The new puppy!

Well, after months of waiting and hearing about puppies that were lost, we were able to bring home a new puppy. She is very sweet and mellow.  It's like having a baby in the house again because all she does right now is eat, sleep, and poop.  Fortunately because of the nice weather we haven't had but a handful of accidents in the house.

So mellow!

We went down to Casper on Friday and picked her up on Saturday.  Her name is Maggie, she is a Boerboel, aka South African Mastiff.  This breed was bred to protect home and family from lions.  Full grown she should be about 120 lbs and between 32-34 inches tall, so no taller than Duke but much stalkier.  If she's anything like her grama she'll be big for a female.  She was the largest female in the litter weighing in at 12 lbs and only 7 weeks old.  This is as of last Friday.  The next largest female weighed 9 lbs.  She is fawn with a black muzzle, very little white, but brindle markings on her hind legs and toes of the front legs. 

Sleeping all the time, usually she's on her back asleep

Duke was very excited to meet her, but now doesn't seem sure as to what to do.  He tries to keep his distance from her, I think because he knows she's a puppy and doesn't want to do something that will get him in trouble.  I'm sure when she's bigger (she should be as big as Duke at 6 months!) they'll play and get along better.  I hope.

The kids love her they run around and let her chase them.  Though Keith has some learning to do about getting on the floor with a puppy.  He's been scratched by her a few times already.  Fortunately, she really doesn't bite hard, though it still hurts when she does since she has little, sharp puppy teeth. 

She is signed up for puppy class, starting at the end of the month.  This will be a good refresher for Jordan and I and good for Kaitlyn.  We thought we'd bring Kailtyn along so she can learn all about training the new puppy.  Keith will have to go to Grama's, I just don't think he would be able to cooperate and pay attention.  Plus, there will be all sorts of other puppies there, too much distraction.

Kaitlyn is back in Preschool now and is loving it.  I never had a problem getting her to go, the first few days she reminded me to come pick her up after a while.  I reassured her that I would and away she went. 

Kaitlyn on the first day of school.  Love the boots!

Keith has been acting 2 in every way possible.  Though some of it may be his second set of molars trying to come in.  The whining and crying and ATTITUDE.  Though he has been very polite through most of it.  Such a funny little guy!

I thought I'd share this photo of a moth that I found, unfortunately dead, in the back yard.  The black and white wings contrasted with the orange body is just beautiful.  Sorry to anyone who's not much for bugs, but I'm some what of a science geek and can find insects to be beautiful.  I've never seen a moth quite like it.

I think it's a Nuttall's Sheepmoth.

My little man is now 2...

and boy does he act like it!  He has been such a stink here lately and I'm ready for him to grow out of it now.  At the doctor's, he now weighs 27 lbs 6 oz and is 35.5 inches and growing everyday.  We did switch his bed from a crib to the day bed and he's done really well, just like his big sister.  We haven't had any problems with him getting out of his bed when he should be sleeping.  That has been a blessing. 

We had a small get together on Keith's birthday here at the house.  Grama and Papa, Aunt Fannie, and the cousins (excluding Anthony) all came out for burgers and hot dogs and s'mores.  We didn't do cake that day because we had cake and ice cream at the Jackson reunion to celebrate.  Plus, according to my calendar it was National S'mores Day on Keith's birthday, so we fired up the little pit in our table outside and roasted marshmallows and ate s'mores.  The kids loved it!  Keith also got a lot of gifts, but he really likes the toy guns and Buzz Lightyear. 

Pancakes for breakfast and a candle to blow out.

He got a Buzz!

Toasting marshmallows

The birthday boy eating his s'more

Opening gifts

On Saturday, we had the Jackson family reunion.  The kids went out a rode Tyler and Cami's horses, which they all loved!  Thanks Tyler and Cami!  Keith wore his cowboy boots and hat that Grama and Papa gave him for his birthday.  He looked so cute, but he needs pants that fit better.  We need to get Kaitlyn new cowgirl boots, but we had forgot.  Oh, well, she still loved every minute. 

The cowboy on Tyler's horse.

Kaitlyn and Hannah on Cami's horse.

That evening we went to the Fishing pond for food and fun.  The kids played at the park which was feet from the picnic area and there were horshoes and volleyball.  The food was good and the cake and ice cream wasn't bad either, if I do say so myself. 

The extra "space" cake.

Buzz cake, not too bad.

You've got a little something on your lip Keith.

A lot of the family.

I was dragged into a game of volleyball, boys vs. girls or husbands vs. wives.  We lost, which is sad considering we all played ball at one point, it's been a while ok.  The ball was no where near regulation and felt like getting hit by a rock.  It actually burst two of the veins in my arm and I am now sporting a really nice bruise.  It was kinda fun though. 

It was really nice to see family we haven't seen in quite a while.  Hope to see everyone again soon.

Kaitlyn is getting excited to go to preschool again or Ready 4 Learning.  She'll be gone four days a week for three hours.  She can't wait and neither can I.  We even put stickers on her calendar so she knows when she has school.  She starts at the end of the month. 

She's been catching butterflies in her net too.  She really likes to catch the butterflies that come to my garden.  She is really good with them too and is careful not to hurt them and lets them go after she's looked at them.  She even caught two at the same time today.  We did find out they are Cabbage butterflies, so they eat my kale and broccoli, but they are still pretty.

The first butterfly she caught

Two butterflies

I love indoor plumbing!

There's nothing like spending four days in the mountains to make you really appreciate having a nice hot shower in the morning.  We had another Sessions reunion on July 16th up in the Big Horn Mountains, again.  This one was a little more relaxing than the last, no driving around, just hanging out.  We rode around and saw some country and stopped to fish here and there.  The kids spent their time hanging out with Grama and G.G. at camp which they loved.  Keith just loves being outside, I'm sure he would live outside if I moved his room to the backyard. 

What kid doesn't love throwing things in the water?

Kaitlyn fell asleep while Grama was taking the kids for a 4-wheeler ride.

Keith looking too cool in Kaitlyn's Tinkerbell shades.

Family hanging out by the campfire.

Papa and Keith eating do-it-yourself ice cream.

We saw some wildlife, of course:  a three-toed woodpecker, which "jumped" our right in front of Jordan and I not five feet away from us; a cow moose, fortunately she was a youngster so no babies; and the bats, they were awesome.  We had an aerial show every night.  They would swoop in eating mosquitoes, gnats and these huge beetles that would smack into you if you weren't paying attention.  I was very happy to see them eat the beetles, not that I don't like bugs I'm just not a fan of an inch and a half long beetle smacking into me.  Not pleasant.  I couldn't get a picture of the bats unfortunately and of course my camera wasn't on me when we saw the moose.  Isn't it always the way?

There were a lot of little ponds covered with water lillies in bloom.

The pond we had luck fishing.  Notice the snow still on the peaks.

Indian Paintbrush, Wyoming's state flower.

The fishing was good and fresh caught fish always tastes better.  Kaitlyn even caught her first fish, a trout, can't remember what type.  It was about five to six inches long.  Catch and release for her, but she was even brave enough to release it herself after Daddy took it off the hook.  She was so excited!
She almost had another one but it came off the hook before she could reel it all the way in.

Kaitlyn reeling in her catch and Cami entertaining Keith

Kaitlyn and Daddy so proud of her catch, the fish is in Jordan's hand.  Tyler in the back

Kaitlyn ready to release her catch.  She wasn't even grossed out or afraid.

After four grimmy, gritty days in the mountain we got to come home and shower.  Those are the times where I wish we had a hot water-on-demand water heater.  I'll say it again, I LOVE INDOOR PLUMBING!!! 

Jordan also had a birthday before we left for camping, only one more year before he's the big 30!  He's so excited.  Ok, so that's a little bit of a lie, but we'll pretend that he is. 

Oh, and just to let everyone know, one of the female puppies died, so we are now going to get a puppy from Sarah's litter.  Which happened to have been born yesterday, we are waiting to see if we'll be able to have one of these puppies, because she is expecting to lose some.  I'm starting to feel as though we've been jinxed or maybe we're not supposed to have another dog right now.  I'm hoping it's more along the lines of "third time's a charm".  I guess we'll have to wait and see. 

Happy 4th Ya'll!!

Well our 4th was pretty low key.  We didn't do anything, except grill and Jordan and I watched fireworks from our room.  The kids passed out before the fireworks started.  We didn't even go to the parade this year because poor Kaitlyn was back and forth to the bathroom all morning.  She's fine now, but it made for a miserable morning.  We were all wiped out from the busy weekend too. Over the weekend, starting Friday, we travelled up into the Big Horns for the first of three family reunions.  This one was more of an all encompassing Sessions family reunion, the next will be more of an immediate family Sessions reunion. 

It was a very busy and quick weekend.  We drove up Friday, much later than intended, set up camp and slept.  Woke up Saturday ate breakfast and crammed into two vehicles, then drove three hours to the site where everyone was meeting.  Stayed later than intended again, drove three hours back, ate, and slept.  Got up Sunday morning, hung around for a while, walked down from camp to a waterfall, then drove around on the 4-wheelers a bit, packed up and drove home.  It was a very busy weekend and we were all bushed when we got home, but it sure felt good to get a shower!

Jordan, his Grandpa, Duke, and Keith

Chelsey, Carissa carrying Parker, Hannah, and Kaitlyn

Sophie (cousin) and Keith

Jordan, Duke, and I

Carissa and I at the waterfall

Upper part of the fall

Lower part of the fall

It was nice to spend time with family and we saw a lot of interesting wildlife.  We saw two moose, a bull and a cow; four sandhill cranes; three skunks having a frenzy on the side of the road, fortunately we were in a vehicle and they were not in the road; several marmots, one of which was eating a dead one;  and, either a Shrike or maybe a Clark's Nutcracker, I'm not sure, but two of them kept coming into camp totally unconcerned about the people standing feet away. 

Tyler and Cami also brought their horses up and the kids had a great time with them.  Duke also wanted to play with the horses, but we thought it best that he didn't.

Kailtyn riding Cami's horse, Pistol (Kaitlyn thinks his name should be Pickles)

Keith and I on Tyler's horse, Marshmallow

Other exciting news:  my sister had her baby on June 24th!  His name is Anthony after our late grandfather and of course I can't remember his stats right now, but he was born healthy and crying.  Congratulations Sis!!

Also our puppy was born on June 30th and we should be able to bring her home at the end of August some time.  If you look on the breeders website http://www.juelsrockymountainboerboels.com/index.html they have pictures of the puppies under "Puppies Available".  The mom is Allie and the dad is Baldur.

I better go now though, I'm being told by Kaitlyn that we need to go outside and garden.  This sudden extreme heat wave has caused a lot of my veggies to bolt, so, cross your fingers, I'm going to try to plant again.  Hopefully it's not too late, a lot of them are quick to grow:  radishes, mustard greens, pac choi, etc. 

Memorial Weekend in Grand Junction

We traveled to Grand Junction for Memorial weekend to visit with Grandpa and Grandma Dunsmoor.  We made it to Casper and stayed with G.G. for the night before heading to Grand Junction on Friday.  It was a long drive, but the kids did really well.  Thank heavens for portable DVD players, I don't know how my parents did it without one.  We traveled all the time when I was young. 
We took the kids to the Botanical Gardens on Saturday and enjoyed the butterflys and warm weather.  The weather was a nice change to the dreary rain we were getting at home.  A little side note, all-in-all I think Gillette got something like 7 inches of rain in the month of May which is 2 more inches than last year.  For the most part we just hung out and enjoyed each other's company.

Kaitlyn and Grandpa looking for the fish in the pond.

Keith and Daddy under the umbrella looking tree.

Look at the green bananas!

Zebra butterfly, one of the many.

They had so many beautiful orchids, these ones smelled like a creamsicle.

Looking at the toad on the rock.  Keith later got down to look at him and the toad hopped toward him scaring Keith half to death.

Keith, Daddy, and Grandpa out by the pond filled with water lillies and frogs.

 Crazy story while we were outside looking at the outer gardens at the Botanical Gardens:  We were heading back to the building after looking at the heritage garden, going back the way we came, suddenly you hear this loud bzzzzz sound.  Turning around there were hundreds of bees coming straight at us and zooming right by.  It was scary and awesome at the same time.  They were going somewhere and fast.  They weren't even concerned about us, they just flew right on by dodging heads and anything else they came across.  They only thing we could think was a queen was relocating and the hive was following.  I never want to be in the middle of something like that again! 

Grandma unfortunately had to work the whole time we were there, but we made the most of the time she was home, with painting and mouse hunting, a game on the computer. 

Monday we made the long drive home, it was a short trip, but it was nice to get out of town for a while.  The weather made it all worth it.  Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for letting us stay with you for a few days.

Whew!! What a weekend!

This past weekend was really busy!  I feel I've recovered enough now that I can catch everyone up.  First of all I should wish every mother a belated mother's day!  Kaitlyn and I went to the Community Art Center for Teapots and Tiaras on Saturday and painted glaze on a tea set.  It came with a set of four cups and saucers, a creamer, sugarbowl, teapot and a tray to carry everything on.  We had a lot of fun doing that!  Mother's Day itself could have been a little better, but really it was like any other Sunday.  Jordan and the kids did get me some really nice lotions and made pancakes with homemade strawberry syrup.  Way yummy!  That night we had Jordan's parents over for dinner for a small Mother's Day celebration.

Well, that brings me to this past weekend.  Kaitlyn and I went back to the Art Center on Saturday to decorate Tiaras and have a tea party with our new tea set.  It was a lot of fun!  Of course I forgot the camera, again, so no pictures from when we were at the Art Center, but I did get some at home.  The tea set came out great after it was fired and the tiaras are cute!

Kaitlyn's Tiara

Mama's Tiara

Sunday was Kaitlyn's 4th birthday!  We had everyone over for dinner that night.  We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and of course cake and ice cream.  Almost all of Jordan's family that live in the area were able to make it.  Only Grama and Grampa Sessions weren't able to because Grampa wasn't feeling very well, so we hope he's feeling much better and we missed them both. 

Kaitlyn and Hannah decorating the cake.

Butterfly cake and Daisy ice cream cone cupcakes

blowing out the candles

Yummy flowers!

Kaitlyn got lots of toys and clothes of course!  Jordan and I did get her a new twin sized bed and we took down her wallpaper border and painted a purple stripe in the middle of her walls to cover the not so straight line that was underneath the border.  It turned out really nice.

Kaitlyn's haul!

Kaitlyn's new bed and paint on the walls

Thanks to everyone who was able to come and we're sorry that not everyone is able to make it, but thanks for thinking of Kaitlyn on her big day.  She loved everything she got especially the new bed that she and her brother jump on every day!

Oh, and before I forget, Kaitlyn got into the Ready4Learning program.  So she'll have a preschool to go to in the fall.  Yeah!

Here's what her room looked like before, except she hasn't been in the crib for a while.  It was converted to the day bed.