My Baby Daddy

Dave is such an amazing father and husband and I love celebrating him.  I am amazed at the patience he has and his willingness to serve the Lord.  He's a good man and I'm a lucky/blessed lady.

The Saturday before Father's Day, I sent Dave rock climbing with his friends to celebrate being a totally awesome dude.  He has really picked up the rock climbing thing and does it a couple times a month now and has his own equipment too. He loves it.

Anyway, on Sunday we had Stake Conference.  It's always on Father's Day which is nice because it means no early meetings or early mornings in general.  We can take it a little bit slower.  When Dave woke up we opened presents and had breakfast.

Dave got an awesome shirt picked out by the girls, a candy jar that says "#1 Dad," and some awesome cards.

 
The rest of the day was spent relaxing and in the evening we headed to the McCaffree's (Dave's uncle and aunt) and had dinner and of course played games.

I love you, Dave!  Thanks for being so incredible!

The Last Missionary

For those of you who don't know, Dave is the oldest of six boys, no girls. Yes, that's right. All boys. Anyway, in the middle of June, Dave's youngest brother, Matt, got home from his mission in Brazil. All six boys served full missions and the last is finally home. What an exciting day!

We met him at the airport and then spent the next several days with him and the rest of the family that came to visit. We loved hearing him slip into Portuguese in the middle of a story, the introduction to weird Brazilian desserts, and seeing how much he has changed. And surprisingly, he wasn't as weird as I thought he would be. But I also didn't see him in any potentially awkward situations. Where were the flirting girls when you need them?

 
Anyway, we're happy to have him home and to end an era of Ricks missionaries.

Our 7 Year, 5 Month, One Week Anniversary

Dave and I have decided we will be celebrating our Anniversary on our Half Anniversary, meaning we will celebrate in the summer instead of the dead of winter right before Christmas. This year we celebrated a little early but really who's keeping track. We went to Yosemite for a 2 day, 1 night get-away, no kids. We loved it.

We stayed at this cute little bed and breakfast called The Blackberry Inn. It is about an hour outside of Yosemite Valley. We left Friday morning and stopped for lunch then checked in to our B&B. Then we drove into Yosemite and started the fun. We did a hike that we thought was called Artist Point but when we got to the trail head it was called something completely different, Inspiration Point or maybe we were in the wrong place but it was the only trail head by Valley View. Anyway, it was hot and really reminded me of how out of shape I am but we had fun.

Like I said, it was hot.

When we got back down, we headed to Yosemite Falls. We expected more of a hike (the site we looked up was way off on distances...and names apparently). It took us like 2 minutes to get to the waterfall. It was more of a stroll then a hike. But it was still beautiful, and nice after the hot hike we'd just been on. We played in the stream farther down for a little bit too. It had a couple cute little bridges.

After that we headed back to our B&B stopping for some dinner and then a good night's sleep. We had breakfast at the B&B the next morning and got to meet some of the other people staying there. They were from all over, Utah, the south, and Germany. So cool. Then we checked out and headed back to Yosemite. We did The Mist Trail which included both Vernal and Nevada Falls. It was hard but so worth it. The first part was paved until you get to the bridge at the bottom of the first fall, Vernal Falls.

Then you start to head up towards the top of the fall. It is stairs the whole way and you understand why it's called The Mist Trail. You get wet from all the mist coming from the fall. That's how close you hike to it. I thought it was the coolest thing ever! I loved it! I did have to take quite a few breaks to catch my breath and give my burning thighs a break but it was so fantastic and beautiful!

And we made it! The view from the top is amazing too! Here we took a long break and ate lunch.

Then we started the trek up again to Nevada Falls. This was completely different. It started as more of a woodsy dirt trail and then it became rock. It's also steps but without the luxury of the mist to keep you cool. You do see Nevada Fall between the dirt trail and rock steps but then it disappears and you climb up the side and come up behind it. This was also hard and again we made a lot of stops. It was really steep too. As people were coming down, I was really grateful that we had decided to come down a different trail. It looked really scary for the people coming down.

We eventually made it to the top! I was so happy! We did it! It was hard but worth every ache! We took another long break to rest our feet before heading downt. That water was freezing, obviously.

We headed down by way of The John Muir Trail. Compared to the way up, it was pretty boring. Plus at that point, I hurt so much that every step was painful. It was switch backs all the way down until we met up with The Mist Trail at the bottom of the Vernal Falls. And then it was back down the paved path and to our cars to rest our weary bones. We did the math and figured we hiked about 7 1/2 miles and over 20,000 steps (thanks to the help of someone's FitBit, we were able to keep tabs). It was such a fun trip and I can't wait to go back. Spring is the perfect time to go because the falls are still flowing. A month later and they would probably have been all dried up. Dang drought.

Laguna Seca

On Memorial Day, we went to Laguna Seca for the first time with our friends. It is a reservoir with a small swimming area and a bunch of picnic/bbq areas. We played in the water for a little bit (I didn't get any pics because we were busy having too much fun) and then ate. It was a nice little get-away from every day life and it is so close. We'll definitely be going back again.

Kentucky, Here We Come

My parents are serving a mission in the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission (GKLM) as a mission president/wife. This past May we were able to go visit them for the first time since they left. I realized that it had been over a year since we'd last seen them. That is the longest I have ever been separated from them. I usually see them about twice a year. It's sad that they are so far away but I love what they're doing and the example they are setting for me and my family. Anyway, we had a ton of fun with my parents and I loved getting a glimpse into the lives of missionaries. Here's some of what we did.

And we're off.

We baked cookies, went shopping, played in the yard, went to the zoo, went to Stake Conference, went to a new missionary training meeting, went to the Louisville Slugger Museum, the girls played a lot with grandma and grandpa...and their electronics and toys. And most of all we just enjoyed being in the mission home and being together.

Cookie time.

The girls have my hair.  All my mom has to do is wrap it around her finger when wet and voila!  The perfect ringlet.

Emma is really good at playing hide n seek.

Electronic game time.

And now to the zoo...

I know if that tarantula wasn't behind that glass, there would not be smiles on our faces right now.

Fun thing about these gorillas.  We got to see one pee. 

 

Some more electronic time for Jocey.  I love how they both have their hands on their face.  It's like they're related.

I loved being in Kentucky and can't wait to go back for Christmas with all the Brough family! Forced Family Fun Forever!

I Feel the Love

Mother's Day is a special day. My family takes such good care of me and I love them for it. This year I got my first craft from a child. It was so stinkin' cute. And I got several other amazing gifts that made me giggle. Take a look.

Jocey made the flower hands in preschool and she was very careful to keep it secret until Mother's Day. That was my first craft. I loved it! Emma made the handprint in Nursery. Seriously, she has some awesome leaders. I also got the Twilight Saga. Most excellent! I don't care what other people say, I like it. And I also got some filled in questionnaires from Jocelyn. Some of the answers are hilarious.

And as an extra bonus, all the Ricks clan got to group Skype Elder Matthew Ricks. So fun seeing everyone on the computer at the same time!

I'm so grateful for my beautiful girls that made my a mom. They are so precious and sweet and they teach me so much. I'm also so grateful for my mom and all the loves she's given and continues to give. And I'm thankful for my mother-in-laws for welcoming me into their lives so warmly. And I'm so blessed for so many other wonderful women in my life. It's a good time to be alive and to be a woman and a mother.

May the 4th Be With You

I love a good reason to party.  And to decorate my house for a party.  So when May began with a couple obscure holidays I was all on board.  May 4th is Star Wars Day for those who don't ever check out the internet.  And I happen to have a friend who is a Star Wars buff.  So we invited our friends over for the night to celebrate.

While the girls got educated on true entertainment, the adults played Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. Sadly, we ladies lost. I didn't contribute much. Don't get me wrong, I dig Star Wars but I don't know the random facts. The guys thought they were pretty cool.

After the game, we rounded up the kids and had our own light saber battle (of course I made light sabers). It was a free for all really so I don't know who won. Let's just say I did and call it good.

Then we ended with some nerdy yumminess.

Until next time, May the 4th Be With You!