Territorial Prison

I felt a little cheated out of our time with Bailee a couple of weekends back. I decided to take advantage of the nice September weather and return to Laramie for Family Weekend. I have been wanting to take the girls to the Territorial Prison for some time. Mark was never that excited about it, so with him out of town,  it was a perfect weekend to do it.

I love anything that takes you back to a different time or way of life. 

The prison was built in 1872 and is one of the oldest buildings in Wyoming. 

Emm seeing if the cell life is for her

The stories are pretty fascinating ... and a little unsettling.

We were among a handful of people visiting that day, so we were alone most of the time 

in the "Big House across the River"

I was sadly disappointed that the outside grounds were not as I remembered when we visited 16 years ago. The State Parks has taken over since then so gone was the Old Trail Town with replicated Pharmacy, Schoolhouse, and Saloon where you could get a Sarsaparilla. The fronts were there, just not operational. The old church was open for business. Cool .... but I always find it a little spooky too.

We were actually able to spend most of the day with this girl until she had to work that evening. We took her for some dinner at McAlister's before heading home. 

I sure have loved getting to see her so much this month.❤️

Duathlon

Mark and Emmrey participated in the Eagle Duathlon again this year.  It's a great little event to promote a healthy lifestyle.

.6 mile run....1.8 mile ride ....another .6 mile run around the middle school and old neighborhoods.

I so appreciate that Mark is a good sport and does this. I am starting to feel a little guilty .... better start gearing up for next year.

JDRF~ Family Photos ~ 50th Partay

The second to last week of September we made another weekend trip to Utah for some family events.  Saturday morning was the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) Walk. It was held at Liberty Park which meant we got to see an area of our home state that we don't usually have any reason to frequent. The event was quite a party and brought out a lot of people. 

It was a beautiful morning spent with some beautiful people.  I was so glad we got to be there to support these two amazing kids! 

 Late afternoon we headed to Wheeler Farm for family pictures with the Fortie's. It's no easy task to coordinate schedules, find a good location, orchestrate the sitting, and end up with a picture with everyone's eyes open;)

 We managed to get two families in from out of state (us and Sean), and almost everyone made it to the shoot. 

Unfortunately, my mom and dad were two that didn't make it. My mom has been struggling with some stomach issues that have made her life miserable. The photographer was able to take a picture of them at home (when she was feeling better) and photo shop them in. You would never know that they weren't there.... unless you know and then you look for tiny details.

 Ryan was working and so our sibling photo isn't quite complete. I wish he would have been photo shopped in. Or better yet, just been there in person. Just imagine him in that space between Ashlee and Shana:)

Right after we finished photos, we hurried to get to the Smith's for a 

birthday celebration for Kevin's big 5-0!

5/6 of the siblings together

The Smith girls together💜

Finishing out the night with some Big Booty in the garage.

 It was a jam-packed Saturday, but worth every minute. We said our goodbyes to the parents and hit the road by noon Sunday (after a stop at In-n-Out)

UW vs Idaho Outlaws

We have good intentions to make it to Laramie for at least one football game. Often, we end up trying to catch a game before the end of the season usually making for a colder game. This year I planned ahead and we went over mid September.

The upside was that it was perfect football weather. The downside was that because it was perfect football weather ... and high school band day .... it was so stinkin' crowded. We had planned to meet up with Bailee and have her (and her friends) come sit by us since it typically isn't crowded enough for that to be a problem. They ended up staying in the student section and there was no room by us.

We did catch her for a tiny bit after the game before she had to work a desk shift. Oh yes ... it was also the tribute to The Black 14, which was really historical and awesome but also = more people.

Please excuse Kelsey's mid word photo ... oversight on my part.

Teen x 3

There have been so many things that I have been less than stellar about lately. I think everyone is okay with the ball being dropped a little through this transition .... everyone but me. I am my own worst enemy when it comes to expectations.

By my standards, I totally failed Emm on her birthday. By the average persons standards ... it was just what a birthday is supposed to be. I am trying to find my way to acceptance of a "less theme- more pure" way of celebrating.

Honestly, I am trying to find my way to acceptance of a lot of things these days .... the biggest one might be that these girls of mine ARE GOING TO GROW UP! Yeah ... yeah ... I know that is what is supposed to happen. It's part of deal ... I get it.

But it hurts so much sometimes. We have officially become a house with no children under the teen years. Third time around and I still somehow think we will escape the traits that rear their ugly head during the tween years. We haven't. It manifests itself slightly differently in each of the girls. They are individuals I suppose. I am learning to come to accept this too. Trying not to take it personal. 

 And the truth is, underneath the sometimes unrecognizable attitude is the same heart and soul that lights up my life.

Her first day as a teen started with a breakfast in bed of a green smoothie, and toast with Grandma Shirley's raspberry jam.

 Then it was off to school. She got home before me, and I found her settling in quite nicely to the teen life. Candy from her friend and a device in her hand = bliss!

Her dinner request this year was crepes. After dinner it was time to open gifts. Some of the things under the wrapping paper .... 4ocean bracelet, scrunchies, a leaf canopy for her Betta, a "smart" watch (which turned out to be a dud), $$ from Gpa & Gma Smith, and Bears vs Babies from Gpa & Gma Fortie.

We spent the evening trying to get that watch to work (found out real soon it was a foolish purchase). 

Bailee and Karsyn got her an excellent gift of cake pop maker complete with mixes and frosting. Emm would have used those that night if it hadn't been so late. 

That's Bay there in spirit to the left of Kars

We finished out the night with ice cream and a really bad cake from our local market. A chocolate mint concoction gone wrong.

Luckily, this girl appreciates the simple in celebrating. She thought the cake was fine and kept a smile on her face with every bite. 

We hit the lottery with our little Alise. I hope her transformation into her teen years is as lovely as she is.

{My Happy Place}

The absence of our yearly trip to Yellowstone in July, got us all feeling super anxious to get there. We decided to take a road trip over Labor Day weekend.  We made a surprise detour in Fort Washakie, to visit the cemetery where Sacajawea is buried.

terrible dirty windshield photo

It was really a beautiful site. Although it is open to the public it is an active Native American cemetery, so I felt a little uneasy about being respectful to their traditions and land. 

Our first stop in the park was the Canyon Village visitor center.

 We had ice cream (of course) and visited the falls.

We mad a stop at Norris Geyser Basin

 Our lodging was in West Yellowstone at our old friend the Pony Express. This place is so old school and really outdated, but it continues to be our go to because it makes no sense to us to spend a fortune on lodging when we literally just sleep there. We ate dinner at our favorite pizza place in town and did some browsing. 

 The next morning we went in to the park early for a hike to Osprey Falls. This 9 mile hike is rather flat for the first few miles and then you descend through steep switchbacks for the last 1.5 miles. The fact that we would have to climb the grueling 800 feet back out wasn't far from our minds.

 We saw this guy hanging out on the steep hill across the river.

 It is another short ascent up to get close to the falls. 

 It was a hot hike, even with the early start. Surprisingly, we were one of only a few parties we saw on this Labor Day weekend hike.  We enjoyed some time in the river before hiking back out. 

 Every time we visit Yellowstone, I tell Mark I would just like to sit and watch the Bison. It seems like we are always on our way to somewhere and just seem them in passing or in a jam. So he indulged me with actually using a pull out and watching the great big herd of them for a little bit. 

On our last day, we cruised through the park again ... stretching out the day as long as we could. We stopped at West Thumb.

 And of course we love our picnics in the park. No better scenery. It was short but sweet. And maybe we can make it another year ......

❤️