Kevin and Jelly's dog dish

When Kevin visits Grandma's house, he inevitably ends up crawling until he discovers Jelly's dog dish and food so Grandma moves Jelly's food while Kevin is around and replaces it with a plate for Kevin with a snack prepared just for him - just like she did when Megan was his age! Kevin's pretty content with this!

a new cousin!

Garrison was born in March 2008 and brought his parents to visit at the end of June. We spent time together at a climbing wall in town along with a variety of other activities. Emma, Andrea, and Megan are excited to have a cousin and Nate and I are thrilled to be an Aunt and Uncle! Here's to many more wonderful times shared together!



Kevin with Uncle Geoff
Megan tries to climb

and Kevin just stands
but Andrea and Emma are real experts at climbing!

The five grandkids all together!

Ali's new job!

Ali at her new job at Gandolfo's!

Goodbye to our growth group -

Before we made our move across state lines, we had a going-away party with our growth group. We're so thankful for these friends with whom we have spent so much time together. All 5 couples in our growth group had a baby this year - a life change that was so much fun to share together. Kevin is the oldest of the babies. Here they are all together - except Ava!



Abby, Kevin, Regan and Isaac

Nate's new truck

Nate got a truck off of craigslist to drive to work at his new job. The guy who owned it before us named it Josie so I guess that's the name we'll keep. It's worked out pretty well for us already since it hauled a rather heavy load to our new home for us last week.

... and driving home

It's good to be home - especially after the long drive!  We drove home through Wyoming to see a childhood friend and her new family (Nate, Leah and Molly) and then through Yellowstone and the Tetons. 

Kevin, Andrea, Molly, Megan and Emma

Kevin is oh-so-happy in Cody, WY

Our family in front of a hot spring in Yellowstone

It was cloudy over the Tetons, but still beautiful.  The Tetons definitely rival the Canadian Rockies, but Nate and I both would give the prize to the Canadian Rockies any day.  

Amazing to see a field FULL of Buffalo!  

And a stop at Shoshone Falls just before arriving home.  Although the water level was low, it was still beautiful.  The water at Shoshone Falls falls further than the water at Niagara does.  

Eastern Montana

Well, I'm still new at this. I haven't yet figured out how to put pictures in order so these aren't in any particular order. We all loved Eastern Montana. The skies are spacious, the fields are endless and the lifestyle is more laid back - so beautiful! We were thankful to have some time to spend out there with friends.

Jared and Rachel





Nathan and Anna


Ben and Heather






Emma and Sarah

Camping near Bozeman

We just got home from a trip to Eastern Montana, where a friend got married. Our first stop was the Missouri Headwaters State Park outside of Bozeman. Doug, Chad, Josh, Xica, and Don and Debbie met us for dinner there and then Josh and Xica camped overnight with us. It was our first experience camping with our kiddos since Andrea was 6 months old and would have been a great experience if we had the right equipment.

Emma reads to Gramps and Xica

Andrea decided to climb this huge log - a perfect photo opportunity!

monkeys climb trees

Andrea and Emma decided to climb a tree in our backyard today.  Andrea made it look so easy as she lept from branch to branch in both the Ash tree in our yard and the Pine tree in the common area behind our house.  When Grandma saw Andrea's proudly displayed skill, she cautioned Andrea, "Don't fall!"  Andrea humored us by saying in reply, "I don't know how to fall!"