"Summer days ... driftin' away..."

WARNING: long post!

we have had a busy several weeks! dan finished his last rotation of his 3rd year and is studying full-time this month for the next step of his medical licensing exam at the end of july. we have had many adventures and i have been WAY behind in posting so here it is in one big one! it starts in june and ends with our most recent activities.

SKINNER REUNION NEAR FLAGSTAFF

back in june we had the skinner reunion and it was my first time in the 4 1/2 years we have been married that i have been able to go. it was fun to see some of dan's cousins that i hadn't met before. it was held on a ranch outside of flagstaff and it was beautiful! we were able to stay in a bunkhouse - i don't mind camping, in fact i enjoy the whole tent thing, but it's the not having a shower in the morning part that i don't enjoy, so this was perfect. dan took madison on a horseback ride which she loved, and there was a little rodeo for all the kids. they had a riding lawn mower that pulled a train of 'horses' behind it and madison loved that too. it was a great weekend and we were sorry to see it end.





GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH

a couple weeks ago, right before dan's new york trip, we headed to phoenix for the ringling brothers and barnum and bailey circus. we thought madison would love it and neither dan or i had been in a long time. we had fun, although i didn't love all the clown skits inbetween acts. we arrived early enough to go down on the floor before it started and they had an elephant up close, painting a picture - madison loved her! we all thought the best parts were the animals, although it's amazing what those stuntsmen and acrobats can do. we are going to make this a yearly tradition.




the finale! so exciting! what did madison think?

oh wait, she fell asleep and missed the whole second half of the show! next year we will go to a matinee.



still asleep - all the way to the car

INDEPENDANCE DAY!!!

we had an awesome 4th of july. may parents and sister came down very last minute from utah but i was so excited to see them. we started out the day with an amazing pancake breakfast (our activities committee totally outdid themselves!) at our church building (pic below- very unflattering for me but it's the only pic of the whole day!). my ellsworth grandparents joined us. it was followed by a little parade and then a flag ceremony. perfect start to a wonderful day. my dad went out to the farm with my gpa and the us girls went to lunch at paradise bakery. that afternoon we went swimming with aunts/uncles/cousins at my farnsworth grandparents and had a delicious bbq. what is more american than hot dogs, watermelon, and corn on the cob? to top it off, we had tickets to the diamondbacks game. we strategically showed up during the 7th inning, enjoyed a little baseball and then settled in for the fireworks. they were spectacular! i love when they are choreographed to music. madison LOVED them! we headed home exhausted, but it was such a great day.


LEBARON REUNION (4TH OF JULY WEEKEND)

every year, 4th of july weekend, lebaron's have a reunion in strawberry, about 1 1/2 hours from mesa. this is no small reunion. there are 80+ people in dan's extended fam on his mom's side. this reunion is all of her aunts, uncles, cousins, and down. we are taking LOTS of people. but it is fun and my family doesn't live close enough to have this kind of tradition. we just went for a day but it was great to get out of the heat and head up to the mountains. i was a slacker and just took a couple pics of madison playing in the sandbox with some extended cousins. she is wearing our reunion shirt and it is huge so we rolled up the sleeves, tied it back with a scrunci and then her skirt rode up all day long and it looked like it was a mini. but we had a blast.





SNOW DAY AT PHOENIX ZOO

snow in az period is not the norm, especially in the valley, and definitely in july. but nevertheless we attended snow day at the zoo this morning. my mother and sister-in laws braved the heat with madison and i. truckloads of snow were brought in for kids to play with and there were big blow up slides, and Disney radio was there with a big tent with games and music. madison played in the sprinklers as well. some of the animal exhibits had piles of snow so the animals could 'play' in the snow too. we lasted until 9:30 am and then the heat became unbearable, even with the snow/water/etc. we will definitely go back next year!





madison chowing down on her milkshake. i love that she can drink out of a straw!