busy days

Summer is going by quickly and our days have been full. It is hard to stay on top of getting pictures posted I must admit. Or maybe at the end of the day I'm just a little lazy, ok that that is probably it.

Mikayla has accomplished something new. She is officially mobile!! A few weeks ago she started crawling. She is not your typical crawler on hands and knees. Rather she pulls herself around by reaching with one arm and pulling with the other, her stomach does not leave the floor. She gets where she wants to go and she is quick!! It is fun to watch her go. The sweetest part about the way she crawls, is that it is the exact same way Jennifer crawled! Here she is exploring in the kitchen. This was also one of Jennifer's favorite cupboards to play in.

I have mentioned before that Jennifer loves to cook. In this particular picture Jennifer is helping Bill make some pancakes. She just missed her mark a little!

A few weeks ago we went camping with Grandma and Grandpa McLeland. One of the days we went to the zoo. It was a fun afternoon visiting the animals.

Just a cute picture of Mikayla while we were camping.

This is something that doesn't happen often, so when it does it really needs to be recorded. After a fun few days of camping and then a birthday party for cousins Ben and Conner this little girl was tired. I love this too because there is an open book on her lap, she couldn't even finish the book, she was so exhausted.

she rides again!

After months of asking and telling us that she needed to ride a horse Jennifer rode again! I didn't tell Jennifer that we were going to ride horses until a few minutes before we left and when I did tell her, she jumped up and down and shouted, "Yea, I ride a horse!!"

Of course she had to wear her Jessie boots! I got one picture of her with the Jessie hat on too, but she didn't want to wear her hat out to ride the horse because she needed a helmet.

To make the trip even better, our friend Rylee was there to ride too! Rylee was fearless on the horses, she was hopping on and off and wanting the horse to go just a little faster, it was great to watch!

Jennifer loves Breuklyn! And Breuklyn does amazing job with Jennifer while riding the horses, she is a sweet girl and we are so thankful she shares her horses with us.
Poor Mikayla Jo is once again too little to do the same thing Jen gets to do. She sat in her stroller watching all the horse fun. She was checking out the horse that wasn't being rode this morning, the funny was that the horse was checking Mikayla out too. At one point the horse stretched out towards Mikayla and she started petting his nose, it was too cute, and of course I didn't have my camera ready. Mikayla is looking at the horse thinking, "In a few years..."

If Jennifer has her way it will not be months before she rides again, hopefully it will just be a few days!

red, white and boots?

Today as we got ready to leave our house for the parade Bill told Jennifer to get some shoes on. Jennifer's response, "Oh, ok, I need my Jessie boots!" They were by the back door because she has wanted to wear them the past several days when we have had to go anywhere. So Bill decided this morning, why not let her wear them. She needed a little something red on today anyway, so why not Jessie boots?!

The girls ready to go to the parade.

I must admit I am a little sad that I didn't get a better picture of Jennifer in her shorts and boots. She was being a little bit silly with the pictures this morning and only wanted her picture taken with other people, so I had to snap a few in action.
There are a few families that Jennifer would join if given the chance. On most days if you ask you if she wants to go to any of these families houses she would jump at the chance. Today we sat by one of the families at the parade and afterwards we were hanging out them with for a few minutes. I was trying to get Jennifer's picture before we took her boots off but when she heard picture she sat down and was insistent that these boys sit down and take a picture with her. "Come on, come on, sit, sit", she repeated until all three of them sat down. So I had to include a picture with Jen and three of her extended siblings.Yesterday afternoon was kids day in the park. There was a kiddie parade in the morning, that we just watched, we figured Jennifer would be too busy waving at everyone to make it the whole way, so yes we just watched. After we played a few games we got to have lunch with two of Jennifer's favorite people, Chris and Rylee. After a little break at home we headed back up town for some inflatable fun. It was money well spent to watch Jennifer having a great time. The best part for her was getting to enjoy the fun with some friends.

Here is how Mikayla spent part of the afternoon in the park. She loved watching all the people but she could really care less about all that was happening around her so she just decided to take a little nap.