The Eclipse

There was lots of hype about the eclipse so I had no idea what to expect.  I decided to brave the potential mayhem and pull the girls out of school so we could see totality an hour away.  We randomly picked a spot on the map and had such a wonderful experience!  We left the house at 9:30 for Auburn, Nebraska.  It seemed like the roads were busier in our direction, but it was smooth sailing.  When we got to Auburn, we turned down a random side street to avoid the traffic light and found a great big park, which turned out to be perfect!  We ate a picnic lunch then the girls got to run around, catch glimpses of the sun's progress through the cloudy sky,  and see the neighbor's telescope.  We thought we would miss seeing totality in the sky because of a giant dark cloud, but it moved just in time so we were able to clearly see the moon cover the sun and witness the 360 degree sunset of totality.  We noticed a big difference in darkness and temperature for 2 minutes then got to see the diamond as the moon uncovered the sun.  It was a very neat experience to share with my girls and I'm so glad we made an effort to see it.  

Back to School

We were a couple of days late, but we made it back to school.  And we even had our school supplies so it was a total win! 

 Milan and Eden were excited to see their friends.  Cora was excited and totally ready, but acting a little nervous until I walked her to the kindergarten classroom. When I visited the girls for lunch, everyone was thriving and Cora was already running around with a group of girls.  Indie, on the other hand, didn't understand why the girls were gone when she woke up.  She laid by the front door and said "lalala" for a while, then resumed her tornado-ing through the house.

And look who can put necklaces on all by herself once she had to find her own entertainment.  

Indie started preschool a week later and rocked it!  I was worried she would be sad, but she did SO GOOD and her teacher said she even said her letter sounds.  She was a little Chatty Cathy on the way home too.  

Family Pictures in Idaho

Dave saw this spot in the middle of day and guessed it would be pretty for pictures at sunset.  He has been trained well, because it was perfect!!!  I was able to take some pictures for the Torlands and capture a couple moments for our family too.  

Camping Part 2

And then we were on the road again.....to Rock Springs!  It's been a couple of years since we have spent any real time in Rock Springs and after the first hour with friends, I wanted to move back immediately.  We had great friends when we lived there and it was so great to catch up with everybody.  We were too busy playing and chit-chatting to take any pictures, but I did knock out some picture sessions and Dave worked with a dentist there.  Well, I guess, I did get one picture of Cora in her favorite spot- the front seat of the bike.  All the girls got to go for long rides and loved it!    

Our final stop was Vedauwoo for a final interview in Cheyenne.  We squeezed in some fun with rock climbing, dinner with the Bades, and a pretty drive through the Snowies.  We were going to stay longer, but I was attacked by allergies so we packed up our stuff and headed home after a fun side-of-the-road tire change.  We were sad to end our summer adventures, but felt invigorated and ready to take on this final year in Nebraska!    

Bear Lake

After living in the camper, we were excited to head to Glenda's house in Paris, Idaho!  Yay for hot showers!  I think the girls were especially excited to see friends and family at Bear Lake.  

Saturday, the Martins came up to visit from Utah.  I didn't take a single picture, but we had so much fun catching up with them while the girls played and enjoyed endless snacks.  Saturday night, we took our exhausted girls to meet up with some acquaintances and potential employers.  I was nervous about the girl's behavior, but they did really well and we had a great visit!  

Sunday, grandma and grandpa showed up right when we got down with church in Paris.  We were all  excited to see them and especially enjoyed a beautiful evening at the park.

Monday, Dave worked with a dentist in Afton and I got to join them for lunch.  Afton is beautiful so it was easy to see us living there in a year.  

Tuesday, the Torlands showed up with Grandpa Bob!  Good thing the house is big, because it seemed like we had a lot of people.  The kids had a blast playing together and making a huge mess, but the best part was visiting the lake every day. This year, we found some kayaks in one of the storage rooms and they were the biggest hits!  I loved visiting the lake in the evening so we could enjoy the whole beach to our selves.  Just for the record, raspberry shakes get an honorable mention for "awesome things at Bear Lake." 

Thursday, Uncle Scott joined the party and we took our show to the mountains for some camping!  We found a good little spot, right across from an ice cave (and amazing picture spot).  Uncle Scott brought his camping game so we had a raging camp fire, smores, hand carved wooden weapons, and a yummy Tuna dinner straight from the sea.