Yellowstone

This past weekend we went camping in Yellowstone with my aunt and uncle, Lloyd and Colleen.  We love going there with them.  They know so much about the park; best places to camp, good hikes, where you're most likely to see animals.  And they are also very experienced campers, so it's nice to have them there to help us not so experienced campers.  :)  This was the first time we spent two nights in the park.  We drove up Thursday, set up camp and talked for a while that night.  That night a bunch of Elk tromped through our campsite, it was crazy to listen to!!  And we also heard coyotes howling in the night as well as wolves.  It was pretty cool.  We saw lots of animals over the weekend:  a bear, elk, buffalo, snake.  The kids loved that. 

Anyway, Friday we went on this big hike up Mt. Washburn. It was a lot tougher than we had anticipated (Colleen's easy is our difficult...hahaha), but we are so glad we did it. The view was absolutely beautiful and I was so impressed by all three of our boys. It was 2.5 miles all up and pretty steep at times and then 2.5 miles down. The two older boys kept the lead and just hiked and hiked. I didn't hear one complaint. And I figured Luca would sit in the stroller for it, but no, he hiked the WHOLE way!!! I was shocked!! He didn't complain once! He was at the tail end of the hike, but he's only 4!! He was going as fast as his little legs could handle, and would stop when he needed a little rest. I was really proud of him. I about died on the hike. My out of shape, overweight body didn't handle it the best. Plus I was carrying Mia on my back which added even more pounds. I probably wouldn't have made it to the top, but when we were getting close, Colleen put Mia in the stroller with Audrey (their granddaughter) and ran up the hill with them. She's amazing. Then the hike down was nice and easy. I was so proud to see all of my boys accomplish that hike, and it was so fun to be able to just walk and talk.

Getting ready to go 

We're hiking to the top of that mountain where you see the overlook on top. 

Luca taking his little water breaks and resting his legs. 

There were tons of bighorn sheep towards the top of the mountain.  The one in the picture above was on the pathway. 

We made it!!  Way to go Luca!!!  Amazing!! 

The older boys LOVED looking out the telescope. 

Heading down...Mia fell asleep in the stroller. 

Finished! We were amazed that the kids did so well on this hike!!

Another view of where we hiked to...beautiful

Hangin out at the campsite

Audrey and Mia (they are only 3 weeks apart in age)

Silly girls 

Roasting marshmallows 

On Saturday we hiked to a beautiful waterfall. At the overlook, even though there were fences so you wouldn't fall over, it made me nervous with the little ones. The water was rushing so fast that you knew it was dangerous. It was a beautiful site. Then we went to see Old Faithful. It was a little disappointing. The kids were not as excited as we thought they would be. Lloyd and Colleen told us about another geyser that you hike to that is more impressive, maybe next year we'll try that one. It sounds fun. 

Our hike to the waterfall 

Old Faithful 

After that, we drove back to Lloyd and Colleens and had a late dinner with Kirk, Ashley, Megan and baby Derek. This was the first time we met Derek, and he is the most calm, easy going baby I have ever seen!! What a cutie. Sunday we came home. It was such a fun trip and we're so grateful to Lloyd and Colleen for always being willing to take us camping and letting us invade their house. :) It was a great weekend.

Some of the animals we saw... 

This buffalo was right on the street as we drove by 

It's hard to see, but that is a bear in the back there 

Being Silly

Last night the kids were outside playing and I went out to snap some shots of them.  Mia decided she was going to be funny and all the kids joined in.  It was great.  I just sat and smiled as I took these pictures.  I love moments like this when all the kids are getting along and just having fun.

This is when the silliness began.  I laughed at this picture I took because I just loved it...pure joy in her face as she runs up the driveway.  I commented on her blue tongue and laughed.  After that, she was a riot to watch. 

Luca wanted in on the silly pictures. 

Then the older boys realized what was going on and wanted in as well.  

I just love, love, love these guys!!!

First Haircut

Yes. Mia will be 3 next month, but this is her first haircut ever.  She was soo excited.  It looks so much better now that it's even in the back.  They had to cut about 2.5 inches from the longest point to even it out, but it's still pretty long.  So all is good.  :)

I wanted to get a picture of the "after" shot the next day to show the actual haircut, but when I said we should take pictures she got angry and kept running away.  She is a little stinker. 

Is getting a picture taken really that bad!!?? 

Run, run!!  They have the camera out!!  :( 

Finally one she's kind of happy in 

Cutting a girls hair for the first time was definately different than cutting the boys hair for the first time.  When we cut the boys hair for the first time they went from looking like little baby boys to little boys.  When Mia got hers cut, she didn't look any different, it just looks nicer in the back.  It was still fun though.

Just thought it would be fun to show the boys before and after shots...

Diego - 1yr

Alessandro - 2 yrs 

look at those curls!!! 

Definately looked better before the cut!  :) 

Luca - 1yr 

Baseball

Alessandro was nervous to do baseball this year because it was his first year with the machine pitching, but he did really well!!  I hardly took any pictures so I don't really have very good ones, but this is what I have.

Look at how small he is compared to the other boys!!  

4th of July weekend

I was sick all weekend so I missed out on all the fun, but Udine and the kids still had a good time.  Actually, I did go see the fireworks....I was so sick of being alone!  And since I was feeling quite a bit better I decided to go.  Anyway...early Saturday morning Udine took Diego and Alessandro to see the balloon festival.  I can't really say much about it cause I wasn't there, but they all seemed to really enjoy it.  On Monday the 4th, Udine took the kids to Trafalga for some fun and then went to my brother's house to celebrate Julia's birthday.  After that we met up at the fireworks to watch the show.

Mia, Anna and Cali playing before the fireworks start 

Duck, duck, goose 

I love watching these girls.  They're at such a fun age 

Carter, Cody, Diego and Alessandro watching the fireworks 

Cali, Mia, Packer (or is that Benji's head??  I can't tell) and Luca watching 

The fam