To: Shawn From: Your Wifey

Farmer Jack. He loves the tractor at Grandma's house, and we are going to have a tractor cake for his birthday that is only a week away! My baby is one, I'm so sad. But isn't he stinkin' cute?

Here's some pictures from the week - We hit Mesa Falls (114 ft. waterfall) and Rigby Lake - which both boys LOVED!

The boys have been soaking up the sunshine, and Jack and taken a real liking to drinking from the hose!

The boys playing doctor - Jack refuses to keep his surgical hat on. I'm not sure that is sanitary!

Finally here is a fabulous photo of me - AKA "BraceFace" I'm think I'm officially 14 again. I can't help but laugh, because I look alot like my 16 year old niece Christine, who is also sporting braces. Oh, wow, I can't believe this is actually happening! (picture courtesy of Sam)

Love you Shawn, and miss you!!

Saturday Soup

This week has been loaded with fun things for me and the boys. 1st - the zoo. The kids had a great time, and the animals were all out and about, so it made it twice as fun.

We then hit the Museum of Idaho and went to the Titanic exhibit. It was really neat to see the artifacts they have uncovered, and they gave each of us a ticket with a passenger's name on it and at the end, we found out if "we" survived. Very cool (Hahahaha...)!

We went hiking on Wednesday up to Heise - a local hot springs. I had to laugh as we started on the trail because of this caution sign:

however the we saw no snakes, plenty of little lizards though. The kids especially loved cooling off in the stream that runs through the trail - Jack too! He has no fear of water, whether it be freezing cold or luke warm he loves it. This was no exception.

I also had two VERY exciting things happen -

1. I had my 1st ever REDBOX experience. I know, very exciting!

(me and my niece Tyleigh)

2. I am getting braces! (cry, sniffle) 10 years ago I was realized from metal mouth bondage with a dazzling set of perfectly straight teeth. Now through unexplainable events (I didn't wear my retainer faithfully, and my wisdom teeth came in) they have shifted leaving me with a horrible snaggle tooth! I can stand it no longer, and so long story short..... I'm going to look like a 15 year old again. Oh well, I can stand it for 6-12 months right? Shawn is SUPER excited since he has never kissed a girl with braces. I'm sure he'll love it!

The weeks are going by very quickly for the boys and I. Shawn is Colorado right now, and will be there for 1 more week. Thank you Dan and Brigit for being the hostests with the mostest! It has made a HUGE difference for Shawn to be with family this month, and we are so grateful that he really only had to do 2 months of complete solitude. I'm hopefuly going to head out for a weekend trip to PA while he is in Allentown next month. We hope you all have a great week.

26, Rocky Mountains, & Cancelled

It has been a crazy few weeks. We headed out to Colorado to visit Shawn August 3rd. We played super hard with Brigit and the kids (Shawn's sister - whom he is staying with) hitting the pool, the park, the aquarium, and watching the kids go wild with each other. Sam and Jack loved every second with their cousins.

I celebrated my 26th Birthday with Shawn which was the highlight! We went to dinner and shopping, so yes it was MY choice of things to do! 26 feels a little more wierd to me than any other birthday so far, because I'm closer to 30 then I thought?

On Friday they left for a family vacation, leaving us to "play house" at their house for the rest of our visit. We loved having time to just spend the four of us. We went up to Estes State Park, an tourist town in the Rocky Mountains. It was BEAUTIFUL there, and we got old time photos (I'll have to post that later), ate at Penelope's Burgers, and went to a family fun place where we mini-golfed, potato sack slid, and jumped on a super tramp! It was so much fun and the boys were great the entire time.

The rest of the time while Shawn was gone to the hospital, the boys and I hung out, swam, and walked to local parks. On Wednesday we were scheduled to fly home. We checked in our luggage, went through security and got to our gate, only to find out that our plane had been cancelled! Nice huh? Gets better - so I tried to call Shawn, who couldn't feel his phone vibrate. He finally answered about 20 minutes into his drive home. He had to come back, and in the meantime I was trying to reschedule my flight for today, waiting in a HUGE line with two hungry and stir-crazy boys. I love how people look at you like you're crazy for traveling with kids, as you throw food at them to keep them occupied or chase them around the airport, rushing to the bathroom, shushing whining and crying! Okay so maybe I am crazy:) But alas, Shawn came and got us, and our flight is rescheduled for today, so lets hope that it goes a little more smoothly!

Jack is standing on his own (no pictures of that, but it is happening) and he thinks he is pretty hot stuff when he does. He even does some up and down action when he does it! He is also turned into quite the groover. Every time a song comes on or when he wakes up from a nap he starts bobbin' his head and shake his body! He is so cute - and I'll try to get a video of this, because it is better live! He also has been getting his molars, not so much fun:( But he has popped one through and working hard on the other. His 1st birthday is just around the corner and I can hardly believe that he is going to be one. We love him and Sammy so much, and they really have been the best boys considering our crazy, broken home lately. We hope you are all well - have a great week.