this summer

Kaylee at Manhattan Beach, California.

first time in the ocean.  she loved it.

as promised

some pics of the recent trip to chicago

the view outside our room...17th floor (actually, technically the 16th since there is no '13th' floor)

garden right outside the Chicago Art Museum

I loved how beautiful it was.  The branches all met at the top, connecting the trees.  B E A utiful and peaceful.

buckingham fountain

at the cloud gate....aka....the bean.

on a walk at night, on the way back to our room.

v

beautiful night after a beautiful day.

phew

What a fun trip!  I took more photos than I thought I would.  Working slowly on them.  

I'll post as I edit.

For those of you from the area or who have lived there, you'll love the revisiting.

For those of you who've never been.  Go!

(this my reflection off the very bottom of the Cloud Gate...aka the Chicago 'bean')

Nice to have the kids back and to be home, in MY own bed.  

nothing better than home....and Lou Malnatis!

having fun.

if anyone knows Cade, they know he loves motorcycles....aka....mikadoo's....  When I saw this sign, I thought of my sweet Cade.  Love you buddy.  I hope you're behavin' yourself!

here is what my current schedule is like:

i get to sleep in. work on edits all day (2 jobs done, 1 big monster to go).  go out with David after he gets back from work...to explore and enjoy!  I have yet to venture out on my own...just been working hard on these jobs!

tomorrow, off to Millennium Park.

it's been fun walking...a few miles a day.  eating some yum grub.  and BURRRRR, it's windy ccc ccccc ccold!  warm 'zona will make you forget your mid-western roots!

whenever I stop to take a pic, David blurts out "squirrel!".  He's gotten used to it...at least the fact that we'll be taking a little longer to get where we're goin!  We'll be walking and talking, and suddenly I'm no longer next to him...I'm like 10 yards behind with a little something in my viewfinder.  sorry babe. :)

more to come.

taken a few hundred pics already...and having mucho fun!

on our palate in the past few days: 

Giordanos 

Portillos

Lou Malnatis

yes. be jealous.

even 'bean' here?

going to chi town for the week with my squeeze...and no chids in tow.

it's supposed to be rainy, but hopefully i can get some fun shots and some work done with no ankle biters biting at my ankles!

it'll be fun to visit again

hasta

us at flag

I posted a while ago about our trip to Flagstaff to see our friends, but never posted any photos of the kiddos.

Kaylee was enjoying making her own 'snow castle'.

we also had a snowball maker...which is on the list to get family this christmas!  that thing was A MAZ ING and so fun!  I could make 5 PERFECT snowballs in 5 seconds, no lie!

Cade really loved riding the kiddie quad.  He also loved being with his friends and asks about Mia quite often.  "can we go to Mia's house?" 

there was snow piled EVERYWHERE!  One house down the road had drifts and snow on it's roof, so ridiculous and amazing.  Haven't seen snow that deep...in...who knows how long.

Apparently Flagstaff has received the most snow this year than any other US city.  wow.

I took the kids on a sled and pulled them through the evergreens in the back yard out to a big field...carrying all 100 pounds of kid weight and every once in a while breaking through the snow to above my knee was enough to tire me out in about 10 minutes.  that was, unfortunately, the shortest sledding trip i've made.  poor kids, you have a whimpy mom.

better luck next time. :)

holy cow, that's a lotta lettuce!

snow much fun

i've finished editing the rest of my favorite shots.

kaylee's face was frozen like this for almost an hour.  she had so much fun sledding down the hill by herself and with her cousins.

too bad we don't live in a snowy climate.

emily.  she was gracious enough to pose after sliding down for me and kelly.

hadley, emily and max....these kids are so much fun to sled with.

potential into kinetic.

energy.

david was in his element.  he just loved all the sledding and had so much fun with the kids.  i wish i could have gotten into the fun too.

jadey, that daredevil.

a sweet shot that Kelly got of hadley after flipping on the snow.

my own christmas cheeseball.

a cute angle of hadley.  she's 6 months younger than kaylee and about 4 inches taller.

close your eyes, this is gonna get scary.

chikin.

what a cute expression.

jadey and cade.  so fun to have cousins together having so much fun.

one of my favorite sledding shots.  kaylee was quite animated.

max-a-rubie and buddy.

cade LOVES max.  they slept down in the basement livingroom together and had so much fun.  it's nice to have the boy time.

hadley getting her sun for the day.

hold on, this is gonna be fast!!!!!!!

cade must have had a few muscle cramps in his cheeks from smiling so much.

and my favorite ACTION shot of them all....she's falling to her doom.

she doesn't.

she just rolls out of it, lies on the snow for a moment, and gets up to do it all again.

utah visit

another twin shot... Kelly and Conner
yeah, you can't just hold a baby and not kiss it!
Conner begins driving lessons.
love this little one!

kaylee's camping shadow puppet

Kaylee gave a great show on the side of the tent. She was pretending to be two people...you can see when she turns off the light that she asks if the 'other person' is scared and agrees to turn the light back on. I love the sound effects!

surprise in the woods!

Kaylee investigates something during her little hike with Daddy.

HAHAHAHAHA!

camping with daddy....daytime

The Aaronic Priesthood campout was this weekend. David took Kaylee and had a great time. It was in the Tucson area on Mount Lemmon. It was nice and cool in the evening...even got a bit too chilly for David....now that's cold! I can't wait to go camping too! Lets go next week! Anyone wanna go? :)

Kaylee on the 'big rock'

Kaylee perched on top of a log....
David and Kaylee on a little hike. Kaylee enjoying her little flashlight....notice the princesses!
Daddy and Daughter on a rock.
We're going on a bear hunt!........someone in the past made this little structure. Kaylee had some fun exploring.
grrrrr......where's the bear?

remember....don't feed the bears or they'll follow you home!

camping with daddy....night

Kaylee and David arrived and had to set up the tent in the dark. Kaylee had her own special princess flashlight.
Kaylee and her flashlights....enjoying time by the fire with Daddy.

The tent. Kaylee in her 'fun bed.'

Kaylee ready to go to sleep with bear next to her.

Good morning Daddy! It's 5:30. Lets go out and explore!