Happy Birthday Grandpa!

July 14th, Tuesday
Though we celebrated a day early as we and the Barron's had to leave on tuesday.

Dad had a good laugh over this caramel popcorn with the brand name, "Poppycock."

Roger, Adam and Bruce went out for a day of hunting. A fun day on monday north of Roger and Dad's farm. Always plenty of gophers! Bruce was pretty happy to even get a badger.

So good to celebrate with everybody home!

Last visit in April, Debbie worked so much and Blake was in school still that we didn't get to see them as much as we would have liked. This time with summer vacation and well, Deb still worked a lot!...it was so nice to see her! She came over on all of her time off. Thanks Debbie for ignoring your tiredness and always ready to visit! So glad you are doing so well.

Day of Rest

Aunt Maralee and Grandma Jo too. We were all together like this two years ago. Mom had the picture out on display this week and it was neat to see the comparisons. Beautiful Rachael was shorter than Grandma Jo then. Now she is 13 years old and a young lady, playing the piano so well, enjoying books while on vacation and still having fun with everyone. Loved talking with you! So knowledgeable on so many subjects!

The parade

Lot's of fun!

Aunt Eva came to say hello.

Matthew ran and ran this week! He ran back and forth from us to the edge of the yard. He ran and ran after Blake and Randall around the house. It's not uncommon for someone to mention to us, "oh no, looks like he's getting a sunburn." But it's always from his running. His arms and face all flushed. And yet he does so well when he goes downtown with Grandma too. To go shopping or get the mail, just the two of them. He often gets compliments on his politeness and how well he stays right with her.

We were able to watch the fireworks and parade all from Dad and Mom's lawn. They were both really good. We had a great time with everyone and saw a lot of familiar faces.

Once Blake said, "Poppa know's every man in town." Here he is calling out to one of them.

Fireworks!

We were also up in Malta for our all-school reunion. Malta is celebrating its 100th anniversary and this was part of the celebration. They also postponed their 4th of July fireworks to coincide with the festivities.

On friday night, July 17th, we set off our fireworks at Roger's house. Adam brought up a box full from Gillette. Between him and Roger setting them off at a good pace, I believe it took them at least two hours for the whole display. The kids started off with the 'snap pops' at about 9 pm and we didn't start home until midnight. Then we sat outside of Mom and Dad's house the next night for Malta's fireworks. Very fun. But late nights! (Sorry Deb! Your picture with Blake and Rachael really blurred.)

Good ol' Wyoming has some extra good fireworks that we never could get in Malta. So Adam and Roger quick made this launch pad before starting. Thanks Roger for all of the earplugs!

Such Sweet Cousins

When Randall first walked in the door he immediately sat down with Kaitlyn and wanted her to smile at him. He was right at home from the beginning at Grandpa and Grandma's home. He wondered what he could do to make Kaitlyn smile and talked to me all about it. He made faces, jumped up and down and stayed down on his hands and knees with her for a very long time.

Blake came up to Kaitlyn the entire time we were visiting and really got to know her. He came up really close each time and she just loved it. She really liked feeling his face, especially his nose, I think! He really appreciated it when I trimmed up her nails a little extra. But it had never stopped him from letting her explore.

The boys were so sweet with her the whole week. Kaitlyn loved being with them all, and definitely Rachael too!

These pictures are very good examples of every day with all of them. (When the boys slowed down from all of their running and playing a little.)

Visit to Malta!

Our sister, Cindy, Bruce, Rachael, who is 13 and Randall, who is 7, all came up from Palmdale, California! We were so happy to be able to come up to Malta at the same time and have a family reunion. We had such a good time visiting with Roger, Mom and Dad, Debbie and Blake and Grandma Jo also. In this first picture, Matthew is on the far left, then our Aunt Polly has Randall on her lap, Kaitlyn and I, Rachael, Cindy and then Debbie's son, Blake, who is 7, is on the right side of the couch. What a wonderful week.

Grandma and Rachael - Grandma Jo in the picture on the far right with us all

July 9th, 2009 Thursday - the 14th Tuesday was our time in Malta.

Blake and Matthew here on the right

July 5th, 2009

Matthew's first sandcastle...in his sandbox.

What a great weekend we had! We're planning on a trip soon, so we kept it pretty low-keyed. Yet much was accomplished...thanks to Adam! He built Matthew a sandbox, mowed, weeded, picked a lot of strawberries, juiced some vegetables, made some ice cream, cleaned up the house, watched some movies, went swimming with Matthew a number of times, made some etoufee and shrimp jambolia....Wow Adam! If that is resting up and taking it easy, life sure is good!

A sandbox!

Happy 4th of July!

Last night Adam bought a lot of fireworks. Matthew was with him and simply in awe. Very cool packages. Can't wait to see what they all mean! Today Matthew got to celebrate the 4th with 'Snap Pops.' He was very good at throwing them on the ground and hearing the pop.

July 3rd, Friday

Daddy had the day off from work today! Happy 4th of July weekend!

So glad to have him come to gymnastics with us today. He could take some pictures and keep Kaitlyn company.

There is a long jumping pad the kids go on each week. Last week the cutest little girl in class couldn't quite get up onto it by herself. Her Mom was on the other end. Matthew was the closest to her. You could see him wondering what he should do. After a while, she stopped, looked up at him and raised her little hand to him. He easily reached down and pulled her up. The little gentleman. They happily bounced to the end of the mat and back, laughing and smiling all the way. She then promptly jumped back down when they got back to their starting point, looked back up at him again and lifted her hand to him. He happily helped her up again and off they went to play.

July 1, 2009 Wednesday

Looking forward to a great month! Today Adam and I went to the dentist, at the same time. We didn't really get it scheduled right, so Kaitlyn sat on my lap during my exam and cleaning. While Matthew happily went between both Daddy and Mommy, looking into our mouths and asking questions. They did really good, but we probably won't do that again.

Work has been going well for Adam. He is especially busy still with the six summer interns he is keeping on task. He received a compliment, the painting they've been doing looks really good! The new shop is getting a paint job along with the posts out in the parking lot and other miscellaneous things all around the site. They are also working in the coal plant, 'weed eating' and various odd jobs. They get fridays off, so Adam gets a little time to himself to do his job. He also has been overseeing the lube truck repairs. It literally broke in half, so they are getting that properly fixed for the long term and it's taking a little extra focus. Their second lube truck of three was down temporarily, too, for a while. So there was quite a group focus on all of that for a while. The other day they even saw a funnel cloud. This time last year there was quite a few. But nothing has ever come of them.

I've been doing really good. Kind of took June 'off' from the blog, sorry about that. But it was nice at the same time. And thank you Adam for doing them! Between the kids, the house and shopping - it's been really good. Matthew and Kaitlyn get along together so well. Kaitlyn loves watching Matthew and Matthew loves performing for her and showing her things. I have so much more energy now than I ever did when Matthew was this age. (And thoughts other than, "what am I supposed to do!?") So keeping up on the daily chores and errands are much more enjoyable.

June 30th, Tuesday

We've had some hot days and cold, rainy days this month! Never know quite what to wear when we first get up. But it sure is nice in the evening opening all the windows and having the fresh, cool breeze blowing through the house. What a beautiful long, spring. Everything is green and gorgeous. So pretty next to the red rock in the countryside.

Kaitlyn is easily sitting up now! She loves tipping her head forward and laughing. Then she'll look up, tip way forward again and laugh. Over and over again.

"Exue me's" Matthew will say when he needs to get by. And he still doesn't say his L's. "Yook at the bandaid on my 'egg. 'Ove you. The door, it's 'ocked! Turn on the 'ight?"

Daddy's fresh strawberries sure are delicious!

The only way to weed!

June 27th, Saturday

Today we went down to Wright, Wyoming to the mud racing. Adam knows some friends who are always working on their trucks and telling him quite a few details about it all. So it was fun to see them race. And they all won 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in the super stock truck race! When we went over to congratulate them, they said to let them know when we come again and Adam could ride with them in one of the heats. Matthew was all for that.

I wasn't thinking Kaitlyn and I would see much action. But we had her ear protection on too, and she practically slept through the whole thing. Those ear "muffs" sure work great. At the end of the day I had taken them off. One truck was just driving away and it really worried her. So I quickly put them on again and she was as happy as could be.

June 25, 2009

Today at the pediatrician's office we found out that Kaitlyn is 20 lbs. and 27 inches long. We were officially told that she is very big for her age! Matthew is 43 lbs. and 3 ft. 4 inches. So thankful for our happy, healthy kids.

Kaitlyn is getting better and better at sitting up. We keep pillows around her still, to catch her. She has a high pitched little squeal when happily being kissed on. And a little chuckle when she laughs. Lately she has been enjoying when Matthew jumps on the bed next to her and bounces her up and down. What great fun! She likes to suck on apple slices and always wants to have Matthew's spoon. Because what he has is always the best thing to get! She is so happy to get one just like him.

Matthew started going to gymnastics class this month. He loves it! Kaitlyn rides in her baby carrier, so we all get to participate together with him. It is an introduction class to familiarize the children with all of the equipment. They run, roll and jump on all of the different kinds of mats. There is also balance beams, bars to swing on and trampolines that keep them busy. Matthew especially loves the balls they have there. He felt right at home immediately.