Gabe has been hoping to dress all 3 of our children in camoflauge but only gets a turned up nose from me. The other night I took the older girls school shopping while Gabe took Tori to Sportsmans Warehouse with him. This is what she came home in that night. Poor Girl.






We had a yard sale this summer and the girls and their neighborhood friend Jordan decided to have a bake sale. Jordan's dad built this super cute "snack" stand for them. I think the final temperature that day was somewhere around 107. They ended up making more than $30.00. Not bad for a lemonade stand.

How 'bout them cowgirls? We were given tickets to the Snake River Stampede this summer and my little cowgirls got to enjoy their first ever rodeo...and they loved it. Take note of Kaiya's accessory. Apparantley she thought carrying a pig to a rodeo would be an appropriate thing to bring. LOL! I have to agree. : )

After driving 12 hours in one day to come and visit Gabe in Montana, he was really exhausted.





After he finally woke up, we went for a plunge in a pool near his hotel

Rainee's 3rd birthday party celebrated in Boise,

Her second celebrated in Montana,

And the first one that kicked off all of the others in Minnesotta. And yes, that is a cake made of Ice Cream Sandwiches...and it was delicious!

Ok, I never claimed to be a scrap booker, or a face booker, or a myspacer, or a blogger for that matter. Be satisfied that you have pictures. I feel a sense of accomplishment just having it done. Hopefully now that I have a computer that will cooperate with me again, I should be able to post things more frequently...though with school starting in a week, and Gabe continuously out of town, I won't make any promises.

Anyway, here are some pictures of our summer vacation that we took at the very beginning of the summer. We went to Minnesotta, Montana, North and South Dakota, and I think that's it. And here's the kicker...we drove. I realized many things on this trip. Here are a few.

1. Sam only speaks while screaming
2. Shauna is the most patient mother on the planet
3. If you needed to go to the bathroom really bad and a rest stop wasn't around for miles, it's good to have diapers in your car...not that we used them, I'm just saying.
4. My kids did much better during a 4-5 day road trip than I ever would have done at their age.
5. The United States doesn't seem quite so unattainable now that we've driven all of these places in such a short amount of time, and
6. We were truly missing out on a side of the Pickerings we don't get here in Idaho. That side was the side that entertained us, made our stay feel like we were at home, laughed with us, cried with us, and reminded us that the bond between sisters doesn't disintigrate over state lines. We (the Chapeks) are so thankful that we had this opportunity and will cherish the time that we spent there for a long time.

Here's just a glimpse of some of the fun we had and the places we saw.

Luckily Tori spent much of the time in the car sleeping.





Mt. Rushmore Up close and personal...and extraordinary.

Us At Mt. Rushmore

Tori knows where the goods are.

Tori found her own sort of fun in the sculpture garden.





The play center we went to was set up for toddlers and only had baby toys. Our big girls (and boy) used their little noggins and came up with this cool train on wheels. They had so much fun!

I love Andrew's face in this one. He is a character.

This one was my favorite shot of Rachey doing her own thing.

Rachel planted kisses on Tori every chance she got

Our family with the giant cherry on a spoon














I like to refer to the following as a good colon cleansing...I'd like to talk to the "artist" about this one.

Amy was kind enough to help me with my coat

I always wanted to be a model

My carousel beauties















I love this picture of Shauna and Sam because it sums up their experience of our trip.

Kaiya and Tori never realized they liked Dora so much until they met Dora's biggest fan...Rachel. We were soooo excited to meet Dora at the Mall of America.

Yes, the signs said not to climb on the statues, but really who can resist?

Minnesotta Trip

Amy took us to a zoo that was better than Boise's and free...not that we needed to see any more crazy monkeys...




I'm not sure Brittany knew what she was getting herself into when she agreed to go on this trip.

All of us at the Mall of America

Goodbye