BEFORE AND AFTER IN THE NAME OF LOVE

somewhere out there is a little girl, sick with cancer, that will get a wig made from the ten inches of hair cut from my little girls head this last saturday..........

aubrey has been working LONG and hard to grow her hair for this very purpose.  finally on saturday we deemed it just long enough to meet her goal.  would you believe i didn't cry when it was cut off!  maybe i wanted to....but i'll never tell!  i'm just very proud of her for her gift she is giving to another special little girl out there that is in need.

GETTING THAT PERFECT SHOT TAKES SOME PATIENCE !!

since i haven't taken any pictures since we came back from vacation you will all just have to settle for more from our recent colorado trip.

one of the simple little things that we did to pass the time was to take pictures of the wildlife in the area.......

especially the hummingbirds.

aubrey had the right idea.  she needed all the help she could get to stay perfectly still (something she has a rough time with.....)  we placed the bird feeder right outside our living room window. 

she placed herself on the love seat with camera aimed at the feeder.

she lays in wait patiently.......waiting for the birds to come sip from the feeders..........

and this is mostly what she gets.......those birds are fast little flyers!

but after many........MANY shots of dead air we suceeded in a few good shots!



MEET PAL

this is aubrey riding pal.  she did awesome this time and can't wait to ride again sometime soon.

chuck's horse is smokey.......

aubrey taking control of pal..... he want's to stop and eat everything in site!



the cabin we stayed in was near the pasture where the horses grazed. 

we went and visited the horses everynight. 

LIFE ON TOP

hiking this trip was soooo much more enjoyable then last our last trip to the mountains.  aubrey is no longer whinny about being forced to hike.  she is no longer at the age where she begs to be carried to the top either. 

on this trip we hiked to the top of LILY MOUNTAIN.  elevation is about 9700 feet above sea level. just over a elevation gain of 1000 feet....and about a 1.5 mile hike. (sorry the exact numbers are escaping me at the moment.)   so, in mountain climbing terms it is "easy" but for those of us out of shape flat landers it was probably the prefect mountain to climb to feel like we were on top of the world without having to hike for miles and miles to reach the summit of a fourteener. 

aubrey was thrilled to reach the top.  then during the rest of the week everytime we drove past the mountain she would always point out the trailhead and comment "i climbed that mountain!"

later in the week we hiked to calypso cascades.  we were all pretty tired at that point but knew we still wanted to get out and do some hiking.  rocky mountain national park was fairly busy that week so we tried to find a fun hike that wasn't as busy.

KEEPING IT COOL..........

while many of our friends and family here in the midwest were sitting indoors in the air conditioned indoors to keep from melting in the sweltering heat, we were up high in the mountains tossing snowballs and enjoying the thin cool mountain air.....

AVOIDING TEARS

aubrey wanted to help cut onions..........i almost ALWAYS cry when cutting onions so she decided she wasn't going to let that happen to her!

smart little cookie, that girl......

CHIPPING AWAY AT MY SUMMER'S "TO DO" LIST

eariler this summer i set a goal that i would finish all my UFO's (unfinished objects) by the end of the summer.......or early fall.....that part i didn't really pin point...i just didn't want to start ANYmore big projects until all my unfinished ones were done..........

yesterday i crossed one off the list.  last year when UNI made it to the "sweet sixteen" bracket in the NCAA basketball tourney i decided that i should show a bit of my alum support and make a quilt with my school colors......something perfect for sitting around the TV while watching a game.  i've made iowa state quilts (ick) and several hawkeye quilts (yeah !!) so i thought it was time to make one for my school.

GO PANTHERS !!

along with finishing my PANTHER quilt i have also be sewing away on my bee blocks.....only one left and i'll be caught up! 

here are just a few of the ones i've finished this month.......

 

  

BETTER LATE THEN NEVER

LAST DAY

last day of second grade. 

KAYAKS AND LEMONADE

we had a garage sale this last weekend and aubrey set up a lemonade stand.  the weather wasn't hot and sticky but she did suceed in selling about four quarts of lemonade.  she sold it for a quarter a cup.  three or four people even gave her money without taking their lemonade....

she had a ball!  AND learned lots about running a business as an eight-year-old.

later that day we went shopping for a new kayak for aubrey.  now we can all three go out in the lake at one time.

after shopping around we found one we could "live" with at the farm and fleet store.  it was blue.

sunday after church we went shopping around for a paddle.  as we were paying for the paddle we noticed in the sale flyer at the register that the kayaks that we had looked at the day before where now on sale. 

after hunting down a sales clerk we dedided to take back the one we bought the day before and get this different one.  it wasn't a hard sell for aubrey to exchange....you see this new kayak is hot pink!  and you know....if your a girl, it is generally all about what color it is!

with new kayak and paddle in hand, daddy headed off to return kayak number one while aubrey and i shopped for a new life vest......

then it was time to load up the three boats and head out to west lake......

in she went paddling and handling her kayak like a pro!

all went well until the end when she became tired and hungry.  hint for the next time?  drinkables and snacks!