The Newly Weds!

Congratulations go to Donna and Steve. Our neighbors were married a couple of weeks ago and I was so glad I could join them for their special day. They had the best rehearsal dinner in the neighborhood and had the local Mexican restaurant cater it, I showed up a little late, but everyone was still out having a great time, even in the pouring rain. The wedding was beautiful and although it was a little cold it didn't rain. We are so happy for you both!

Me, Karen and Donna and the kiddos

Our neighbors the Hefflinger's and Donna

Karen and Jeff were nice enough to lend me a ride to the wedding. Wade was out of town so I crashed with them....don't worry Jeff, I don't remember any Arizona stories being told.

The Hefflinger's

Olivia and Matty - they are so cute and Alliya loves them. She keeps asking Jeff and Karen for a "sleep over". I am not even sure that she knows what that means, she just knows she wants one.

Playing Cowboy

This is my tribute to my husband and his need to play cowboy. The Chief Joseph trail ride is every July and my dear husband loves to go play cowboy for a week. It is a week long ride that covers 100 miles per year and follows the trail that Chief Joseph took when fleeing from (um....the white guys with guns). Never claimed to be a history buff people...

Here is my cute husband on the first day of the ride...it is almost like the first day of school...he looks all excited and not worn out, not the same look as when he comes home after not showering for a week, sitting his bum on a horse for a week having so much hair on his face that it makes his poor head feel bad. ( I love my bald husband)

Wade's cousin Bailey and Uncle Bart - she is seriously committed! She rode every day the whole time! My butt doesn't even want to think about it.

Every night they move camp and have to set it up all over again. They have big dinner and live music...not bad for having to haul everything in yourself.

Don on his horse Thunder and one of his many awesome outfits.

The continental divide...

The road goes on forever, but the party never ends...can you see how long that line is?

I Love Work Trips

Wade has a great conference every year in July. Last year it was in Sun Valley and this year it was in Park City. Both years we have packed up all 4 kids and spent the weekend playing and swimming in the pool.

Brennyn has no fear! She couldn't jump into the deep end enough. We had to watch her really close because this crazy child would walk to the edge and jump right in, whether you were there to catch her or not....such a vast difference to the other two girls. For the life of me I can't explain why Alliya and Emory thought it was so much more fun to take their Barbie's and use the hair to "clean" the ground rather than actually go swimming. They spent most of the two days doing this, and only occasionally getting in the water or hot tub. Hey, as long as they are happy I don't care which they prefer.

The evenings were spent playing for a bit and then settling down for movie night. I love it when they are all tucked in "quietly" watching a movie...so cute.

We always love it when we can catch up with Elizabeth and Matt. They were so generous as always and got us all passes to ride the chair lifts to the top of the mountain and hike around. We did this for a few hours and the kids thought it was great to go on the "rides". The views were amazing and the weather was amazing.

We actually got them to sit still and all look at the camera...that was the accomplishment of the day.

My honey....

Here is a video of Brennyn being fearless...she is amazing and made us laugh all day long with her excitement from jumping in the pool over and over and over again.

Burning Wood by: Wade Bradshaw

So this is my first post.... my wife would not put this on the blog so I had to. I feel not sharing this would be very unfair to everyone. It is not everyday you get the opportunity to share a photo of this caliber.

So here is the story. We went camping at Shi Shi beach at the very Northern tip of the Washington cost about a 5 hour drive from where we live. We hiked in 3 miles with all of our supplies and set up camp.

On the hike in we saw the BIGGEST slug I have ever seen. I made Courtney put her food down to show how BIG this sucker was.

We did some exploring on the cost. On the Washington cost you don't get sun and beach... you get clouds and rocks.

After hiking around and exploring it was time to make camp. We camped just above the high water mark on the beach and made a fire.

We were sitting around the fire getting ready for dinner when I saw it.... at first I did not know what to say. I looked at Courtney pointed and started to laughing. What makes this photo so great is that is was not staged. I am not saying I would not have staged it... I am just saying I did not for this photo.

There it was in all of its glory. Right in the middle of the fire... like it had eyes staring right back at me. It was like a car crash... you could not stop looking at it. And I don't care who you are this photo is funny. So funny I had to put 3 of them.

Greatest camping trip ever! I highly recommend Shi Shi Beach.

The evolution of the movie night...

This is what our movie nights have evolved to...

This is how the movie nights started. We had a great idea to use Wade's work projector to watch a movie on a white sheet in the driveway. We all gathered all of our camping chairs and even brought out the popcorn maker. We had such a great time that we have a movie night almost every weekend (when the weather permits). We have come a long way from our first night and now Steve (our neighbor who works IT for Microsoft) has "invested" in a blow up 12 foot movie screen, a new AV system on a rolling cart (used only for outside movie night) and a new 3D projector. I love that our neighbors have gone all out for our functions. Perfect combination of a cartoon movie as the first of a double feature for the kids, then we can put the kids down, go back outside and watch something the adults would like to see. We only have one rule...no home movies.

Thank You Aunt Skeeter and Johnny!

A big THANK YOU to my Aunt Skeeter and Johnny for buying the girls these adorable cheerleader outfits. The girls loved them and were so excited to wear them around the house. We are creating Gator fans at a young age. Thanks again, we love you guys!

The Great Outdoors

We have the best hikes in the mountains that are literally only a short drive from us (about 15 minutes). We decided (on one of the few hot days that we have had this summer) that it was a perfect day to check out a new hike. We went and did two hikes for the day (a total of 6 miles). The first was to Franklin Falls and the second was to Slippery Slab.

Franklin Falls

Slippery Slab is one of the coolest places to go...especially on a hot day. It is about 1.5 miles each way (1 mile vertical) but the river runs over these huge rocks and they create big "slabs" that you can sit on, lay out on, or even slide down like a water slide. The water is freezing, but is well worth the hike.

Wade is cooling off in the 95 degree weather....the advantages of having no hair...