Lake Powell

This last month has been a long and short one all at the same time. I have been busy with work, photography sessions, and getting back into the swing of "being back to school". We did take a much needed vacation this last weekend. We went to Lake Powell. My dear, sweet husband has been itching to go fishing and it appeared that it was going to be the "perfect weekend"!

And it was just that... PERFECT!!

We left early Friday morning. The girls were so excited, although not as excited as their father, who couldn't sleep the whole night before. We made it there early and got our camp set up and set out to catch a whole bunch of fish.
We had a good day. We caught a few nice fish. The girls had a nap in the boat, we had lunch, and fished and fished some more.

We came back, made some dinner, the girls swam for a while, and we went back out to find some "Striper Boils".

(Emersons idea of swimming...laying in the sand and kicking her feet)

We sat by the fire, laughed a lot, listened to Aniston tell us what happens at school everyday, and then we went to bed. We woke up early, ready for more fishing.

Aniston fished a lot, Emerson and I ate a lot of snacks, and at the end of the day we had caught 26 fish. We got into the Striper boils and had 3 fish in our boat at one time. Emerson was terrified as they flopped around. We had the most fun that night. It was insane.

And then it was time to pack up and come home. We had to leave Ryans "favorite place on earth". We had so much fun, just the 4 of us.

A new 1st...

Last Wednesday I took my sweet little girl to her 1st day of dance class.

Every time I took Aniston last year, Emerson would cry. She was big enough to go too. And every day she didn't get to go her little heart would break. So there was no way she was not going to dance this year.

The 1st day of class arrived and she was so excited. She let me dress her in her new Leotard. She gathered her dance shoes in her new little dance bag, and she even let me put a matching black ribbon in her hair.

Now, she is my shy child. She never gets farther away from me than arms lenght. I wasn't sure that she was going to let me leave her there. At first it appeared that she wasn't, but I said I was going and she ran to me and puckered her lips and reached for a hug and that was that. 45 minutes later I picked her up and she didn't want to leave.

I love being the mommy of girls.

Is it possible...

that my baby is really 3 years old? It doesn't seem like three years has passed since she came into our lives.

This was the year that she "got it" about the birthday business. We kept asking her what she wanted and her reply was "a butterfly cake" and that was all...

The morning of her birthday, I was downstairs working and she was sleeping in our bed. She woke her dad up and said to him "I want to see my presents".

Grandma Tracy stopped by on her way to work to give her a present to open. She was so excited for her new little outfit.

The whole day we spent playing, bumming, and making a butterfly cake. Just as fast as I could ice the cake, she was eating the frosting.

She got her butterfly cake...

She wanted a scooter like Anistons and we found one with butterflies on it. She was so excited. She is so graceful and so coordinated. She hopped on the scooter and down the sidewalk she went.

I just love this girl. She is so full of it. She has the cutest little facial expressions. She is so animated. She loves to hug and kiss. She still loves her 2 bankies. She loves her big sister. She loves being outside with her dad. She loves to change her clothes at least 2 times a day. She loves coke. She loves treats. She loves her Grandma Tracy. She loves bedtime and every night says to me "mommy, me close my eyes?" She loves to ride her big bike. She loves the song Big Green Tractor and insists on hearing it everytime we get in the car. She loves the color purple. She loves to let her mommy kiss her soft little neck.

And her mommy loves her more than words can say!