part 5...the part where jackson eats the profits...

daddy's aunt and uncle own a cherry orchard on flathead lake in montana...and when we got there, cherry picking had just started, so we got to help and eat and help...but mostly eat...

sunset vista cherries...aren't they BEAUTIFUL?!!

 jackson eating sunset vista cherries...

aunt lynn and uncle bruce were very generous and let you eat as many as your little hands could stuff in your mouth...they would have made a killing if they'd charged us per pound consumed.  mommy worried about all of the seeds you were eating...she soon discovered that her worries were unnecessary...everything came out just fine.  :-)

"TRUCK, TRUCK, TRUCK!!!"  when you heard the four-wheeler start, you would run your little self over to make sure you got to ride.  SO. FUN.

little zoey, you were just happy to be near the action...

daddy spent some time picking cherries...NOT an easy job...he was determined to get all of the one kind of cherries mommy liked.  (can't remember what they were called, but they were the yellow and red ones...YUM!!!)

we spent our evenings in the back yard...eating dinner, throwing the balls for the dogs, wrestling on the grass, roasting marshmallows for smores...

you found some kitty friends...

lucy found some doggy friends and proceeded to be the boss of the balls...

after picking, aunt lynn took us down to the water...we found some SUPER cool rocks and you went swimming in the FREEZING cold water and would not get out even though your teeth were chattering...LOVE.THE.WATER.

over exposed picture...but still cute...

BEAUTIFUL!!!

up next...the hikes...

part 4...the part where we lose our minds and take two babies on a 28 hour road trip...

we left on a thursday night...wanted to try a night drive to see how it would work...it worked...you slept and we were able to get 6 hours of driving out of the way without you even noticing...

we drove through the badlands...very weird pretty...

we stopped at wall drug...thrilling.  jackson, you got a face full of water at the random squirt water floor part of wall drug.  it was funny.

we have a picture of daddy on this same jack-a-lope just a few years earlier...see???

and then...dum-da-da-daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...

THE WATER PARK HOTEL...personally, i could have ended the vacation here.  because we had such a good time with you two in the water...

jackson, as soon as you saw water, you took off...into the water...and wouldn't have looked back...but mommy caught you and ruined your good time.  you spent many happy hours floating around the lazy river and going down the water slides with mommy and daddy.  you went on the kiddie water slides AND the big kid water slides...you didn't scream or cry on the way down...you just giggled while mommy screamed on the way down...

zoey, you were a HOOT...we plopped you into this little floater thing and you went around and around and around and around the lazy river...you almost fell asleep...but you did NOT want to get out.  you climbed around the splash pad and got many face-fuls of water, but you're a little trooper and didn't seem to mind...

so sleepy...

 the fetterman battlefield...i have no idea what the significance of this battlefield is...guess i should have read the sign...it was significant to me because it was the site of our first blow-out diaper of the trip...it was epic.  mommy even had to change her shirt when it was all over...

and finally...after 6 days...MONTANA...

interlude...

one of the happiest moments of my day...opening the door of your room in the morning to see your cute little face...

love, love, love you!!!

part 3...family reunion

so.  after 6 weeks in SC, we locked up the house & loaded up the car & made a super annoying trip to TN...super annoying because there were traffic jams and two screaming babies in my van...a trip that should have taken 3 hours stretched out into about 5 hours.  not.fun.

annoying trip, but worth all the hassle and frustration--because we were in TN for a halsey family reunion...at the top of the steepest driveway i've ever driven up.  i have never been so scared to drive in my whole life.  i don't want to drive up that driveway EVER.AGAIN.

BEAUTIFUL view from a rickety-rack porch...

hot-tubbing it with papa...

dancing it up with cousins sarah and brooke...

checking out the real estate prospects with uncle matthew...

smiling the most precious smile...just because...

eating as many apples as i can before i'm caught...

posing at the top of a super steep walk up to the top of...i can't remember what in i can't remember where...

your job was easy...sit in a stoller while others huff and puff you up to the top...haha suckers!!!

auntie kiki got to steer you down...if she let go for even a second you were in for the ride of your short little life...

you two don't know it yet, but you are super blessed with oodles of people who love you! 

lucky ducks!!!

part 2...

while in SC, auntie kiki came to see you and she put your hair in piggies...SO CUTE!!!

and she brought this super cutie-pie outfit...one of mommy's favorites for the summer...

you learned to pull up on furniture...you learned to fall gracefully after pulling up on furniture...not easy to do with hardwood floors...

mommy found you and jackson behind the couch many days...this particular day you two were just looking at each other and laughing hysterically...it was precious!

see my sweatshop curtains???  LOVE them!!!

how we spent our summer vacation...part 1

as promised...pictures from summer...starting with our time in SC...HOME...jackson, you spent most of your days in the water or begging to be in the water...too bad it was so doggone hot!!!  had to find an umbrella to shade the back patio so that you could spend more than 20 minutes in your pool...

 oh, how you loved your "nemo ball"...had to have "nemo ball" at all times...and when "nemo ball" blew away in a storm, mommy chased him down and brought him back because she knew you'd be heartbroken if he was lost.

my little water bug...

 you weren't too sure about the sprinkler at first...mommy had to run through a couple of times with you before you wanted anything to do with it...

the hair...

oh, the hair...

i don't know what to do with it...

it's getting big.

i don't want to cut it, but maybe...

poor girl has a mother who doesn't even know how to do her own hair...

LOOK at this face!!!  i'm pretty sure she doesn't care what her hair looks like at this point...

so maybe i shouldn't either.  i'll start practicing my braids, zoey.  i promise.

so, it's been a while...

for many reasons:

1. i haven't really been home (missouri) since june because i went home (south carolina) for a month and a half...BECAUSE...we were SUPPOSED to be back in SC FOR GOOD in june, but people quit matt's project which meant we had to stay...biggest.bummer.EVER!!! i'm still pretty bitter about still being HERE...but whatevs...get over it already. ANYWAYS...we had planned some work to be done on the house before we got home...had it scheduled and all...so i went home...to make sure it got done...finished. it did. and then some. mom came for a few weeks and i PUT HER TO WORK!!! ran my own little sweat shop...she sewed and sewed and sewed until i had curtains in the living room, curtains in the bedroom, curtains in the kitchen, a dolly in zoey's arms, and two SUPER cute quilts in my babies' beds. (i'll have to look for pictures...) then it was on to a family reunion in TN...which is why i stayed in SC an extra long time...no reason to go ALL the way back to MO to drive ALL the way back to TN in a two week period. the driving with the children...not my favorite thing...i don't want to talk about it.

2. when i got back to MO, our computer crashed. what seemed like a simple repair ended up being a total loss...hard drive...FRIED!!! thank you, Jesus, that i had backed up my pictures and music...didn't lose anything. BUT the computer was out for the count...couldn't focus on that because...a week after getting back to MO...

3. we got BACK into the car for a 25+ hour trip to MT to visit matt's family. the trip there...good...despite the DAILY blow-out diaper situation. (and matt scoffed when i wanted to pack laundry soap and dryer sheets...he knows better now.) the time with family...SOOO GOOD. the trip home...i really don't want to talk about it...it was just time to go home...after three weeks with two kids in a car, out of a suitcase, without our "stuff" and "space"...ya think?!

4. HOME...FINALLY...even if it is MO and not SC. ordered a new computer...that was backordered...we were given a really specific delivery window...between september 19th and october 1st. it's best that i don't talk about this either. phone calls are made, orders are cancelled, new computers that are NOT backordered are looked for...and i know i said i didn't want to talk about this but i have to say this: we ordered from schmestschmy.com (changed the name so as not to defame the company...can you figure out which one i mean???) and were told the computer was backordered-as mentioned before-and after cancelling our order online we went to the store to find one that wouldn't be backordered and WOULDN'T YOU KNOW IT?!!!! LO and BEhold...there's the computer...THIS computer...the one i'm typing on...the one that was backordered. there. in the store. schmest schmy is NOT my favorite place right now...i don't want to talk about it.

i bought the computer at the schmest schmy store and now i'm connected...hooked up on the intranet.

so, enough chitter-chatter...you didn't come here to listen to me yammer and complain...you came here for the pictures...and they're coming...i'm gonna go back to the "beginning of summer" pictures...but not in this post. i'll just leave you with a few....

more soon...i sorta promise.