HE'S HERE! LIAM CHRISTOPHER

Big brother Collin Wayne with Liam Christopher

Born August 5 - 8lb 11oz - 22 in

Welcome to the family Liam!

Katie did an AWESOME job. We are so proud of her! She had him in a birthing center and had no meds - did it all naturally. Terry was the best hubby ever, helping her any way he could. She didn't have us in with her which is her choice and we were fine with it. Honestly I'm not sure how I would have done if she had wanted me there.....I got very little sleep so I would have probably bawled or passed out or something!

Collin was so darned cute. He got worried when he heard mommy cry out so I explained that having a baby was hard work. Then when we heard Liam cry, Collin got so excited and anxious.

He kept going into the hall way to see if they were going to let him in yet! It was so darned cute! They got to the birthing center at 2:30 AM and Collin didn't get much sleep (neither did Terry or I! Katie got about 3 hours) after that. But he did really really well during the whole thing! I took him home about 2:30 after spending time with Katie & Terry & Liam, of course, got him lunch and put him down for a good nap. Then I took him back so he could get to hold Liam and get his picture taken. He thinks he's going to like being a

BIG BROTHER !

Camping July 09

We went camping last weekend on Mt Lemmon. Camping during monsoon makes life interesting! Mt Lemmon is at 8000 feet. So when it rains, it does other interesting things! Kim, Katie, Collin and I went up Thursday night. We set tents up in the drizzel then Kim cooked dinner. During dinner, there was a loud clap of thunder and it started raining hard then the hail started! Collin said he didn't remember ever seeing it rain icecubes before! It was really exciting and fun to watch! From a nice warm shelter, that is!

This is one of those popup shades and we bought the side curtains for it to block wind and sun. But with all four sides up and a nice lantern on the picnic table, you can stay dry and reasonably warm during a hail storm! Wow were WE ever thankful! The rain and hail promptly put out our fire!

This is Collin's tent after the storm. Little did we know, until bedtime, that his little rain cover is mostly for looks! Everything in his tent was wet. Thankfully, Aunt Kim let him use her extra bag (since the 'menfolk' weren't there yet) and he slept in a big tent with his mom for the night. Daddy brought up another tent when he came Friday night. It had warmed up enough during the day to dry is bag and all his clothes and books.

The next day, Kim and Collin brought this downed tree up a big hill so we would have firewood! It was quite away from camp and all up hill but they stuck with it! Collin was the only man in camp, so he took his job seriously!

Here he is getting a lesson on sawing wood from Grammy.

We had this really colorful bright green beetle come to visit us one evening. His tummy was bright gold! He was really cool, but not too impressed with the photo shoot!

We spent the whole weekend doing nothing but enjoying each other's company. We were really glad when Dellas, Terry and Jason got there late Friday night. Heidi and Shawn and family were on their way to Chicago. We really missed them. But we had a good time even with all the interesting weather and bugs. And chipmunks and grey squirrels stealing dog food! Reading, playing with a lonely grandson, playing games and just being family. That's what it's all about!

REALLY BIG WINDS

Monsoons not only pack a wallop with rain, they sometimes bring heavy winds. They don't last long, but they can really cause trouble. This is an ocotillo (ok-oh-teeo) that WAS growing in our neighbor's yard. They are on vacation. Won't THEY be surprised! It is about 20+ feet high - or was. It sure had a shallow root system.

Another casualty of the wind storm. This is around the corner from our house and was one of two really big trees that blew over. They sure don't have much root system either. I was really surprised. People plant trees right next to side walks and they don't disturb the sidewalks. I assumed it was because the roots went really deep....but I guess not. Thankfully no one was hurt and there was no property damage. Except for the trees, of course. We lost power for a bit because the wind also whipped around some power poles (6 in our area). The poles are still leaning some but the power came back on fairly quickly.

We were at Heidi & Shawn's place helping them get things ready for their big move to Chicago. It rained there, and they had a bit of wind but nothing like what we had around our place! So we missed all the excitement. The lightening was spectacular.

YOU KNOW IT'S HOT WHEN........

OK, so I got the candles 4 for a $1 so they are a bit soft, but still! Seriously?

Our house was NOT this hot but the candles sure thought so!

Too funny to not share!

A weekend to make memories!

We took Kira and Evan to the Zoo. We had a lot of fun, even though we had a light rain all the time we were there! We had to go to Grammy's office for a picnic because of the rain but we had fun anyway! This is a really big tortoise and since I wouldn't let them RIDE him, they decided a picture would be ok.




What's more fun than sitting on a baby elephant? Apparently, according to Evan, looking for the sign that will tell us if he's extinct or safe! We had to find the signs for every animal there and he would worry if the sign said the animal was almost extinct! He'd get really excited if they were safe! He's such a funny kid! I'm not sure if he got a good look at some of the animals because he was so busy looking for the sign!

This isn't a wild animal OR endangered! But I think it was one of the bigger hits that day! Since it was raining, the snails were out all over the place! I let the kids pick this guy up and hold him. Evan was having nothing to do with that but Kira was ready! I explained about the snail's foot and Kira touched it and thought it was funny.

Evan put HIS hands behind his back and told us to put him back! So we did.

On Saturday morning, before swimming, the kids had to find things to entertain themselves since - *gasp* - we don't have Nintendo, Wii or ANYTHING at our house!

Kira wanted to make a house of cards. she stuck with it until she got it!

Evan built this 'Rainbow Road Game' to race his hotwheels on. We each were assigned a car (but he drove them because he was the only one who knew the rules!). There were various 'levels' and we each had 'lives' so if we crashed and blew up we were ok as long as we still had lives! He ended up winning! Is anyone surprised?

All in all, a wonderful weekend! We will miss the kids when they move to Chicago but we have memories to treasure until they come back! And Heidi has promised to get her blog going again so we can share in their lives even while they are so far away.

Well, we are finding that gardening in Arizona is a bit different than in Idaho! But we are also learning that we can grow in smaller spaces. there are 3 tomato plants in each whiskey barrell (no, we didn't drink the whiskey first!). We only put two cucumber plants in the orangeish pot and one zuchini in the grey one. Next year I think we'll plant two zuchini! I know, I'm crazy! But none of our girls grow veggies so.....

We put the shade over them because the sun is so direct and was really drying them out. They have really flourished noticably since we covered them last weekend! At least the tomatoes have. The lovely depression in front is courtesy of Kira and Collin. They built a road and needed dirt to make it higher than the ground..... Should have taken a shot of the lovely road too!

I love how the cucumber is climbing the fence! Except for the parts that are poking out through the fence and into the desert! There are a lot of little cukes on there. Hopefully they won't break the vines.

I love how pretty zuchini blossoms are. If you look closely you can see two more zuchini almost ready to be picked. These are 'AZ zuchinis' - we want them to be 'ID zuchinis' so we are letting them grow bigger - for slicing. We did pick two last night and had stir fried zuchini and carrots and onions! So yummy! NEXT year, we are doing a 'square foot' garden and so we will grow carrots, onions, and radishes too! That will be fun! As you can see, we have rocky ground so everything will be above ground....

This is one of many tomatoes - but it was closest to the front so easiest to get a shot of. He's not very big yet! But I imagine he will taste fantastic! Unless, of course, the bunnies get him first!

Stupid bunnies......

So, we had a much better week this last week. Three of our family graduated. Katie (our youngest) from the University of Arizona, Evan and Collin from preschool! Lots of fun!

So, Katie is a graduate! She graduated from the U of A with a Bachelor's in Anthropology. She now get's to dig in the dirt officially and she seems to really enjoy it. She must, cuz she did this while raising Collin, being a business owner, a wife, a sister, daughter, and granddaughter! Plus she's pregnant with son #2! She wore lots and lots of hats and we are very proud of her! (The hat was actually Terry's from when he graduated....Katie didn't 'walk' so she doesn't have one of her own.)

So, Collin's preschool had a program for his 'graduation'. He, as of this Tuesday, will be in kindergarden! He was a shark in the play. They got to color their own guitars! And he got to beat on a really big drum, but we didn't get a very good shot of that. Sorry Collin. We love you!

This is Evan. HIS preschool did a graduation ceremony. Caps, gowns, tassels, the whole bit. He even got a 'diploma'! He was so funny! He took off as soon as we got to the school and when Heidi told him he had to come stay with her until they told her what to do, he said "Mom. I'm graduating today, I have to go see my friends!" Seriously! He is so funny! Afterwards, we went for icecream. Then, come the next Monday when Heidi told him he had to get up for school he said no he didn't cuz he already graduated! Aren't 5 year olds grand?

Look out kindergarden. Here he comes!

After Collin's play, we took him back to his classroom. He gave us all hugs and kisses goodbye. When it was Poppa's turn, Collin grabbed this little step and got up so Poppa didn't have to bend down to kiss him since his shoulder is broken. So sweet!