Love the Mountains

We're having fun in the mountains! On Sunday I was pushing the jogger through Yosemite Valley and Rosie looks up at me from her comfortable seat, holding her water bottle and snack and says, "Mama! We're hiking! I love hiking!"

Yes, Rosie.... kind of, I guess :)

Rosie gets a special "paint faced."

Getting drenched at Lower Yosemite Falls

Even Sadie loves the mountains

On Monday, the girls and I rode the Sugar Pine Mountain Railroad, an old historic steam engine. I forgot my camera, and only had Ron's high tech one that I couldn't figure out. The picture of the girls on the train car kind of looks like it's from the 1910s when this logging train was actually in existence. My pictures are horrible... but we had a great time!

Hats Off to You.

I'm trying hard to be a parent that encourages my children to entertain themselves in the car. My sister and I always did.... well, she'd entertain me. We had certain games, stories, and sleeping arrangements (me sleeping on the floor of the car.... where you put your feet.... with the giant hump in the middle. Erin insisted that it was the best place to sleep because it was warm and you could hear the sounds of the road. All of this while she was stretched out comfortably on the backseat. Thanks, Erin :)

Let's face it. It's so easy to pop in a DVD and have your kids go into a catatonic (but quiet) state. I must admit that I do this sometimes just to keep everyone sane on long trips... my mom read us books aloud and it's one of my favorite family memories. Some of the favorites that I can remember hearing were: The Indian in the Cupboard series, A Wrinkle in Time, The Trumpet of the Swan and Where the Red Fern Grows (my mom cried so hard while reading this to us that she could hardly see the words on the page.) I tried to carry on the tradition yesterday with just a few short library books and almost tossed my cookies on the side of the 99. Must take some Dramamine before getting started on the Harry Potter series when Rosie and Sadie are old enough.

Rosie did very well entertaining herself in the backseat yesterday as we were driving to YSSC. Wedged between her and Sadie's carseats was a big laundry basket loaded with supplies... including the Princess Pullups that Rosie still sleeps in at night. She found a new and comical use for one, and then forgot that she was wearing it and promptly feel asleep. Between the time that she put it on and fell asleep, my camera battery died, so the second picture is taken with my phone, and it's pretty poor quality.

Sierra Clare

Our sweet niece, Sierra, graduated from Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy this weekend. She's such a star. She's headed to Swarthmore College this fall. She was the valedictorian of her class and delivered a speech that was clever, beautiful, and hilarious... just like her. She's our hero. Being at Sierra's graduation meant a fun weekend in Flagstaff with the family. I didn't get great pictures....but my nephew, Caleb compiled a great video of Little Miss Rosie in action. I will try to post it soon.

Rosie enjoyed some time with Uncle Dave and Caleb. They're probably chatting about photography and sled dogs.

Introducing Page and Annie, the newest sled dogs on the lot. They're such sweet girls.

Rosie enjoyed meeting the new ladies from the safety of daddy's shoulders.

In due time, Rosie felt comfortable enough with the new dogs... they soon shared that, "mi casa es su casa," type of relationship.

"So, Uncle Dave, how do you balance the nitrogen to carbon ratio in your compost?"

My poor December Baby Sadie has never experienced heat, let alone Arizona heat. She spent the weekend stripped down to her diaper clutching a cold washcloth.

Old MacDonald Had a Farm

It was Fun Friday so the girls and I headed to Zoomars to visit the "aminals."

We bought a basket of snacks for the bunnies and guinea pigs in the pen. Rosie confidently found a bunny that looked hungry and plopped the entire basket in front of him like,

"There. Enjoy." and brushed her hands together as she walked away. Once she figured out that she could disperse the veggies, she found some bunny volunteers to line up. She then made sure that each had an equal amount of carrots and broccoli and that nobody nibbled on their neighbor's bounty. She has leadership qualities already. I could have watched her feed the bunnies all day.

I bought a ticket so that Rosie could ride the train. She was a little apprehensive at first, sitting all by herself.

but she soon started to enjoy herself, and was soon waving and blowing kisses and she rode by Sadie and me.

It's fun to go down the green slide at the park, because you have a good view of Cookie the cow from the top of the slide.

We hung out with the goats for a while. I often feel like the Country Mouse amongst some of the City Mouse moms here in Orange County. This morning I was reminded of that once again. As Rosie, Sadie and I started in to the goat pen, this little fella pictured below made his best attempt at escaping. I didn't give it too much thought, other than to get Rosie in and out of the way before I gave the goat a little shove with my hip to keep him back. About 5 minutes later, a woman came into the pen (alone... and in heels) and our little goat friend made his second attempt at escaping. This woman started screaming at the top of her lungs, "Help Me! Help Me! This goat is attacking me!" I couldn't help but laugh (at her).

Really? Attack Goats at the children's petting zoo... come on, lady.

Look What I Can Do!

PS...Can my voice get any more annoying? -Heather

April Showers Bring May Flowers.... And The Thirties

Cheers to being thirty! Cheers to a night out on the town with my hubby while the girls snuggle away with Papa and Mimi. Cheers to lunch out with mom and Erin, and a perfect sunset bike ride to sushi (complete with balloons) and a homemade cake. I'm blessed with an amazing husband and incredible friends and family. What a gift! My cup runneth over.

Caterpillar Friday

I was at a class at church all day on Saturday. While I was gone, Ron put up the hammock that he bought me for my birthday. In my mind, I'll be relaxing the hammock all summer with a book and a drink while the girls play nicely in the sandbox nearby. In reality, the hammock will be a sinking ship pitching in the waves of a terrible storm...... there will probably be no books or lemonade involved, but instead lots of high pitched screaming and talk of the hungry sharks underneath our hammock/ship :)

The first sprouts of the garden have appeared! My mom is taking me to a worm/compost class as a gift for my birthday, I'm hoping to learn more about taking good care of my little plot!

Saturday evening was spent at one of our favorite spots: LaRocco's Pizza and Velvet Yogurt. Our weekend was jam packed, so it was nice to have Saturday evening to eat and then hang out in the backyard together.

Sky Mountain Charter Family Picnic

(I didn't get very many pictures... )

Our last 2 weeks of pictures

My Tiny Strangers

The Tiny Strangers and me.

I got an email from my dad last night. I copied and pasted it below: I am reading Ortberg's The Me I Want to Be and found this paragraph fun and relevant to where you all are. One day God says to the angels, "I have an idea. I am going to create the family." An angel asks, "What is it?" "I am very excited about this idea," God says. "Of course I am excited about all my ideas. One of the great things about being God is you just never have a bad idea---but this one is special." Family is going to be the way I connect people in love. It will work like this. Adult people will sign up to take care of a tiny little stranger." "Are they going to get paid?" the angel asks. "No, that little stranger is actually going to cost them a lot of money. Not only that, but the little stranger won't even be able to talk at first. It will just cry and scream, and you will have to guess why. It will make you lose sleep. It will make messes all the time that you have to clean up. It will be utterly vulnerable. You have to watch that kid twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Then when it's two, that little stranger will be able to say words like 'no' and 'mine,' and it will throw tantrums. And then I am thinking about inventing puberty. I am not too sure about that one yet, but if I do, they will get these strange things called hormones that will go crazy. Odd things will happen to their bodies. They will get pimples, their voices will crack, and their limbic systems will melt down. Then they will grow up, and just when they are mature and beautiful and interesting and able to contribute, they will move away. That's the idea, what do you think? The angels shuffle around and look at their feet. Who's going to tell him? they think. Lord, who would sign up for that? Why would they do it? Here is where God really gets excited. "They won't even know why. They will just look at that little body, those little hands and feet, and they will think that this tiny little stranger is beautiful, even though he looks like every other baby and all babies look like Winston Churchill. Then one day that little stranger will smile at them, and they will think they have won the lottery. That little stranger will say 'Dada' and 'Mama,' but it will say 'Dada' first because daddies are just so self-sacrificial and noble and . . . how I love them. But moms are good too. So it will say 'Dada" and 'Mama' and then those little arms and hands will reach out and wrap around that neck, and it is going to feel to that grown up that for the first time now they understand why arms and hands were created. "What it's really all about is just grace." "Children, the new generation, will learn that they are prized and belong before they have ever done a single thing to earn it. The old generation will learn that when they give, they will receive. When they give the most, they receive the most." "And then one day I will tell them, Human race, I am your Father, You are my daughter; you are my son." "They will get it and they will be undone." Cool huh? Keep caring for those tiny little strangers! I love you! Bildad