Sunday - Day 2

Sunday was the only morning that Piper (or any of us) was up before 10...she was up at 7:30. But once we were all up, we got ready and headed to the beach to play (or read!). Presley and Ava played, made sand castle and birthday cakes out of sand. Piper did a good job of playing too and was not afraid to get into the water, even just a little bit (it was more than Presley did!)

In the same swimsuit she wore last year!

Trying to keep cool, by drinking and playing bags

As usual Sam caught a bullfrog...gross.

And Luke found a turtle!

Love the sunsets!

Nightly game of bags...I'm not sure if Matt looks better with his shirt off or like this?! :)

Spirit Lake 2015

Get ready for my annual photo dump of Spirit Lake pictures!

We got most of our stuff packed up and ready to go....you never realize how much stuff you have to take for 4 people for a week, spending almost all our time outside and having to cook all 3 meals a day in our cabin. We love it though. We left Saturday morning about 10:30, got there, unpacked and settled and then headed to Wal-Mart to do our grocery shopping. Presley stayed at the cabins with the family and cousin Ava, so we only had to keep Piper entertained during our shopping!

Presley and Ava get along SO well, we don't see them most of the time b/c they are off playing and this way there is minimal time for Presley and Piper to fight!

Presley was showing Ava how do to model poses. I'm not sure where P learned these, but she seems to be a pro!

Miss Piper kept herself busy on the beach, throwing sand. She was a sweaty, sandy, dirty mess from the very first night!

She was VERY much a daddy's girl this trip!

Daddy and Piper

I have this same picture of me and Presley when she was this age!

Happy 4th of July!

So I took Friday off from work months ago....then over the last 2 weeks realized that neither girl had daycare that day! HA! So it worked out that all 4 of us were able to spend the day together. We slept in and Presley and I headed out to get pedicures...who would've thought there would be so many wedding parties there on July 3rd? Who gets married on the 4th? So we had to wait 40 minutes, she did really good though and after that we headed to Target. We got home about 2 and Piper was still not napping. We knew that b/c she had slept in that she would take a late nap and we knew that if she didn't take a nap that we weren't going anywhere the rest of the night. During the whole time of us trying to get her to sleep, Presley decided that she was going to be mean, naughty, talk back, not listen...we are tired of warning her too many times so we aren't dealing with it anymore! So we decided we weren't going anywhere, then she freaked out about that. Piper finally fell asleep about 3:30, which is just too late. So by the time we decided we weren't going to do anything, we didn't want her to sleep too late...so then we woke her up!

 

We ended the night meeting some new neighbors who are friends with one of Steve's bosses, they were really cool and their oldest daughter is Piper's age. So we were over there for a couple hours hanging out and Presley hung out with the other neighbors who were having a camp out and watching Super Barbie outside on a projector on the side of their house! It ended up being a good night, just staying home but of course they were up too late!

 

We were hoping the 4th would be a little better and it was! We all slept in and hung out, Steve did some cooking and we spent ALOT of time outside hanging out, playing in the water.

I wish her eyes were open, but she is squinting from the sun....my little strawberry blondie!

That afternoon our neighborhood had their annual party. Tim and Shannon have an amazing house and pool and are nice enough to have anyone and everyone over to hang out. The girls had their suits and lifejackets on and enjoyed time in the pool!

 God, I love this smile.

The girls were actually really good. Piper did good in the pool (thank you life jacket!) and Presley had her friend Allie there to play with. Allie is a fish in the water, Presley was more comfortable in the pool this year but still had her life jacket on. We hung out and talked with the neighbors and about 7 my mom came over to take Piper home and put her to bed. Then the 3 of us stayed a couple hours more, even I got in the pool with Presley, it was a good day and night (even with no fireworks).

 

Sunday I was the first one up at 8:30, the girls and Steve slowly started getting up after 9 and we just had another day at home. We kept talking about going and doing something but then time got away from us and the girls were once again owly, so we didn't! :)

Summer fun

So Sunday after the party, we got home and crashed. Piper and I both took naps and Presley and Steve went to the store. It was a typical Sunday.
The week was fairly good and 'normal'. Steve worked late Tuesday night, poor guy went in at 9 in the morning and didn't get home until after 1 am! UGH.
Wednesday Presley had gymnastics but she said she didn't feel good and Steve was too tired to care, so they went home and Piper and I had our typical night at El Mariachi. Though she FREAKED out when the waiter brought chocolate milk and took it back to get white milk (she doesn't like chocolate!) but she didn't understand and was crying, screaming and ready to run after him. I had to abandon the table and take her outside to calm her down....once she stopped we were able to go back inside and have a good meal together.

Thursday we decided to hit up the Valley Junction farmers market, we haven't been in years b/c life has just gotten in the way and we didn't have to work Friday and the weather was perfect so we wanted to do something 'fun'.
We walked a little, got a little something to eat and then headed towards the live music to keep the girls entertained. Piper kicked off her shoes right away and stood in front of everyone....sometimes dancing but mostly watching everyone around her. I love it!


The night was good until it was time to leave....then Piper didn't want to leave and we had to carry her kicking and screaming all the way to the car. Overall, we can't complain and we had a good time starting our holiday weekend off right!

Smoke 'em

Before noon the coolers were lined up.

And the smokers were already hours into smoking.

Piper and Scott

Heart-melting

The water was too dirty after all the rain the week before so there was no swimming!

That smile!

Daddy's girl

Bean bag contest!

So serious.

So NOT serious.

Piper decided to take a walk....by herself. We wanted to see how far she would go by herself....she went all the way to the park (she didn't know I was following her), she needs to be a little more afraid.

She needs to work on her form.

and I don't think this is legal.

Daddy and his girls

Sam and Steve Willem won the first bags contest.

Holly and cheesy Presley.

Almost 5:30, almost time for the contest to start, so the men start boxing up their meat for the judges!

My sister in law's sister Steph and her adorable daughter Nora!

Samantha really dug into Scott's meat turkey.

We look like we are going on our first date. We took a short ride in his sister's boyfriends car....Steve loves cars and so I enjoyed it for the drive.

My parents came down about noon and hung out and then took Piper home with them about 4, that way we could enjoy the rest of the night without her. It was fun, Presley played with cousin Ava, we hung out and ate and drank and enjoyed the perfect summer night (and we had a room at the house for the night so we didn't have to worry about driving home!). Thank you Christie and Jason for another great party!

A week behind

So a week ago Friday, Steve headed down to Panora for some golfing before the big Smoke'm party on that Saturday. That night I had my friend David's wedding reception, so I picked up both girls, came home, did dinner, got dressed and headed back downtown for the party....knowing it could be a disaster and that we would probably not be there long.
It was important to me to be there and it just happened to be the day that gay marriage was legalized in all states! Perfect timing for this reception for one of my favorite people! David and Nick, you guys are amazing and probably the cutest couple EVER! Congrats!


As predicted, the 60-90 minutes we were there was mostly me following them around. Piper started dancing right away, but then of course Presley CANNOT leave her alone, so she had to go on the dance floor too...but mostly to chase her or try to carry her around. It was a lot of nonsense and we headed home but not without a complete breakdown from Presley...so that was fun...but expected.

Saturday we slept in (they are so good about sleeping in!)...then we got up, packed up and headed to Panora for the Smoke a little smoke party! The weather was perfect and we were all excited to have the day with everyone and have some fun and good food!