Favorite Photos of the month (2)

"Leaving on a jet plane . . . don't know when I'll be back again."

Our time at mom's house has come to an end, and we don't know when we'll be back again. We aren't really leaving on a jet, we get to drive early tomorrow morning. But before that, more photos to add to the contest.

Taking Grandpa to the Air National Guard
As part of Frontier Days, the Air National Guard had an open house where they showed off their planes and helicopters. Dad really wanted to go, and it turned out the kids liked it too. Here we are outside a large cargo plane.


And in the cockpit of a helicopter.



On the long walk back to the cars, Diana nearly fell asleep on Dad's shoulders. He brought her down to his arms just in time.

Texas Meets Rodeo Queens
My dad had box seats at Frontier Days, the "Daddy of them All" rodeo. Not only did he and Andrew have this great view just over the chutes,



they also got to meet these pretty rodeo queens. He also met the WY governor (who was wearing a white hat and cowboy gear), and got some autographs from some saddle bronc riders, the real cowboys. The mist in the first photo is water, spraying from the stands to cool off the spectators. They have it programmed so it almost evaporates as it hits you. Pretty fancy technology for a rodeo.


I am pretty sure that the rodeo itself was Andrew's favorite part. He has been playing "Rodeo" ever since with his sisters and counting the number of seconds it takes to buck a little sister off his back.
Mom, the girls and I were across the rodeo stadium on the other side. Diana even napped through part of it--delightful.

Snow in the Snowy's
We went fishing yesterday and Andrew caught his first fish! It was too small to bring home, but he was so happy to do it all himself: he cast, he hooked it, he reeled it in, and Grandpa took it off the hook. The elevation at Brooklyn lake was 10,600 feet, so we were not prepared for the cold and snow. We did have a lot of fun, however and here are some photos as evidence.

Mom would like to call your attention to the wildflowers just feet away from the snow, and the hill behind us, above the timberline.

Can she be any cuter?

Christmas in July?

Wyoming, you're heaven to me!

Happy Birthday to Me

Diana blew out the candle the first time, but I got it the second. We ate Rhubarb sauce on vanilla ice cream at my request along with this tiny cake. Thanks for a great birthday! Another year older and wiser, too . . . .

Happy Birthday to You

This month is such a special one, it's birthday time for you.
We'd really like to celebrate your special day with you!
Since we can't, we'd like to sing a song for you today--
So here it is, we hope you have a very happy Birthday!

Love and miss you!

Favorite Photos of the month

My camera is in Michigan until Saturday. (With my husband). In the mean time, I am borrowing some photos from my parents to document a few of the fun things we've done while here in WY.

Blame it on the Rain
If you enlarge this photo, you will see that it is raining on that lake. We had two bites during this afternoon of fishing, Caitlin had one on the line until it got to shore. It probably saw her and jumped off. No fish to bring home that day, but we did enjoy the wonderful weather and scenery.


"Letter of the Law"
Titled because the kids were eating a snack but wanted to keep watching their show, so they had to stay in the kitchen. They lined up in alphabetical order without parental prompting.


Hiking at Vedawoo with cousins. Not everyone was ready for this photo. Must get copy from Keith!


The Thunderbirds Air Show (I didn't go, but sent my kids with cousins).


Are they cool or what? Thanks, Keith and Laura for the shades!


Singing for Dad. Every time we get together as a family, my dad wants to hear the group sing. This photo is not in here for the great photo that it is, but for how it made Laura and I cry. (We got Dad's weepy tear ducts)Diana looks really cute, and so does my nephew in the chair).


Boy cousin fun. How lucky can you be to have a cousin just 3 months older than you? Just imagine the trouble they'd get into if we lived closer.


Storytime


There is no photo to document my favorite part of every day, which is how the temperature cools off at night! This week the forecast is for the upper 40's at night, numbers we haven't seen in TX in months! Love it!

Which is your favorite? Cast your vote.

Chalk one Up

Academics have been a consistent part of our life throughout the duration of our marriage. We met and married while attending BYU. About a year and a half later, we spent the summer living in married student housing at the University of Maryland, while Nathan did an internship in Washington, D.C. After his graduation from BYU, we spent a few months living with his parents in Boise, but then our educational trek lead us to Illinois, for him to study at Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine. From there, his residency led to another academic institution, Loyola University Health System. The latest has been fellowship at Scott & White Hospital, a Texas A & M teaching hospital.

For the next three weeks, Nathan will be found in Ann Arbor, Michigan, studying Epidemiology from 8 to 5. When we talked on the phone tonight, he said, "Do you realize it's been 16 years, since I went to the dorms for the first time?"
A lot has changed since then, and a few things are the same. He's at new campus, doesn't know a soul or have a car.

Chalk another one up for Nathan--University of Michigan.

Attack of the killer mosquitos

You know by now that I am not fond of bugs. Let me tell you how you can save $--- on them.

Tuesday night we went fishing in WY. I left out all the details about our car ride . . . I don't know that I will ever go back to fill in, there aren't so many to tell. It was long and the air conditioner did work the whole way.

Anyway, we went to a reservoir about 30 minutes from Cheyenne. It was great. It rained on and off, but other than that, it was beautiful. Nathan kept commenting about how pretty it was--I think he's gone through severe mountain withdrawal for the past 8 years. The fish weren't biting very much, Caitlin had the only significant bite. She was fishing with Nathan and had a fish on the line all the way in to shore, but didn't get to pull it out of the water. We enjoyed being outside anyway spending time with Grandma and Grandpa Parks.

Wednesday morning, Caitlin had 2 giant mosquito bites on her forehead that appeared to grow larger in size as the day went on. I took a nap and thought her face and eyes looked more swollen when I woke up than they did before I laid down.

Thursday morning, I was supposed to go to Ft. Collins with N, but by this time her eyes had swollen, too, and one of them was almost completely swollen shut. I quickly made plans to take her to the doctor and meet Nathan later during the day.

We went to the doctor and he said, "Yep, they are mosquito bites."
And a lot of other things, Caitlin said about him:
"He talked a lot."
Turns out that the skin close to eyes swells more dramatically because it is so thin. If the bites had been full of puss, or if she developed conjunctivitis, we should have called him back. Also, swelling in the face is more prominent in the morning because of laying down all night. This was true, because a lot of swelling went down in the first couple hours after she'd been awake. Because she was breathing normally and didn't have other symptoms (fever, nausea, etc.), he collected his cash, and sent us on our way.

So the next time your child has a severe reaction to mosquito bites on the face, keep your $ in your pocket and wait until the swelling goes down. Unless you have any of the other symptoms described above or want the medical judgement of a physician and not the advice of a mom who's seen it. The worst of the swelling for her was TH morning, and it was completely gone by Friday afternoon.