Catching up August!

Water Park fun! Sydney and I have been several times this summer but Brent finally came with us yesterday. Could there be anything more fun than water slides on a hot August day???

Erin's Surprise 30th Birthday Party!!! Surprise!!!

And I got a copy of the pictures from us White Water Rafting taken by the Outfitter we went with. I zoomed in and the faces crack me up! I want to go again soon! Brent is the front right paddler and I am sitting to his left. My dad is on the front left with Doris to his right.

Toot Toot- Chuga Chuga- Big Red Car

This is what Sydney did for most of the show!!!

Lights- Camera- Action= WIGGLES!!

Self proclaimed "Wiggle Groupie"

So Wednesday was the big day- The Wiggles!! Sydney was so excited and loved every second of it! We met our sweet friend Sybil Curran. She and her creative mom Samantha made the girls Captain Feathersword hats! So adorable!

The Curran family

This face says it all before the show

Here they come! Toot Toot Chuga Chuga Big Red Car!!!

Sydney's favorite- Captain Feathersword The Friendly Pirate

OK so this picture says it all- she wouldn't take her eyes off the action, especially for a picture with Mom!

I am a little sad though. I guess since we drove there in such a short time and had so much fun, she doesn't understand why we can't drive there every day. As soon as they left the stage, she said "Bye Wiggles!" and waved and then turned to me and said "More Wiggles- where da Wiggles go? Where Murray go?" and has not stopped asking me to go back to the Wiggles. This morning when she woke up, I heard her singing in a high voice "Let go see da Wiggles!" I keep explaining that they had to get on a bus and go see other kids :( but it isn't working! Oh, and the red Wiggles shirt- we wore it during and after the concert, slept in it, insisted on wearing it all day yesterday and cried when I took it off before bath. OF COURSE my child's first clothing item she insists on wearing is a Wiggles shirt!!!! Not cute pink cowboy boots like Caroline :).

Sydney's First Airplane Trip/Jackson Hole, WY/Grand Teton National Park

Sydney's first airplane trip was really pretty easy (it didn't hurt that we had 4 adults to 1 child to help). We flew with her car seat because I knew we would need one when we arrived and it helped her take 2 naps during the flights, an umbrella stroller, a backpack with snacks, books, games, and of course Wiggle dvds. We arrived in Dallas on time but sat on the runway waiting for a gate to open and missed our connection to Salt Lake City. After several hours of waiting, we hopped on a plane to gorgeous Jackson Hole, Wyoming! It was a great flight there and then we landed as the sun was setting on the Grand Tetons. SO GORGEOUS. The fact that our luggage was in Salt Lake was a little hard, but overall it ended up being a great 24 hours in Jackson Hole and well worth the trip. We exited onto the runway by stairs and felt the cool, dry mountain air hit us as we stepped out.

No bags but a gorgeous sunset!

This is the next morning after breakfast, we shopped and ate around the Jackson square. There are 4 famous arches around the square made of thousands of elk antlers.

GORGEOUS Grand Teton National Park- don't know who the dorky girl posing is.

We finally got our luggage and hot showers, and headed through the mountains headed south towards Lander (where the wedding was). Sydney enjoyed mountains for about 10 minutes, the dvd and headphones for about 10 minutes, and took a long and peaceful nap during the drive- thank the Lord!!!

The Wild Wyoming Wedding

Above is my beautiful Aunt Cathy and her favorite great-niece. OK, her only great-niece so far, so her favorite by a mile. Aunt Cath has literally watched Sydney grow up on this blog and that is one reason I update! So of course it was so wonderful for them to meet in person. Aunt Cath kept her for almost a whole day while we went white water rafting! So, my cousin Qwenton married Jenny on July 19, 2009 on my aunt and uncle's beautiful property in Lander, Wyoming. It was the most unique and fun and interesting wedding I have ever attended! The groomsmen wore zuit suits, the bridesmaids wore dresses of their choosing (many sewed theirs), and the adorable flower girls (Sydney and Jenny's two nieces) wore matching petticoat/tutus that matched Jenny's slip under her wedding gown. Below is the wedding party.

And here are the little girls with Q and Jenny- hope you can see Jenny's slip too! They walked and threw lavender. Sydney would take a handful, throw it, stop to brush off any that fell onto her pretty skirt, then start over again. She actually walked down the isle and during the ceremony sat with us.

Saying "I Do" under the beautiful trees

"Whew, this wedding party stuff is exhausting :)." By the way, Sydney LOVED her skirt and thought she looked so sassy and pretty in it. All night long she danced and twirled. I foresee a Fancy Nancy costume in this skirt!!!!

My family- The Eagles and Oviatts

Aunt Cathy and Uncle Bill's adored dog Daphene

My beautiful cousin Claire from California

Oh! I forgot to mention that there was a bounce house for the reception. I was afraid Sydney would walk right down the isle and straight through to the bounce house!

The music during the reception was great and Sydney was a dancing queen.

Love this one- Sydney dancing and Brent looking :)

The camera lens just can't do the beautiful scenery justice! Look at the sunset that just painted the sky just as the happy couple was about to cut their cakes!

The Eagle siblings- My dad Gene, Aunt Cathy, Uncle Jim

Whew- fun night! Sydney laid down in the pack-n-play around 9:00 and we all stayed and enjoyed the band until at least 11:30.

"When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child."

Quote from Sophia Loren.

I am behind on the blog! We have been non-stop squeezing every moment of joy out of our remaining summer break (and getting our 2 year molars and sitting in time out). That said, I REALLY can't wait to post pictures from my cousin's wedding day and tomorrow- we are headed to the Wiggles!!! I may need to pack smelling salts if Sydney passes out from excitement. Or she might freak out and we have to sit in the back- I don't know what to expect. Wish us luck! Night Night!

One for the bucket list- White Water Rafting!!

We were SO excited to have the opportunity to go white water rafting through the Wind River Canyon. Super huge thank you to Aunt Cathy and Ms. Charlotte who kept Sydney all day for me so I didn't have to miss out. My humble experience with Indian Reservations comes from the Twilight series, and so it was really interesting. The canyon and the river flows directly through a beautiful Indian reservation and we were the only group allowed on the water. It was amazing and scary and freezing and exhilarating. I didn't take my camera on the water because I didn't trust myself to stay in the boat, but my Uncle did. That said, we were all too busy paddling and hanging on for dear life to take any pictures during the white water. We went down several stage 2 and 3 water, and one stage 4 (the highest stage is 5). Loved it!!!
Our group above and our rafting guides below

The Walkers about to get in the raft- looking totally cool in our safety gear

My awesome Uncle Bill

We made it through all the rapids without losing anyone in the water (the other raft "lost" 2 people but don't worry their guide got them back in the boat soon) but then enjoyed jumping out of the raft and floating downstream for a little bit. The picture doesn't do justice to how fast the water was moving!