The Time Has Come....

Our first born will be starting Kindergarten in a few short weeks. It is difficult for me to comprehend and even think about. I am scared, excited, nervous, happy and worried for her. How did this happen so quickly? We have met with her potential teachers and have taken multiple field trips to her new school and even visited all the Kindergarten classrooms. There is a Meet N' Greet on the 18th of August with a real firetruck and water games at her new school and I should be looking forward to it but the thought of it just makes me start to tear up. Sigh. Can't we just freeze time? I LOVE being at home during the summer with the girls. They have totally spoiled me....I am not sure if I can make the change back to our crazy busy school-year lives. I just keep telling myself...."10 more months. I can do this."

Summer Fun 2011

She designed this look.

And Savvy designed this......W.O.W.

Yes, she shared her egg yolk with her baby.

She was "modeling."

We signed up for watering duties at the girls' preschool. It was a good time!

Haircut time.

This was the beginning of the craziest storm I have seen roll through our town. It lasted about 2 hours and was constantly rumbling with thunder accompanied by hail and lightning.

Band concert in the park every Wednesday evening. The girls behaved pretty well this year.

The carnival came through town and we enjoyed their fun/scary rides together. The girls even went on this one by themselves.

The view from the Ferris Wheel.

Can you see the brave Char?....up there in the blue. This ride gave me a heart attack just watching.

Cousins from Mississippi!!!!

Happenings

First, the bad news....one of our very favorite families has now left our little town. Yes, this happens over and over here because of the University. The Anderson's got a GREAT job offer (Congrats!) and have moved to Gillette. We will miss them dearly and we are so grateful for their friendship through out the years. Hope we get up their for a visit soon!

Now for the good news! There is going to be a new and exciting change in our lives. Nothing so big as a baby or new big job or a big move just yet....but it is still exciting! Adam's old missionary companion, roomate, best man and best friend is moving to Wyoming! Woo-hoo! We are so anxious for them to get here...they will be moving in August. :) Finally...some good old times will be had with the Buttars family and we look forward to the next year of having them close by. Yay!

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July!! Hope your holiday was as great as ours. My oldest sister was traveling through the Black Hills for the weekend with her four kids and husband, so we decided to head up North and have a visit with her. It was so much fun to be with family.

We all had the luxury of staying at the brand new and beautiful Erickson Home in Northeastern Wyoming.

I took some photos because this was my first time up to the house since it has been finished (last time there were no counter tops or sinks so we had to brush our teeth outside or in the tub.....eeeew) :)

We had yummy meals and loved the wide open spaciousness of their kitchen!

What a view! So nice!

Savvy enjoyed running around but I managed to grab a photo of her with the new Minnie Mouse sippy after church on Grandpa and Grandma's new couch downstairs. She thought it was very comfortable....as did I.

Off they go to explore!

Twinkle toes sporting her Canada shirt!!!

Daddy daughter!

Char loves the Wii! She began by playing it up at her friend Eli's house and now she gets to play it every time we go to Grandpa and Grandma Erickson's house. Yay!

Summer Time

Char working on her "art."

Taking a picture for Grandma and Grandpa Erickson (Char picked out a frame to give to them)

We had a double rainbow the other day!!! (I am not sure if the 2nd rainbow shined through in the picture. It was SO cool though! The vivid colors.....What does it mean? hee hee.

In all seriousness, here is our story about the double rainbow:

There was a really dark and quick storm that rolled through one afternon and Char yelled, "I can see the sun! Let's look for a rainbow!" Sure enough...look what we found outside! (Of course they did not have clothes on....sorry....these girls always choose to be bare) But they were really excited, I just had to take a picture.

Sweet Sweet Savv-ster and her Birthday Post

These girls make me so happy and I am grateful for their help everyday and was especially grateful during the celebration of our 2 year old! All the other guests had left at this point. (BTW, Sav wasn't happy during the "clean-up" part because she knew the fiesta was ending...can you tell?)

Well....the inevitable happened. We threw Savannah a super fantastic 2nd birthday party and about 90% of the pictures did not turn out. Sad day....it was my neglect too. I did not check the setting and just started snapping away without even taking a second to look at how they were turning out. Oh well....we realized the mistake while we were cleaning up and so we took a few of our left over mess. Also, the ones I took near the window kind of turned out...so I added those. Anyway, it was such a fun party with Savannah's closest friends and family. She had a blast, we all ate very yummy hot dogs and we got to sing to her on this joyous occasion.

Pictured first is her "birthday cake" which consisted of chocolate chip cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and shaved white chocolate. She kept saying, "My birf-day cuf-cake!" I really wish we had her face on camera when she was being sung to....she loved her party!

Birthday B.B.Q. with a Gourmet Hot Dog Station was the theme for her party. There were three choices on hot dog buns; potato, white or wheat. The franks were all 100% beef Ball Park and Hebrew National dogs.

The choice of toppings were...chili, onions, peppers, jalepenos, cheese, sauerkraut, mustard, mayo, relish and ketchup. We also served corn on the cob, Fritos and drinks such as strawberry soda, sprite or bottled water.

After opeing presents with her "Birthday girl" shirt on....(she was pointing to her shirt for the picture)

Another view. Mmmmm. It was a lot of work but totally worth it for this little one. Savannah is the life of the party and here are a few reasons why...(just taken from her everyday life)

1) she is very fashion forward (minus the naked body part. Sorry...she is always naked!)....but she loves to wear a cute pair of heels whenever she gets the chance!

2) She loves to sing and play the piano. Plus, she is very good at both so far...well, entertaining to say the least.

3) She is up for copying anything that her big sister will do; which makes Char enjoy hanging out with her.

4) She smiles at EVERYONE! And she loves the attention. :)

5) She is not afraid to get dirty at her grandparents cabin.

6) And she is a dare devil that enjoys doing anything that is fast or loud or new!

We love our little Savvy. She is a very sweet spirit and very ALIVE! I have a feeling that I will be chasing her for the rest of my life...I can never keep up with this girl but she keeps us on our toes.