my lil Gardener

Ella, Sandy and I went out to Bradford Brinton on Friday morning to check out the progress of the garden. Meg, my lil gardener really enjoys here time with her fellow Garden Gnomes!

And here's a shot of our garden at home - a bit smaller than the one at B.B.!!! It is coming along nicely. We have harvested some lettuce and spinach and just saw the first zucchini flower today!!! Very exciting!

Jack is 7 months old... yikes...almost 8!!!

Go Huskers!!!

Jack is soooo close to crawling!!! He loves to be on his tummy and then to get up on his toes and then onto all fours... he's doing the rocking thing... and giggling... Ugh. He is sooo much fun!

Camping and Tensleep Nature Conservancy

We camped above Buffalo in the Big Horns -- this is the site we settled on after trying to 4-wheel the camper up and down a pretty steep hill and rough road... At times I'm glad we got the camper with the higher clearance - and at other times, I wish we'd just gotten the plain ol' camper - then maybe Dave wouldn't even try some of the roads he tries... He says the problem that we ran into on this trip was that the pickup doesn't have "slip differential" - which was the one thing he didn't get when we bought it back in 2000... who knew?!!?? Not me, that's for sure. I'm just thankful that we got the stinkin' camper back up the hill without getting stuck...

The girls and I hiked down into the valley and played in the creek - until the mosquitoes got so bad that I thought they might carry us away...

Jack has a bath in the sink (his first in the camper) and then was tucked neatly into his cozy, comfy bed --- a down mummy bag, folded in half, and placed into the pack-n-play...

How many hot dogs can Dad cook at once??

We drove over near Tensleep to hike at the Tensleep Nature Conservancy -- a well-hidden treasure that we will visit again!!!

The girls did great -- the hike was probably 2 or 3 miles, in and out, and they were awesome!!! We found many mushrooms to "pop" and watch the spores go "poof." Jack slept off and on in the back pack.

Beautiful views!!!

The shiny spot in the middle of these leaves is water --- it was very dry on the western slope and I found these perfect, shiny, and beautiful preserved droplets of water fascinating!

Jack napping...

Granpa Reggie and Jean visit Sheridan

We had a good visit with Papa Dan, Sweetie, Granpa Reggie, Jean, Devin, Belle and Buckley. We visited Meg at her gardening group on Friday at the Bradford Brinton, watched Ella's t-ball game, attended a wonderful performance of Beauty and the Beast at our little local theater in Sheridan, watched an awesome thunderstorm roll through town, broke up a couple of doggie-cousin scuffles, beat Devin at Blokus (well Dave did...) and enjoyed a YUMMY brunch at the Powderhorn to celebrate Father's Day.

Thanks to Papa for hauling everyone up and to everyone for making the trip.

We ladies attended the local production of Beauty and the Beast

Foot Race

Looks like we were all wrong and Ella is the fastest "Barber".... :)

Garden Gnomes at Bradford Brinton

Meg is involved in a group called "Garden Gnomes" and once a week, they are in charge of the beautiful, huge garden out at Bradford Brinton. Sometimes, Ella, Jack and I take a drive out to see what's new in the garden. Each time, I am completely overwhelmed by the creativity of God. Would you look at those mountains??? And Spring in Sheridan is just gorgeous - it's so green and lush! Unfortunately, these pictures don't do it justice...

Can you see the tiny chipmunk in the picture above??

They have planted pumpkins, squash, sunflowers, morning glories, watermelon, radishes, and I don't even know what else! I know that there is also corn, raspberries, goose berries, and strawberries growing in the garden.

This video makes me think of the song from "Rack, Shack, and Bennie" - ya know ... the Veggie Tales movie... Sing with me... "The bunny, the bunny - oh I love the bunny..."

Jack in the Bath

Jack loves the water!!! He is very relaxed and just loves to kick and splash -- he is so much fun!!

Dancing to VBS songs

The girls got a cd of their VBS music and we listen to it ALL THE TIME!!!!!! Seriously - in the car, while cleaning at home, while napping, while playing, while going to bed... they know all of the words and have made up little dances for most of the songs! Here's just a little taste!

Summer Swim Lessons at the YMCA

Lil Jack is VERY comfortable in the water!!!

Ella is getting very good at her back float! She and her buddy Alex both love to jump from the "big box" and swim back to the side all by themselves!

And Meg also enjoys jumping in...

and she isn't afraid of the 10 foot end of the pool either!!! You can't really tell, but here she is using the pole to go all the way to the bottom of the deep end!