Picking out our Trixie!!

When we got back from Yellowstone, we went out to Chuck's house to look at the puppies and pick one out.  We were given first choice.  Well, we found a nice mellow puppy that all of us loves and put a string around her neck but wouldn't you know it, Chuck called us a few weeks later and let us know that the string came off and that we'd have to pick one out again.  No biggie.

 

So basically, we have no idea which one of these little sweet babies is Trixie.  They were all almost all so sweet. There were a few Roscoe's in the mix.  Chewing on our tennis shoes and rough housing with each other.  We knew we wanted a female and if possible, a nice calm one.  I couldn't stop myself from posting a ton of pictures.

 

 

 

 

Sally, the momma is so sweet.  I could have just taken her home with me.  Boy, she sure does look tired though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great picture, huh?

 

 

Handfuls of love.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just look at that beautiful face ... I love the eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love this one of Mason. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just chillin'.  We want that one!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun With Friends

Summer time ... fun time.  Here are a few pictures of the kids with their buddies. 

BBQ at Tim and Jenny's.

 

 

Jack took Mason to a Rivercats game.  A cute picture of the boys with Dinger.

 

 

 We had Jack over for a sleepover.  We hung out at the bookstore for a while followed by ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery.  Yum.

 

Cole and Kyla sitting on the deck ... must be talking about something really deep, huh?

Our big reader

One of our favorite things to do has always been going to the bookstore to read together.  Kind of makes me sad that bookstores seem to be going away because of e-readers and such.  Anyway, back to the subject.  My Kyla is a huge reader now.  Why are they growing up so fast!?!?   I could listen to her all day.  She read a few books on the way to Yellowstone.  She loved Kiki and Lulu.  Such cute books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eppie's Great Race

We are all so proud of Brian.  He has been working out so hard and this year participated in Eppie's Great Race.  It was a 6 mile run, 12 1/2 mile bike and a 6 1/2 mile paddle in the kayak (down the American River).  Phew.  He's crazy. 

 

 

Pretty sure he wanted to kill me when I made him take this photo.  He just wanted to relax.

 

 

Ok, last one.  Can't help myself. 

 

 

It was the 40th Eppie's Great Race. 

Grand Teton National Park

OK, Grand Teton National Park.  Beautiful, yes, although it doesn't compare to Yellowstone ... not even close.  We only spent one day driving through it on our way to Jackson Hole which was just right.  My photographs don't do it justice, so much more beautiful in person. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mason being silly ... hanging out at the Visitor Center. 

 

 

View from the deck of the Visitor Center. 

 

 

Wow. 

 

 

Just a pretty flower I couldn't help but photograph.   

 

 

Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  Really is a neat place to hang out.  We had dinner and found a little microbrewery to hang out.  We were happy, Kyla was happy because she could finally watch a movie on her Kindle (The Lorax for the 100th time) and Mason was happy because the Home Run Derby was on TV.  Aaaaah, back to civilization. 

 

Yellowstone - Part 8. Miscellaneous.

The entrance to Yellowstone from Montana.

 

 

 

Kyla is so STRONG!!

 

 

Family vacations definitely bring you closer.  Kyla and Mason were two peas in a pod, besties ... never fought once.  They played together tons, talked a lot and even when they were on their devices, were cuddled right up to each other, often sharing the same pillow.  Love them.

 

 

They finished all of their tasks and got their Junior Ranger Patches.

 

 

The wildlife sightseeing tour.  Was fun although we didn't see very many animals and had THE MOST annoying kid in front of us.  We laughed tons about that afterwards.

 

 

 

Dude, how tan am I?  Freakishly tan in this photo ... weird. 

 

 

My boys ...

 

 

Random photo. + or - 10 minutes.  So cool.