Sometimes...

all a girl needs is pretty hair and pretty shoes.

I'm on a mission

to discover my own backyard with my family. In about one hour's drive we were here.

This is the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park. Below Morgan is standing in a hollowed out tree.

Daniel took this picture while standing in the tree looking up through a hole.

We were able to walk through to the other side where you could see how massive the roots were.

Morgan and Daniel hit the ground running on the first trail we hiked.

Morgan continued to run. You can barely see a tinge of pink far down the trail. That's her.

She enjoyed picking up leaves, sticks, and dirt.

She thought this log was really neat. She stopped to say, "wow".

More massive roots from another fallen tree.

Loved the below view. Almost looked like something from a movie.

It felt like you were in a cave. Very cool experience!

Did I mention there were some really big trees?

That's me standing up on the rock. I did a little off-roading.

While I was on my mini-hike, Morgan rubbed dirt all over herself and loved it!

They're looking at the world's second largest tree. The picture just doesn't do it justice.

Next we drove to the Sierra National Forrest on our journey to see the world's largest tree. We stopped to have the picnic lunch I packed for us.

Morgan enjoyed looking at the trees towering over us. There was a Blue Jay scoping out our food.

The picnic table was right next to a creek. We just happened upon this spot and it was perfect!

Morgan loved the babbling brook!

And so did I.

She played here for a long time before I pulled her into some shade.

Every time Morgan sees flowers, she has to stop to smell and play with them. So cute!

After lunch we started our second trail that led us to the world's largest tree. Yes, I said LARGEST TREE IN THE WORLD! That's us at the base of it.

Now can you tell it's us?

Maybe this video will do it more justice.

The trail that led us to this massive tree was in a place called The Giant Forrest. Daniel summed it up when he said it felt like we were in a Pixar movie. He said it looked like scenes from the movie Avitar.

Thought this sign was pretty funny.

On the drive home, we stopped at some vistas.

I had fun taking pictures from inside our car.

This is what it looks like as you start to come out of the foothills into the valley.

And then you're back in the valley.

So glad we took this little adventure!

A Beautiful Saturday Afternoon...

in Morgan's room.

Morgan Fun Fact

Morgan calls all women "mommies" and all men "daddies". For some reason, every time we go out in public she likes to point to EVERY SINGLE MAN who walks by and yell "daddy". I'm always mortified because you can tell how uncomfortable the men are and you just know that everyone is wondering why my daughter thinks every man in the store is her daddy. What they don't understand is that she knows they're not HER daddy but she just thinks that every man is A daddy. I do think it's neat that she understands the difference between men and women though. I'll just be happy when this stage passes.

Name That Tune

Anyone know what song this is?

Tonight, while dad watched the Cubs game, Morgan sang this song. She sang for a good half hour. It was cute because she climbed into her dad's lap and just sat there and sang while he watched the game.

Daniel took the below video earlier this month. It's a cute one.

Ice in Summer

This weekend we took Morgan to watch her Cousin Chase and Uncle Frank play ice hockey. She and Aunt Dusty cheered from the sidelines. Morgan continuously clapped and shouted, "Yeah"!

Our friends, Kris, and his son, Zach, played too.

I see you Mom!

Morgan investigated the hockey stick herself while Uncle Frank entertained her.

Kris' wife, Joyce, showed Morgan the ice.

We all enjoyed Outback Steakhouse for dinner afterwards and then ended up at our house. It was last minute plans that turned out great!