, every day.  And she was stylish.

Tim won the style contest though for sure.  Rockin' the front pack... very smooth.

We got caught in the rain a time or two, and thus perfected the art of taking turns.  That is, Tim goes and sees the thing we stopped for while I wait in the car with the baby, and then we switch.  Luckily we didn't have to do it too many times, but it was fun to watch Brin watch the rain.

Overall we had a wonderful time.  Brinlee did awesome, the weather was generally awesome, and the time with my sweetheart was awesome!  Consensus: October is indeed a great time to go to Yellowstone.  Goal for next time: see a moose... still sad about that...

Family Outings

Saturday evening we decided to venture out for a much needed family date.  Tim did all the planning... that's my favorite kind of outing  :)

We traveled up the old highway to Idaho Falls and enjoyed a nice evening of Olive Garden take-out and river-side strolling.  We were right in the middle of a bunch of ducks and geese, which Brinlee was excited/curious/confused/nervous about.  But she was an angel and the weather was awesome!

On the way home we devoured a super delicious cinnamon roll from Mrs. Powells... never mind the calorie count.  Tim should plan more often, it was the perfect evening!  

Fair Weather

Ferris wheels and fried food!  Yes indeed the Eastern Idaho Fair has made its debut here in Blackfoot.  Granted, it was a rather wet debut... but despite some serious rain and an impressively poopy diaper, we managed to make an appearance and had a pretty good time.  Shall we review?

Ok first of all, has there ever been a cuter fair-goer?!  :)  Such a sweet baby!

The list of totally unnecessary but absolutely delicious food we had includes but is not limited to a foot-long hot dog, cinnamon role, strawberry lemonade, and deep fried bacon... we don't regret any of it.

We went to a hypnotist show, which promptly got rained out so, that one stays on the to-do list.  The bull riding did go on however.  It turned quite chilly though, and unfortunately my jacket was sitting at home on the couch where I was supposed to remember to grab it. Classic.  

We didn't get over to see many animals, the rain kept us trapped for a while.  It did motivate me to get into quilting and cake decorating though...  And Brinlee totally dug the bull riding.  She's made it a new hobby.

Overall, a success.  Next year we'll grab an umbrella... and scout out the super yummy looking cinnamon/sugar treats everyone had, they looked awesome.