Just a few more favorite summer pictures.

Watching Tommy on his first Boardwalk ride was the best. Caroline looked pretty cute as well. When I saw these pictures of Rachel and Tommy, I couldn't resist - can't you just see the "devil in her eye!" She'd been messing with Katie all summer but still had enough left over to tease Tommy.

Cousin Cora's Wedding and the Santa Cruz Reunion

We had a great week of festivities! Plenty of great times with all of our cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. Santa Cruz always brings back so many memories...

Ashley's Locks of Love

Ashley's been growing her hair out for quite some time now. And this summer it was finally the time to make the cut. She got a great hair style and sent her 11" of beautiful brown hair to Locks of Love.

The Planned - Cancelled - Unplanned Mt Whitney Climb.

Last July we decided to make a Whitney climb with some good friends from Utah. We got the permits for August 2009. We started to plan and then needed to cancel because of our family reunion in Santa Cruz. It would have been a great hike with our Utah pals... Then at the last minute (three days before Santa Cruz) we made the quick trip down to Lone Pine so Ashley could make her trek up the mountain. Ashley was awesome! Not one complaint. Up and down in one day. For me - it's the last time I think I'll make that hike. :-)

Concerts in Rachel's "studio."

What would the summer have been without Rachel's awesome songwriting, beautiful voice, and cool new Martin... We are still singing along to RR-Double R on our ipods. :-)

Summer visits - the BEST EVER!

Of course the best part about this summer were the visits from Tommy and Caroline (we missed having Seth...) and Matty and Lindsay. The walks, the zoo, croquet, Ashley's awesome firepit where we cooked s'mores, and the impromptu jam session. I think I could sit for hours watching Tommy play and discover everything - and - listening to Matty and Rachel play the guitars and mandolin.

Summer Highlights: National Camp in Your Backyard Night

So, we thought we'd give you the highlights of our summer. We started out with the best night sleep ever. NCYBN was in June and proved to be way too much for Rachel, Katie and Ashley! Ashley could not stop yelling out to Katie about the bugs crawling on her blanket. Katie could not stop screaming each time. It took Rachel forever to stop climbing over everyone and finally settle down (as usual) but for me - it was the one night I slept totally alone - courtesy of a mummy bag. By 5am both Katie and Rachel had disappeared into the house and Ashley had slid off the tarp, and me? Well, I woke up to a beautiful sunrise.