Visit from Uncle Sam

Sam drove up early one morning to go golfing with Tyler a couple of weeks ago. He arrived around 7:30 in the morning, which is Elsie's prime-time. She always has SO much energy first thing in the morning, and loves to laugh and play as much as possible before her morning nap. Sam showed up and she ran to the other side of the room and stayed there. Finally, Sam went and picked her up and set her on his lap. She kept her little body rigid and was looking at me like, "MOM!?! Who IS this???" Then she would look out of the corner of her eyes at Sam (without turning her head). It was really funny. I took this shot after she had been sitting on his lap for a while, and had relaxed a bit. She still doesn't look too thrilled (as you can plainly see), and there is NO WAY I was going to get her to smile. After we had breakfast she finally loosened up, and was very sad to see Sam go.

The "pool"

I got this cheap pool for Elsie to play around in in the backyard on the days I didn't want to take her to the real pool. She didn't like it at all. I put her in and she gave me a look like, "This is LAME". After giving her all the encouragement I could manage, I gave up. We went back inside, I let the air out, and stored it under the bed. The next day, however, she pulled it out from under the bed and into the living room. Tyler pumped it up for her again, and she played in it most of the evening. Even grabbing Dad's Sports Illustrated and perusing the articles while "chillin'" in her new arena. We left it up for a few days, until she lost interest, then quietly stored it back under the bed. While it was fun for a few days, we definitely do not have the space to host that kind of party on an on-going basis.

The new baby-pack

My sister gave us her baby back-pack. I remember seeing her use it with her kids, but certainly didn't remember how nice it was. I was pretty excited when she said she would give it to us, and even more excited (if that's possible) when I saw how nice it was. After getting home from Idaho we went on a family hike up to Bobcat Ridge. Elsie and Dad both loved the baby-pack as much as I do. We have already used it a lot, and love it more every time we take it out. Thanks Dave & Teresa! Our little cutie-pie.Elsie & Dad at the historical cabin we hiked to. Elsie looking like she is doing something she shouldn't be. Nope, just exploring the cabin. On our way back down the trail. She was mumbling to herself in this picture as she was falling asleep. It was super funny. Out like a light.

The rest of our Idaho trip

Starting the day early with a jelly filled doughnut. She is definitely her father's daughter. She loved every bite. My sister used the be the queen of the outdoors. She loved hiking, camping, etc. Since getting married and moving to Arizona she has forgotten EVERYTHING about camping. When we had our family reunion three (I think) years ago she showed up to camp with FOUR suitcases of clothes, shoes, and unnecessary gear for her and her kids. This year she proudly announced she had come prepared for camping. Shortly after making this bold statement her daughter (Eva) prances up the stairs in this adorable "camping" outfit. You can't really tell in the picture, but Eva's shirt has a blue glitter collar, and she is wearing blue glitter flip flops. I laughed out loud when I saw her, and HAD to take this picture. Here are my stud brothers at the Rexburg parade, getting all amped up for the "gun show".... My oldest nephew Zac and our sweet niece Addie. Teresa kept trying to get Elsie into the spirit of the parade by helping her pick up candy. Elsie wasn't too into it. I took this great picture of the 2 of them, though. They were super cute together. Me & Elsie at the parade trying to stay warm. It was a chilly one this year. My big bro Russ and niece Rachel. One of my favorite childhood memories is when we would irrigate our back lot. This consisted of diverting the water in the ditch and letting it run down the side of the driveway until our back field was flooded. Since then, we have covered the irrigation ditch, so my mom improvised and let us leave the hose on for a while to get the driveway nice and muddy. I was so excited for Elsie to play around in the mud, since she had loved getting into the dirt, and would beg to go outside from the moment show woke up to when she went to bed at night. To my surprise, she wasn't too jazzed about the mud. She kept walking over to the dry dirt and playing in that. I kept picking her up and setting her back in the mud. She wasn't too happy with my attempts at "fun". My nephews and niece building a dam. Elsie complaining about my moving her to the mud. We ended up in the back yard in the wading pool. Much happier... ...until she decided to take a nose-dive out of it. I L-O-V-E-D our trip to Idaho this year, and can't wait to go back next summer. Thanks everyone for making it so great. We miss all of our cousins and family.