Dead Eye Elijah and A Few More Camping Photos

We're excited to post the last group of pictures from our camping trip this Summer.
While at first he was a little nervous to take the gun into his hands, the temptation proved too great for Elijah. He looks like a seasoned marksman who may be ready to go moose hunting with Sarah Palin. (Honestly, I think Elijah would cry if he ever realized he had seriously harmed another living thing.)

If you look closely at the bottle you will see the water draining out of the hole that Elijah drilled into it with the .22 caliber. It took several shots, but his form was impeccable.

Isaiah, who doesn't seem to be scared of anything, decided he was ready to ride off into the sunset. Unfortunately, it was still mid-day and he still had his afternoon nap ahead of him.

Jarad has bragged to many of you about the monster German Brown he caught. Well finally, here's the proof. The fact the water level on the river dropped an entire inch and a half along its entire length when the fish was removed is offered as additional proof.

Now, this is why camping is so much fun. At the end of the day, once you're exhausted, it's nice to sit around the fire in the dark and try to stay warm.

Emmalee Soccer Update

Quick update on Emmalee's soccer. With another game under her belt, she managed to add another goal and two more injuries to her stat sheet. She's not injured, just a couple of girls on the other team who found themselves on the receiving end of Emmalee's well placed kicks into knees and ankles. She also had a number of good shots on goal. Last week during practice she managed to injure her team's star player, making her the star player, if only temporarily. I believe her impressive skills are due, in large part, to one of her past coaches who so expertly passed along his expansive knowledge of soccer.

State Fair Cool Down

After listening to the children ask us every five minutes if they could play in the fountain. After four hours of begging we finally relented. Rochelle was cruel and kept the air conditioner on full blast for the 1 hour trip back up to Colorado Springs.

Elijah, who hates to run through sprinklers, hung out around the edges before he was finally brave enough to move in. Of course, he walked in while the fountains were off and suddenly found himself surrounded by cascading water.

Emmalee and Gracee post fountain deluge.

Creatures Seen at Colorado State Fair

A couple of weeks ago we were able to make our way south to Pueblo to check out the State Fair. With all of Rochelle's years of experience working with pigs and lambs as a proud 4-Her, she loves to show the children what was so important to her growing up. On this particular outing we came across a couple of varieties we hadn't seen before. Please enjoy our photos.

Emmalee checked out a couple more of these type of cattle just down from these two. They apparently were tired of being stared at like they were different because they charged the fence and made her squeal.



Fair food, as always, was very enjoyable. Here I am enjoying a famous sausage sandwich from a kiosk ran by a local Italian restaraunt located in Pueblo.
A local high schooler seen around the livestock area. Notice the current trend in hairstyles.

One Reason I Love Colorado--Look at the Skies

Any given evening I can look out at the sky here in Colorado Springs and see beautiful and inspiring skies. Some evenings they are truly amazing. All of these photos were taken during one evening. Come visit us so you can see for yourselves!

Back to School Pictures

These are a bit late, but here are our back to school photos. Emmalee and Gracee are enjoying 4th and 2nd grade and both like their teachers.

Gracee, as you can see, still does an amazing job of dressing herself!

Emmalee was very excited to get a new book bag this year.
Watch out Martinez Elementary School!
Elijah was excited for a little more alone time with mom...even if he now has to share it with the hooligan below...Isaiah


Here he is, on the picnic table on the deck. He crawled up to drink the last of the liquid from the pitcher of water. Luckily, he can be extremely cute, which in part, is why we keep him around.

Convention Time

I love politics. I hate politics. Watching the conventions have been interesting, educational and at times nauseating. But, listening to Sarah Palin's speech tonight was inspiring. She impresses me more than McCain, Obama or Biden. If McCain wins the presidency, there's a good chance that we may have a female president in our near future. Watching her family and getting to know them makes her seem so much more like one of us. I especially enjoyed her comments about the press and the unimportance of their opinion.

Vote McCain - Palin!

Jarad