The Red, White, and Blue

Let this be a reminder to us all how blessed we are to live is this wonderful country of America. Despite the challenges we are currently facing and the different opinions we might have than some of this country's leaders, we are still very blessed to live here, to worship our Heavenly Father as we please, and to experience the other freedoms we do.
For as long as I have known him, Jesse has talked about "someday" having a flagpole in our front yard. That "someday" has finally arrived. When he found this flagpole on Craigslist (imagine that) and presented to me the idea that we should own it, of course I said yes, despite the fact that we had to drive over 2 hours to get it. After picking it up, he immediately went to work ordering a suitable size flag, pouring concrete, and laying decorative block around the base. It looks really nice!!! I now just have to get deep purple (as close to blue as I can find), red and white flowers to plant around it. At first I didn't know what the big deal was, but now that we have it in our front yard, I am very pleased that we do! And no, as you can tell, we don't have grass yet. But the yard is level, the weeds have been sprayed, and now we're waiting the two weeks after spraying to plant the grass! YEAH!

Flowers for Mommy

I love it when my precious little boys pick me flowers. Sometimes I get dandilions, sometimes I get wildflowers, and sometimes I even get the flowers that I've been waiting to see bloom the minute they finally do! Occasionally, Tanner has even been know to bring me sticks and he treats them like they're flowers. I love it!

Tanner

Andrew
Apparently Andrew decided that instead of picking me individual flowers, one by one, he'd just skip the tedious flower picking and give me the whole plant! It doesn't get much better than this. I sure love my boys!

Funny story: The other day Andrew and I were weeding the strawberries. Tanner decided he should help, but when he got bored with the weeding, he moved on to the flowers. He spotted a beautiful marigold that I got for Mother's Day (you know, the church tradition). There were two beautiful blossoms and one quickly ended up getting picked for Mommy. I graciously accepted his gift and then suggested that he leave the other one on the plant. No sooner than I turned my back, then he proceeded to pick the other bloom. I don't remember what I said, but Andrew responded, "Mom, CHILL, there are other ones!" Okay, okay. Now, WHERE did you hear that, Andrew-Man?

Thank-you for your service!

This is my 100% AWESOME brother and my sweet little neice. This picture brings me to tears everytime I see it. Thank-you Kevin, Melissa (sister), and Amy (sister-in-law) for sharing your life with the military in order to serve me, my family and children, and our country. It is no small sacrifice and should not go unnoticed. Thank-you and I love you!

We LOVE Summer and Flip Flop Season!!!

Elk River Falls

This weekend we went on a much needed family get-away! Jesse surprised us all by planning an afternoon excursion to Elk River Falls in Elk River, Idaho. We had a picnic, a water-gun fight (well, Jesse and Andrew had water guns and ganged up on me), and then we hiked a couple miles and saw the beautiful Elk River Falls. We had a ton of fun! We all love being outside and it's so much fun to watch the boys run and explore. The only bad part of the day: Jesse ended up with mosquito bites larger than quarters (despite all the insect repellant he used). I sure wish he wasn't allergic to those stinkin' things!

Boys Will Be Boys!

This post is long overdue and I apologize that I've been a bad blogger lately. We have (as always) been very busy. The past few days we have been busy doing yard work! Yeah! I can't wait to have a yard for the boys to play in. Maybe it will cut down on the dirt tracked into the house and covering two little boys all the time! Sigh. At least I can hope it will. :)

Here's our dirt covered, bruised-legged Andrew getting a ride in the wheel barrow by Daddy. He LOVES to help his Daddy, his "special Daddy" as he always refers to Jesse these days. "Mommy, where is my special Daddy?" "Daddy is my special Daddy." "I want my special Daddy to get me a treat from work." "When is my special Daddy going to be home from work?" You get the idea. :) Hey, what about your special Mommy, little boy???? :)

Tanner "escapes" outside every chance he gets. He's figured out to open the front door, so if someone forgets to deadbolt it, he's out in his jammies, no shoes, someone else's shoes, etc. He LOVES being outside. In the picture below, yes, you guessed it, he picked out and put on his own shoes. I didn't even know he knew where his snow boots were. Silly boy! At least he's wearing his own shoes this time.

Life is so full of fun times, great laughs, occasional tears and frustration, and lots of dirt with these two precious little boys - and we wouldn't trade any of it for anything!

Tanner @ 18 Months

Where has the time gone?!? Our little Tanner is 18+ months old already. It seems like just a short time ago that we found out that we were expecting him. Then we were holding him for the first time. And now we can't keep up with him!

Tanner is a very happy, healthy, energetic, mischievious, loving, giving little boy. In case you can't tell from the picture, the pics I snapped of him tonight are taken with him smack-dab in the middle of the dining room table, with his favorite blankets, a book, and a snack. Three of his current favorite things. The table is his new favorite place to play (no matter how hard we try to keep him off.) He has two blankets that Grandma Applehans made him that are his absolute favorites. He gets so excited when he seems them, he drags them all around the house, he chews on them. He loves to read. I love to hear him "read" books to himself. Tanner is ALWAYS good for a snack. Always! If he hears someone rustling a bag, he comes running so he doesn't miss out. If he hears the fridge open, he's right there almost immediately. We have only found two things so far that he simply won't eat: tomatoes and olives. Everything else is a go! He is a very giving, sharing little boy. He loves to share his snacks with Mommy and Daddy. His little fist is usually covered in slobbers when he shares a morsel, but how can one resist such a thoughtful gesture?! :) He also is very polite, always saying "thank-you" when one is warranted. It sounds more like "da-do", but we know exactly what he means! He's starting to talk a lot lately! Much is spoken word, but he also remembers most of the sign languare we taught him as well.

We are very blessed to have this special little boy in our family. We love him with all our hearts!