Braids Layout

I just wanted to put up this new layout. It was fun. I hope you like it. I still can't believe she is old enough and has hair long enough for braids. Crazy...

Big Girl Hair

So, I have some pics of Addie to put up. She has finally got hair long enough to play with. Laura has been waiting months for this day to come. How stinkin' cute is this??

RIP Casey Craig

On Monday, July 21 I was fortunate enough to witness what is called an ash dive. An ash dive is what many skydivers ask to have done with their remains after they have died. As many of you know a friend of mine from high school died in a tragic airplane crash on October 7 last year.

I am very thankful that the families of "Our 10" invited the friends of these wonderful people to attend this event. It was a very sad yet beautiful experience I am so glad to have witnessed. I would like to share some pictures of this event because it is something I will always remember and keep in my heart. Please pray for the families of these people who have left this earth and will now forever be flying through the skies. I only knew Casey but there were 10 people in this crash who have left loved ones here who are missing them everyday. I hope that this experience was able to bring them a little bit of a sense of closure and some peace. God Bless all of them.

Remember Our 10

Ralph Abdo

Landon Atkin

Michelle Barker

Casey Craig

Cecil Elsner

Bryan Jones

Phil Kibler

Hollie Raspberry

Jeff Ross

Andy Smith

Here is the plane and 3 of the four divers that took the ashes up

These people were loved by so many people

The release of the ashes

The view from below

They became a cloud that everyone got to watch float through the air

This is the view from Kelly, Casey's brother after he landed

Casey is the smiling guy in the middle

Blue Skies Forever

Our deck is done!!

Finally, after not quite a month the deck has been finished. Derek had lots of help to get a great start on it but then was still left with the rest of it to finish. I had promised my friend Julie we would have a BBQ (our Julie-Q) in July so last night we had it planned. Derek's dad helped him a ton when he came out with my mother-in-law. They got all the decking done. All that was left was the edge and some steps. Derek started cutting it close but Friday night he put on the very last board. So Saturday he did clean up and we had a great BBQ with some of our friends. I am always up for feeding my friends so we fed everyone good. Brats were the staple but for a treat we threw in some ribs, shrimp and some tri-tip. Darlene (my MIL) got me a subscription to "Taste of Home" I think it is called and they had a BBQ recipe for bacon wrapped shrimp kabobs. They had some fresh sage and were really good. I also made some homemade banana ice cream with brownies. We had very little food left over. Derek was bummed to not have a little more leftover, but it was great. If you couldn't make it, you definately missed how. So, here's some pictures of our completed deck with my parents sitting on it. Roy and Darlene...you need to come back so that we can have a party in your honor for making atrip out here to help with getting it done. :) I hope you are all having a great summer. I'll try and get more pics of the kids up soon. I'm such a slacker. Ciao.

Police Layout

I made this layout of the kids at the Police concert. I thought it was kinda fun. Hope you enjoy it.

The Police

The Police decide to go on tour this year so we thought we should go to the gorge and see them. We had a blast. At the last minute Derek and I decided to try out a new campground right across from where we usually camp and it was awesome. The grass was green, they had food, hookups, a shuttle to the concert and it was just nicer. So I have a lot of pictures from our trip. I hope you enjoy them.

Ethan decided to capture his sister. He started with a couple of bungy cords and then moved on to some rope he found. It was really funny. I don't have pictures but before he found the rope he was dragging her on her belly by her feet. She thought it was great and was laughing away.

Oh No! He lost her!!

And she's getting away!!

Grandma and Wes swinging Ethan around at the campsite I could not believe how many times Ethan got this ball.

He even got it once and let Addie throw it.

Listening to Elvis Costello

Yay! Time for the Police!

Face Painting

So these pics are from a couple of different things. I have a couple of pictures of the kids watching TV. It is so hard to keep them still for more than a couple of minutes so I took a picture of them being totally focused on something. Kinda cute. Then I have some pictures of Ethan with his face painted for VBS. That is the flag pictures. Then Laura and the kids got so excited about face painting they did it again the next day, just for fun. Laura even let the kids paint her face. Also Addie has shown a little interest in potty training and I told Laura that I would give her a bonus if she can get the girl potty trained. So she made this little jar to keep candy in (chocolate chips are her favorite) for when she goes potty in her little chair. So we've been keeping her chair in the living room and sitting her on it everytime we change her diaper. No presents for us yet but I know it won't be long.