Dancing girls

 The girls' BFFs moved a few weeks ago to Padre Island in Texas.

Just wanted to remember all the fun and ultra-girlie times they had with these gals. Dancing, princesses, tea parties at the needles, hikes, bike rides, dragon slaying and juniperry soup making.

Growing kids and veggies.

I really want our yard to be a place where our kids can explore and learn. I want them to learn that you reap what you sow, how to garden and what is a weed. I want them to learn about animals and taking care of them. About organic eating and to enjoy beautiful things like flowers, rainstorms, rich dirt and beautiful sunsets behind a wall of redrock. And that sometimes you step in chicken poop . . . 

Impromptu hike to Delicate Arch on Brian's day off. After this hike and going with Emily's family, Brian declared, "I will NEVER go to Arches again." Felicity being a cutie on our "leather sofas" -- the sad result of our lame sofa saga this year. Brian climbing-- he still has it. Three of my four baby dolls. 

When I asked the kids what the highlight of their trip to the mountains was, they both said, "COUSINS!!!" Guess they didn't hear the mountain part of that *wink. But seriously, the highlight of this entire year were the visits with their cousins. 

Normal life. This is what I do, grow kids, chickens and vegetables.  Our hens have started laying the most beautiful little eggs. Never knew brown could be so beautiful and varied: light brown, brown with speckles, almost white brown, tiny brown, big brown, dark brown. . . 

AUNT SARAH!!!! Don't ever leave! Who needs a college education? Don't you want to work at High Point Hummer for the rest of your life dealing with grumpy tourists on vacation and renting 4x4s? My kids love you. I need you (and love you). And man, seriously our summer would have been half as fulfilling without you. 

This should be illegal. This photo looks benign but you can't hear them screaming and running away from me in two directions, begging for treats and free cookies, telling me NOOOO!, saying they have to pee or get a drink of water, the slobber all over that strap that Felicity is sucking on and the guilt on my face for not stopping her as I imagine the 10 different types of diseases she's contracting. . .followed by the guilt for buying 2 half gallons of ice cream. . . again, or the stranger that just walked by and gave me the "look" because my kids are singing at the top of their lungs and I don't care because they aren't crying, or that the cheap spinach is all gone and the kids are picking up mushrooms with the tongs again, and now the lettuce I like is gone again and I'm cursing the tourists, and Hannah is crying because I didn't see her hop off the front and hit her with the cart and my phone is ringing and I'm trying to answer, or the mile long line of tourists speaking french, dutch and german when I check out,  and the fact that I feel sad because Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are divorcing and then feeling stupid for caring, and then Hannah opened that York when I was reading that magazine about the divorce and now I'm trying to teach her a lesson about stealing but all she sees is that mom has to buy the candy bar now and so someone has to eat it and it might as well be Hannah . . . yeah. You can't see that. Be glad. Be very glad. 

Felicity at 4 months

This little darling. 

She is so happy. 

Like, hardly-ever-cries-happy-all-the-time-melt-your-heart-shes-so-sweet happy. 

She is very sweet. 

Very smiley (except for the camera!!! She's too interested or kicks around when she smiles so she's all out of focus!)

Big blues eyes that melt your heart

Super sensitive to pain

and is very offended if I don't nurse her when she wants it

which might be the only time she cries hard. 

So I cave and nurse her again even if it's been 20 mins.

She's starting to use her hands to grab things

and already seems so interested in eating.

Brian is so smitten with this little gal. We both are and it's always a competition to see who gets her out of her carseat at church because then they get to hold her. 

She is seriously the sweetest little baby on earth and her laugh is so darling. She seems animated, chill, sensitive, kind and genuine. That's what I can tell so far at 4 months.  

San Juan Mountain trip 2015

American basin where we camped at 11,200ft. 

She's darling. 

We drove over a mountain pass and stopped at the top... almost 13,000ft! 

Little buddies. 

It was cold in the morning... or as Hannah would say, "It's BEEEEE!" So they hung out in the trunk until the sun came up. Then the jackets were dropped on the mud and the mittens were promptly lost. 

Camp. And it's always hard to keep babies both entertained, well slept and warm. But not hard to look at their cute little faces all the time. This is baby Eva. 

Our besties, Clay and Leslie. 

and their fam. 

a grumpy sam and a happy Eva high on the mountain top. 

That view though. . .sheesh! Right by the creek. Tons of wildflowers. View of the cirque and the 14,000ft peak. It seems like the San Juans are a hidden gem to all but the 4x4 60-80 year old crowd from Texas. 

Hannah enjoying a mint chocolate cookie that she undoubtedly begged me for and I undoubtedly said no and then handed it over. Ah, parenting. 

They played hide and seek in the tall grass with Clay. And loved it. 

Submitted the mini-peak next to the camp. 

Flower crowns and carhartts. 

Look at that face miss Hannah!

Sheesh. The most adorable 2 year old in a flower crown that looks like Ceasar. 

The next morning we hiked up to Sloan lake beneath 14,000ft Handies peak. 

Here's the alpine lake. Hanging out above treeline in the mountains has to be one of my favorite things. 

Tough girls. 

Brian and I took turns summiting the 14er. I watched the kids at the lake for an hour while he ran up and back and then we switched. I have to say that we both made it in 1hr. Just throwin' that out there. :)

Liesel hiked almost the whole way except for 3 small stints on dad's shoulders for about 2mins a piece. 

That pile of down and Goretex is actually Felicity sleeping on the tundra. And of course Liesel is about to wake that slumber so I wish you could hear me yelling, but of course photos don't show that part. . . 

The wildflowers. My goodness. 

Animas Forks Ghost town-- the kids loved running through all of the old houses. They were fascinating! And the old jail. The whole thing was amazing. They used to mine gold and silver and were so many ruins and mines around. 

We ended our trip in the town of Sliverton and then Ouray. I told Liesel she could have a double scoop for hiking so well,  but shhhh, don't tell . . . it's a single split into two flavors. :) Sneaky parent tricks. She picked both pink flavors. Cotton Candy and strawberry. Hannah wanted only cotton candy. 

 It seems like most vacations are doomed to at least a 50 % success rate. There's car trouble, tantrums, long lines, unforeseen expenses, broken equipment etc. But every once in a while, you plan a vacation. And everything goes well. And it's even better than awesome because your friends decide to come too. And everyone is happy. And it was even better than you thought. And your husband did a rock star job of picking every campsite on Google earth, and planning each day and activity. And it's cold. And the wildflowers blow your mind. And you're driving over mountain passes and throwing snowballs at 13,000ft. And . . . you get the picture. 

Here are my top 7 moments from our mountain adventure:

1) Mountaineering with our car: we started out on bumpy roads that were so steep Hannah was immediately terrified and wanted to get out. I kept thinking my mom would have been terrified. But we crawled up. . . and kept going up. . .and up . . . until we were out of the trees, the mud and the bumps and onto switchbacks above treeline and by the snow. We went over several mountain passes and drove all through the range until we ended at American Basin. No way could we have gone into the remote backcountry, hitting altitudes of 13,000ft and then camping miles away from any town with KIDS! Sheesh. 

2) Friends! We live far from our biological family, but at least we have our basically family right down the road. Our kids play great. The energy is so fun. We have people to talk to, share the burden of cooking and kid watching and enliven the day with conversation and laughter. We are blessed to have them. 

3) Camping with kids. I actually really like this and this time was the best yet. Both girls have their own kid sleeping bags and sleep really well in them. It's exciting when the whole family is together in a tent. Little Felicity so bundled up she looks Navajo and I can only see her little face surrounded by layers of down and fleece. 

3) Hiking to Sloan lake with the girls. Our kids are troopers. Hannah was mostly carried, but Liesel walked almost the entire way. . . 1.5 miles and 1,300ft elevation gain. We brought salami. I didn't have a knife and Liesel said, "Just cut it with a sharp rock!" So I did and it sliced right through the thick plastic. Hannah drank a liter of lemonade so we were constantly taking off her overalls (bad choice) to pee. Like 1,000x. And she kept saying she wanted to catch a fish in the lake with her hands... but first asked if there were sharks. 

4) Hiking Handy's peak. My 3rd 14er. It felt good to have my lungs working, my heart pumping, my thigh muscles burning as I moved up at a constant pace, snapped a photo and ran down. It was a good feeling of accomplishment to stand on a peak. I love that. 

5) Animas Forks Ghost town. Super cool. The kids loved it!! They were going nuts running through the small houses and into each room. They were hilarious at the jail-- begging to be thrown in for stealing gold. 

6) The food. The fooooood. Cornmeal pancakes with berries, baked pasta, beef stew and brownies with cherries. And the waffle cone in Silverton- kinda topped it off. 

7) Ouray Hot Springs: splashing at the hot springs water park surrounded by peaks would have been even better had I beat Brian at the obstacle course. ;)