Summer Sleep Over

What is that sticking out from that "tent", are those little toes?

What is that sticking out the top of the "tent"? Is that a hand and red hair?

Oh Marin is having a sleep over, a camping night in her room. Ahhh Summer reading in a tent until you fall asleep. Could there be anything sweeter than reading your self to sleep?

Well he can't read, but he sure is sweet. Little sleepy boy. He decided to stay in his bed he wasn't into sleeping in the tent.

Its always nice to take your blankie where ever you go in case you need to make a tent and take a nap. Owen is in love with his blankie and it does go everywhere with him.

We're Back Part 2

Upon arriving home from our vacation we hit the ground running. There was a lot to do...

First on the list: Finalize all parts for buying the home we have been renting for the past two years. Yes I said we are buying our house. We are now home owners! Whoo! It has been a long journey, and a lot of work for Todd (who did all the paperwork).

Second: we found a swing set. It had been loved by another family here in town and they were moving and it needed a new home. Some of our friends with a trailer showed up and took it apart,

and brought it over to our house and set it up!
It was quite possibly one of the most humid day of the month. It had just rained and our back yard-o-mulch holds in the moisture. Seriously the humidity was so thick you could feel it in your lungs when you were breathing. But...
They continued on...
And finished every last detail! And we now have the most wonderful back yard we could have ever imagined.
Thanks guys! We love it, and use it every day, many times a day. In fact we had lunch in the tower yesterday. We also must thank all our grandparents and great grandparents for all the gift money for the kids (Christmas, birthdays...) we have been saving and finally spent on this wonderful swing set. Thank you! Did I say that we love it?

After we finished our paperwork for buying the house and moved and installed the swing set, Vacation Bible School started up at our church. What? Yes it was next, and in the middle of VBS we closed on our house... and yeah it worked.

Thanks everyone for your prayers, advice, and input.

And We're Back part 1

...and we're back! Whew we might be finally catching our breath, maybe. Let us catch you up.
We went back to the Midwest to visit Grandma and Grandpa. They took us to creeks...
Taught us how to catch crawdads, float down the stream, and swing off a rope.
We had snacks on the banks and threw rocks into the water.
We got to visit some best buddies. Owen and J are only a few weeks apart. Its so fun to have little friends to play with on vacation.
Marin and JB loved seeing each other again and played all afternoon.
We spent the Fourth there celebrating with Grandpa Tim who shot off lots of good fireworks and let Marin pick out every one that was next. And Marin got to do sparklers for the first time!
Yeah for the 4th of July! Yeah for Grandma and Grandpa! We miss you so much and can't wait to see you in October!


We also visited Joplin, where the Tornado hit a few months back. It was sad, shocking, and indescribable - the damage that a single tornado can make. It looks like everything was thrown into a blender, or that there was a war there.
The building you see in the background on the left is the hospital that was destroyed. Normally from this neighborhood you would not be able to see the hospital because of the houses and trees. But because most everything was leveled you can now see right through the neighborhoods all the way to the hospital.

We heard so many stories of how people in the surrounding areas jumped in and cared for their neighbors in Joplin, how the farmers brought in their trucks and tractors and cleaned up the streets before FEMA even got there. How neighbors would dig their way out of the rubble and not run for safety but run to the house next door and start digging out their neighbor. The courage and bravery, the tears for all the loss is almost too much to understand.