The last month

Steve was gone to Germany for a week, then we went to visit family for a week, then Steve went to Germany for a week... and then I passed out. It was a lot of activity... and a lot of it on my own. But- I survived :) Steve will be out of town just one more time before we head off to Paris for 1 month. I am so excited to get away. Away from it all. Some time to relax, and just spend time together. No responsibilities. No drama. Just Paris!!!

Here is a photo recap in reverse chronology:

We took the Heber Train with the kids and my dad which we've never done before (I guess everyone else but us has). We had a lot of fun... the kids were completely in awe of the cowboy performance.
Very Happy.

Enjoying the ride!

We went to get Ice Cream on Park City's main drag. I think I don't like ice cream anymore (can I say that? I just love the new yogurt...) but we had to take a pic of this cow. Too cute.

Of course our favorite activity in Park City is riding this little roller coaster. We would ride it all day if it weren't too expensive... but Maddie and I just squealed all the way down.

The little plane rides on the bottom...

The two aviators.

Even though these rides are soo hot in the middle of the day (with no trees)... the kids still want to ride them. Who can say no?

We rented a great pad in park city with three bedrooms, kitchen, pool... it was incredibly relaxing. Maddie and I spent some good time in this hot tub.

We visited with all the cousins of course! We are very lucky that Maddie has two cousins almost her exact age.. and Emilie has two cousins her exact age. I hope they will be very close growing up...

Having a b-bque in the grandparent's backyard...

Maddie's favorite boy cousin!!

We went to visit Steve's grandmother who is looking amazing for her age. It was really special for us to take pictures of Maddie and Emilie with her. (Their only living great grandparent)

Mom and Son.

I got invited to a most amazing and fabulous wedding of a friend in college... the house (were the reception was) was absolute and utter perfection. I can't even imagine the amount of thought and work that went into everything. But, my favorite part was hanging out with old friends. This is one of my best friends Holly. (went to high school, college and now live 20 min from each other)
Maddie spent a lot of time with Grandma... who she loves.

And, of course her favorite girl cousin! They have such a great time together... and even had their second sleep over.
We also had time to go swimming...

This month has been full of unwelcomed drama. But, with ups, comes the downs, right? But- why is it that I seem to loose sight of the fact that there will be ups when I'm feeling down?? Don't know... but here are the "down"lights:

- Lost my wallet before I left for the Oakland airport. Really? Yes. Left it at a store in the mall (awesome Alie). So, I'm in the Oakland airport with my family with a plane to catch in 1.5 hours. No ID, No CC, NOTHING. Yes, absolutely no identification whatsoever. So- they were nice enough to let me go... but only after 10,000 questions by a federal agent about where I was born, what my favorite color is, what my parent's favorite colors are etc... it was super super fun.

- Wallet was stolen. Really? Yes. Yes. It is a tragic, very tragic twist of fate. I thought I lost it, because I lose everything. But, yes, it was stolen by someone in Gilroy Gardens. She went on an awesome shopping spree at Abercrombie, Tini Boppers R US, and every other store that only a 13-19 year old would love to shop at with an endless CC and debit card. Oh, and 3 stops to Safeway and 7-11 (probably with her friends)... reported it to the police, but they don't seem to care. These are the days where I wish I was a DA again. Down with thieves. They are the worst.

- As a result of the events above, I have been in lines and lines at the DMV, Banks, and everywhere else to reclaim my identity. It has been really awful, and I can only pray that this doesn't happen again. How can I permanently affix my wallet to one of my body parts????

- And- today, I hit someone's bumper. I was at a light, and looked down at my phone and took my foot off the brake, and my car's bumper kissed the one in front of mine. So awesome- especially because I was late for a meeting.

Anyway- you get the point- never leave your wallet with me and never get in my car. JK. Well, maybe not. But, I am beyond humbled at my lack of being "together," and couldn't even get up the nerve to tell Steve about my fender bender today until he practically dragged it out of me after dinner. It is just too embarrassing and painful after all of the events of the month.

But- of course there have been many "high"lights! (Not to dwell on the bad...)

- Our Garden is out of control. We are eating basil, green beans, corn, squash, tomatoes... it has been wonderful. Each meal has about 4 things from our garden- and Maddie loves to help me pick stuff and prepare dinner everyday. It's really cute to see her excited about picking her biggest green bean, or reddest tomato.

- Maddie has been taking private swimming lessons. We had a slightly bad experience with our past instructor, so I wanted to make sure there wasn't any bad feelings with the water... they aren't cheap, but they are paying back in huge! She is an awesome swimmer! She can swim half of the pool, can swim on her back, is jumping off the diving board! It is so much fun. We try to practice together every other day when she doesn't have lessons, so it has been a fabulous bonding experience.

- Emilie had grown in leaps and bounds. But- is she talking? I'm not sure! We keep on thinking that she will start one of these days, but she is hanging on strong with pointing etc. I think she may be a perfectionist when she grows up, because she did the same with walking. She wouldn't walk, wouldn't walk, wouldn't walk... until she just stood up and walked. (Maddie was much more gradual). Maybe she'll just wake up one day and talk in sentences from the Shakespeare that she read from last night?

- We are going to Paris. We have an amazing apartment with our great friends, with a view of the Eiffel tower, and blocks from the Seine river and Louvre. I've bought some French phrase books to dust off my French and I can't wait to get away.

So- there you have it. If you're read down to here- you deserve a HUGE hug. My goal for the month of August is to blog everyday about our travels, so that I don't forget them. We leave in less than two weeks... so on to the packing...