lake playtime

Once the weather warmed up (can you believe it was in the 60s for the 4th of July?!), we had a lot of fun enjoying one of our favorite summer pastimes-- hanging at the lake! Reese was significantly more nervous about the water this year. The first day that we spent at the lake, Uncle Mike took us out on the boat, and every time the person in the water said, "Hit it!" and the boat got loud and fast quickly, Reese got pretty freaked out. She did not want to go in the boat again after that. So sad.

We are so spoiled to have my sister Lindsey's in-laws at the lake who let us come over and sit on their dock and go out on their boat and eat all their delicious snacks!

Reese relaxing after a long day at the lake with Luke, Lindsey's nephew.
Luke taking the jet ski out for a spin. Don't worry, his dad was close by.


How adorable is this little Ava Taylor?! I look forward to seeing our old friends the Taylors in Montana every summer. And Reese LOVED playing with them on the dock and on the water trampoline. Just like old times in Virginia (except now Reese is actually old enough to play with them!).

Reese and Ella
I can't believe how grown up these kids are getting! Ella has always been one of my style icons for Reese, and I love it when people tell me that Reese looks like her!
Who doesn't like to enjoy a nice chocolate chip cookie on the dock?!

Reese finally got brave, and went in the water with me!

After most of the family went home, we did take Reese out on a nice, leisurely boat ride and Reese did really enjoy it. Hopefully next summer she will remember how much fun she had in the boat and in the water! Can't wait!

double baby shower

What could be more fun that a baby shower for a baby girl? A baby shower for two baby girls!!!!

While the whole family was together, we had a double baby shower for Lindsey and Lauren. We invited lots of friends from Montana and the two girls scored tons of adorable things for the babies!

Lindsey's husband Mike grew up on a farm and is a die hard John Deere fan! Luckily, John Deere paraphernalia also comes in pink!

For the party favors, we made onesie and cupcake sugar cookies. We had a ball decorating these cookies together! They were almost too cute to eat.

I'm embarrassed to say that we did not get a picture of our beautiful spread. But, our brunch menu consisted of the following:

Strawberry Banana muffins

Lemon Yogurt Berry Parfaits with homemade granola

Fresh fruit with cream cheese fruit dip

Ham and cheese melts on mini buns

Watermelon Limeade

My favorite item on the menu was the strawberry banana muffin! They were light and delicious, and not too sweet for a mid-morning snack. Here's the recipe I used:

1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/4 cup light olive oil or vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. Toss together strawberries and 1/3 cup sugar. Using a potato masher or fork, lightly mash berries; set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a glass 2-quart measuring cup or a medium bowl, combine buttermilk, oil, egg, and vanilla; whisk to combine.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the buttermilk mixture and the berry mixture (with juice). Fold in two mashed bananas just until combined. Using an ice cream scoop, divide the batter among the muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops with remaining sugar.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Cool 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer muffins to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

take me out to the ballgame

Note: To me it seems like ages since I've posted anything new. Nothing crazy is going on. I was out of town for a few weeks and have STILL not been able to get all the pictures and videos that were taken on said trip (it's a long story). I'm finally to the point where I am ready to give up on those (adorable!) videos and just work with what I've got.

This summer we planned our trip at just the right time to be able to watch lots and lots of Dean's baseball games! His team has had an away tournament over the 4th of July weekend for the last four years, usually in Spokane, so we are usually lucky if we get to see even one home game when he gets back. But this year the 4th of July tournament was in Helena, and our party wagon made a slight detour on our drive up from Utah to watch one of his games. When the Kalispell Lakers returned from that tournament, they had another tournament in Whitefish (only about 45 minutes away), so we got to watch five more days of games! Reese loves to watch Dean play baseball and cheer for him. She yells, "Go, Dean-o-baby!" She'll actually just copy anything that hears being yelled, for any player...or even directed to the umpires. She started shouting, "C'mon, Blue, you're killin' me!" I have no idea where she heard that....but it may have been from the player's mother sitting right next to me...not mentioning any names.

After the Whitefish tournament, the Lakers had two more consecutive days of conference games at home, and one of Dean's best friends Connor came to watch. Reese has a HUGE crush on Connor. She has ever since she met him last summer. She would come home from a trip to Montana and pretend to talk on the phone to Connor--it was hilarious!
It was so funny when she first saw Connor arrive at the game--her face lit up like a Christmas tree! Unfortunately, Connor brought his girlfriend to the game too and had to split his time between the two women. Reese would call Connor about every two seconds and tell him that Dean was on second base ("Connor, look! There's Dean!") or she would say to him, "What's cookin', good lookin'?" After a while, my mom promised to get Connor a hamburger if Reese called his name 100 times....and we almost got there! Bless 'im, Connor is so nice to Reese...even when she is a little obnoxious. (she was acting too silly to get a very cute shot of them together, what can I say?)
As you can see, as one of the team captains Dean has a lot of fans! (And yes, we are wearing jackets and have blankets on our lap. The weather this summer has been crazy! Jackets in July?! It was pretty windy and chilly that night.)