It's been a long time...

Wow, I just realized it's been almost 4 months since I last posted! For those of you who follow me on facebook, you know I am alive and well. But, those that don't are probably wondering what has happened to me! I just started working on a post that will cover our activities for the time that has passed. However, I will have to do some investigation work, because I just tried to upload a new family picture and google is telling me I have reached my picture limit and in order to add more I need to buy more picasa space... so we shall see!

Daddy's coming home!

Sorry about my lack of blogging lately! I have a good excuse though - we have been getting ready for daddy's return! His desert vacation should have been over on the 29th of July, but the Air Force threw in a couple more weeks for free :) I know Mr. J is back in the US and will be heading home in the next day or two! Praise God! We can't wait! I will be sure to take lots of pictures and will post them when things start getting back to normal. We are all so excited to have Mr. J come home.

Posting from Picasa

I miss this! I am test posting from Picasa to see how it works and came across this beautiful picture of the Duncan Gardens at Manito Park in Spokane.

Mt. Charleston again

We took Aunt C to Mt. Charleston today. Deanna and I like any excuse to go there! It was wonderful - 73 degrees, beautiful, quiet. We loved it! Here are some pictures!
Mr. T wearing his sisters glasses

Miss O
Miss MAunt Nanny with In-N-Out stickers all over her shirt

Aunt C (who has now beaten me twice in Carcassonne!)Our first attempt at a group shot.. bad shadows and Miss O is taking notes

Our second attempt at a group shot... this time, Miss O has the tears

A little better... except you will notice our van in the background. I didn't realize it was there.

The kids looking for the "monkey" in the tree

Miss O being Miss O

Mr. T in upside down glasses.

The kids had so much fun just playing and "tiger hunting"

Our drive off the mountain. Isn't it so cool how mountains just shoot up out of the sand?

A song for the 4th of July

Wet and Wild

This week, we are so blessed to have Auntie C here for a visit. Auntie C is Mrs. J's step-sister who just graduated from high school and will be headed to AF basic training in a couple of months. The kids have been having a blast with her. Today, we planned to go to the base pool for some swimming. So after we got all the kids packed up, float rings blown up, and the car all loaded up, we were bummed to find the pool parking lot empty. Apparently Thursday is "super chlorination" day. So, I wasn't about to drive home after getting everyone read... so we did the next best thing and headed over to the "dinosaur park" where the kids played at the splash pad. Here are some fun pics... and don't worry, we will make it to the base pool before Auntie C leaves!

This is how we dry off after getting wet. It works quite well!

Mt. Charleston and other fun stuff..

On Monday, we took a drive to Mt. Charleston to escape this oven and we had a fun time!
The kids next to a real-life, sap covered tree (we don't see those very often around here)

For lunch we had delicious bagels from Einstein's.

This is to show you how far we hiked to get to our picnic spot. Not very far at all :)

Miss O enjoying her bagel
Caramel apple cream cheese is delicious!

Miss E's first time wearing a long sleeve shirt. It was a chilly 82 on the mountain (instead of 112 in the valley)

The girls in the new carhartts Grandma Jones got them from Montana. We are now in sizes 2t, 4t and 6.

Mr. T coloring paper doll clothes.

Pedicure for little boys - in the back of a dump truck!

We were excited that Aunt Nanny's friend, JM, came for a visit from Washington. The kids thought she was great!

She bought them popsicles and we ate them outside

Miss M with nasty, muddy hands