J loves his exersaucer

Ballet, anyone?

When we got home from McCall a couple weekends ago, Emma went downstairs and came back up in this little get-up. She kept saying, "Ballet, I go, ballet!" Funny girl!

Fourth of July weekend

We went up to McCall to the family cabin during the Fourth of July holiday. We hadn't been up during that time the last two years-last year we were moving and the year before we were heading to Kansas-so it was fun to make it back up this year. Josh's family always goes for that weekend. We left Thursday night and made it up around 9 p.m. It wasn't quite dark yet so we sat out on the boat house around the fire.

On Friday, we got up and helped Carla with breakfast then put on our suits and headed down to the water. MJ and E immediately headed for the beach. It turned out to be a beautiful day. This is the only time of year I lay out and soak up some rays, so I was glad it was so hot. We enjoyed building sand cakes and then went out on my inlaws' boat in the afternoon. Both the girls went tubing with their Aunt Michelle. They had a blast. Both were holding their arms up yelling excitedly. MJ kept acting out the plane crash from Madagascar 2 as she was out there. Although we couldn't hear her we knew she was talking the whole time. And sure enough, Mich said she did talk the whole time.

Josh played golf that day with his Dad and brothers. We enjoyed a big dinner with all the family that night. Us big girls stayed up and watched Bride Wars that night. Cute movie.

Saturday included another trip out on the boat. This time I went tubing with the girls. When I went to get in the tube with MJ, I stepped in and was kind of uneven and I flipped the tube. Both of us got dumped in the water. It actually felt really good because it was so hot that day. MJ did really well. She stayed calm and I helped her swim to the boat. Emma and I almost got flipped out during our ride, but she just kept laughing the whole time. We enjoyed our annual walk to the gardens too. Mackenzie took Josh's little camera and took photos of all the flowers. It was funny to hear her talk about trying to set up different shots. She tried to pose Emma and I for a few too. That night we took the boat out closer to the marina and town to see the fireworks. It was a nice display, shorter than in years past, but still impressive. When we got back Matt and his friends set off some fireworks for all of us. We also were able to enjoy the neighbors shows as well.

It was a great weekend of playing on the beach, jumping on the tramp, relaxing, bbqing and visiting. We just love it up there. It's an amazing view and you just can't help but sit back and take it all in. It was a wonderful way to celebrate our country's independence and to stop and remember all those who have served and who continue to serve for us.

God bless America!!

She's our little singing and jumping girl.

MJ in the tube with Michelle.

Michelle brought up a radio and put in a CD for the girls. They danced out on the lawn for quite awhile. MJ also showed us her routine she's learned in ballet class.

We walked down to Charlie's Gardens, a beautiful garden tucked away amongst the trees. It's a tradition to walk through every year. This year they added some more stone work so the girls stopped for a photo by the tallest one.

Emma and Aunt Mich getting ready to tube. She absolutely loved it and didn't want to stop. This was on Friday, then we went out again on Saturday and she and I did it together.

Mackenzie was really excited to try tubing this year. She loved it too!

We enjoyed playing in the sand building sand "cakes" instead of castles. We had a sand cake challenge-similar to the Food Network Challenges. E, MJ and all built our own then Carla judged them. It was a lot of fun just hanging with my girls.