6 Months!

Today our son is 6 months old! Plus, he almost has the sitting up thing down. He can do it if he is concentrating on what is in front of him-like Eric was making him laugh in the first two pictures and in the second two, my phone was his distraction. His only problem is when he wants something to the side of him-then he falls right over. But with a little more practice, I'm confident he'll have this in the next couple of weeks.

Update on Jim

Jim lost his girlfriend and job all within 2 days. He doesn't read the blog, so he won't know I've told you, but I doubt that he'd want me to spread it aboard, so don't be calling him or anything. I'm not going to give out the details for the same reason. I just thought you should know.

Chelsea in her pillow

Chelsea was mad that I made her lay down for "quiet time" but I think she was able to make herself comfortable anyway. This was her, inside her pillowcase, sleeping at quiet time last week, Wednesday. I thought it was so funny I just couldn't resist taking a picture. Plus, she likes to see pictures of herself on the blog.

Stake Campout

Friday night our stake had a camp out at Lower Huron Metropark. Jim said he doesn't remember us ever camping out as a family (he was too young I guess), so he wanted to go. He really wanted to go because Lauren was going, but whatever. Dad and I proved that we still know how to put up a tent and sleep in a sleeping bag. And we also proved that we're too old to want to do it again. But we enjoyed going and doing it. On the way home we decided to take a road that we didn't know where it went. It turned out that it goes past Kurt's house, so we dropped in to see them. While we were there, it came out that Jim has a job, and Kurt was a little upset that no one had told him about Jim's job. So just in case the rest of you don't know, Jim works as a night stocker at Meijer in Howell (that means that he stocks the shelves, not follows people around). He's only earning minium wage, but heh, it's a start. If he ever gets used to the hours (10pm to 6:30am) he should be alright.

Road Trips

Recently we have been discovering the places around where we live. The video is of an Amish carriage going down the street. Last Saturday we were on our way to Ottumwa, Iowa to go to the Target there (about an 1 hour and 15 min. drive...yes, that is the closet Target). To get there you have to drive through Amish country-well, it's all pretty much Amish country-and I didn't realize that the Amish share the road with the cars. I mean, it makes sense, how else would they get around? But I just never considered it before.
Then, Wednesday it was a BEAUTIFUL day (it must have been because it was Mom's birthday) and we looked at the forecast and saw that it was going to rain for the rest of the week-so on a whim we jumped in the car and drove the 2 hours to Nauvoo to see the Pageant. We didn't get there until 3 pm and the houses all close at 6 pm-but it was just enough time for us...having a baby in a stroller is not very conducive to going easily in and out of the houses). So we started out taking a wagon tour around Nauvoo. I'm glad we did because we got a good overveiw of the places without ever getting out of our seat. After the wagon tour we did go into a few places-but we were mostly there to see the Pageant. It was INCREDIBLE. Much different from the Hill Cumorah Pageant-much more personal and a lot shorter. Parley P. Pratt is the narrator and throughout the whole Pageant he talks about how when we go to Nauvoo, the people who lived there are there too-that their spirit is all around us. It was just a neat thing to think about. But, I have to say, it was amazing. I hope that this reunion works out and that we go during the Pageant so that everyone can enjoy it too and feel the amazing spirit that is there and that it brings. It was well worth the drive and Noah did great so it made it even that much better. It is so cool to live this close to such an amazing place.
This is a veiw of the temple from our wagon tour. Gosh it's beautiful!
Noah is showing you how excited he was to be going to the Pageant (and also just eating the flyer).
Eric and Noah in the backyard of the Brigham Young house.
Me and Noah in front of the root cellar at the Brigham Young house (yes, I got my hair cut Tuesday).
Pre-Pagaent pioneer activities. They had stick pull and three legged races, etc.
I tried to show the little stage they had during the activities. They were teaching square dancing.
This was the veiw of the stage from where we put our camping chairs-it really wasn't so bad. The pole in the middle got annoying only every once in a while.
The temple at sunset-just before the pageant started.

Wasps!

We've suspected that wasps have been in the facade of our house for awhile but we've never seen many so we assumed it wasn't a big problem. Then the other night I was out watering my tomato plants and I saw at least 20 in less than a minute flying into under the space under our bay window in the kitchen. There is a crack between the wall and the space and apparently a thriving colony of yellowjackets has set up house. An exterminator came tonight and did the first application. He said he'll keep coming back until we're satisfied that they're gone. It would have been nice to have gotten some more quotes and felt better about choosing this guy but he was the first one to get back to us and we have windows ready to be installed. He actually came out and gave Kurt a quote the day he talked to him and then Kurt called this afternoon and he was here this evening. We have window installation scheduled for the Thursday after Kurt's surgery so hopefully he'll be feeling well enough to supervise somewhat.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

We love you and wish you a happy, happy birthday, today!!!

Folwerville Fair

Unfortunately, I didn't take as many pictures as I would've liked but I'll post what I have. Lexi didn't do as good as we had hoped. She didn't even place in the showmanship category. They only give ribbons to the top eight places and she didn't make it to that. She did get a participation ribbon though. She didn't place last year either, so we were hoping this year she would improve. She didn't, but we learned some things that may help her to do better next year.

Her goat was also judged for the market goat category. She placed third in this, but right behind her cousin, Tasha, who wasn't so nice about it. Being second, her goat is given the title "Reserve Champion" and with that usually will get more money at the auction. This was the case and so she made more money on her goat, even though Lexi did more work than Tasha did. It was disappointing to Lexi and frustrating to us. We will probably take Lexi to the Genesee county fair next year. That way she won't have the competition with her cousins again. That was hard. Her crafts did pretty well. She received 2 A's, 2 B's and 1 C ribbon. Because Merrit and Makayla are only considered Clover Buds and not full-blown 4H-ers they only received "good job" stickers on all the crafts they entered. But it was fun for them and a good experience.

It was a really long week. We stayed at Charlie's parents' house in their camper. We had good weather most of the time. Thursday and Friday were pretty hot and humid though. Charlie's sister, Sabrina, was there the whole week too. She was in charge of her kids, which is the first whole week she's been in charge of them for about a year. She was an interesting thing to have to be around. I'm not so sure I want to do that again. It just made for a lot of drama and some tension that I'd prefer not to have to be around.

I'm glad to be home now. We are working this week to get the storage unit cleaned out and all that stuff put into the garage here at the house. It will save us some money. Charlie is there right now getting our first load. I just hope we can make it all fit here. We will hopefully be signing up for classes this week. I have to apply first though. I think I'm going to try UofM Flint. I'll have my major in finance which I'll be able to use in several different ways if I need to. If Charlie doesn't end up with a job before the beginning of September, I want to have student loans already set up, but you kind of have to be enrolled in school to get them. So that's another thing we will be working on this week. We still hope and pray that Charlie will end up with a job though. Although they aren't any prospects right now. I know the Lord will help provide for us in what ever way is best for our family.

So here are the pictures:

This is all the items.

This is Merrit's sculpture. I'm not sure what it is suppose to be. Sorry the picture is kind of fuzzy.

This is Merrit's woodworking project. He had to make something from a kit.

This is Makayla's sculpture. It is a king cobra snake.

This is Makayla's crochet entry. She was trying to make a wash clothe but didn't have the patience and she couldn't get it to come out square. So she left it round and called it a coaster. We had a little flower vase that she put a flower in and put it on top of her coaster.

This is Merrit's entry for the sports category. He did a poster about baseball (his favortie sport).

This is Merrit's tye-dye shirt and Lexi's photo entry.

This is Makayla's and Lexi's tye-dye shirts. Lexi got an "A" on her shirt.

This is Lexi's photo entry up close. She had to take a picture of five different subjects. She chose to do a person (herself in the mirror); flowers (some plants that were growing inside Grandma Hicks' cylow); still life (the bowl of fruit); animal (Sadie, Grandma Hicks' dog); building (Grandma Hicks' barn). She only got a "B" on her photos because the judge didn't like little bidly things about almost all her pictures, such as the camera is seen in the picture of herself, the sprinkler was seen in the barn picture, the judge wanted to see the dog's face and she thought the picture of the flowers looked dreary. I thought Lexi was pretty creative with the shots she took. I can't say that I agreed with the judge's thoughts.

This is Lexi's buymanship entry and her cookies entry. The buymanship category is one that is suppose to teach kids thrift. They are to buy a whole outfit for under $25. Then they have to fill out a packet about their outfit stating things like what the total price is, why they bought it, and why they think it's a good deal. She spent only $3.65 on her outfit that included the shirt, shorts, necklace, and shoes. She only got a "C" because she was suppose to have a picture of herself wearing the outfit included with her packet, but we forgot to print it off our camera. She took the camera with her to the judge, but it wasn't good enough. So the judge gave her a "C" for not completing the packet. We thought that was a bit harsh considering how well the rest of the project went, but that's way it goes sometimes I guess. The cookies she made were Peanut Butter chocolate chip cookies. She got an "A" on them. She didn't read the instructions before she started making them and she put all the ingredients together before mixing. It made it really hard to mix the dough and we hoped she got everything properly mixed. Last year, she only got a "B" on her cookie's because the judge just happened to bite into a cookie and got a whole chunk of baking soda in her bite. So we were glad she didn't have a repeat from last year.

This is Lexi showing for the showmanship category. She was judged on how her animal looked, how she presented it and how she looked and answered the judge's quesitons. Charlie says he was never good at this. We'll just have to have Lexi practice more for next year.

This is Merrit showing a goat. He wasn't old enough to show one with the 4H-ers, but he got to participate in their mentoring program. This is where an older 4H-er teaches him how to take care, and show a goat. The girl with the blond hair walking next to him is his mentor. Her name is Jamie. He did great for his first time and really enjoyed it.

This is Lexi after the auction posing with her goat. And the video clip is her auctioning her goat.

addresses

I have a few Thank You cards written that need to be sent, they are sitting on our entertainment center just awaiting adresses! I need all the current sibling addresses in order to send them. In case it takes a while (which it shouldn't if I get the addresses soon) I want to tell Heather and Kurt how grateful we are to you for sending out a gift for Addie's birthday and Hillary for all the clothes! You are all so thoughtful and we appreciate it!

Now, what are your addresses?

Trip pictures

Okay, now for the fun. I will upload a ton of pictures (I'm sure it will take me hours to do it) and hopefully you'll get a flavor of our expedition.

Mom told about the cool cemetery in Terre Haute, IN. Here are a few shots from it. The first is a Jewish mausoleum and the stained glass window at the back of the mausoleum. There are eight people interred in there. The next two are a pyramid headstone and a world headstone.



Next we stopped at an historic mansion in Mt. Vernon, IL and these are some of the contents, all of which are original to the mansion.
Pocket chairs Antique rocker never refinished


Canopy bed Bed springs in canopy bed


Antique baby crip that glides Antique horse that also glides, not rocks


Half canopy bed Engagement date etched in window --
the date was of particular interest --
April 11th, 1873


Next was Graceland -- Elvis Presley's home Elvis' Headstone


Hallway of gold records -- seemed endless Tons more silver and platinum records


Wild suites Pink Cadallic


Gold plated sink in his private jet



This is the best of all -- a video of Addie going crazy watching a lighted Elvis sign. You'll love it!


Next the Duck Palace. Here's the actual palace -- not too elegant for
such celebrities.


The ducks marching down the red carpet. Jana and Addie enjoying the swimming.


The National Ornamental Metal Chaos to organization artwork.
Museum front gate.


An iron corn patch. A working truck grill with picnic table.


On the way home, pictures of two famous sites from the War Between the States.

An out-building at the Carter Home with The Carnton Planation that became a
bullet holes in the back from the Battle of make-shift hospital for the Confederate
Franklin; the battle happened right wounded in the Battle of Franklin.
around the home and the buildings.


Of course, this only represents a small number of pictures taken during our trip. We can do a more extensive slide show whenever necessary.