Unexpected Beauty

We started out the day by going to Mt Rushmore. Absolutely BEAUTIFUL! And amazing, really, the history of how they created the faces in the granite...


And even at Mt Rushmore, Bub couldn't stop climbing on the rocks! He's got the fever!

Proof I was there!

A kind gentleman took our pictures so Don would then take a picture of THEIR family in front of the faces.

After we left Mt Rushmore, Don wanted somewhere to mountain bike ride. He's training for a race next weekend, so he really needed to ride. We drove through the STICKS to find a trail that Don had seen online. I was getting nervous about what the kids and I were going to do while he was on his ride... we seemed to be going into no-man's-land. And then we drove up to this:

It was breathtaking! Bub decided to take a little ride with Don before Don went for his big ride, then the kids and I hiked for a while around the beautiful lake.

Then, the last 1/2 hour or so before Don got back, we spent in the car. The kids watched a movie on the DVD player, while I played Guitar Hero on Bub's DS. Hey, we can't be nature lovers ALL the time. Right???

Because I'm such an outdoorsy kind of girl...

... I thought I'd share some pictures of my outdoorsy kind of adventure I'm currently having! Well, I'm not really so outdoorsy, but I am having a GREAT time right now in the Black Hills of South Dakota!

Oh Give me a home
Where the buffalo roam...

Wait, wait!!! I've found it! I've found the place they HAVE to be talking about in the song! Check this buffalo/bison out (what's the diff, really? Are they the same? I think they are, but I'm actually not positive... all I know is that people here interchange buffalo burgers and bison burgers like they're the same). These guys were hanging out RIGHT NEXT to the highway we were driving on. Like RIGHT. NEXT. TO. No guardrails or anything separating them from us. Check this one out with the bird hanging out on his back!

And out our back window (I was too chicken to get out to take pictures at this point)... they're just crossing the street!

Once we passed the bison/buffalo, we were stunned with the gorgeous BEAUTY of South Dakota! Check this out...

We decided to try a little rock climbing on our own... Bub and Sis posing.

Bub loved loved loved climbing on all the rocks. This one isn't even in focus, but it shows him in action...

Then he got Don climbing with him.

And look, I even got up above the ground level... all for a photo opportunity!

So, while my norm may not be to be outdoorsy, I'm having a BLAST enjoying God's creation in the north!

Starstruck

Family

As seen at my cousin's wedding last weekend...

Bride and Groom

Grandma and granddaughter

Husband and Wife

Aunt and nephews

Cousins

Sister and Brother

Brothers

Dad and kids

Sisters

Dad and daughters

The whole kit and caboodle (well, at least all who were at the wedding)

Family rocks!!!

Go Team Blue!

So, where have you guys been???

Oh, yeah! It's ME that's been missing, huh? Well, you know the blogging irony... when I have TIME to blog, I don't have much to say, and when I have all kinds of pictures to show you, I'm too busy to blog! Or something.

So, Sis and Bub left for church camp on Monday. *silent tears* And they were team blue. So, guess what cool mom (me!) did??? I let Sis get some blue streaks in her hair. She was SO excited! She's been begging for a year for blue in her hair (or pink, or purple... she's not really picky!), so this is kind of a big deal for her! So, here she is at a wedding the Saturday before she left:

So, bright and early Monday morning, I took them to the church to load up.

And then they got in the non-air-conditioned bus for the 45 minute bus ride to camp:

But they were nice enough to give their mom one last good-bye out the window! (see?? Sis is in the front window, and Bub is in the 3rd window back)

Bub just went for a short week, so he got home yesterday, and Sis will be home tomorrow. I. CAN'T. WAIT!!!! I'm so glad they get experience, but five days is a REALLY long time for a momma!

It makes me blue. Hey, wait! Go Team Blue!!!

How I spent last weekend

Date Night:

Acting silly:

Jumping from one project to another:

Exercising and napping:

Visiting:

Making fashion statements wherever I went:

Looking back, wondering "what did I forget?"

Just being happy:

ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND!

Just call me Quirky McQuirkle

Yesterday, as I was getting ready for work, I thought to myself: I need to turn on my flat iron, because, since I'm in a hurry, I don't have time to flat iron my hair. Huh??? I know... it makes no sense, right? But I have weird thoughts sometimes, and one of them is that if I turn my flat iron on, it guarantees my hair will fix better to the point where I don't NEED the flat iron. So, if I DON'T turn on the flat iron, it's a guarantee that my hair will NOT cooperate and thus I'll need to turn on the flat iron to fix the mess. Got all that?

I know we all have things that are so normal to us, but would seem weird or quirky to others.

Here are a few more of mine:

• If a tiled floor has different colors, I can't relax until I figure out the tile pattern. Only one time I can think of has a floor been COMPLETELY random, and that about drove me crazy! I had to literally just walk away, so it would quit bugging me.
• I briefly mentioned a milk quirk in my 100 list (see #43), but I am really quirky about milk. I check the expiration date every time I pour a glass of milk (unless it's out of a glass bottle... then I only check it at the store); I can only drink milk in a CLEAR GLASS glass (it can't be plastic, and it can't be colored); I can't share milk with anyone; if the jug of milk has been out of the refrigerator at least 5 minutes, I won't drink it until it's been re-cooled.
• I use my PDA phone for everything... phone (duh!), calendar, internet (Facebook and Twitter mostly), calculator, email, texts... well, I think you get the picture. I canNOT go to sleep at night if I haven't backed completely out of everything. And I don't mean just pushing the button to get back to the home page. I have to push the "back" button until I'm completely at home. Then I have to clear out the history. Every. Night. Ask Don... I've tried to ignore it and go on to sleep, but I can't relax until it's done. Every. Night.
• We have 3 little desk calendars sitting on the conference table at work. Each month someone tears off the old month. Well, it leaves a little bit of paper above each staple, and extra paper inside the staple. That drives me crazy. NOT that I'm not paying attention at meetings, but I HAVE to get the excess paper off. It's a compulsion, for sure! And let me say that I had artificial nails for a while that were too thick to fit under the staple... TORTURE!

So, I almost didn't publish this post, because it makes me sound WEIRD! But the more I talk to people, the more I realize that we all have our quirks that make us US!

What kinds of quirks do you have?

Tis the season

For baseball, that is! Sis chose not to play softball this year (hallelujah!), but Bub is playing his last year of coach-pitch baseball this year (next year starts kid-pitch). And for the 2nd year in a row, Don is his coach. Everyone together now: aaaaawwwww...

I'm not normally one to bring my camera to the baseball game (I promise... it's true!), but I did take it the other night to get some shots. Here are a few of my favorites:

This is one of the only shots I have of both Bub and the cute coach:

He's a multi-tasker: He's able to be on first base and play in the dirt all at once!

Cure for the common writer's block?

So, I've decided that I have writer's block. Except that's not quite right, because I don't "write" so much as I just talk. Or ramble. Or sometimes just show pictures. So maybe I have rambler's block. (Although looking at the paragraph I just wrote, it seems that I do NOT have rambler's block, doesn't it?!?

So as I was pondering what to possibly write about and/or show pictures of, I decided that the reason I haven't been able to move forward is that I haven't shown all my silly pictures from Memorial Day weekend yet... well, except for the ones here.

Okay, okay... I don't REALLY think that's my problem, but let's go with it, shall we? Here are some shots from my cousin's wedding on Memorial Day weekend.

I told Little Buddy to smile big... he didn't so much, but Aunt Yaya sure did! :) Good job, Aunt Yaya!

Bub and I are perfecting the art of the self-portrait!

Little Buddy and I are getting there...

Sis in her adorable maxi dress. I haven't decided if I'm on board with the whole look for me, but I think it's adorable on Sis. And she LOVES it!

Here's Bub and his 2 cousins J & C "just giving each other a little squeeze."

Big Sissy had been twirling and twirling, dancing with her daddy... I know this is a little blurry, but I love how angelic she looks here.

Now let's see if I can move on. And forward. And not backwards. And beyond now. Forgetting yesterday.

Nope, no rambler's block!

You think your family photos are bad??

I would be remiss if I didn't point you to a hilarious blog that I have just discovered: Awkward Family Photos (www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com). I cannot stop laughing.

Mail call

*Yes, I know he wasn't wearing a helmet. He normally does, but this time he "forgot" when he rode down the lane to get the mail.*