Cousins - June 23

My sister-in-law, Kim, is due with her first baby (a girl!) just one week after my due date. My family doesn't know what to do with all of the baby excitement going on right now!

Wyatt's Box House - June 20

I bought most of the items we needed for the baby online, so we quickly amassed a large collection of boxes. One day Wyatt decided to put them to good use and built a "box house" complete with a chimney!

Colter's New Skill - June 20

Colter has finally decided to start using the pedals on his tricycle! For the past nine months he would just use his feet to push himself around because that is how he could go "fast!" Finally one day he was outside with Danny and said "Dada, look!" as he started pedaling down the sidewalk.

Of course this new skill isn't without it's hazards. I guess it's not quite as easy to stop a fall when your feet are on the pedals! But, as you can see, he's still pretty happy about his newly acquired skill!

Colter and "Bear" - June 18

Colter and "Bear" have been inseparable for the past year. One day not long after we moved to Dimmitt, Colter was going through the stuffed animal basket when he discovered Bear who had been part of our stuffed animal collection since before Colter was born. Soon Bear was requested at both naptime and bedtime and Colter began carrying him around everywhere! He has traveled with us from Florida to California and always helped Colter feel better, whether it was an uncertain trip to the church nursery or feeling bad from a stomachache.

All was going well with their relationship until the boys returned from their backpacking trip to New Mexico. As Colter was climbing into bed their first night back he asked for Bear. Danny and I quickly discovered that Bear was missing and Danny decided Colter must have taken Bear out of his backpack when they got back to the truck and left him at the trailhead parking lot in New Mexico. We thought he might be OK without him, but quickly discovered that wasn't the case. We explained to Colter that Bear had so much fun on the backpacking trip that he decided to stay for a few more days. Then we found some "stand-in" bears to get us through the night and began to search the internet for another "Bear". Thankfully I found one rather quickly and in one week Bear (fresh and clean from a "shower") was "returned" to Colter through the mail.

Father's Day - June 17

Danny spent his Father's Day afternoon taking a nap with Colter and working in the yard with Wyatt. What could be better than that!

These two little boys are so blessed to have such a wonderful Daddy!

Big Boy Underwear - June 15

Much to my delight, Colter has decided that he likes wearing "big boy underwear" and basically potty trained himself this summer. Having a big brother to model (and a slightly more compliant personality!) made the process pretty easy. Now we'll just see if it lasts through the excitement of a new baby!

Ice Cream Cones - June 11

Ice cream cones - what better way to keep cool in the summer heat!

The Caterpillar - June 11

The boys were thrilled to discover an entire caterpillar colony in our backyard. Colter had to learn to be gentle and not step on or squish the caterpillars (hopefully a lesson he will remember when playing with his baby brother!). Both of them enjoyed letting the caterpillars crawl all over them and then put them safely back among some green leaves.

Backpacking in New Mexico - June 7-10

Danny and the boys met Grandpa (Danny's Dad) in New Mexico for a long weekend backpacking trip. It was their last chance to get away before baby's arrival and also gave me some time to get things done at home. For more pictures and stories from the trip check out Danny's blog at www.griffisfamilyoutdoors.blogspot.com

One Cute Kid - June 5

Just a cute picture of Wyatt that I had to share - look at that smile!

The Thunderstorm - June 2

We always get our share of big thunderstorms this time our year, but the one this evening was exceptionally big. We had big wind, big hail, big thunder and REALLY big rain!

We have a concrete ditch that runs in front of our house. You can see from the picture that it was full of water. We had heard stories about the ditch turning into a rushing creek, but we hadn't seen it until tonight. After the rain stopped some of the high school boys were out "rafting" the creek!

We also got lots of hail, but thankfully the pieces were small so our flower beds (and most of the cotton and corn crops around us!) survived.

Summer Fun - May 27

Our boys are thoroughly enjoying the warmer weather. Wyatt has become an expert tree climber (it's a great way to see the leaves up close!) and Colter loves to help Danny water the plants (it's a great excuse for getting wet!).

A Visit to the Greenhouse - May 25

The boys spent a couple of nights with Noni and Papa in Lubbock and took a field trip to one of Noni's favorite greenhouses. Wyatt loved looking at all of the plants and Colter enjoyed watching the fish in the pond.

Both boys agreed that the best part about the greenhouse was getting to pick out a plant to take home!

It's a Boy! - May 24

Here is a picture of "Baby" - the original name that Wyatt and Colter decided to call their little brother - from a 3D sono we had at my appointment last week. Wyatt has recently decided that we should name him "Juniper" because he is going to like trees! Hopefully he won't be too disappointed when we tell him the baby's name (which was decided upon many months ago, but will remain a secret until after he is born!).

Last Day of School - May 23

Wyatt's last day of school was "bike day". He had a great time riding his bike in the parking lot at church with all of his friends.Wyatt and Belle - his favorite friend at school.

Caprock Canyon - May 18-19

Danny took advantage of an afternoon off to take the boys on an overnight camping and biking trip at Caprock Canyon State Park just a little over an hour away. He has more about the trip and lots of pictures on his blog www.griffisfamilyoutdoors.blogspot.com

Band-aid - May 16

Colter wants a band-aid anytime he gets hurt, so when he fell off the swings at church and skinned his nose he thought it was the perfect opportunity for a "ban-day".

Fun in Colorado Springs - May 4-8

While we were on our anniversary trip, the boys had some wonderful adventures with Gigi and Grandpa in Colorado Springs.The visited the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo where they got to feed the giraffes and see a baby orangutan.
They went to the Air Force Academy to see the planes. Colter's favorites were the ones with the "sharp nose."


They climbed on rocks at Garden of the Gods.
And they went to the natural history museum in Denver.
They also had some fun adventures at Gigi and Grandpa's house playing with the train,
playing out in the snow (yes, those are plastic bags over their shoes - we weren't expecting snow!)

sleeping in bunk beds (Wyatt slept on the top, but Colter was very proud that he could climb up and down the ladder also!) and their favorite - playing on Gigi and Grandpa's stairs!

Tenth Anniversary Trip - May 4-8

Our tenth anniversary was May 24th, but we decided to celebrate a little early with an anniversary trip before it got too close to baby's arrival. We drove to Colorado Springs, left the boys with Danny's parents for a few days and then drove to the Four Corners area in Southwestern Colorado. It was a wonderful four days and we were amazed at how much we were able to pack into such a short period of time!

We woke up our first morning to several inches of snow on the ground and more falling. It was a spring snow, so it was really wet and most of it had melted by early afternoon, but it was a fun surprise for the beginning of May! Since it was snowing we spent most of the morning at the Anasazi Heritiage Center and then took a short hike to some local Indian ruins.

My noon the snow had stopped and the roads were clear enough for us to drive up to Mesa Verde National Park. Even though it was a Saturday afternoon, the weather kept most of the visitors away and the park was nearly empty. Danny got some great shots of the ruins in the snow - not something that you get to see very often!

More pictures from Mesa Verde...
The next day we drove to nearby Hovenweep National Monument and took a short hike (see photo above). It only took a couple of hours, so we decided to do something spontaeous (you can do that without kids!) and drove the two hours to Arches National Park in Utah. Neither of us had ever been there and we'd always wanted to see it. It was beautiful (see photo below) and someplace we will have to take the boys back to see.

We left the next morning to drive back to Colorado Springs. We stopped for a quick walk and to take some pictures at Great Sand Dunes National Park.

Our home for three days - Flagstone Meadows B&B (no Danny did not make me camp or backpack on this trip!). We highly recommend it if you are ever visiting that part of the country.