Summer Update

I love summer! It's so much fun. I recently quit my job and I'm glad. I just felt the need to get Railee out and about this summer as much as I could. It feels good to take her places and watch her have fun. I don't know what it is about it, but it feels so relieving to see your kid laughing, exploring, learning, and wearing herself out. Now.... this post might be a picture overload, but I've taken so many lately that I just had to post some of my favorites. These first few are of us going swimming with Darby. I didn't think Railee liked swimming until we went to this pool. They had a kid section where Railee could touch the bottom the entire time. She LOVED it! I should have known that the moment she could move around for herself that she'd change her story about swimming. This little girl loves her independence!

4th of July weekend - Wow! What a fun weekend! I don't even think there was anything super spectacular that happened, but I think I love the 4th so much because just that... it's so casual. This is the first year in a long time that Chase and I had NOTHING planned... or at least set in stone. We kind of played it by ear and I liked it! First, we went to the Stadium of Fire. It's the first time I went where I wasn't sitting in the stadium. We found a fantastic spot right on the grass of the stadium. We could here the concert, we could see the fireworks. All the money we spent was on dinner. This is the way we're going to go at least until our kids are old enough to sit through a concert. It was so much fun because the kids were able to run around, we got to bring our own dinner, it was chillaxed, and inexpensive. I don't think there was a thing about it I would have wanted different. We went with my sister, Rachee, and her family and their friends.

It was also Rachel and Andrew's birthday so I brought cupcakes. If you think Railee wants that cupcake more than anything else, you might be right. She was eyeing them from the moment I took them out of the oven. Torture!

Happy Birthday!!!!

The Balloon Fest this year was a flop. First of all, it's getting more and more crowded every year. We were a tad late trying to find somewhere to park so we missed my favorite part of the balloons being blown up. Then, not long after we got there a gust of wind came through and blew all the balloons over. You'd think we would feel disappointed... I didn't because I've never seen that happen before, and I've been to the balloon fest quite a bit in my lifetime! It was a new experience for me. However, I would have liked to see Darth Vader fly. The fliers of this balloon came from Belgium. They all were dressed up as different Star Wars characters. It's sad to think they came all this way to be blown over. Bummer!

When I say they were blown over, it's not like they fell over like trees. It was slow and somewhat graceful.

The rest of the 4th was spent in Midway. That wasn't our original plan, but like I said before we weren't married to anything we had planned and we're so happy about how everything played out. We had breakfast, played outside, built a firepit, and took it easy the whole day. There were fireworks going up all around us, plus we had a few of our own. Also, Railee rode on her first horse. At first she hated it, but as soon as we put her up there with Addie she had a blast!

My niece is so cute. She will smile for your camera anytime, anywhere. She's also just so sweet and helpful. Love you, Ads!

Watching fireworks. Trevor is also so cute and helpful. He spent quite a bit of time with the nieces and nephews on those horses, and then he never hesitates to pick up Railee and show her a little attention and love. What a great guy!