Fun in July

July was a fun month for our family. We have been enjoying our new home (which still has almost nothing in it because we are waiting on our very delayed moving van to arrive from Virginia) as well as spending lots of time with family in Baker. 

Kelson's sister, Jehana, and her girls stopped to visit us on their way to Utah and again on the way back. We had a great visit, and no one seemed to mind that we were camping out in an empty house.

 Sarah had her first ice cream cone. (She has had plenty of ice cream, but never had her own cone before). She was very happy with it and made surprisingly little mess.

 A few days later, I had to bribe her with a stop at Arctic Circle to get her to leave the library.

She also had her first tootsie pop at Grandma's house. I think it took her about 3 hours to eat the whole thing. She is out to discover exactly how many licks it takes to get to the center.

 It has been super hot here in Fruitland, so we have made plenty of use of the neighborhood pool, which is right next door to our house. Sarah would live there if we let her, so we usually have to bribe her with something to get her home without a fit. 

Getting to eat supper in the bath was a good incentive. 

 We celebrated Kelson's birthday, and Sarah was very excited to give Kelson his present. We bought him a copy of Robin Hood, and Sarah was telling him all week about "the fox movie" and that it needed to be Daddy's birthday so we could watch it. He was very surprised.

Traditional birthday dessert-strawberry pie!

 Miner's Jubilee parade. I was in the parade for my high school class reunion, and the family all had fun watching from the shade. Sarah got a balloon, so it was a good day.

 Grandma's most exciting new acquisition this summer was a bouncy horse. Sarah loves it. Apparently she remembered the rodeo queens we saw in the parades this summer, because she went inside to find a bandana and wrapped it around her neck to ride the horse.

 The next day, she added a flag to the ensemble. She is our little rodeo queen in training. 

Riding with cousin Will, who does not appreciate hugs.

 Daddy dozed off on the couch, so Sarah was nice enough to bring him a pillow, a blanket, and some friends to keep him company.

 One day, Sarah disappeared, and I found her in my parents' back yard tucked in on the swing singing to herself. 

My mom was going to stop by one afternoon, and Sarah was being stubborn about taking her nap, so I told her she had to go to sleep so that Grandma could come. That was sufficient motivation. She ran to put on footie pajamas (even though it was 100 degrees) and get a blanket so that she could have a proper nap. My mom should come to visit every day.

 We went out for a fun camping weekend with the whole family at Phillip's reservoir. Sarah would love it if we went camping every weekend.

 One more first for July- Sarah's first s'more. So much sticky fun!

 Sarah and Kelson both fell right to sleep at bedtime (Kelson in his work clothes), and we finally had to wake Sarah up the next morning. I wish she slept that well at home.

Enjoying some early morning stories.

Just a few of our wonderful summer memories!

4th of July Camping and Celebrations

We had the chance to take an extra-long weekend for the 4th of July this year and go on a little camping trip. We spent Friday night at Catherine Creek State Park and had a great time.

 It was really hot when we got to the campground, and Sarah couldn't wait to get in her swimsuit and go the creek. 

 The creek was pretty cold, but we are convinced that Sarah has no nerve endings in her feet. She doesn't care in the least what temperature her water is.

 Throwing rocks and mud in the water.

 Sarah was very excited that we got to walk over a bridge.

 During dinner, we started hearing a strange, metallic noise. We looked up to see a woodpecker banging on this stop sign. He kept at it for a long time. I'm not sure what kind of bugs he was expecting to find in the metal sign.

We made some yummy dutch oven food for dinner, and my parents came up to join us. Sarah went right to sleep in the tent at bed time. She has always loved camping. After she went to bed, Kelson and I had a relaxing evening playing cards and watching a meteor shower. We couldn't have asked for a more pleasant night of camping.

 We all slept in the next morning and then started another fun day. 

 Sarah spent most of her down time on this trip convincing people to read this stack of books to her, which was mostly composed of Little Critter books. It makes me happy that reading is one of her favorite things.

 After breakfast, we set off on a little hike. Sarah was pretty happy with the hiking backpack we picked up at a yard sale.

Such a beautiful view! I love my Eastern Oregon home! 

 Happy hiking family

Sarah thought the tent was a great playhouse and was not happy when it was time to take it down.

My parents and Katy came up to Catherine Creek that afternoon, and we all had a picnic lunch and some more creek time. After lunch, we grabbed ice cream in Union on our way back to spend the rest of our holiday weekend in Baker.

 We did our fireworks a night early because most of us had to go home before dark on Monday. Sarah thought the fireworks were terrifying at first, but then she decided they were "pretty lights" and wanted more. It looks like Kelson is holding a lit firework, but I think it was actually the candle we were using to light them.

 Helping Grandma open the fireworks

 We started off our Fourth of July with the Haines parade. It was a perfect day for a parade, and Sarah was thrilled with the horses and fire trucks.

That afternoon, we had a bunch of family over for a barbecue and (of course) homemade ice cream. Sarah has learned that Grandma's house + Summer = ice cream. It is a wonderful thing.

Sarah and I were even sporting matching patriotic outfits this year. Cute, huh?

June Fun

June was a fun month for our family. After several weeks of house hunting and negotiating offers, we finally chose a home in Fruitland, Idaho. The house we purchased was not complete yet, so we spent most of June still living with my parents and enjoying our time there.

 We had a wonderful Father's Day celebrating with both Kelson and my Dad. Sarah is so blessed to have such an awesome father. He loves being a daddy, and I love watching him with Sarah.

 Since we moved, Sarah has become thoroughly obsessed with Finding Nemo. We watch it pretty much every day at Grandma's house. It was very exciting to go see the new Finding Dory movie. I even made Sarah a Nemo dress to wear to the showing. We decided at the last minute to go to an earlier movie, so I had to pin her into the unfinished dress, but she was still pretty adorable. I think this face is saying "You really want me to look away from the screen for a picture right now?"

 We finally closed on our house and moved in on June 20th. For our first couple of weeks in the house, Sarah had major sleep issues. She was waking up all the time in the middle of the night and then getting up way too early in the morning. It was exhausting for all of us. This was one day after a fun afternoon at the pool when she crashed on my bed. 

 Kelson had to spend a day in Boise for some meetings, so Sarah and I went along and had a mother-daughter date at the zoo. The zoo is pretty small, which was just right for Sarah. She loved feeding the goats and seeing all of the butterflies.

 This Komodo dragon was hanging out right next to the glass, and it took me at least 10 minutes to pull Sarah away from him. 

We ended our day with a ride on the carousel. Sarah was talking about this for weeks afterward. I was glad she enjoyed it, because the last time I tried to take her on a carousel she was completely terrified.

So many fun summer memories!

Snakes and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails!

Between moving, finding new doctors, and waiting for appointments, we have had to wait several extra weeks to find out if a boy or a girl will be joining our family this Fall, and we have all been very anxious to know. I finally had my ultrasound yesterday, and our little one is...

A BOY!

We got to see some pretty cute views of him during the ultrasound. 

 Look at that little face!

 Perfect little baby toes

Our son! Grandma Hindman got to come with us to the ultrasound too, which made it extra fun. We can't wait to meet our little guy in about 3 months. We have become pretty good at princesses and tea parties at our house, and now we will get to learn how to raise a little prince. 

Anniversary Getaway to Hot Lake

We have not had a night away on our own since Sarah was born, so we were super excited when my parents offered to watch her for the night while we went on a little anniversary trip. We only went about 45 minutes away, but we had a fantastic time. We love old hotels, so we decided to try out the Hot Lake Resort just outside of La Grande.

I grew up driving by this old hotel all the time and always thought it was fascinating. In the hundred or so years since it was built, it has been a resort, a sanitarium, a hospital, a nursing home, and even a honky tonk bar. A family purchased it several years ago and started restoring it. Now it is a bed and breakfast as well as a bronze studio and gallery. 

There are birds all over the property, including guinea fowl (which are amazingly noisy) and peacocks. 

 We were greeted by this mama duck and her adorable ducklings.

After checking in and exploring the hotel a little bit, we drove into town for an amazing dinner at Ten Depot Street. So yummy!

 We had a slight hiccup in our evening when our tire started losing pressure on the way into town. Kelson had it changed in a jiffy after dinner, and we were on our way back to Hot Lake for more fun.

 We spent the evening exploring the hotel and grounds. There is a cute little chapel next to the hotel that they have restored.

Watching the sunset over the very hot spring-fed lake.

The next morning, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast in the hotel cafe and then did some more exploring. The fun part was that the owners encouraged you to poke around and explore. We didn't have to worry about going on tours or anything. 

The swallows nesting on the hotel were crazy! Kelson was standing in a bird tornado.

Enjoying a little light reading in the former operating room.

One of the main attractions at the hotel is their soaking tubs. There are both outdoor and indoor tubs to choose from. Sadly, I could only put my feet in because I didn't want to cook our baby, but it was still relaxing. We would love to come back in the Fall.
After soaking in the tubs, we toured the museum that takes up a good portion of the building. They had an amazing collection of war memorabilia as well as Native American artifacts. 

Saying farewell to Hot Lake after a fun stay.

We drove back into La Grande and strolled around downtown while our two new tires were put on and then had some massive hamburgers and curly fries from Nells n' Out for lunch. 

It was a wonderful weekend and a great way to celebrate our first 5 years together. Thanks for babysitting, Mom and Dad!