FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL

This was so much fun for me because he was so excited! He wouldn't even stay put for 2 seconds to let me take a picture as you can see. And it finally took a few days of school for him to say his teachers name correctly. (Mrs. Castleton -not- Mistle Castleton)

CAN'T WAIT

Cade isn't letting his knee drag him down anymore. He couldn't handle seeing his 4-wheeler just sit alone in the garage any longer. And don't worry Dad! She just sat on it...Brigham was the one who we had to drag off just to get a picture of Brinley with dad. I think she liked it cause it was vibrating!

GIRL TIME

Good times! I love getting together with just the girls and having lunch. Spice Ninjas Forever! (Minus 2 missing here) J/K That sounds so lame now but yes...it's true... for those of you who tried to figure out who we were back in high school. Those were the days!

FOND FAREWELL

For those of you who don't remember our giant Globe Willows in the front and back of our house...they had to come down soon after we got back from Chicago this year. The one in back was half dead from bugs and the front was about to split in 3 ways so this was the before and after...

Yes it may look brighter and happier to some but to Cade....many tears were shed. We'll be waitin' a looooooong time to get some shade back! Did any of you even notice there was a new itty bitty one there now??

MY FIRST PARADE

This is Brinley watching the Alpine Day's Parade. Cutest part was when the Rodeo Queen on her float was passing by and Brinley smiled and waved and the queen with her attendants oooed and awed back at Brinley. Darling!

COOL BIG BROTHER

Brinley is always trying to see what Brigham is up to....

BRIGHAM & BELLE

Don't ask. I have no idea where he found the string but boys will be boys and Brigham loves being out in the backyard with Belle. Usually Belle is a dinosaur in his make believe world.

SWIMMIN'

My little fish! Brinley gets splashing so hard she chokes.....it's funny!

POOR CADE

This is poor Cade as of a week ago. He injured his knee for the 4th time on July 6th and this time it wasn't going to heal on its own. So when we finally learned his fate, I had 2 days to pack up our family (temporarily living in Illinois) and get home just in time to get his knee cut. Surgery was on July 23rd.....just one ligament shy of full knee replacement. Yuk!

All you wives out there that can understand this....do the math how long he has been a slug on my couch.....wow huh?! And just for sympathetic reasons let me add on top of that: moving back into a house, dealing with a child begining to crawl in a split-level home, one child throwing up for 3 days, the other having breathing treatments due to severe asthma, 2 toilets needing replacing, 2 massive globe willows needing to be chopped down and your lawn service guy quiting on you.... all in a 2-week period....I hope I haven't forgotten anything but as you can imagine, I just about (as my mom would say) "FELL OFF"!! So finally came the day we both were looking forward to was physical therapy which began this last Monday so we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

And if I don't add this I may get in trouble by Cade: Don't think for a minute he enjoyed sitting on a couch, day after day, watching nothing but crap on t.v. (except for seasons 1, 2 & 3 of Prison Break which he loved!) HE HATED IT!

FAMILY

So here I begin our blog and this is the only current family picture I have. This was back in June when we sealed Brinley to our family. It was a rough day for the kids; Brinley was exhausted before the day even began and Brigham had all sorts of troubles (allergies, asthma) so it was rare to see a smile from either of them....or how about all of us looking at one camera at the same time....but this is pretty much it as far as family pictures go for now.