Even though school has started and the days are starting to get shorter and shorter, we are still trying to eek out the last little bits of summer. Last weekend, we went camping in beautiful Salida, Colorado. Salida has been on my list of places to visit for years and years. It is a cute little town with gobs and gobs of opportunities for outdoor fun. There is an amazing river walk area where you can see people rafting and kayaking, fishing and just playing in the water. Along the river there is an area with a bouldering wall and we loved playing on the wall. The town is filled with little stores filled with antique and artsy treasures. I also think that there must be some law that every resident must own a cruiser bicycle and there must be at least one cruiser displayed in every shop in town.

Welcome to my favorite part of my kitchen. Andy and I tore down the cabinets on this side of the kitchen and added these shelves for an anniversary present to ourselves. This is something I had been wanting to do for a long, long time. We are so thrilled with our shelves and our new lights. It just makes it oh so easy to get dished out and put things away. It makes our kitchen feel so much brighter and bigger and it makes me so happy just looking at them.

My biggest girl went off to kindergarten last week. She woke up excited and so ready to go. She hardly touched her breakfast because she was a little nervous so we made a special first day of school trip to Starbucks for a vanilla steamer and a vanilla latte to calm both of our nerves...Starbucks works wonders. We found her teacher in front of the school and she lined up to walk inside with all the other kindergarteners. You would think that with twenty-some five years olds and their parents and siblings it would be loud with talking, but everyone was so quiet, that I'm nervous and trying to hold it together kind of quiet. Her teacher is as sweet as they get and was able to say the words that parents and kids need to hear on the very first day of school.

Before we left for school, Blake asked me to draw a little heart on her hand so she could be reminded of how much she is loved while she was at school...I drew a heart on my hand too just because I will miss my first baby so much while she is gone at school learning and growing.

We got away for the weekend and headed up to the mountains for some camping. We went hiking, picked a few wild raspberries, played in creeks and rivers, and went fishing. Blake caught her first fish and I discovered that I really like fly fishing and I was reminded just how much I love spending time in the mountains.

Here are some pictures from our mountain adventure: