In June we went to Cody for a little over a week. It was such a fantastic trip. Oma bought all her granddaughters matching outfits for some pute pictures. Kerrigan did a great job hamming it up for the photo shoot. Ella and Lexie, however, were a bit surly, as you'll see. I took more than 50 pictures, and these are the only ones that are remotely acceptable.
We blessed Alexa while we were up in Cody. I can't believe I didn't get any better blessing dress photos...I spent a lot of time sewing that puppy.
At the end of our trip we decided to take an impromptu day-trip to Yellowstone via the NE gate.
Ella got car sick (like her daddy), and puked all over just before we got to Yellowstone, so we pulled over and spent an hour cleaning out the car. Because it was just a day-trip, we hadn't brought extra clothes with us, so we had to buy her some new clothes...extremely overprices pjs. We still lovingly refer to them as her "puke pajamas."
The Devil's mouth hot pots:
And what would a trip to Yellowstone be without the buffalo-induced traffic jams?
For the Crooks family Reunion we went to Alcova. What an absolute nightmare. Seriously. It was party central all night long. Some drunk guy even tried to break into my parents' van. Really. But the reservoir was nice:
The boys stabbed a carp with a homemade spear.
Because Aalcova was a bust, we went to Casper for one last night. We used hotwire to get us two hotel rooms. It was a lot of fun!
My little Lexie Lou:
Megan and I took our kids to Utah for the 4th of July. We wanted to see our grandparents, and my mom's family had an impromptu get-together.
Our Ella Belle makes a huge mess when she eats:
She also LOVES to put on mommy's "make-uck."
As part of our quest to be more adventurous, we went to see the annual Dragon Boat Races.
And then did something we never do. We decided that instead of going home, we would drive up I-70. We weren't really prepared, so we stopped at the grocery store, and then drove a big loop through Breckenridge.
We stopped for dinner at a camground. Dusty an Ella spent half an hour teasing this bird. Can you spot him?
Proof that Lexie was there, too:
I've been really busy this summer and fall doing some crafty things. I turned these:
Into these:
We used them as party favors for Megan's baby shower I threw her (along with significant financial support from my mom).
While we were in Laramie for the aforementioned shower, we discovered we had to do this:
Don't ask...
The shower invites:
I love this pic. Poor James.
So, now that it's nearly 3:30 am, I have to go to sleep. We'll see if I can post anything else soon.
Love you all!
