As Kayla moves from girlhood to womanhood, we decided it was time for a weekend of fun and girl time. Chris agreed to let me to take her for a bit of a staycation. She came over and we went to her preferred restaurant, The Melting Pot.
They gave us a fun slice of cheesecake to celebrate her birthday the following month as well.
Fondue fun!
We noticed the lovely flowers blooming in our yard.
And the following morning we headed south to hike! We noticed pretty flowers there too!
beautiful lilacs! My favorite!
Seven Falls
I love you, my sweet beautiful young lady.
Everyday my heart overflows with love and gratitude that God saw fit to bless me with you.
You are such a treasure and it was incredible to get to experience a beautiful treasure of God's creative craftsmanship in nature with his beautiful creation of YOU.
I love adventuring with you
"You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water;
you provide the people with grain, for so you have prepared it."
-Psalm 65:9
Kayla, thank you for this beautiful time. What a precious bit of time spent together laughing, adventuring, and simply being.
The day before Mother's Day we took a family hike with Uncle Nick to Waterton Canyon which is, incidentally, one of Nick's favorite little hiking spots.
We spotted lilacs and stopped to enjoy their lovely scent before continuing on.
There was also a herd of big-horn sheep along the side of the trail which was pretty neat!
This boy and his hands in his pockets.
I *heart* him so much.
It's been a past tradition (we haven't pursued it in the past few years as regularly, but it's a beautiful tradition Chris started my first Mother's Day when Kayla was just 11 months old) to find a waterfall for Mother's Day. We came across several and the girls were so excited. "Look, Mom! A waterfall! And it's Mother's Day tomorrow! It's a waterfall for you!"
I played a lively game of croquet with Kayla and Ava and Sophie in the backyard while Chris worked tirelessly to make yummy food.
I love these people so so much.
I'm beyond blessed to be mama to these five little sweeties that God has gifted us.
I was bombarded with beautiful letters, pictures, and cards. Some of it is the product of the girls' homeschool charter school, but most of it was just my sweet girls pouring out their love in the form of pictures and color.
I don't actually remember what he was sad about, but he's a boy--constantly running, constantly falling, and constantly coming to Mama for hugs and kisses before running off again.
In the afternoon, I took all my girls on an adventure while Kolbe had his nap.
We explored our close park and the creek that runs through it.
Aren't they just the best?
We waded in the creek.
We explored new trails and climbed trees.
Yep, I climbed up too. One for all and all for one!
Kayla was all the way up to that point closer to the top of the tree where it splits into like three branches when we took that picture.
Guess what?
We found another little WATERFALL?
The response was basically the same as the previous day except even more thrilled and excited!
We invited our wonderful friends, Dan and Sarah, over for dinner as well, and of course, Nick was there for the day.
Chris outdid himself with delicious food beginning with a tasty brunch, afternoon cheese and crackers and wine, a delectable dinner, and he made petit fours which the girls had suggested would be just perfect for me for Mother's Day.
Thank you, Babe, for all your hard work to make it such a special Mother's Day, and thank you kids for your love and adventurous spirits. I couldn't have asked for a more lovely day.
