At the end of the parade, well, they say that, but it was in the middle of it, the Silverton fireman have a tradition of having a water fight with their fire hoses. We all scattered to avoid the drenching stream of water, but no worries, I still made Jason take a picture of the water in the background.
This afternoon my dad, Daniel and Daniel's friend Josh drove up to hang out with us up here. My dad is such a cute grandpa and absolutely adores his grandchildren. Clara always stares at him like with this really concerned look and will ocassionally reach out and touch his face. I think my dad's week of scruff was especially confusing to her. But at least she was looking at the camera! :)
After the parade, Jason and I went to go grab some lunch and my mom watched Clara. Well... if you look at this picture of her and my dad, you'll notice she has different clothes on. My mom was holding Clara and felt something warm on her legs and looked down and Clara had pooped ALL over my mom and the couch!! There was a tiny drop on her onesie but it seriously looked like my mom lost control. Luckily, Kathryn let us borrow her OxiMagic and it came out and my mom worked her own magic and got it out of the LIGHT beige couch. I am pretty sure this can be attributed to dad putting her most recent diaper on... he suffers from the syndrome that instills fear in you of getting a diaper too tight, so it gets put on too loose. Anyway, I went on a jeep ride with Kathryn and Ryan up to Clear Lake. Jason stayed home to watch Clara because my mom was watching the twins. I took about 30 pictures of this same mountain from the jeep, I suppose it was my favorite. I just loved seeing the really red rock with the green trees on such a large mountain. The jeep ride was fun and very dusty! We went up to Clear Lake and be warned, these pictures don't compare to the real thing... this earth is BEAUTIFUL and AMAZING.
Not real sure what I'm doing here, but hey, I can laugh at myself just like I laugh at others! :)
This was a huge waterfall... that yet again looks like some trickling water in the pictures.
TA-DAH! Here I am at the lake. The lake was HUGE, trust me. It was really chilly up there too, but just breath taking. I often wonder how people can question the existence of God. Stuff like this just doesn't happen. 
Me and the jeep. I trust Ryan's driving so I never once feared for my life. 
Not my child... I didn't even take this picture of Elsa, BUT, I love the angle it is taken from and the mountains in the background. This is when they were waiting for the fireworks to start and I don't even know who took it, but it's an awesome picture.
Jason and Clara watching the fireworks... I started out holding Clara and Jason kept staring at her and asked me if he could hold her during the fireworks. It was pretty cute. Clara loved the fireworks and was half asleep by the time they were done, but managed to keep her pretty little eyes partially opened until the end.
Here's Clara, me and a few fireworks. It has been a while since I have ever seen such a fabulous firework show. Last year we went to the show at Tempe Town Lake and I swore I would NEVER do that again. It was miserably hot, we had to walk really far (it didn't help that I was pregnant and sick) and all that was to stand on concrete. We had blankets on the grass, but too many people were standing up so if you stayed on the ground, you couldn't see. Anyway, I decided I will go somewhere cooler for fireworks or not watch them at all. This show is funded completely by donations and I think the only one that compares is the one I saw on a sail boat, in a harbor in San Diego when I was like 9. Everyone from Durango comes to see it. The show lasted at least 45 minutes and had some pretty cool fireworks. It was done on the side of a mountain so the echo down the canyons was incredible. Some of the "booms" were more fascinating than the fireworkds themselves! The last firework, though, was better than any I have ever seen. It was HUGE and shimmery and never seemed to go away. It had to have been in the sky for at least a minute and the shimmers made it seem like it was moving. It was VERY cool. 
Here's Clara, me and a few fireworks. It has been a while since I have ever seen such a fabulous firework show. Last year we went to the show at Tempe Town Lake and I swore I would NEVER do that again. It was miserably hot, we had to walk really far (it didn't help that I was pregnant and sick) and all that was to stand on concrete. We had blankets on the grass, but too many people were standing up so if you stayed on the ground, you couldn't see. Anyway, I decided I will go somewhere cooler for fireworks or not watch them at all. This show is funded completely by donations and I think the only one that compares is the one I saw on a sail boat, in a harbor in San Diego when I was like 9. Everyone from Durango comes to see it. The show lasted at least 45 minutes and had some pretty cool fireworks. It was done on the side of a mountain so the echo down the canyons was incredible. Some of the "booms" were more fascinating than the fireworkds themselves! The last firework, though, was better than any I have ever seen. It was HUGE and shimmery and never seemed to go away. It had to have been in the sky for at least a minute and the shimmers made it seem like it was moving. It was VERY cool. 
The babies in their RETRO pj's. :) You can't see in this picture, but Clara's have peace signs on the feet. 
Jason and I went to eat lunch and left Clara with my mom. As I was leaving my mom said, if I get desperate, I will just give her a sucker. I told her that was fine, as long as she took pictures. For those of you that know me, I am pretty particular about what my baby eats and have still not given her rice cereal... we were gone for 40 minutes for lunch and sure enough, Kathryn documented Clara's first sucker experience while I was out.
After lunch, we walked all around the town. The shops are fun and the funnel cake was fantastic. Ryan bought some for us on Monday and today we tried one with carmel. It was so delicious but I think the high fat and sugar content was too much for my body because I felt so sick afterwards... so that was our last one for the trip. MMMMMMM!
This is the County Courthouse. I think it's one of the prettiest buildings in the town. I am sure it isn't that neat to anyone who has lived on the East Coast, but just let me think it's cool.
Here's another house, just to show that all of the houses are so colorful. 
Grandma reading to the grandkids, no wonder they are so smart!
One of Clara's new loves is for spoons, plastic or metal. But as you can see, a happy face can quickly turn grumpy if that spoon goes anywhere.
While Jason and I were out and about, we bought some bubbles for the twins. I'd like to think I bought them for Clara too, but she just isn't real interest in those quite yet. The twins, however, loved them. Elsa loved them so much she took a step towards me as I was blowing bubbles towards her. 
For dinner, Ryan and Jason grilled up the fish they caught (plus James' and the neighbors gave them some as well). They were all Rainbow Trout and Jason taught me the pink ones are farm raised and the white are spawned in the lake. Fresh fish is so good.
After dinner, we went back to the lake for more fishing... except for me... it was more picture-taking. :)
Lily was the first to catch a fish this time and Jason followed her with one. Lily cast her line and reeled it in all by herself! When all was said and done, her pole was broken, but we don't know if it was like that before catching the fish.
HA! Look at Lucy's expression, it's hilarious.
Okay, I don't know what this is called, but I know there is a term for it when you make a 'V' with your middle and pointer fingers and swipe them across your face with the back of your hands up against your face. 
Lily panning for gold after the tour.
Kathryn and her girls being a single mom... :)
After the mine, Ryan, Kathryn, Jason and I went for a little adventure up the mountain our house faced in Ryan's Pathfinder. This is looking at part of Silverton, pictures can't really portray the beauty.
If you look closely, Jason is "pinching" our rental house in his fingers. It's a little off because I was closing one eye when I was telling him which way to move.
We are THOUSANDS of feet high and instead of enjoying the beauty of the earth, the boys are throwing rocks into a stream... I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
Look how high we got!
When we got home, my mom was a little stressed out. The twins woke up from their nap from a slamming door and when Lucy cried, it made Clara cry. My mom said she'd NEVER watch all three of them again... until the next day. :)
Have I mentioned I'm obsessed with taking pictures of my SWEET baby that I can't get enough of? I'm not sure what I'm going to do when she grows up... she's already 6 months old.
When Clara starts getting tired, she leans to the side. At the lake, I happened to have a camera when she was doing it and took a cute little picture with the lake in the background.
Here is a picture of the train from the balcony. It was literally across the street from us. 
Here's us before we went on a walk... but don't let the fact that Jason is in the picture deceive you into thinking he went with us. He "doesn't like walking" so he just stayed at the house by himself. What a bum! He said he'd go another time but we never ended up going on a "nature" walk. Oh well, life goes on. 
Grandma gave Clara a dandelion, which makes for a cute picture... oh but wait, remember Clara puts everything in her mouth that she gets in her hand. Most things I don't mind, but weeds, maybe not, which is why I am having to hold her arm down.
I suppose I would enjoy a little boy, but until then, I'm going to continue to obsess over CLARA and continue to take a bazillion pictures of her. Here are a few of us playing around and then her crazy hair one night after the shower. Her towel was on her head, I pulled it off and this is what I found!!
