Photos with Riley by Ashley Scott Photography

 My friend, Ashley Scott just moved to Portland, Maine and she's a photographer. Not like one of those people, "oh, I own a camera and take pictures of my kids and post them on instagram with a filter" photographers, but like a super talented, knows her stuff proffessional photographer.

She is by far the best photographer we've ever worked with and were so lucky to get a few pictures snapped by her talented hand.

She captured Riley and I and how we are. It's priceless to me. 

 Thank you so much, Ashley!
 http://ashleyscottphotography.com/

Hanging Out in June

 After making it to Washington, we settled in for a full four weeks of hanging out and catching up. After the first fun weekend, Riley went to Moscow, Idaho to do a rotation at the local hospital. Thanks for letting him stay, Dustin and Natalie! The kids and I had a great time exploring the town and hitting up the Ritzville Pool. A Lot! It's totally overwhelming to try to put all these photos in order, so sorry for the photo dump.
The kids first time at Riverfront Park in Spokane. It's such a pretty city!

 Vyla latched on to this dolphin pillowpet and was determined to take it home with her. Thank goodness she forgot about it by the time we left.

 Ledger turned 9 months while we were there. So grown up, with 8 teeth, a perfect bear crawl, and a lot of expressive babbling.

 Ritzville Water Park. A pretty awesome facility for such a small town.

 Camp fire smores on Papa's fire pit.

 Meeting new friends and reacquainting with old ones at the park!

 My kids swimming skills improved so much in just a short month! They still use puddle jumpers and life jackets for safety's sake, but were much more confident, went down the slides, swam independently and even went off the diving board.

 I got in to the terrible habit of letting L sleep in bed with me. Being in the same room all together breeds bad habits, I decided! But, waking up to this happy face makes it oh, so tempting!

 Aunt Dakota is the best! She accompanies us to parks and playdates and was my best friend the whole time. Love her!!

 Lots of sunshine days! We were so lucky to have cousins come from Moscow and Richland just to play with us and spend the night at Nanas.

 Riley was able to come home on the weekends, and we always were so grateful to have him back, and tried to pack in a lot of fun before he had to head back to Idaho. Of course, for a guy like Riley, that means a trip to the skate park.

One weekend, we headed up to Palouse Falls to hike around and take in the views. I've never been, and only recently discovered that this place existed. It was pretty cool, even though it was blisteringly hot. The kids loved seeing the groundhog/rock chuck animals scurrying around the cliffs.

 Nana has a nice collection of tea pots, so the kids got the idea to do a tea party (with luke warm cocoa, of course). Hinder set up the places, and we got fancy with scarves. Papa even joined.

 Crawling everywhere! Ledger started to crawl just a few days after we arrived. It was fun to see him adjust from a one legged scoot, to full on bear crawl.

 Dalyn graduated from high school while we were there. I'm so glad it worked out that we could celebrate with her. She was a scholarship all-star! Way to go Dalyn. She's a beauty inside and out. So lucky to have her as my sister.

 Cousin time. Thanks Drew and Lara for coming to visit so much and bringing your sweeties. Same to you, Dustin and Natalie! I love these kids!

 Our staples to burn energy were hitting up the three local playgrounds, and checking things out from the local library. The kids enjoyed a few dates to McDonalds with their Nana.

 We had such, such, such a GREAT time! I'm so blessed to have these supportive and wonderful people to call family. It's wonderful. After 4 weeks, you would like we'd be ready to move on, but we still shed tears and it was hard to say goodbye. Never enough time! Sometimes living far away from your mom is just hard. Especially when your mom is this wonderful lady.

 Missing them all so much already, but I'm so grateful for the time we had and the memories we made. Thanks again! We love you!!

Miller, South Dakota

 Miller, South Dakota is a tiny little speck on the map for most, but for us it was a serious highlight of our road trip! My sister, Dlaney, and her husband and new baby live there! It was so perfect visiting them and hanging out for 4-5 days. It was SO nice of them to open their home and allow us some much needed downtime. The situation was so perfect, since their house was an old hunting lodge with lots of extra bedrooms and bathrooms.
South Dakota is beautiful in a flat, flat, open way. I really loved it. One morning, I went for my run and TOTALLY misjudged the distance. It was much farther than I thought. It's hard to tell without any landmarks or hills. But gorgeous nonetheless.

 I had no seen Dlaney and Judd for about 18 months! We had serious catching up to do. And finally meeting Miss Kherington was awesome. These cousins are just a couple days apart and so cute together. Chubbies!! At the time we visited, they were both about 8 months, so there was plenty of face grabbing, scooting, and toy stealing going on.

 Riley was super stoked for some back-country entertainment...that means shooting guns. Judd has a nice collection, and R was eager to show off.

 Hinder's favorite part was honing his skills on the trampoline. He got me to take a few "flying" pictures for him.

 

 Our days were spent at the park, going on bike rides, barbeque, and exploring the quirky stores in Miller. And of course, lots of chatting and giggling with my sis. Sisters are the best!

Although, I am so grateful we were able to see them on our way through South Dakota, it's super sad we live so far apart! Can't wait to visit them again on our way back to Maine.