chapter five: to the country

I made the little darlings pose in the front yard before church. Cate's wearing her Auburn dress that my buddy Janell made for her. Another crafty sewing friend. I'm so lucky. So the dress isn't the traditional orange and blue but it says War Eagle and has the AU and tiger eyes all over. Danny's got the orange and blue going on though.



In case you're wondering, it was already 85 degrees out while we were driving to church...at 8:45 in the morning. Ug.

Church was fine. I worried how Danny would do in primary. Lucky me, I got to stay with him the whole time since he wouldn't let me leave. Cate went right into nursery and played like a champ! Amazing that I can have two children so extremely different from each other.

I sent Grama Bama home with the kids when there was still an hour-ish left of church. I had pretty much had enough of the whiny naughty kids by that point. Grama Bama later reported that Cate promptly fell asleep upon their arrival at her house. Good thing too since she'd stayed up so late the night before and then we had to wake her up for church.

After the nap and some lunch, we headed over to my friend Rebecca's house. Cate and Ella posed for a few pictures. These two cuties are almost exactly one year apart in age. They're adorable if you ask me.


We spent a little time in the basement chatting while the kids played ping pong and explored.

Rebecca's mom brought out some of the old toys and this was one of them.



I love it! You can't really tell from the picture but that table is set for a dinner of sushi. Sushi in the play family camper. I love it (not actual sushi, just the idea that the little plastic family is eating sushi on their camping trip...who does that?).



We headed out to the country after a few rounds of ping pong (the kind of game that goes like this: you hit the ball, your opponent picks it up off the floor and then tosses it over the net, you pick it up again, your opponent walks away because they're now bored of it all).

The country is actually a place called Gold Hill. It's a short drive out of the big city...it's the country. That's where Rebecca's grandparents (Granny and Granddaddy I believe) used to live. It's a very old house. I remember driving there as a youngster in the back of her dad's El Camino.



There were kittens in the barn.



And a peacock! I loved watching Danny chase it around. He was having a blast.





A little bit of porch swinging (which actually felt really good since it created a small breeze...it was stinkin' hot out and oh, so muggy)...



and 4 wheeling (which also felt quite nice because of the breeze)...



and cute little girls staying hydrated while they awaited their turn for a ride.






Time for the girls to ride. I was scared Cate would fall off, hence the fake smile. I'm also not a big fan of this whole 4 wheeling thing. Big scary roller coasters, yes. Fast motorized vehicles riding through fields and weeds and such, nope.



See my true feelings about it...



Rebecca thinks it's funny that I'm such a scaredy cat.


Awwww, how sweet. Me and my man. See the glistening around my collar bone. That's sweat. From just sitting around and doing nothing. It was so humid. I don't know how people live there in the summer.



Somebody please help me remember to put my hand on my hip when I pose for any future pictures. I'm really not loving the flabby arm thing I've got going on.



We wanted to get a few pictures of us and our kids before calling it a day. They were all so good I couldn't pick just one to share.









I think this last one is my favorite.



A fun, sweaty afternoon in the country. Good times.