Lyra, the zany 2 year old!

Exactly two years ago, this beautiful little lady greeted the world. There are so many sides to this lovable girl. She is always ready for an adventure, wants to do everything the big kids do, keeps us on our toes with her wit and humor, and still loves a good snuggle. Some of her favorite words and phrases: "Shoes", "I want...milk, boots, baby, drink, etc", "Bus!", "Oh me, Oh my" (from One fish Two Fish). She is also learning to call her sister Lisa (which comes out as ee-sha) instead of Ya-Ya (which is actually so cute that we often end up just calling Lisa that anyway). 

We had a comical photo session a few nights ago that captured the many moods and silliness of Lyra. Enjoy.

Right before she threw her doll several feet across the room

Right after she threw her doll several feet across the room

walking backward. the suspense is terrible...

oh my, blue eyes! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,  LYRA!

Kindergarten

 We now have a Kindergartener among us! Last Tuesday marked the first day of her official school career at Harrison Elementary. We are very excited for her. She has been happy so far to tell us all about each day when she comes home after school. I hope that stays for a while.

Supportive friends taking her to the bus

Cheeeeeese!

Let me explain: For Lisa's birthday we brought cupcakes to share with the class. This is Lisa's Kindergarten teacher showing six of Lisa's classmates how to be candles for her birthday song. When the song was over, Lisa "blew" the candles out and they all fell to the floor. As strange as it looks, it was actually pretty cute. 

She seems to be enjoying her class very much so far. I like the last rule on that chart behind her. Always a good idea.

Goodbye, Summer.

What a great summer this has been! Besides traveling to California for Disneyland, backpacking in the Sawtooth mountains, and camping as a family, here are a few other highlights of good summer times in Twin Falls.

summer harvest!

Darn spinach went to seed. Made a beautiful bouquet!

Spinach leaves should not generally be as big as your child's face.

Lyra experiencing the wonderful aroma of garden fresh carrots

SO much lettuce!

Our balcony became a small garden getaway thanks to Ryan's efforts 

moonlight and geraniums on the balcony

The girls with our friend, Ollie, enjoying a staged popsicle moment

We went through a short spell of nap protests which would result in the predicted 4pm crash wherever she landed.

new bunk beds! We made a nice trade with Tony and Donna and now Lisa no longer has to sleep on a mattress on the floor, which she is very pleased about.

new boots! 

Shoshone Falls outing when Matt and Andrea came to visit

Really loved our first summer with a teacher husband and daddy. Definite perk of his job. The girls were so sad to see him go back to school.

Bring on the new school year!

Lisa's 6th Birthday Party

This year Lisa really really wanted to have a pool party for her birthday and since our apartment closes the pool after Labor day, we decided to celebrate a couple weeks early. Pizza, swimming and an ice-cream cake made for a fun summer day for all of us. Lisa asked for a castle cake again and I found a much easier way to do it than the last time. It is was way less work to make an ice-cream cake than an actual frosted cake. Lisa even helped me dip the cones in white chocolate and put sprinkles on them for the towers. Yum! We were joined by Trina, Anna and Ellery, Jon and Addy, Donna and Tony and their kids, and our super nice manager of the apartments, Erin, stopped by. It was actually quite nice to have the pool as the main attraction. Lisa seemed to have fun just swimming with friends. 

3 layers: Vanilla white cake, cake batter ice-cream and strawberry ice cream
Frosted with a layer of vanilla ice-cream and buttercream icing trim

Backpacking from Redfish Lake

Our second backpacking trip this summer started out at Redfish Lake and made a 24 mile loop that included Cramer, Edna, Imogene and Hell Roaring Lakes. Five days of rigorous hiking, glorious mountain-top views, chilly swimming and simple, carefree hours of relaxation. The girls stayed with Donna and Tony again and were very well taken care of. Donna planned lots of fun things for them to do and Lisa really picked up on the routine of daily chores by following their kids which was a definite bonus for us when we got back! We're grateful they made it possible for us to go on this trip.

Waterfall between Upper and Middle Cramer lakes

Hiking up and out of Cramer Divide

pretty paintbrush flower on the other side of Cramer Divide

Cuddle moment at Edna Lake, our personal favorite

Edna may have been our favorite lake because of the ideal campsite we happened upon.  Perfect smooth rock leading out into the water, great for sun-bathing after a refreshing swim and a very picturesque setting for some yoga stretches in the morning.

Morning swim. Cold, but not quite as bone-chilling as I expected it to be. 

Hiking up and over and around to Imogene Lake

Reflections at Imogene

Our first camp-fire of the trip

Cool spider at Hell Roaring Lake

Funky bug on our tent

Early morning start for last day out

Almost there! It was quite an uphill trek out of Hell-Roaring Lake

The welcome sight of Redfish Lake at last

Boat shuttle back to the lodge

Goodbye, Sawtooth Mountains!