Summer's over...WHEW!!!

First of all, I must say THANK YOU to everyone who had advice for me about my milk dilemma. It's been a month and Rebecca is slowly doing better. I've tried a lot of your suggestions, and I'm thankful for friends who know more than I do on parenting topics and are willing to help me. Thanks!!!

What a fun summer we had. We were home this past weekend, and I think it was the first time in 7 weeks. Busy times! It's been really fun though. At the end of July, we had Seth's family reunion. Since it is so expensive to travel lately, his parents decided to have the reunion at their farm in Bancroft. Here is their beautiful home, where Seth grew up. I love to go to Bancroft, it is such a peaceful place to me, a real get-away whenever I go there. It's like life slows down when I'm there. It is such a beautiful valley too. So this was Rebecca's first camping trip. We slept in the tent together...the first night. Rebecca is so wiggly!! And she woke up 18..22...38 times, I don't know, I lost count. We slept inside the next few nights, and everyone was much happier!!
What a great place to camp, huh? Nice soft grass.

Here we are, all the Wistisens in our matching shirts ready for the big parade on the 24th of July. This day is really big in Bancroft, a lot of people are there, and you can not say that on any other day of the year! The parade is fun, they go down the street and then turn right around and come back so you can see the other side. And every one of my nieces and nephews got an entire bag full of candy. They throw an amazingly large amount of candy out.

Here we are at the Lava Hot Springs Pool! I haven't been here since I was about 12 or so, but I used to love coming here as a child. They've got new water slides, very fun! Rebecca wasn't too sure about the water. She slept on Grandma's lap most of the time.

This was pretty constant at the reunion...Rebecca's cousins LOVE her!! I'm glad we all live so close and are able to get together once a year. The cousins are all so cute together, and it's fun to relax and talk with all my in-laws. I am so blessed to have married into such a great family. We have fun together many times a year and I love and admire Seth's family so much and hope to have a strong and close family like them of my own.

The Ol' Fishin' Hole! Grandma gave out some pretty fun prizes every night at the fish pond.

At the races on the 24th. Rebecca raced all the one year olds. She didn't win, but she finished!! Daddy was so proud :)

This is the Wistisen Homestead, where Seth's ancestors came and settled in Bancroft from Denmark. Pretty cool!!

We went to Chesterfield to look at family history and take a tour. I love to look at old stuff and learn about our great heritage.

By the end of the reunion, this is how Rebecca felt. 10 cousins playing with her all day every day. Good thing she is such a happy, good-natured baby. She took it all really well, but sometimes, you could just tell she wanted some space!! It was a really fun reunion, THANK YOU Mom & Dad Wistisen for all you did, and the great memories!

Some other things we did this summer...

Sleepover with Rebecca's cousins
They couldn't understand why she wouldn't turn around, sit still, and watch Cinderella with them!

We went to the Snake River Roaring Youth Jam, which is a community art day by the river. I go every year, and man-it is sure more fun with a kid! And it will be better next year, because Rebecca will want to do the art projects!!

Rebecca is learning to walk...she does really well, runs even, as long as she's holding my hands. Without support, she's not too daring yet.

Rebecca and I went to Utah to visit Grandma and Grandpa Kulicke for a week. It was so nice and relaxing, and my dad had the whole week off too! It was fun to be there. It's so cute to see my parents with Rebecca, she is their only grandchild and they light up around her.

Rebecca had a great time in the back yard learning to climb up stairs.

Rebecca loves corn, but she'd never had it on the cob until this day at my parents' house. She was giving us the cheesiest smiles, she had us all laughing so hard, and I got some great "corn pictures" as I call them now. So cute!

Grandpa giving Rebecca a piano lesson!! Rebecca loves music, she dances to it all the time, whether it's in church, on the radio, me playing the piano for her, or singing to her. She is a good little dancer!!

Rebecca in the rocking chair that belonged to my great grandma Peck. And wearing her sweet birthday dress that I love! Pretty in Pink.

Rebecca's first trip to the ZOO here in Idaho Falls. She was so cute, she'd point and wave to the animals and tell them, "hi." She especially loved the chikens, she thought they were saying "booga booga" and she was so excited and joined right into the booga fest!! It cracked me up.

Here we are with our friends Ryan and Leslie and their baby Rylie. (Ryan is Seth's cousin too.)

And last but not least, our garden was a huge SUCCESS this year! Here is the flower Seth brought in to me last week. Very nice, and grown by us! We have lots of lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, corn, carrots, potatoes, pumpkins and sunflowers!
I love eating from my own yard! Someday I will learn how to can, and hopefully someday we'll have our own little "farm" ---an acre or two that we can grow lots of stuff on and then eat it all year. Yummy!! I love harvest time! I will do another post soon about harvest...Rebecca got to ride on her first tractor!! It's fun to have farmers in the family. We are trying to be farmers in our city way too. It's been fun this year.