Visiting family!

Cara is getting so big!  I cannot emphasize enough how difficult it is to get a picture of her lately.  She just rolls right over immediately and cries if I try to put her on her back.  I have a million blurry pics of her mid-roll and zero happy ones! This month she is starting to stand all by herself, but she's not quite walking yet.  Her first word is "hi!" and she will wave to you if you wave like a maniac at her.  She is very good natured, but so, so wiggly!

We took Brett's four year old block picture. He is easy to take a picture of, if you don't mind hundreds of silly-face mugging pictures in between the cute ones!

Silly, silly. But cute!

So, Grandpa Howard called me several months ago and said he was planning to take a road trip and visit us in California. I was kind of doubtful he would actually make it (he is 88 years old!) but I marked it down on my calendar. I forgot about it for a few months, but I saw it coming up on the calendar and thought I better make sure he was not actually on his way.  I tried to call him, but could not get ahold of him, so I called uncle Andrew.  Andrew said "He's taking a road trip and he's headed your way!"  I thought I would be ready for him, but he tricked me and showed up the day before he was scheduled to come!  He brought along his 88 year old girlfriend, Mona, and his dog, Sammie. 

We had a good time listening to his war stories, then we had dinner (he declared that he was too old to eat any vegetables) and they left the next morning in his big Cadillac, off to visit more people on their big road trip.  It was kind of random, but it was fun to see him and introduce him to his great-grandchildren. I'm pretty proud of him for conquering the roads at his age!

Jason starts Kindergarden this year.  He is loving it so far and making lots of friends.

Brett started preschool.  He cries every morning and says he doesn't want to go, but when I pick him up he always says he had the best day ever.  I think he is just not a morning person (I can relate!).

First day in Ms. Ericka's class.

My parents came to visit!  I was so, so happy to see them!  Mom and I had a good time mentally decorating the house, and Derek took Dad out skeet shooting.  They had a great time!

We had so much fun visiting and the kids loved having them to play with.  We were all so sad to say goodbye.  

Cara is eleven months old now!  It can't be true!  One more month of babyhood!

Cara and I went out to visit Alex and Catherine and Madeline in beautiful Denver.  It was so wonderful to see them, and we had a great time.  I loved seeing their cute home and walking around the lake and the park with them.  Madeline is such a smart and talented girl, and it was just really fun to spend some time catching up with Catherine and Alex.  I wish we lived closer and could visit more often.

Denver really is beautiful.  I love the greenery and the red rocks.  Alex and Catherine promised to show me a deer (or a bear!) but we had to settle for geese.

Cara really likes Mexican food!  She ate most of my dinner and still wanted more.

Back home in California during our weekly visit to Costco.  We have a cart full of troublemakers.

I think we can agree that Brett should probably not grow a mustache.