Sleeping kids and their furry friends at naptime

Tovi has her new green "Paci", Lion with Tie-dye onsie she never wore, soft cotton baby blanket from Lara, and Taran's "blue lovey".

Taran with "white lovey", brand new Mr. Duck (he's 3 years old just like Taran and there were very sad tears today when I asked Taran to put him back on the shelf at Yokes so... he came home with us), Cinnamon Bear.

Better than Sunscreen

Tovi's new LL Bean Sun Suit. She has her mommy's lily white skin so I just bought this cute SPF 40 breathable outfit for her online (Grover accessory not included). Very cute!

Taran has his daddy's dark rugged looks and doesn't have to worry about sunburn so much but he steals mommy's hat sometimes when we go outside.

Taran is such a great kid

Taran has just been the best at handling daddy being gone, hot weather and a busy mommy. Today he played nicely in the pool and splashed and swam up a storm despite the fact that the water was straight from the well and freezing cold. Earlier in the day we had fun with balloons and he showed off his own balloon blowing up skills.

Where The Fire Stopped

I drove out with the kids to see where the fire had stopped and snapped this quick picture.

Green Barrier

Just some shots I took of the neighborhood where it is quite clear the protection "green barriers" around your house offer.

Unbelievable... (photo from neighbor)

Our house and the approaching fire shortly after I left with the kids.

Wild fire Today... way too close for comfort.

These are the marks on our driveway and lawn left by the fire hoses. Yes we had a wildfire rage across the ranch land behind our house today. Around 11:30 am I heard sirens and looked outside to see smoke, lots of brown billowing smoke. I ran out the door afraid it was a neighbors house and saw a wall of flame making it's way down the hillside. I did little else at that moment but get the kids in the car and get out of there. We spent the day at a neighbors house that was a safe distance away and I watched the smoke with a heavy heart. After several hours I was able to get updates from the fire and sheriff's office that no houses had been damaged and that the fire was being contained. We returned home around 6 pm and I took these pictures. I've heard some stories from the neighbors about how amazing the firefighters were. We will be visiting with cookies and thank you cards tomorrow.

Here are some links about the fire:
http://www.keprtv.com/
http://www.kxly.com/news/?sect_rank=1§ion_id=559&story_id=11888
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/tch/local/video/story/8973770p-8889515c.html

Our neighbors horses fortunately weren't too traumatized by the fire and were as always interested in carrots. You can see the blackened hillside off to the right.

Here's the fence line between our other neighbor and the ranch land and you can see how they built an excellent break to stop the fire.

This is the corner of our property that borders the ranchland. The fence is charred but not one single plant on our side is burned.

One of the remaining firetrucks spraying down some areas before leaving.

Taran's Birthday!

Today was Taran's Birthday.

Taran is now 3! I love the upside down balloons... oops turn the cake around Donna.

Kristy, Tim, Skyler, Amy, Tovi, Lindy and Hallsie

Katarina and Lindy helping with the cake.

Left: Skyler and Kody, Right: Hallsie, Kristy and Charlie. Front: Birthday Boy Taran

Sherman, Monika, Erica with baby girl on the way, Ezra (hidden behind the couch), Amy holding Tovi, Tim

New Things For Tovi

Grabbing Toes

Rolling Back to Stomach

Taran's "little bed"

Taran has decided Tovi's bouncy seat makes a pretty comfy bed.

Connor in Oklahoma?

Connor is in Oklahoma participating in a field campaign this month. He flew with the lab's aircraft ( the "G1") and they were diverted to Phoenix Arizona when they encountered bad weather. They had lunch and were able to continue on, arriving in Oklahoma that night. This picture is from Daddy especially for Taran who is fascinated with cactus.

Here are a few of the millions of beautiful smiles she gives each day

Playdoh Family Fun

Mommy's little EE

We try to discourage Taran from playing with electrical outlets and cords but have permitted his fascination with cables. He was very proud to discover by himself that some of our camera cables mate with the back of our flatscreen.

Seeing Eye-to-Eye

Cousin's Kendal and Tovi at Uncle Gavin's 40th Birthday party.

Tovi at 4 months!

We had our four month check-up and all is well. We have a perfect happy and healthy Little Lady!

Potty Training

We're still working on it and getting closer. Taran especially enjoys his Thomas the Train and Scooby-Do (not shown) underwear.

Penguin Gets a Time-out

I overheard Taran chattering away about "no hitting" and then I heard the front door open and shut. I peeked outside and this is what I saw. Taran explained to me that Penquin was getting a time out.

Taran's Climbing Dome

An early birthday present from Daddy. Taran has mastered it and loves climbing to the top so he can gracefully plummet down and land lightly on his bottom. :) Today he did this four times in a row and the fifth time he landed it perfectly on his feet. Yay Taran!

It was suppose to take one person 4-5 hours to set-up. With Taran's "help" Connor did it in two; just in time for us to play in the moon light.