Rain...check!

We had some really fun storms this summer that were great for splishing and splashing!

This one in particular was crazy!! In a matter of seconds it went from drizzly to torrential downpour. Our side walks, grass, and streets were flooding almost immediately.

So of course Etta wanted to suit up and have some fun.

Liam some how got the shaft and made it out there with no gear.

It was super warm though, so don't feel too bad for him.

Pretty quickly Etta thought it would be more fun sans her boots...

But they were a little tough to get off!

I told Etta to put her arm around Liam for a cute picture and this is what ensued...

I always try to explain to her that when she's gritting her teeth she's crossed the line.

Am I a bad mom for not putting down the camera at this point?

Help me...!

Poor boy...always getting beat up by girls. Well we dried off a little and got better equipped and spent the rest of the morning enjoying our freakish weather.

Tin Foil Dinners!!

I love camping and I LOVE tine foil dinners. Over the years we've perfected (at least in our minds) the tin foil dinner. It's just the standard ground beef, carrots, onion, and potato but taken to another level. Mmmmm...

So we headed up to our spot in the upper bridal veil falls right by the river with my fam.

Look at my cute sister.

And my cute BIL.

The kids had SO much fun running around getting dirty and if you know Etta you know there's nothing she loves more than picking flowers. Everywhere we go (church, grocery stores, neighbors) she wants to pic the flowers and I won't let her. So when I told her she could pick as many as she wanted she was in heaven.

And this all boy, boy of course didn't want to pick flowers...he just wanted to throw around the pigskin.

Every one sat around enjoying themselves...

while I slaved over the fire...;)

Which made my feet look like this. Who wears flip flops? I actually love it though. Usually I don't get to let the pyro in me come out because Rob takes over fire duty, but he met up with us later so someone had to get things movin!

All of the bubbling sizzling gloriousness.

Rob testing the delectations.

Grammie

Papi

Awww...while Rob was gone for three weeks this picture brought Liam to tears from missing his dad so much and remembering the good times! I really think he thought Rob was never coming back! :(

Preggos preggos.

Kurt so strong man.

We had so much fun and can't wait to do it again again. There's nothing better in my book than being outside, with no distractions, good food, and family.

Cody Here We Come

So back in July Rob's family had a little reunion in Cody, Wyoming (where rob's mom grew up). Unfortunately Rob was out of town with the Youth National Team till a couple days in and had to leave straight from there to return to work. In light of this I decided to drive with the kids (including our infamous little vomiter) to Wyoming on my own! Sounds like a great plan right?

Realizing this was a horrible plan my mother-in-law offered for us to drive with her.

Most people thought I was crazy when I told them I was driving with my MIL sans Rob to his family reunion in Wyoming of all places...but I assured them that if they knew my amazing MIL (and family) they would understand.

So we set off...very early...

And made lots of interesting bath room breaks...Mindy being the biggest trooper, driving 7/8 months preggos alone with her four kids!

We stopped for ice cream at an old mom and pop store in the middle of nowhere (a neilson tradition)

which of course the kids loved...

Then after long last we arrived in Buffalo Bill Town, Cody Wyoming.

It was really beautiful and the town was quaint and charming.

Margaret's family were amazing hosts and so generous with their time and love.

And Margaret and Bob arranged for us to do all sorts of fun activities...

We went river rafting!

To Yellowstone...which I opted out of with the baby and the vomiter on the all day windy drive...I've seen it before and I'll see it again I am sure. But the rest of the gang had a blast!

We went horseback riding in and absolutely beautiful mountain landscape...

We went to a great cowboy review show, trolly tours of cody, the famous cody rodeo, and more...it was sooo fun to just spend time with everyone!

We also ran into some friends at dinner one night...what are the chances that you're at the same restaurant, the same night, in cody wyoming? So crazy the way those things happen!

Then the last day we had a fun family reunion with my MIL's fam.

They put out a great spread and we laughed, played, took loads of pictures and had a wicked water balloon fight!

Etta's fav new relative!

We had such an amazing time and are so grateful to Margaret for setting this whole thing up and making it such a special family memory.

There were a few more pics of Etta at the rodeo and of our family (with Liam included!) that were just darling that hopefully I can track down...but that's all for now!