Bear Lake

Bear Lake was as dreamy as always. Thanks Dave's grandparents for letting us stay in their beautiful cabin by sweetwater. The cabin was looking tip top after some remodelling, the only negative was a new big screen tv. My favorite thing about bear lake is escaping the hustle and bustle and slowing down with games and beach fun. The good news is we did plenty of those things as well.

My sisters came up and we had lots of cousin bonding time. The girls now out number the boys in our family, crazy.

I couldn't resist a couple of new suits for Amelia, here she is modelling one. She loved the hot tub!

Allie came up early with us and she and Olivia were delightful. They are displaying their general store purchases, little divas in the making.

Another swim suit, the only time a chubby belly is adorable!

Summer Races

The joggin broads, I love these gals and we had an amazing race. Ill miss these speedy warriors next year when we do a family team with all of Dave's brothers.

Don't you love Speedo man

Thanks to an awesome husband and a baby who takes a bottle, way to go Amelia, I had a great time riding the little red bike ride. It was so fun and gorgeous and had delicious food. I got to ride with amazing women like my aunt Dru and great friends, I can't wait for next year.

Jackson Hole

The stripey girls relaxing at Teton Village.

Dave and the boys tried a canoe down the Snake river. It was lovely except Charlie said "we are going to die" about 100 times!

Olivia and Dad go for a little ride down the river.

Our family's favorite vacation spot is Jackson Hole. It is so nice to get away from the hustle and bustle and enjoy nature. We have a tradition of riding the boat across Jenny Lake and hiking to the beautiful Hidden Falls.

Ok we still had to yell at the kids to put down their DS and look at the beauty. Charlie wondered what was so great about String Lake, in his words, "Its just a bunch of water." But he got really excited about this moose we saw and took about 20 pictures. Our prodigy National Geographic photographer.

Fourth of July

Sam just got back from a week at Scout Camp in Island Park. We missed him so much we even made him a welcome home poster. I was worried about him alone out in the wilderness. But he did awesome, he earned 6 merit badges, including wilderness survival and had a great time. Is he possible he grew even more while he was gone, Dave is wearing his hand me down shoes!
We spent 4 th of July weekend in beautiful Providence and boating at Cutler. The kids rode the water weenie, death tube, and knee board. Our lttle daredevil Livvy even tried wakeboarding. After I figured out which foot I put forward {I need a tatoo} it felt so great to be skiing again after taking a break last summer.



Amelia in her holiday finery at the weenie roast at the edgewood firepit. Could life get any better?

Charlie, Chuckles, Chuckwagon, the Chuckster

How do I describe my little character. All of you who know Charlie are well aware of his split personality. When he is cheerful, he is a delight. Aunt Whitney and he have a special bond and the other day I was asking him about her and he said, "Oh yeah, Whit is my homey!" Last week we babysit a neighbor baby and we couldn't remember his name. Charlie kept making up silly names for him like Napster and Rico and was a darling little helper. He brought home a cute "All about Me" poster from school listing his favorite things. In the picture he is wearing his characteristic "Max Hall hates me" t-shirt and his contagious grin. Tonight he whipped me up his specialty, strawberries and cream, yum. I sometimes forget he is only 8 years old because he blends in with his big brothers and their friends so well. But when Charlie is off, we like to describe him as Spiderman with venom, watch out!