Gabes

Funny things kids say. During our lunch today Cayden was having a conversation and mentioned Gabes. I asked him who is Gabes? Ryan knew it was Gabriel his cousin (Rhonda's baby). Then Cayden turns to me and says, "It's a nicklename."

more Colorado

I still haven't shared photos from our 2nd week vacation to Colorado. We went camping with Ryan's family at North Michigan Reservoir. His sister Rhonda and her family made it in from Oregon. We all had such a wonderful time. Fishing, boat rides, hiking (Ryan and I made it the 7 miles in to the spot he grew up hunting.) playing games and lots of laughs. We donated quite a bit of blood to the local mosquitos!

Saw some moose on our way up there. A bull got up from his napping spot and came right up toward us, crossing the road. Then a bit further down the road we saw a mother and twins bedded down.

It was so great to be up in the Mountains again. Wish we were there now!

Knucklebars

Most people call them Granola bars, but Cayden has always said knucklebars. I came across this great recipe and have several people who wanted it. I decided to just do a link to the website I got it from. It's definitely worth giving it a try. We love it!

Colorado vacation!

Just got back from two wonderful weeks in "God's Country" a.k.a. Colorado. It was great to get out of the Missery....I'm mean the Missouri heat for a while. First off we visited my folks (Dee dee and Papa) who just recently moved to Cedaredge, it's close to Grand Junction. We had so much fun exploring a new area. And had to do everything in one week.

A drive up to Lands End on the Grand Mesa

Boat ride on the reservoir in Crawford

Of course a ride on Dee dee and Papa's horses

Hike in Delta

Crossing a cool bridge, it felt a bit like Indiana Jones

Shootn' BBs off the back porch

Bubble bath in Dee dee's new jet tub

We love you Dee dee and Papa!

We meet up with the cousins, Annette's kiddos, at my Aunt Susie & Uncle Sonny's 50th Anniversary celebration.

"Ohhh meow, meow" Joella was so cute and loved the kitty Coltin caught.

Had to get a picture of all the cousins together!

I'll get to our second week in another post. In the meantime check out Rhonda's blog, she did a great job of covering it for us.

peppers with daddy

It was a fun Father's day with our Daddy! A day of firsts, we picked our first veggies from our garden, two green peppers. They tasted great in our omelets. First movie at the theater for the kids. We went to a theater that plays older movies and saw "How to train a dragon." Cayden was a bit scared at first, he doesn't like loud noises! But once he realized that the only other option was to go home he started really liking it. Joella on the other hand was probably a bit young for the theater, can't really entertain in the dark! Oh well lesson learned!

We sure do love our Daddy!

mud pie anyone?

visitors

We had a few visitors in May, I'm just now getting around to posting some pictures. Nana and Popity came for about 10 days. The kids had lots of fun. And of course we did some house projects! Joella's room got rearranged and decorated. The front entry way got doors painted inside and outside. A water faucet, garbage disposal, and laundry pump all got put in. Thanks for all the help Nana and Popity!

Joella's Room

Cayden's room got new curtains back in January.

Yes, that is a real axe on my son's wall. Ryan even sharpened it before he hung it! Yikes! But he assures me that the brackets he built are very strong. The helmet is from Popity when he was a firefighter.

The lamp was Ryan's Grandfather Pop Pop made out of an old alarm box.

It's great to have 5 generations of firefighters in the family.