And the fun begins!

And the fun with Makennas has begun! Makenna has been smiling for awhile now, but I never had a camera handy. She is now smiling quite easy and frequent and I caught it on the video camera along with a little coo at the end. Every day she's talking more and more. It's so fun to sit and talk to her and smile with her! Thought everyone else would enjoy seeing some of Makenna's little personality as well.

Father's Day

For Father's Day this year we went to the zoo again. Evan's hoping that Denver will repay him in golf trips on Father's Day when Denver is older! It was nice to get out and enjoy the warm weather.

Getting ready to feed the ducks! Throwing food at the ducks

Makenna's proof that she was along! :)

Riding the carousel. Denver didn't want to get off!

Then for supper we had my parents over and grilled out. It was nice to spend some time with them as well. Denver loves his "Papa" and is always asking for him so he was very happy to have him at his house.

Playing monkey ball (or ladder golf or whatever you want to call it)

Denver and his Papa

Makenna and Grandma Verni

We feel truly blessed to have so many "Grandpas" in our lives. We hope each and every one of them had a wonderful Father's Day and knows how much we love them and appreciate all they do for us!

Happy (Belated) Father's Day

It's been a little busy in our household so I haven't had a chance to do my "Father's Day" post. Back when Makenna was about 5 weeks old the kids and I went to take pictures. I wanted to save these and do something with them for Evan for Father's Day. Unfortunately, I never had time to really think about what I was going to do with them so nothing got done. Since I dropped the ball on that I decided I'd do a Father's Day blog for my wonderful husband with the pictures. I realize some of these you've already seen as I used Denver's for his 18 month pictures, but it's just how it works out this time.

God has provided me with a wonderful husband and 2 beautiful children.

I couldn't be more thankful for each of them!

Our happy, crazy boy!

Denver LOVES his Daddy so much!

There isn't a day that goes by that Denver doesn't ask for his Daddy before he gets home from work. Typically, Daddy is the first thought on his mind in the morning.

Evan is so good with Denver. They are always playing and having a great time together. It melts my heart to watch them together.

Our gorgeous baby girl! I didn't know if I'd ever get this little girl, but God provided a little Princess for us and now I get to watch a Daddy-Daughter relationship grow and flourish!

Denver resembles his Daddy which I may wish I could get some credit for him, but I love that I have a "little Evan" as he reminds me of the person I fell in love with. Now Daddy has provided me with my little girl that resembles me and I couldn't be happier with her!

By the grace of God, Evan made me a mother!

Just thinking about this puts tears in my eyes.

Watching Evan as a father is amazing.

We both have so much love for our children.

Every little piece of our children is a piece of us!

It's such a miracle that God has provided us with so much perfection.

Daddy, you are so fun...

caring...

loving...

our hero...

a great friend...

and a great role model.

We love you Daddy...

and we think you are the BEST!

"Boon"

Last Saturday Evan and I got to go on a hot air balloon ride. Marv's Body Shop sponsored a hot air balloon in the "Central Plains Hot Air Balloon Race" and since Evan is now part owner in the business we were the lucky ones that got to ride along.

We had to be out at the field at 5:30a.m.. Needless to say that didn't provide me with much sleep. We went to bed around 11/11:30p.m., Makenna was up to eat at 3:30a.m., and then the alarm went off at 4:30a.m.! It was well worth it though.

The hot air balloon race works like this: one balloonist takes off, then lands, and lays out an X. The other balloonists then take off and try to throw their "beanie" (like a bean bag) on the X to win.

Evan and I during the preparation time of getting the balloon ready

Evan was part of the crew that helped get the balloon ready for take off. To fill the balloon with air they run a fan and 2 people hold open the bottom of the balloon for the air to go into.

Look at those big muscles!

There were lots of balloons, so the field was very tight with all the balloons as they starting blowing them up with air.

Starting to set the balloon upright. The balloon comes upright by the heat of the fire, which also is what takes the balloon into the air.Up, up, and....away!

A look down at all the other balloons just taking off or getting ready for take off.

Depending on your height in the sky depends on what wind current you hit. In order to get to the X we had to stay pretty low to the ground as the wind had changed since the first balloon had taken off therefore most of our ride was not high in the sky.

What a view!

Coming back down. We had a nice landing, although the basket did bounce into a fence.

The crew followed us and helped as get the balloon down and put away.

After the balloon was all put away we participated in a "ceremony". The first balloonists could not really determine where they would land therefore they landed on someone's land. They also thought that it was the smoke that made the balloon fly (when really it was the heat from the fire), so they were covered in soot. The landowners saw this big balloon fall from the sky and these dirty, sooty people came out of it. They did not know what to think so they went running after them. The balloonists got away, but after that they decided they better come baring a gift. At this time champagne was created and so they brought this as their gift. Thus a tradition was made that after landing you were to be "baptised" with this gift. They fill up a glass with champagne, have you face towards the sun, and then you must kneel and pick up the glass (without your hands) and drink it. The pilot then says some things which I cannot remember exactly what he said, but something about thanks to God for arriving at the destination safely, etc. While you are drinking your champagne the pilot then pours some champagne on your head.

At the end the balloonist prayer is said:

"The Winds have Welcomed you with softness. The Sun has blessed you with his warm hands. You have flown so high and so well that God has joined you in your laughter and set you gently back again into the loving arms of Mother Earth."

We thought that Denver would enjoy seeing the balloons too and there was a race in the evening as well, so we took the kids in the evening to watch and for Evan to be extra hands to be a part of the crew if they needed him.

Daddy and Denver

Makenna hanging out in her stroller.

Denver and Mommy

Watching all the "boons" as Denver says.

"Look Dad, they went up high in the sky. Bye, bye!"

Here is a video of the balloon getting ready for take off. Towards the end of the video you can here Denver say "hot" as he could feel the heat from the flame.