Just for Fun in July

 A picnic and feeding the ducks:

 We ALWAYS try to push the ball at Target:

 Sleeping Pics: (Emma, then 2 of Ella)

Wonderland Night

What fun we had at Bryan's company night at Wonderland! (Emma- gray shirt, Ella- pink shirt)

Ranch Vacation

We spent the 4th of July with my family at our ranch.  We were there for 4 days and had a great time visiting, riding four wheelers, watching fireworks, and more.

This will be the last year they will fit in the baby swings:

 Fourth of July Fireworks:

 First Sparklers:

Puzzles, a ranch tradition:

 Aleisha taught the girls to shoot the bow and arrow this year.  (Ella is in the first pic, Emma in the second.) Emma even managed to get one stuck high in a tree.

 We rode the four wheelers to the top of Malpi, an extinct volcano near by.  Bryan and the girls enjoyed throwing rocks over the edge.  We also took advantage of God's beautiful creation to take a few pictures.  The most fun was riding down the large pile of rocks, though!

 Isn't that just beautiful!

 Saturday evening, on our way back down the caliche road to the house, we gave the girls each a turn to drive.  Emma was a little better at keeping it on the road than Ella.  They both thought this was the best part of the entire trip!

Goodbye Maple Tree

It is a very sad day when you have to cut down a big, beautiful tree, but today was one of those days.  Our ~50 year old maple tree is dying.  Every time the wind blows, another large branch full of leaves falls into the yard (and the wind blows a lot here!)  The dead branches aren't falling much, but the ones with leaves are.  The tree had two huge branches that go over our house and our neighbor's house.  I was getting tired of being afraid of them falling on the houses every time the wind blew.  So, it was time to have it cut down.  Last night, we went out and took a few pictures of our tree:

 Emma:

 Ella

 Our big, beautiful, dying tree:

 For the most part, it was taken down by two men.  One climbing and cutting, the other helping guide down branches, cutting them up, and putting them on a trailer or stacking the pieces for firewood. It was quite an amazing sight to watch them work.

 How our girls like to watch:

 It rained a little:

 The stump grinder:

 Firewood:

All done in one day.  We hope to plant new trees this fall.