Dear Leighton

My Sweet Leighton,

I am so incredibly excited to hold you!  I hate to say meet you because I feel like I already know you!  We have been sharing a bunker for over 9 months now with no breaks from each other so I find it hard to consider you a stranger!  Just like with your big sister, the bigger you have grown and developed, the more I can tell about you!!  You definitely love food like mom, dad and sissy!!  You get very excited when I eat!!  You also love to be on the same routine as me.  When I sleep you sleep, when I wake up you wake up!  I don't think that is very common in babies but what do I know--I've only done this twice!  If I get upset, you get very unsettled and can't stop moving around. When Paige and Oscar are near my belly-your home-you get so very excited, almost bursting through the seems to get to them!  Oh how Paige loves to see you punching and kicking at her!  Oscar lays by my belly to protect you, he seems to always know when there is a new Beaver brewing up!  Since mommy is 38.5 weeks pregnant (1.5 weeks more pregnant than I have ever been) I'm thinking you are like your dad in being in no rush to join us!  Honestly, your life will probably be more peaceful if you get that quality from daddy!  He must have the lowest blood pressure on the face of the Earth!  Now your sister and I are pretty high on the Richter Scale of high strung.  When we are together-which is most of the time-our energies could literally bounce people to next week!  We love life and I know you will too whether you are mellow like dad or bouncing through the roof with Paige and I!  

We have been doing lots of preparing for your most perfect arrival!!  From preparing all the baby necessities, washing clothes to some pretty elaborate projects!!!  I think you will be most impressed when you find the time to check it all out!  Mommy has designed a beautiful bathroom for us girls to share over the years!!  Since mommy and daddy hope to be in this house for a long, long time I had to be creative in designing it to grow with us!  I couldn't make it any bigger so using every inch perfectly was the way to go!  You will understand once you start using hair dryers and products...your sister started all that very early on but take your time...its a lot of work!  Anyway, we have also done lots of fun things outside!!!  Your daddy planted nine trees a few weeks ago!!  Oh man are they beautiful!  We put in lots of winter plants too so it would be nice and pretty when you get here!  Mommy has also decorated for Christmas since your pending arrival is thought to be right in the middle of the "acceptable holiday decorating days".  You must know now though-mommy does not live by those sort of worldly restraints.  I have many years decorated for Christmas the first weekend of November to get the full benefit and reap the rewards of my hard work!  For your information in case you will be burdened with these type of restrictions, the day after Thanksgiving is the acceptable time to decorate.  I hope you won't be though-I'm sure lots of folks that drive past our house get a huge kick out of all the Christmas nonsense I have up and try to imagine what kind of gal lives here!  It must brighten some people's day!  Also, a little of the subject but please know you can definitely wear white after Labor Day!  In fact, its one of the best times!!  I will explain more later but its true so just know that.  So to conclude our Christmas decorating thoughts, I have three trees up-one of which is on the front porch-that is definitely new this year and I love it, Nonny (your precious grandma) decorated our door sooo beautifully and your stocking is hanging perfectly from the mantle in anticipation of your arrival!!!  We even have a party scheduled to introduce you to to all of our favorite people!!  You just wouldn't believe how many people already love you and are excited to meet you!!  The girls hosting the party are some of my best friends and you will love them and all the people that are sure to join us!! 

Mommy has been spending the past couple of days doing some last minute stuff to feel prepared for you!  Paige stayed with Nonny for two nights while I rested up, got a mani/pedi, a facial, stocked up on all of our necessities and today I will get my hair done so you don't have to meet your mom with bad hair:)!  The good news is, once you get here all I have to focus on is you!!  We have everything we wanted to accomplish done, the house will be all clean and we will just snuggle all day!! 

Mainly, I just wanted you to know how much we all love you and cannot wait to see you!  Go ahead and come when you are ready!  We prayed so hard for you and continue to pray you are healthy and strong! My heart is so happy and full to have two precious daughters! You guys are the most amazing things that have ever happened to me and I promise to always strive to be the best mommy you could ever have!  I love you guys more than life itself and would do anything for you! 

Love Always and Forever,

Mommy

"The Baby is Coming" Project Update

I have never met a mom to be who didn't have a zillion things that had to be done before her baby comes.  All of us have different priotities yet to us, they are SUPER important...I like to use the word Crucial. The last time I was pregnant I had a ton of things, one of which being the garage.  I did not want my sweet girl moving into a house with a junkyard garage.  What would she think of us if she saw such a wreck?!  How would we ever explain the weird items we were holding onto like a couple of hoarders?!  This time around I realize that my newborn will not be very judgemental of our home.  She will merely judge us based on how well we snuggle, how timely she receives milk--and plenty of it and that she does not ever have to sit in her own filth for more than a few moments.  But, I do realize that the more orderly and put together my house is, the more I will be able to focus on this beautiful new life and only caring about snuggling her, feeding her, loving on her and enjoying a lovely home to do it in!!  So...here is the status of the projects I listed off on July 20, 2011:

• Swingset:  DONE!!!  Paige is completely in love with her swingset and can't wait to push her little sis in the baby swing!! 

• Master Bedroom:  DONE!!  (with the exception of an Elk Head I bought to go over the bed...I'm sure my precious husband will do it soon!!)  I am obsessed with our TemperPedic mattress and highly recommend it if you ever get a new mattress!! 

• Girls' Room: Almost Complete!!!!  Finished Paige's big girl bed--only thing left in here is a bumper for the crib and a bedskirt for Paige's bed!!  Oh--and hang things on the wall--we obviously always procrastinate that sort of thing!

• Powder Bath Gut:  In Progress!!  The design scheme is almost complete--trying to decide on a wallpaper but other than that, ready for the contractor to start!! 
• Pink-Girls bathroom redo: In Progress!!  The design is complete and I am thrilled with it!! The contractor should be starting on it next Monday--cross your fingers please!!!!  I HATE waiting on other people!!  inspirational photo--it will be all grey and white with turquoise and coral accents in the towels and accessories!!

 

• Living Room update:  Almost Complete!!!  We made the decision about a month ago to go ahead and get this room finished up!  I have family coming for Christmas, will be hosting a little Sip-n-See for the new baby here in December and we are just ready!!  I have 2 sofas on order from West Elm that I am just waiting to be delivered and we have two amazingly comfortable leather reclining chairs we bought almost a month ago already!!  Janet revamped the curtains I had in this room with a beautiful border on the bottom and some sheers that tie in the rest of the house!!  Hopefully the sofas will be here in the next 2 weeks and all I will need are some accessories to finish it up!

• Interior doors and Knobs:  Hmmm...Tyler gets very burnt out on painting and he made the comment a couple days ago about how he wished the doors would paint themselves...I think I may see how much our contractor would charge us to do it for him.  He works a lot and I know he really wants that project done so we will see on this one!  I bought all the door handles a long time ago with gift cards we had so it should be pretty inexpensive. 
• Outdoor trees: Almost Time!!  Fall is he best planting time for trees so Tyler said the second weekend of October he would start that...we will see if we get it done.  There are some stumps we have to deal with before planting anything new. 

All in all I feel really good about the things we have accomplished in such a short amount of time (2.5 months)!!  Especially considering we have done a lot of traveling, lots of weddings, baby showers, social events and much more that took up a lot of our weekend time.  With our social schedules calming down a bit, I think we will be able to press through the rest of the things we really want to get done.  Once the Elk is hung up I will post pics of our master and once the sofas get here, I can post on our living room!!  I think my Pinterest board kind of shows what I have done in there! 

200th Post~!!!!

Wow, 200 posts!!  I feel like that is a lot for the past 2.5 years when I started this little blog!  I love looking back at our families memories and it has been especially fun looking back on my last pregnancy and preparing to bring our first child into the world, making some big life decisions on whether to work or stay home, and watching our life transform into a bigger family!  I can hardly wait to share the newest member of our family with you but it will have to be a little later...she is still a little medium...we like our babies nice and well done if possible!  (Okay, that sounds a little disturbing...)

To commemorate this 200th post I'd like to represent some of the things that are most important to me.  Faith, Family, Friendships, Food (don't laugh-it really is!), Traveling, my puppy dog, Love, Being true to myself, Cherishing others, having a Gracious and Giving heart-and fostering that in my little ones, and constantly Growing as a wife, mother, friend and Jesus follower. 

Crafting is something I have really taken to since I've been a stay at home mom.  For one, I think its kind of natural when you become a mother to start getting into glue guns, paint and all that.  I also love sewing and being able to create homemade gifts for those I cherish.  I never plan to be a master sewer or sell items I make, its more of a hobby and sharing something I love with close friends.  Now that I have more time on my hands, I have been able to search out items for our home and bring new life to them.  It is actually quite rewarding, saves money and generally looks great!! I love this quote I saw on Martha Stewart today..."Embrace imperfections in handmade crafts." 

Here is a very special baby clearly enjoying the quilt I made her....Ok, maybe she is enjoying her mom and brother but I will tell myself its the blanket:)!!  I love this girl and her family very much!!  Her mommy and I had our first babies around the same time and have done two bible studies together over the past couple of years.  She is a cherished friend!!

I love being apart of special times in my friends lives! Here are some special friends and events from this summer!

Chelsea's Wedding Day!!!  

April's Wedding Shower!

I love my furry son more than I could ever say!  He makes us feel safe, loved, and as silly as it sounds has taught us a lot about "special needs". 

I love my hubby so very much!  I love that he loves me exactly the way I am, that he always tells me what a great mother I am to his girls and is constantly building me up-and he means it! I couldn't have chosen a better man to spend my life with and be the daddy to my children!  I love that we have a clipping of a malnourished horse on our fridge that he put as a reminder for me to donate to this very sad cause.  He is the only person I know that loves animals more than me! 

Oh how I love my girls...they are my heart.  I pour my whole self into them and always will as long as I have breath to breathe.  My life was transformed when I became a mother and I am so grateful and blessed each and every day I have with them. 

I Love that there is a little person growing inside me!~  I love that Paige tells everyone that Jesus gave this baby to us.  He did!  We won't let him down on choosing us as her family!  She only has a short time left in her temporary cabana.  Here is a shot of her current living quarters (32 weeks).

I don't really have any travel pics or food pics that haven't previously been shared on this blog, but I will be making Apricot Chicken for dinner which I remembered about when cruising my own blog recipes:)!!  And as for traveling...well, its getting a little tough to do that as preggo as I am but I am currently dreaming up places we will go next summer so stay tuned!! 

I hope you have enjoyed some of these 200 posts and will stick around to find out what happens in the next 200 posts!!! 

(My goal for this post was to touch on all of the subjects-labels-I have in this blog...I got most of them so sorry if its a little confusing following my nonsense:) )

xoxoxo

Where Dreams Are Made (Part 2)

After careful contemplation on leaving the bed in its original state or painting it, I decided I would take the tips I found from two blogs and transform this beautiful antique, family treasure into something spectacular...fingers crossed!!!  I am crafty but not so much with paint or manual labor!  Here are the blogs for my inspiration:
http://osofaboreillys.blogspot.com/2011/06/audreys-big-girl-bed.html

http://missmustardseed.blogspot.com/

And what kind of paint I used:

http://www.anniesloan.com/

which can be purchased locally--message me for details if you want to know where:)

After deciding exactly what I wanted to do, I struggled with the colors.  I liked the color from O So Fab Oreillys blog but also liked the color "Provence" on the paint website.  I did more research...until finally committing on Duck Egg Blue, Old White and Clear Wax.  Exactly what Oreilly used on her daughters bed.  The only difference, I didn't want quite as much white-washing on Paige's bed.  This paint requires NO sanding, NO priming, NO nothing before you use it.  Buyer BEWARE: it is pricey BUT it covers wonderfully!!!  You also don't have to sand or prime so factor in those costs but for a quart it was $38.95.  So I spent about $110.00 on the blue, white and wax.  I have half a quart of the blue left and almost all of the white and 1/3 of a can of wax!  It really goes a LONG way!

Here is the bed after the blue paint:

The paint really brought out the detail work of the bed!!  Even Tyler commented on how pretty it was!  Which of course always gives me anxiety of the next steps..."Will I ruin the bed when I attempt white-washing?!?!  Its already so beautiful, what if I ruin it all!!!!"  So I had Janet come to help and supervise and to blame her if it were totally ugly when we added the white!
Here is the beauty after white-washing:

The method we used was take the white paint-we originally started with about a 60% paint / 40% water ratio but quickly realized we needed more water so we weren't wearing ourselves out wiping off the paint.  It is really thick, good quality paint!!  (I wish I were getting paid to say all of these nice things!!  Maybe I should write a letter to Annie Sloan and tell her about my blog and the 4 people that will read my FREE advertisement!!) Ok, back to my original thought--Janet brushed the white on with a normal paint brush and I wiped the excess to my desired "whiteness" with a damp rag.  It was so quick and easy and I honestly thought this would be the hardest part!  P.S. This is in horrible garage lighting, with a camera phone so the bed isn't nearly as white as the pic may lead you to believe but you will see shortly...
Then all that was left was sanding for a distressed look (also have never done such a thing) and waxing.  Yesterday morning I drank some coffee and headed to the garage hunting for some sandpaper.  I definitely didn't trust myself with a hand sander.  I was alone and afraid...actually a blind doberman and a toddler were supervising but I was scared!!  After I messed with it for a bit, running in and out of the house to look at different distressed pieces I have and some on the internet, I got to my desired "distress".  Then I had a few spots that I decided were too distressed so I just brushed a tiny bit of blue paint and got it just right!!

The final step was a clear wax application which protects the paint and also brings out the original color where you distress.  I read the label carefully and it was not a safe for preggo substance so I called in my SIL to rescue us and finish off the project!!  She did a wonderful job and she used a combo of a rag application and a brush application.  For all of the small, detail spots, a brush was necessary but everywhere else she was able to rub it in with a rag and it was like a magic potion as she rubbed it on!  The bed just glowed beautiful colors of blue, white and original wood peeking through in a few spots!  While the wax was drying or whatever it does...Paige and I went to purchase her new mattress!!!  While she napped, I cleaned her room, reorganized things, moved the crib to the corner, rearranged rugs...everything except move the bed in.  Daddy would have to do that when he was done golfing--I have too many projects to complete to put myself into labor 8 weeks early!! 
The mattresses were delivered last night about 8 pm and here is P anxiously awaiting me to finish making her bed:

And getting to try it out for the first time!!!

And here is another shot of the bed and room layout, pre-mattress delivery:

So we have a crib for baby sis, a full sz bed for P, a glider to read and feed babies, a chest to store pretty clothes, a night stand a bookshelf, toy box, random animals and toys and much more in this room...I think it may be Mary Poppins purse!!!  It actually looks really cute and there is plenty of room!  Not cluttered at all!! 
The last things for this room will be a bedskirt for Paige's bed, a bumper for Baby, and hang their things on the wall and hopefully some fun family photos of special women in our family!!  I hate posting photos before I'm all done but I knew if I didn't I probably would never do it! 

Where Dreams Are Made...

Bedrooms have always been special to me!  Growing up, my parents, especially my mom made sure to always include us in decorating our rooms and we were always redecorating them.  I guess it helped that we moved a lot so maybe we sold our old stuff before moving to a new place, I don't really remember but it was always so fun getting a new bed and accessories! 

When I was pregnant with Paige, I knew I wanted her room to be so special!  Not to be a show off or flashy for my friends but because I wanted her to love it and I wanted Tyler and I to love spending time with her in there!  Since she wasn't here yet to help, I dreamed up a room that I thought the precious girl growing in my belly would truly love!  I think there are several posts on it from the past if you care to check them out:). 

Mid-May, Paige escaped her crib a few times and we knew she was too big for it at that point.  So I had to quickly come up with an alternate sleeping plan.  I knew I was pregnant at the time but didn't yet know the sex of the baby.  We did know if it was a girl, they would share a room and if a boy, they wouldn't.  So that posed to be a challenge.  It made a difference on what sort of bed we would buy Paige if the room were to be shared or not.  Hmmm...I knew we wouldn't find out until around 4th of July what the baby was but Paige needed somewhere to sleep.  She wasn't even two yet so I was a little fearful of putting her in a big bed too soon but also am too practical to waste money on a toddler bed then in a year buy a real big girl bed. 

I came up with a brilliant plan to move her crib mattress to the floor and make a little daybed out of it for the time being.  She really did amazing and was quite confused when i recently told her that her amazing BIG GIRL bed was coming.  She loved her little temporary home on the floor:)!  Actually, so did I!  It was safe, a perfect transition, free, and just the right size!  I highly recommend it if you get into one of these predicaments. 

I found several beds I liked a lot but could just not commit.  Do we want twin size or full size?  Hmmmm...when out of nowhere my MIL started telling me about her grandmother's bed that was given to her when her granny passed away.  It was her grannie's, then John & Janet used it as their first bed when they were married, then it went to Janet's dads place in a guest bedroom and now...it belongs to Granny V's Great-Great Granddaughter!  Oh how I LOVE family treasures!!!  I love old stuff in general but even more when it comes from family!  Janet always imagined it going into her daughter's bedroom but she got John-Mark and Tyler...stinky boys!  Paige is her first granddaughter and first grandchild so it seems so fitting that her first bed is from her grandmother (Nonny)! 

In its original grandeur, the bed is an antique, full size, wood bed and so beautiful...see below!

 This is the headboard, I love the detail!!!

This is the foot board!  I never saw it until I got it out to start refinishing it and LOVED it soooo much!  I love the detailed posts, the carvings and the decorations. 

I was nervous to paint a family treasure but Janet assured me it was fine and has already been refinished in its long lifetime.  I carefully researched exactly what I wanted to do coming up with lots of ideas until one of my best friends, Buffy was over at the house and pointed me to a blog where I got my best and final ideas!!

To Be Continued...

They are Ba-Na-Na-S!!

A couple weeks ago my dear friend and neighbor Debbie bounced over with a plate of goodies for P and I!  We love our precious neighbors but even more when they arrive with home baked goods!!!  I speak of Debbie and her husband on here often when talking about food--they are my vegetarian pals!  Any who, Debbie brought us the most delicious banana mini muffins.  Don't stop reading...we all have a banana bread recipe now don't we??  I promise you don't have one this good and this healthy!!!  Paige ate 3 muffins within 30 minutes...unlike her!  Then I scarfed several down...sooo good!  Before the night was over, we had eaten all of our treats!  The next morning Paige asked for one and I told her sadly, they were gone.  She demanded I ask Debbie for more and I had to explain to her we don't ask for more goodies but we could ask for the recipe and make our own...so Debbie pointed me to her blog and I got really confused??  Then texted her: "Dear Debbie, the recipe on your blog is for a healthy recipe, I don't want that one, I want the recipe for the muffins you brought us...no way were those whole wheat!" She says "yes they were heather, that is the recipe. now leave me alone." Ok, she didn't say the last part...Now here is the recipe you will thank me later for if you make these!!!!

What you need:
1 1/2 cup Organic Whole Wheat Flour


1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup melted butter (I use Smart Balance Butter light with flax)

3/4 cup Organic Pure Cane Sugar (I followed her list exactly except on sugar-I used regular sugar)

2 Organic Eggs

3 Organic Ripe Bananas mashed

1 teaspoon vanilla

* white chocolate chips

* coconut flakes

What you do:
 
Preheat oven to 325F degrees.


In a mixing bowl, cream together the melted butter and sugar. Add the eggs, mashed bananas and vanilla and mix really well.

Mix in the baking soda and cinnamon. Then slowly pour in the flour, mixing well as you pour. Give the mixture a really good stir to make sure everything is fully mixed and then stir in the your treat of choice. (white chocolate chips, coconut flakes, nuts, blueberries).

Lightly grease or oil your baking cups. Spoon your mixture into the cups. Bake at 325F degrees for about 20 minutes.

Tips from Debbie:

"*I actually poured out a little but of the mixture into a separate bowl and added the coconut flakes. I also spooned the plain banana mixture into the cups and then added a few white chocolate chips to about half of the plain muffins. I ended up with a few plain banana muffins, a few white chocolate banana muffins, and banana coconut muffins. YUM-O."

I have made this recipe 3 times in the past month!  They are so stinking good!!  Paige and I like them with white chocolate and Tyler likes them plain.  I generally don't like muffins because they get too dry and prefer a loaf...not in this case!  These mini muffins or regular size muffins are divinely moist!  Another great tip--I HATE Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat flour but it is all I seem to be able to find.  It is horrible to bake with!  If you have access to a Whole Foods or Sunflower Market, I suggest scooping your own organic whole wheat flour!  It is sooooo good!  Bakes beautifully and I had no idea I was eating whole wheat!  Thank you Debbie for that tip! 

She does LOVE to bake and to eat!! 

The "Perfect" Life

I was watching a 20/20 or something a few months ago and they were talking about how Social Media actually causes "us" to be depressed.  Seeing our friends updates of their vacations, fun activities, good news and all around "perfect" lives makes us feel bad about ourselves and wish we had what they have.  Now I will say, some folks post their doom and gloom on Facebook but for the most of the folks, we share happy things, funny stuff and maybe a prayer request from time to time when something is wrong with us or a loved one.  I have put a lot of thought into this and think about it outside of the social media realm into conversations I have with friends, what I share on my blog and so on. 

A conversation that particularly stuck with me was with a dear friend who has 2 children-I think her youngest is one-and we were discussing the struggles with adding the second child into the family.  She is an extremely honest person and doesn't sugar coat things.  I appreciated her sincerity very much!  But she also made the comment "Well, you will probably have it all under control since you stay at home and you are probably way better at all of this than me."  I assured her that I am no better of a mother than her and I could see all of the things she was describing as struggles in my house as well.  Some of our struggles would be different of course but nonetheless, it would be just as difficult. 

I am a mostly glass half full kind of person but I have my days like everyone else...I just choose not to blog on my bad days.  Not so everyone thinks my life is perfect but because I am probably too emotionally or physically exhausted to blog about my dramas of the day.  Besides, no one really wants to read doom and gloom anyway, right?! 

I guess I just wanted to have a post where I let out the secret that my life isn't perfect.  It is in fact perfect for me but there are struggles in this Beaver House--I know I can almost hear all of you gasping you are so shocked.  I will be 8 months pregnant next week which means I am very blessed but also very tired from lack of sleep, lots of heartburn, uncomfortable a lot of the time and literally gaining a pound a day.  I have a 2 year old who is smart, funny, beautiful, the most cherished thing in my life but also is a 2 year old!  She is strong willed, throws fits from time to time, pees in the floor, and asks to eat all day long.  I love my hubs with all of my heart and know he is the "perfect" person for me to spend my life with but yet after 4 years of pleading he still puts wet towels in the laundry basket with clothes and its disgusting.  He leaves trails of his stuff all over then asks why the house looks messy and he does not lift the seat to pee!!  Then there is Oscar.  My sweet precious puppy dog who could do no wrong.  He has single handedly eaten the majority of my underwear, socks & Paige's stuffed animals.  He has eaten pounds of raw meat I lay out to defrost to prepare for dinner and he barks at sprinklers in the middle of the night.  I sometimes wear sweatpants until 3 in the afternoon and if I don't feel like cooking dinner, I just don't. 

So if you ever feel bad because everyone around you seems to have the perfect lives, children, marriage, career, etc., remember we are all merely human.  No one's life is completely perfect and if they tell you it is they are lying!  How we handle our bad days and situations is what makes us who we are though.  Learn from mistakes and don't let a wet towel ruin your entire day.  Baby pee can be cleaned up easily and well, you can always buy more underwear.  Then at the end of the day, put some lip gloss on, grab your baby/hubs or bestie, smile and take a photo to put out on the internet to show everyone what a perfect day you had! HA!

P.S. I am almost to 200 posts on this blog!!!!  WOW!

Crafty Love

So I have posted on this blog about some of my baby quilts (I think)!  Tyler's mommy taught me how to make some darling little quilts a couple years ago and it has been my favorite gift to give ever since!  I love experimenting with fabrics, colors, patterns and of course finding really soft stuff babies will love!  Its so fun picking fabrics for friends and trying to come up with something they will just LOVE!  There is nothing I love more than homemade gifts! 
Anyway, no one has ever sent me a picture of their little darling wrapped up in the blanket I made for them until today!!!  So if I have made your bundle of joy a blankie, please know I would LOVE to see a photo of them all wrapped up or playing in it!!  The blankets are just so much cuter with a perfect little baby laying with it! 
This is Delaney all cozy in her beautiful bed and tucked in tight with her blankie made with love by yours truly!! :)

So glad she shared this photo with me!! 

Road Trip-Beaver Style

Its always so hard for me to write about trips on the blog, especially long ones because it is so overwhelming trying to talk about everything.  Someday-when I have a mini-laptop-maybe I will do daily posts and I won't be so overwhelmed!  Anyway, I will do my best to rehash our 8 day vacation to the Wild, Wild West!! 
Tyler's parents have fallen in love with the Jackson Hole area, which encompasses Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and who knows what else...but you get the point.  So they had a house rented for a month and we decided to crash their party for a week!  After checking out plane ticket prices and realizing we could travel around Europe for that kind of $$ we decided if we were going, it would be by Beaver SUV!!  This was a 21 hour commute from Beaver Mansion to Wild Wild West!  There was a 7+ month high maintenance momma, a beautiful, opinionated 2 year old girl and a daddy on a mission.  I always look on the bright side of things but I must admit, I was making bets with myself if Paige or I would have the first melt down in the car! 
The drive out started on a Friday at 5 and was loads of fun! We listened to music, Paige sang and we all chatted and munched on Dairy Queen!  We stopped just before Colorado to sleep and were off again the next morning to hit up Denver for some shopping and lunch!  I LOVE Denver--in fact, I love Colorado!  Beautiful weather, everyone is outdoors, stores all have out water bowls for their customers poochies and it reminds me so much of Europe! 

Daddy took a little too long in Starbucks so Paige decided to take a rest in the shade. 
Our next break was in Lander, WY and we fell in love with this sweet town!  I don't really know why?  We all just liked it.  I guess we were so happy to be out of the 115 degree weather that all it took was some cool air and we were happy campers (literally)! 
~A darling little coffee house we stumbled upon before zooming out of town!

We got back on the road the next morning and it was a breathtaking drive!  Our fave stop was actually so I could pee and we stumbled upon this beautiful stream/river?  Paige and her dad are obsessed with throwing rocks into water so they were uber impressed and entertained while I tried marking my territory on God's Country. 

 
 Before we knew it, we were in Jackson, WY!  We had a wonderful lunch at Sweetwater Cafe before meeting up with Tyler's parents!

We did lots of relaxing, eating, exploring, some shopping and just spending good quality time together!

 And of course...some monkeying around...

We then ventured into Yellowstone National Forest!!!  Somewhere I have always wanted to go!!  Paige LOVED the animals and the geyser's and so did we!!

 
 

 River flowing into Yellowstone Lake-GORGEOUS!!!

 (No animals were harmed-there is a strict policy to drive slow-this is their home and we were just visitors!)

We had a fantastic time and we so enjoyed the roadtrip!  We discussed baby names and family plans and even decided on some furniture for the house:)! 
I will leave you with one last photo...one of my all time favorites of Paige for some reason.  I so love when she looks this happy! 

"When you can do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world."  George Washington Carver