Da Beach!

Yet another beautiful day on Lake Michigan. The weather was absolutely perfect! Look at those shades of blue... gorgeous!!!



O Captain! My captain!



Snuggling in a towel after a dip in the lake.

Radio Flyer Love Part II

While visiting Jim and Vanessa I found yet another reason to love Radio Flyer products. They had this little airplane scooter which was just perfect for Ireland.

The Wisconsin Wuehlers

We were SO thrilled when Brent's brother accepted a job near Madison, WI! Not only do we love visiting with Jim and Vanessa, but the close proximity means the cousins will get to know each other. Now that they're settled, they invited us up for the weekend to celebrate Elizabeth's 2nd birthday. I'd never met Elizabeth and they had yet to meet Ireland. Isaac was so excited he was watching for us out the front window.

Isaac and Liesel hit it off immediately. After a lot of late evening play, they slept next to each other in sleeping bags.

They swung on the tire swing at the nearby park.

Played with cars.

Gave hugs (at Vanessa's encouragement).

Both girls rather enjoyed the accessories found around the house.
The food at Jim and Vanessa's was phenomenal! They had a fire stoked in the BBQ pit so we could make s'mores as soon as we got in. The kids got to make their own pizzas for dinner. In conversation I mentioned to Vanessa how much I love lime so they made a lime drink that was SO delicious!

These kids are definitely cousins! They all have the same blond hair with touches of strawberry in it. The same cowlick (a Wuehler trait). They all have light colored eyes and a bit of mischievousness in their personality. I tried to get a photo of them all together just before we left and it was a complete fail. This is the best one with the little girls looking at each other and the two oldest also looking at each other. Vanessa apparently doesn't whip out her camera every two seconds like I do because Isaac was SO tired of getting his photo taken! We're excited for more get-togethers with the Wisconsin Wuehlers. Happy Birthday to the adorable little Elizabeth!

Do's

I love doing Liesel's hair! She's such a good sport about letting me experiment with new styles. Here are some of my favorites:

Braids braided into a braid. Looks complicated but is actually super easy.

Twisted pigtails. When this is taken out her hair is beautifully wavy.

Can't remember what kind of braid this is, but I divided her hair into sections and then put ribbons on the end. It looked really cool.

A close-up of one of the braids.

Another braid but this one has ribbon incorporated rather than just tied at the end.

This was almost like weaving. My hands were definitely full!

Grandma Nielsen did this one. Liesel looked like a little princess
Zig zag part, braids and then an upsweep on the back with the ends curling around. I have a plethora of bobby pins with little flowers on the ends. It anchored the upsweep and made her look so sweet!

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far...

After snapping some pics of Brent and the girls in their Sunday best I realized something seemed familiar... REALLY familiar. Almost creepy it was so familiar. I asked Mom to check out my baby book and sure enough, there it was.

Dad and Ireland

Me with my dad walking into the picture

The photo of me as a little girl was taken on Easter so I would have been about 18 months. Exactly the same age as Ireland. In a pale swing dress. With pine trees in the background. And Dad in a suit. Uncanny, eh? Especially since it wasn't staged.


A photo of all of us minus Mom. I love, love, LOVE the huge green bow tie on Logan!



Daddy Daughter Date

Brent took Liesel (just Liesel!) to play some miniature golf. He sent me this photo and I texted him back asking how it was going. Here's the conversation string:

B: Fore!
D: Is she winning?
B: Since she keeps picking up my ball... and she sets her ball next to the hole and tips it in.
D: LOL!!! Haven't you explained the rules to her?
B: Since she listens and follows my every word...
D: Are you having fun?
B: Definitely.Brent later told me the people in line behind them really got a kick out of Liesel and how enthusiastic she was about it all. His scorecard only had numbers for a handful of holes. Apparently he gave up after that.

In terms of personality, this girl's got it in spades!

It's Over

Mom and Dad visited this weekend. As per usual, they offered to watch the girls one evening so Brent and I could have a date. We jumped at the chance to see the final Harry Potter movie! It was fabulous!!! A truly magical ending to the series. Afterwards we watched the credits roll while movie theater staff cleaned up the seats around us. When the screen went dark, we realized it really and truly is over. Corny as it may sound, I was sad.

My good friend Leah shared this video from BYU's Divine Comedy which had Brent and I laughing (especially over the guy trying to "stupefy" the library worker chasing after him for stealing the Hedwig-looking taxidermied owl). Enjoy.

Splash Park

Typically when I take the girls anywhere public it's a lot of work. One or both of them need heavy supervision to ensure their safety. I'm usually running, hefting, buckling, unbuckling, baby wiping, holding hands, etc. This week I found one blessed exception to this routine: the splash park. The water immediately drains so there's no drowning threat. They're not even remotely exciting for bigger kids so there's no accidental collision threat. There aren't any structures to climb on so there isn't a falling-and-breaking-a-wrist threat. For the first time as a mother I sat back with my friends and chatted while watching the girls.

A bucket was the only accessory!

It was the most relaxing afternoon I've had in a while. Thanks splash pad!

Put the Lime in the Coconut

This is one of the songs Laney put on the mix cd she made for our AZ trip. It's a great summer song and the girls love it so I found the video.



Liesel doesn't know all the words but she'll sing "DOCTOR!!!" right on cue. So cute!

Do you have any summer songs?

Cupcake Wars- Red, White & Blue Challenge

Reagan suggested for our next round of cupcake wars that we select a theme: red, white and blue. I thought that was particularly apropos with the 4th of July right around the corner. However, I had to temporarily abandon my Hello Cupcake book to do it. After a fairly extensive search, I finally settled on these cupcakes which are originally found here.

The Uncle Sam cupcakes are actually frosted upside down with a decorated ice cream cone on top for the hat. Brent particularly likes the strawberry Fruit by the Foot that makes up the red band. I found mini cones and knew I had to make some little ones too. Liesel always loves the mini cupcakes because they're just her size. So we have some Uncle Sam cupcakes and Nephew ???. I still haven't thought of a good name for the minis. Any suggestions are welcome!

We experimented with a few other sizes and designs (including a small cake) and added fruit to some of them. It is summer after all! The below photo shows all our creations (minus more Uncle Sam cupcakes we gave away to friends). I like how the strawberries look like a heart because I do indeed love the USA!!!

I can't wait to see what Reagan comes up with! Rumor has it she's trying to avoid the 4th of July theme so they should be interesting. In the meantime, feel free to wander over to her blog and vote for one of the past cupcake wars (on the right hand side). I think for total votes we're neck and neck!