When she was born...

Morgan Shea Stenseth, July 31, 2001

Morgan is turning 8

My little girl is turning 8 this Friday! I can't believe that Morgan Shea, my "chickadee", "baby blue", "sister bear" is growing up so fast. When she was born, all 9 pounds 6 ounces of her... she was calm, happy, and curious. What a little sweet pea!

Now, Morgan is very into anything American Girl, anything Justice, paper (reams of it), art, and being outside. She can also make a mess and change her clothes more times in one day than I can count. She loves to snuggle, loves babies and little kids, loves the color blue, loves her big brother, and makes friends quickly.

In celebration of her birthday, we are having a birthday party with 8 of her friends tomorrow night. She has had her best friend, Mara, in town all week from Spokane... that also makes her birthday week extra special.

Mommy and Daddy love you sweet girl!

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem

I was lucky enough to go to the Kenny Chesney concert on Thursday with my neighbors, Marcia & David, and 2 other girls. We started off with some festive cocktails and appetizers at the Brown's house, then off to the concert in the 100+ temperatures. The concert was held at Rio Tinto Stadium which is an outdoor venue. I've never seen so many people pay nearly $5 for a tiny bottle of water! I chose the $9 beer instead...seemed appropriate for the event!

We saw Miranda Lambert, but I don't really know her songs that well. Sugarland canceled for the night, so that was a bit of a bummer, but Kenny put on an amazing show! I would see it again in a heartbeat! I loved every song, but especially, "Anything But Mine" and "Me and You". What a fun night out with fun friends and great music!

Missing the lake and the trees...

All of us in Greg & David's backyard.

The kids and Duncan at Loon Lake on our "hiking" adventure.

Fun at Lake Blaine

Morgan with "Froggy" in the boat

Sunset in the Swan Valley

We are back from our "little bit of heaven". I was a little slow blogging on this, because maybe if I didn't blog, the vacation wouldn't really be over??? The kids just reminded me that summer vacation is half over. I like to think that we still have half of summer left to play! I love having the kids home in the summer... no schedule, no shoes, just having fun in the sunshine.
Bigfork and Lake Blaine were, once again, amazing. We stayed at Greg & David's place near the Swan River and played at the Ous' cabin at Lake Blaine. Their cabin is a place I first remember going to when I was in 3rd grade. It still holds the same magic for me... and lucky enough, now for Cole & Morgan, too. I got to see my whole family, with the exception of my niece, Haily, who had to work over the weekend. As usual, we spent lots of time just laughing our heads off at whatever tickled our funny bones.
Rich came up the second week we were there and brought Bert & Abby-- their first trip to the cabin! While he was there, we got to float the Swan (nearly got frostbite on our toes the last 45 minutes), he taught Cole how to build a fire with flint, and how to drive the old Ford F100, complete with a 3 on the tree. Cole just steered and pressed the gas while Rich shifted and kept one foot on the brake! Morgan had a ball just wandering through the woods, using her imagination, and making more s'mores than you can imagine. At the lake, we enjoyed spending time with the cousins, fishing, playing on the waverunners, catching frogs, playing in the sand, and enjoying very fun company.
The 4th of July started off with the Bigfork parade... they do it right there, even throwing out sandwiches and popsicles! After the parade, we went to the lake and played until the fantastic fireworks show. I had a ball laughing with my brothers while we were piled on the paddle boat... except Dean, who refused to get on there with us. I can't imagine why?
Thank you to Greg & David and to the Ous family for sharing your magical places with us!!!