My New Niece!!!!

Still behind in blogging, but this post can wait no longer. My oldest brother Matt and his wife Mesia have adopted a beautiful baby girl! Seneca Rae is now 5 weeks old and is about the cutest thing I've ever seen. They are so happy and I just can't wait to meet her. I stole these pictures from their website but some wouldn't copy over, so you'll have to check the others out for yourself...

The little rock star... I love this one!

Mesia and her DAUGHTER! Bringing her home for the first time.

This one's so sweet... Matt's eyes are just locked on his new little miracle.

I'm bummed that I haven't been able to meet her yet, but I'm blessed to have shared in a small part of the event. Matt was in Utah starting school while Mesia was in California waiting for news of Seneca's birth (and we were still in Utah). I was already awake with Adam when Matt was heading out the door for school early one morning. Then he gets a call on his cell... he hangs up and looks at me, "Guess who was born!!" So exciting. So he hops on the internet and finds the soonest flight he can get on. Quick packing and getting ready on both our parts, Adam and I rushed him to the airport so he could go be with Mesia and meet their new baby girl!

Shiver me timbers!

I'm still updating the blog w/more pictures, but then I just found out that today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Why didn't anyone tell me?! Arrr! I looked it up for myself, and it does appear to be legit. WHY, on the other hand, is an entirely different question.

Q: What do you call a pirate with 2 eyes and 2 legs?
A: Rookie!

Q: Why do pirates always bury their treasure 18" below ground?
A: Because booty is only shin deep!

...bad, I know.

Birthday morning

We had a nice little birthday morning together before flying out to Utah that afternoon. Adam opened up a couple of presents (as if he needs more toys) and we played/packed the rest of the morning. (Pix below)

More fun

The big 3-yr-old

I'm getting hounded again... I guess it's about time to try catching up on the blog. (My friend RaQuelle informed me that you can change the date on blog posts, so I can start posting things on the date that they actually happened! I can be lazy w/my posts and you'll have no way to prove it now...)

Well it's just crazy to think that our Adam is already 3! But I guess that's usually how it goes. Kids grow up without even asking permission. We had a fun night-before-the-birthday party with some friends. The weather cooperated well and Adam loved his spiderman cake, all the attention, and especially the participation when he asked to play "duck, duck, goose" before the party could officially end. Thanks, friends, for making it a fun night! I threw a bunch of pix in the slide show, below.

Happy Birthday, Adam!

My dentist is hotter than your dentist!

I had an appointment the other day with my dentist, and he was patient enough to let me take a few pix w/my camera phone...

He looks so professional!

Yoikes!
My view for 2 hours...
...and his view. I think I got the better end of the deal.

Ode to Summer

Please tell me it isn't really August already, and especially please don't tell me that our summmer days are already numbered! I love this place for so many reasons, but the pending doom of winter is definitely not one of them. I LOVE taking advantage of the days of spring, summer, and fall... even though they may only last about 3 months combined. So here's my ode to summer. May it stay as long as possible...




Adam and I just love being outside; whatever excuse we can find. This one in particular was in the fountains at an outdoor mall w/some friends.

Craigslist has been my close companion as we bought 2 bikes, a bike rack, and a bike trailer though there (all really cheap, trust me). I LOVE it! It's been a great way to get around and run close errands that way. Especially how gas is looking lately!

Monday night VOLLEYball! We started playing volleyball at a nearby park this summer, and it quickly became a weekly habit (after Family Home Evening, of course). It's been a lot of fun.

Oh, so many activities... so little room. Other fun things we look forward to are: Sunday night dessert nights in the cul-de-sac (usually followed by croquet and/or lasso golf), frequent visits to the zoo, cheap kids' movies w/free popcorn, parks with splash pads, tennis (though I'm still no better than I was on jr. high), festivals (Milwaukee os full of 'em!), BBQs, rummage sales, washing the car, rollercoasters, and more. Love these summer days!

Memory Tag

Well, this has definitely got to be a record for me. Over a dozen posts in one day! Guess summer's a bad time of year to get behind on pictures. So-- sorry if it's been annoying trying to keep things straight. However, this is my blog and sometimes you just have to deal w/the consequences of my procrastination. Moving along...

Here's a fun tag that's apparently going around (cue peer pressure). I like this tag because it's more voluntary, and a little self-centered. Even if you don't have a blog, or don't ever comment, or if this is an old entry, who doesn't love comments anyway?! And here's the scoop:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot--anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.

It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you, if you have one. If not, play anyway!

So there it is. Happy memory-searching, and hopefully it won't be another 6 weeks before I post again.

Our most recent entertainment

Adam came up to me the other day announcing that he needed a cape and a penny so he could be a magician. Luckily he settled for a dishtowel and a penny. He was set! Thanks to the show Caillou that he apparently watched that day, he's been a magician ever since. Check out the videos for the full effect. Watch out David Copperfield! Adam's on your tail...

Adam the Magician!!

The Magician, Pt 2

Branch Pioneer Picnic

Weekend Visit

We were SO excited to see our good friends Ryan, Lindsay, Kamrie, and Tyler when they came down to visit for the weekend. We had a lot of fun waterskiing w/Pres, and then BBQing with him and Turk and the Godfreys. What a fun day! And amazing food. I haven't been able to get that dilly bread (and bbq beer brats) out of my mind since.

Getting some important water-skiing tips from Pres. He doesn't call it "ski school" for nothing.

Guy: Totally confident on two skiis... until Pres made him try dropping one!
Lindsay and Tyler
Ryan and Kamrie
Adam, chillin'

July 4th BBQ

Happy 4th of July!

We went to our neighborhood's 4th of July festivities in the morning. Actually, we're about 8 houses shy of being in that neighborhood technically, but we like to claim it anyway. They had a bunch of little games for the kids to play w/some fun prizes. We even talked Adam into joining the "age 4 and under" race. The race consisted of the parent blowing up a ball, then handing it to the kid to race with to the other side. Adam (and Guy) won! Guy was pretty proud of himself because he blew the ball up faster than anyone else, according to him.

Adam and Guy, 2nd from the right.

Our "Beach"

Foxbrook Park is our new excuse for a beach. Just a couple of bucks to get your car in, and you can spend all day there playing in the sand, nice water (esp compared to some parts of Lake Michigan), playground, picnic benches, etc. We went with some neighbor friends a while back and had a ton of fun.

This is the life!

Still catching up

Just a few random pictures with their own stories. This one I'm sure no one else cares about, but it was just funny/cute to me that day. I was busy in the other room one morning, and apparently Adam couldn't wait for me to have lunch. He grabbed a hamburger bun off the counter, hot dog from the fridge, and cut it up on his own (plastic knife, no worries). Then he arranged all of the slices on the bun to make his hot dog sandwich! He finally came to me when he needed help finding the mustard. I am just still surprised when he does things like this... he's totally growing up. Adam LOVES his friends. And in this sense of the word, I mean his stuffed friends. I caught him the other day lining them all up in his bedroom, each with a diaper and folded wip next to them. He continued to wipe all the bums and give them each a clean diaper, as seen 2 pictures down. Man... if he can perfect these skills just a bit, I'll have a great diaper-changing sidekick when his sibling(s) comes along! What a sweet smile.

As I said, Adam loves his friends. He went to bed this night with 1 or 2 of them. We went in later to check on him, and I counted 9 or 10 all cuddled around him... including that massive dog that's twice as big as he is!

Family in the Midwest!

It's so much fun having some family in the Midwest here with us. Dave (my cousin) and Rochelle were kind enough to watch Adam while Guy and I attended the temple last month. Unfortunately, all of us managed to forget that it was closed for cleaning. Oh well... a good excuse to have more time for us to play together! Eric, another cousin, also happened to be down visiting for the weekend so it was a great time. We hung out, grabbed a bite to eat, and went to the park for a while. Thanks again, guys!

Organ Piper Pizza

Organ pizza? What?! Sounds so random, but this is actually a really fun place. Although, I think Adam enjoyed it more than me, and KATIE enjoyed it more than any of us! ;) It's kinda like a Chuck-e-Cheese's w/an organ theme. As in the instrument. See, there's this world-famous organist who is amazing and plays there all the time. They have this crazy souped-up organ that is hooked up to all sorts of lights and ducks and drums and other such stuff all around the restaurant. Yes, this organ even has a name... The Mighty Wurlitzer!! You really have to go there to understand, so come on over for a visit already! The one downside (and it certainly is worth mentioning) is that they don't serve dessert! Of any kind!! I just don't understand that concept. Although, Jeremy was kind enough to treat us all to quarter candy on the way out. I must admit, it did help my disappointment a little.

The Mighty Wurlitzer itself!
Echo, Kenny, and cute Nolan
Adam and Jack... they were running around the whole place together that night. It happened to be his 5th bday too.
Anna and Katie... both of whose husbands were too cool to join us that night.
Jeremy, Janalee, and bday boy Jack
Karisa, John, and new little Benson
Um, I think you know these guys...