Ellen

As I was going through photos that I wanted to post here (Ahem... a lot of them.) I realized I never posted photos from my Aunt Ellen's funeral. I wrote a post about it on my other blog along with some thoughts I'd been having over the summer, so if you want to read about it, click here.

At first I thought having a family picture taken right after the graveside service wasn't the ideal situation, but maybe it is. It was a poignant reminder that families do exist beyond the grave. The feeling of peace was incredible.

Me and my roomies. Uncle Paul (R), and my dad (L), who, if he was wearing black, would be a pretty snappy secret service agent.

Hot August Nights

Every year in August there's this thing called "Hot August Nights" that happens to Reno. Everyone pulls their classic cars out of their garage, parks it in the parking lot of one of the big casino hotels and thousands of people walk around, oogling all of them. 

A girl Steve works with has a 1934 Chevy (well it's actually her husband's car). They invited us to cruise with them during one of the nights.

Pretty rad, eh? Most of the interior was original, as well as the engine. It only goes up to 35 mph, so we drove it around town for a while. No seat belts, either. Ack!

We parked it at the Grand Sierra Resort and walked around to look at the other cars.

I love the cute little corvette convertibles.

These were some of Steve's fav's.

This one was from 1911!

This one was from sometime in the 20s. Steve really liked it.

We got the girls to pose a few times. They liked the cars after a while, but as you can see, they were dripping with enthusiasm toward the end.

See?

After sunset, we drove down to the main strip where they had a parade of sorts for all of the classic cars. It was so fun to experience all of this while IN one of the cars instead of just watching them go by. Ivy really liked waving to all the people. Toward the end she just stuck her hand out in a Nazi-esque salute to the people. She's funny.

We drove behind this beauty for a while...

Look familiar? :)

Here's a shot of all of us. Melissa (holding Ivy) works with Steve. Her husband is on the left, and the other guy is a friend of theirs.

The end. :)

This and That...

And now a bit of randomess....

In June we made a trip out to Idaho and Utah to visit family. My friend Becka was getting married that weekend so I had the opportunity to see it happen. They look adorable in this picture, but it really doesn't do them justice. Loved her dress. Loved her flowers. Loved everything.

Sophie went to a birthday party a couple of weeks ago and came home with a zebra manicure.

(See? Told you this was gong to be random.)

Sophie's favorite place to play. For very short intervals. And with lots of supervision.

One day the girls spotted a spider crawling on the wall (an daily occurrence lately. Ugh.) I was in the middle of making dinner so I told them to hang on a few minutes before I could get it.

So they pulled up some chairs and watched it.

I had to throw in an obligatory cheesy 4-year-old smile.

4th of July Weekend

I wandered over here to my slightly-neglected blog and noticed that I hadn't finished this post from our 4th of July weekend.

Oops. Ahem.... anyway...

So, there are sandy beaches at Lake Tahoe. Who knew? It's weird to be sitting on the beach in a swimsuit and glance across the lake at the snow-capped mountains. Best of both worlds. I love it.

Yes, tiaras are a must at the beach. Don't tell me you didn't already know that!

We also had some friends from California stay with us while in town for a baseball tournament. 

This next photo will only appeal to about 10% of you, but it speaks for itself, I think.

And that, my friends, is what happens when you spend the night in a house full of girls.

The end.

A lot of singing, egg cracking, and more singing. And an interview with Sophie.

I loaded these, but never posted them. I'm pretty sure they were all filmed in May.

The first one shows just how long Sophie can keep singing. She'd been singing for about 5 minutes straight before I started the clip. She's nuts. I can't wait to show this to her in about 10 years.



The next one is the girls cracking eggs. And then some singing time at the dinner table. (Know what a zu-kiwi is? Watch and find out. :))



This one is the interview I did with Sophie for her 4th birthday. I think Ivy was more willing to chat than Sophie was. And louder.