Catching Up!

What a delightful 9 days we had while Nathan, Sarah, and their kids were here visiting from Germany!

In the few days before they arrived, Makayle had her 8th birthday and Carter had his 3rd birthday. So naturally, we had to start with presents!

It was fun waking up to the sound of little ones in the morning..

...and having them help me make breakfast...

...and watch them wrestle with Grandpa.

We had a family picnic for my side of the family.

Grandma with her first-born grandchild, Nathan.

Makayle learning to hit a badminton birdie.

Cousins talking...

...and taking.

Aunt Carol watching Carter and Aden (both 3 years old) play football.

Great-grandma talking with her first-born great-grand child, Makayle.

And more cousins talking.

It was a fun day, even if the burgers were served a lot later than anticipated (my fault).

Paige lost her first tooth while they were here!

We went to Funtastics to play for a day. The girls drove cars...

...and we all soaked each other with water on the bumper boats.

We played miniature golf and arcade games...

...and had a fun day.

The kids eventually decided that they liked the dogs...especially Mia.

We had a birthday dinner for Aunt Jennifer who is turning 21 this week.

We had an on-going job this week removing rock squirrels from an old ranch that the city of Oro Valley has decided to renovate. Some of the structures still have the original adobe bricks (from the 1800's) visible.

Paige went with us on all of our calls. Her dad calls her Ranger Pager.

Paige baiting a trap with grapes.

Grandpa releasing a rock squirrel into its new home.

One night we had a bonfire, roasted marshmallows, and sang as many campfire songs as we could remember



Paige's perfectly roasted marshmallow...

...and Carter roasting his marshmallow.

We also drove down to Sahuarita for an extended family gathering in honor of Makayle's baptism. It was a wonderful occasion for her...so many loving relatives there to witness the ordinance and to support her in her decision to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Makayle was baptized by her dad.

Makayle with her parents, Sarah and Nathan.

The only difficulty of the whole week was that almost everyone came down with stomach flu the last day. Don, Jennifer, and I are still recovering...it doesn't seem to want to leave us very quickly. We hope that Nathan and Sarah's family recover more quickly than us, as they have to fly back to Germany in a couple of days. Good-bye, sweet family! We love you more than you know! Thanks for coming to visit us!