this post is going to be about my sister's visit with her two best gals and our trip to mccall...but before we get into that...

i had a terrible nightmare last night. let me preface by saying over the past year i've been working on getting rid of all our faux plants and incorporating actual greenery into our home. i mean...it cleans your air. it's healthy. plants are pretty and blah blah blah. we're up to six decent plants i've kept alive and i'm pretty proud! (especially considering plants + pots can get expensive...so it was kind of a commitment.)

so last night i had this nightmare - i dreamed that i was going around the house watering all my plants only to realize i had overwatered them and they looked droopy, discolored, and waterlogged. in other words - dead-zo. i killed all my beautiful plants.

is this what adulting is? instead of dreaming about your next vacation you dream and worry about killing your plants? i don't know if i like it anymore. i want to go back.

anyway - silver lining! i woke up this morning (at 4:30 am) only to realize my plants were NOT dead. NOT waterlogged. but yes indeed - thriving. my plants are alive. crisis averted.

so for those of you who say you don't have a green thumb, but in fact have a black thumb...i'm here to tell you i have such a black thumb i actually dream of killing plants - yet i've still managed to keep my plants alive. here's my advice - go get yourself a plant and don't overwater it.

sheesh - that could have been the world's most boring post in and of itself...but i'm not done yet.

last week my sister and her family came for their annual visit to idaho from california. kelli and rob have two girls (two years old, two months old) - and i like to think they copied us. next up they'll be announcing baby girl number three. that would be hilarious. anyway, they came for their annual visit and aside from poor reese deciding she no longer wanted to sleep, the cousins played, swam, fought, boated, shared, didn't share, threw fits, hugged, ran around naked, etc. for a week solid.

it's very safe to say all parties involved (kids + parents + grandparents) were exhausted.
for documentation purposes - sawyer at 2 years 9 months / reese at 2 years 2 months / kaye at 4 years 9 months

yes - my farmer was able to outfit all girls with lookout binoculars. if i've said it once i'll say it a thousand times...my farmer is a gear hoarder. it's never enough to have just one of something. if you want to go skiing there's a very solid chance he'll have several sizes of boots / skis / poles to fit your exact needs. rock climbing - he's got you covered. rafting - you can hop in our boat...life jacket provided.

speaking of rafting...kaye got to go on her very first rafting trip. my sister and i stayed back with the little gals while our manly men loaded the raft and hit the whitewater. the boys and kaye took a quick trip down the main payette and from what i hear, kaye had the best day of her life. and don't worry, let's just have a quick walk down memory lane...

my dad and me on a different stretch of the payette river.

my farmer and me long long ago...before we got married.
and now kaye and her farmer doing what idahoans love best.

isn't that the sweetest?!

anyway...so while they river rafted we lunched...
and then took these gals to an indoor play gym (because it was 105ยบ). the play gym didn't last long due to the unfortunate fact that all the children were sucking up the oxygen in the place and i thought i was going to die. dramatic? of course.

in the following days we lunched some more and saywer proved us all wrong again by becoming far less insane and badger-esque and showing us just how sweet she can be. she's absolutely obsessed with babies - holding her new baby cousin lizzie whenever she got the chance.

and kaye continued to be the very very best oldest cousin...and it was the sweetest thing to witness. 
in hopes of beating the boise heat we headed to mccall for several days and immediately hit the lake.
did you guys know my gals have ANOTHER girl cousin? yes...all girls in this family. cousin bailee joined us for some sand-digging, kayak paddling, and dock jumping. 

and uncle robert proved to be uncle of the year. i wonder if he ever imagined being surrounded by that many little girls? i mean, seriously...how does one family only have girls?
sawyer immediately got sand kicked in her face...it was a real mood-killer.

the next day we headed back to brundage and took the chair lift to the top. you see...not only did we have to accommodate and find activities for all the little gals...but also a large pregnant gal. that's me. (four more weeks. it'll be over before i know it.)


the neeeeext day we headed to the lake for some relaxed boating...that required just about no movement...plus being in close proximity to water and readily available snacks made for optimal conditions for this pregnant gal...and apparently sawyer too. girlfriend couldn't keep her eyes open. she'd sleep then fall back asleep, then wake, then sleep...bless her.



even sweet lizzie enjoyed the boat...in fact, i think she enjoyed the entire vacation. she didn't make a peep the entire week.


sawyer did wake up for a brief few to drive the boat and hop on the tube...she couldn't possibly miss out on all the fun.


and to round out our time in mccall we made stops at ice cream alley (a must!)...and of course, we brought felicia to the pool where the gals (and all the other random kids) couldn't get enough of her. to say she's a huge hit would be an understatement.


and because every time we visit mccall kaye asks if we can live there...how can we deny her a few extra days? my farmer's parents offered to keep our two best gals so my farmer and i could have a few recovery days.

so what does my farmer do? pull four all-nighters as he finishes up our third cutting of hay. farm life.

the good news - nana and grandpa keep the gals busier and having more fun with golfing and biking and concerts and swimming and fairy hunting and pie baking...it's no wonder kaye wants to live with them. it's the very best way for our two best gals to round out their summer. next week - school.