Update!

We have been working for months it seems on getting settled. Moving Sean out of his house in June, living in limbo for a while and then moving his stuff to the new house in August and my stuff in September. I am hoping that we are done moving for quite some time. Sean and I both have been doing a lot of traveling and Graysen has started football so we are all very busy and enjoy the one day of week we get more than 6 hours of sleep. The weather is cooling off, so once we are completely settled we will be getting in gear for the wedding plans. We have set the date for sure as December 6th. A lot of you have mentioned that you are busy during that time and we understand. Of course anyone that can make it will be welcomed, but we intend to be around as a unit for a long time so there will be lots of opportunities for all of you to catch up on visits later. The 100+ temperatures have gone and the nights are actually cool enough now that we can leave the windows open. Even though we are only a few miles from the neighborhood that we both lived in before, this is the desert! We have seen 2 scorpions, several black widows and can usually hear the coyotes at night. Don't worry- the exterminator and I are on a first name basis!

Dowry

Even though this is the second time to the altar for both Sean and I, my family are not slackers. Grazing on the land behind Jared's home site are the goats for my dowry!

Scenic Photo

The sky was deep blue and the clouds were blindingly white so we decided to take it in balck and white so we could the describe the colors! lol

Wild Plums

We stopped to pick some wild plums. They were tasty but it is an open invite to disaster to eat more than a few at a sitting. We decided that they would make a tasty pie, so the part of the picture that you can't see is that Sean is loading up my shirt full since we lacked a bag.

We Know It's Dead

For Jared,- let's just say his macho streak doesn't come out around spiders-, to get on a rock and stand on the snakes head, we all pretty much guessed it to be dead. His step-daughter Paige got to take the rattle home for school show and tell.

Jared VS Mother Nature

On one of our rides we came around a corner and Jared flagged us down. There was a rattle snake in the middle of the road. As you can see by the rocks, he smooshed it. Then he let the cave man loose and cut off the rattler with a sharp rock. All of us Alaskans stared at the writhing thing debating its level of deadness. The next picture is the clincher.

Sean on vacation

Besides the Hampton Inn post that only Doug can truly appreciate, here is the story that makes sense. We went to Whitebird, ID to visit my brother Jared for a few days. We got to go rafting and did a lot of sightseeing by 4-wheeler. This was right before Sean went crazy trying to see how far he could fling rocks by fishtailing along the road. Just kidding! I was on the back so he had to take it easy.

For Mr. Wilber

Doug- This one is just for you! WE had fresh coffee 24/7 in Nampa. We even took some to go it was so good!

Surviving the heat

Its the reverse of Alaska and weird to have "cabin fever" in the peak of the summer when its gorgeous out, but the heat has driven us indooors where the early afternoons are spend relaxing in the AC.

The FISH SHACK

If you all could only hear the harp music that should accompany this title. Sean and Graysen got the detailed tour of the fish shack that was built from scratch by Doug. I however had the opportunity to actually go fishing in the fish shack over Christmas. Maybe next time boys! :)

Prospective house

Here is one of the houses that we are looking at. Its a repo from the builder so we have our fingers crossed. Its not every day that you get a chance to get a repo that has never been lived in!

Who's the big guy?

No trip to Mary and Doug's is complete without the traditional picture in front of the bear. I had tried to convince Mom to put a name tag on the bear with the name "Jinxie". There were a lot of "Meet the Fockers" references this weekend!

Boys will be boys!

The guys all had a great time playing football in the back yard. I bet all of them will be thinking again before taking on a 9 year old in touch football!

Practical Streak

Well, if any of you are in doubt, you can see where Jennifer gets her practical streak. After a hard afternoon playing on the grass, Graysen gets a scrubbing lesson from Mary with the help of the bidet. We didn't share what it is really for, all of us were glad Graysen didn't think it was a water fountain!

Mother's Day 2008

Mary, Grandma and Jennifer

More Snow in Seward

We all got a chance to ham it up in front of the camera thanks to Jennifer's very handy birthday present!

Graysen in the snow

Graysen did not know what to do in the presence of so much snow! We had been wearing shorts the day before at Doug and Mary's. He DOES know what to do when placed in front of a camera though!