Photographer: Brianna, 5 minutes, 37 photos

Summertime Family Adventure!

We just returned from an AWESOME/fun/amazing/wonderful family get-away/adventure/vacation!
This was my botched attempt to show how high we had driven. We have one other picture with this sign, and Ben's cute head blocked the numbers in that also! We felt like we were on top of the world. You could see mountain range after mountain range after mountain range.
Daddy's girl. Both kids were just like little mountain goats. They LOVE hiking, and they are steady, quick and adventurous.

My kids were back and forth across this stream. Honestly, I was glad I had the dog with me who was being a bit timid. It gave me an excuse to not be quite so adventurous as my kiddos.

Caspian LOOOOOVED his adventures. I'm not sure I'd ever seen him smile before. His problematic behaviors were practically non-existent on our trip. Unfortunately, he did sustain a paw injury that we need to treat.

One morning I did two quick loads of laundry at the local laundromat. Now, that may not seem interesting, but I got to do laundry with a whole bunch of AMISH! They, of course, don't like to have their photos taken, but they didn't seem to mind if I snapped a shot of the machines.

Isn't that pretty?? I was enjoying the beauty until James pointed out that we were standing on a bridge between two sides of a fault line. ...Thankfully, no earthquake!

I'm not sure why, I just liked this photo with the wildflowers, rocks and snow.

I took two of these shots, the other one has the mountains in focus and the flowers blurry. I couldn't decide which I liked better. Hope you like this one.

Oooh. Aaaah.

I just liked the visual interest here.

Wow!

The flowers were beautiful.

One of the rarest things in the world: a family photo with everyone smiling and looking at the camera!

I had to show the wildflowers with the snow...in July!

Ben spontaneously thanked us many times for all of the fun adventures! We took him to a mine one morning because he'd wanted to go to a mine for several years and they offered a mine tour. Unfortunately, it should have been called "a really long, dark, awkward ride into a mine, followed by a 50 minute standing lecture." Ben was still grateful, but he did say, "that wasn't quite what I had expected!"

James' awesome new (to him) truck that took us on all of our adventures!

Perty!

Love this photo! I saw this flower just on the side of the road as we were driving. I asked James to back up, and he did! Thanks James! I think it was worth it!

And then, it was over. And we had to come back to real life. Fortunately, real life is pretty sweet! Country roads, take me home!

Why is it ...

* that when you go to the dentist, no matter what you do with your tongue, it's always in the way?

stuff

Me: Uh-oh, we forgot to pray for safety!
Brianna: Who's Safety?

*********

Ben: Why did Satan wait until the big meeting in Heaven to make his move? Why didn't he do it sooner?

*********

Brianna: Oh. my. gosh! You guys just missed it! I just saw a bear!
James and I: You saw a bear?!
Brianna: Yes. It was in the shape of a horse!

*********

Ben: I can't wait for heaven.
Me: I hope you can wait, because I would really miss you.
Ben: I mean I can't wait for our whole family to be together in heaven.

Puppy Love?

Considering getting a puppy? Ask yourself the following questions:

Do I have a camouflage colored shag rug? (Inevitably a favorite place for the dog to poop -- must remind him of grass.)

Do I have children who will unwittingly step in poop that is incredibly camouflaged in the said camouflage colored shag rug?

Would said children stand still and yell for you if they did unwittingly step in said poop which is incredibly camouflaged in the said camouflage colored shag rug?

Or would said children who stepped in said poop on said rug then run throughout the house looking for you to clean up the said poop on the said rug, but which is now unwittingly spread THROUGHOUT the WHOLE HOUSE??

Not feeling much puppy love at the moment.

Some Important Random Pics

The birthday girl, showing off the goods from her birthday package from Grandma C... and Miss A... Thank you!!
Do they have her personality nailed, or what?!

A detail from Ben's room. We covered his regular, boring light switch plate with some of that sticker wall border stuff. Turned out pretty good!

Here's one of two pictures I thought to shoot at Ben's birthday party. Despite his refusal to cooperate for pictures, he had a great time, and the party was a huge success!

Another view of the mural in Ben's room. I failed to show this angle in the other post.

From a Conversation with Ben

Ben: So, if an airplane hits a bird, does it just splat -- like a bug does on a car?

James: Yep, pretty much. (pause) But it's really bad if it gets in the engine.

Ben: Ya, (pause) especially for the bird.