A Puppy, and Hailstorms, and Coldstone, OH MY!

Earlier this month we went to Colorado to visit my family.  My Nana (my mom's mom) and her husband Arnold were out visiting as well (they live in California) so we were really excited to spend a few days with them since we don't get to see each other nearly enough!

Now that Mabel is a little bit older she is really starting to enjoy Grandma Sherrill's house and all the fun things there. She even got her own room!

Here are some pictures of our adventures:

Kelsey and her cute puppy Cooper came over to play:

Cooper has SO MUCH energy and he was really 

excited that Mabel was just his size.  

Mabel was a little freaked out by all the face licking!

Mabel trying to escape the kisses while Cooper prepares for more!

My little brother got his first job! Cold Stone Baby! One night after Mabel went to bed my mom and I went to visit Jacob and get a little treat. I forgot how rich their ice cream is! You really only need the small size.  Anyway, they were really busy and it was fun to see Jacob in a different setting than I'm used to.  He was friendly and had great customer service skills, knew what he was doing, and even sang a little song when he got a tip! Even though my ice cream was boring and didn't have any mix ins (a scoop of salted caramel and a scoop of cotton candy - I was in a weird mood) I left him a $10 tip just because I love him.

My mom wanted us to taste her amazing dutch oven ribs so we had a bbq with some family friends.

My mom realized that dutch oven cooking is not as fun when you aren't camping.

Nate was in charge of tending the coals. 

(which had to be changed every hour for five hours)

Good job Babe!

Rabbits and the cutest baby bunnies everywhere!

I tried to tell them that my mom wouldn't want to kill them if they would just stop eating all her grass, and Dahlias, and EVERY SINGLE PLANT. 

The beautiful backyard....BEFORE the crazy storm that ruined everything.

Kraig and Arnold getting some grub.

two tews

~love birds~

the view from the deck

...four generations...

I'm so happy we got these pictures.

Mabel was really happy that Kobe Kitty didn't run away from her 

(at least not ALL the time) like our cats do.

I'd like to give a shout out to Kobe for being such a good sport.

karate chop?

this little girl would swing all day if you let her

 peek-a-boo

 

Jacob got this awesome drool shot.

 

 

Mabel watching the boys play Horse.

  Kraig showed us his new baby: the tent trailer!

My idea of some comfy camping.

 

Playing out front...

and wishing Kobe could come out too.

Mabel got to take a bath in Grandma's big tub!

STILL trying to give Kobe his half of her BFF necklace.

Check out that pucker!

Kisses for her reflection...pretty much the cutest thing ever.

A big hug for grandma too!

and then it happened:

the insane hailstorm of 2012!

I started to get a little scared (tornado warnings aren't something to take lightly), when the hail would NOT stop and the power went out.  It was out for about 3 hours.  By some miracle Mabel slept through it all despite the fact that it sounded like someone was throwing marbles at her bedroom window.  My mom's plants and trees were so beautiful when we arrived, and the storm totally shredded them.  She was beyond SAD but we were all happy that no one was hurt and the house didn't get sucked into a cyclone.

The size of a PING PONG BALL!

Mabel would beg and cry to play with my mom's phone.

It opens & closes, which is a pretty cool thing in her world.

My mom and I made some dish towel bibs for Miss Mabel.

I think they turned out cute.

Jacob showing a card trick to his captive audience!

 

 I brought the wide angle lens and we got some pictures of Jacob's Eagle Project.

He painted these four wall figures at the rec center.

One afternoon I pretended like I was a photographer 

and took some announcement photos for Kelsey and her husband Josiah. 

Woah, that was weird to write. Her husband!

Here are a few pics, but the really good ones are 

going to be on the announcement so stay tuned! :)

Mabel LOVES books.

Especially THE FOOT BOOK.

Plus the best part is that grandma always 

uses Mabel's foot to read along.

We had a great trip which always makes it SO HARD to leave. :(
We'll be back to push the can of sugar soon!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

PS: My mom made some AMAZING coconut bread.

(and we may or may not have toasted slices and lathered them in Nutella)