Eloise and I had a great time in Georgia this weekend. Congratulations Chris and Anna Kathryn on their marriage! We had a such a great time celebrating with them and seeing all of our dear Ranch friends. It was a reunion to remember! Margaret became "Aunt Margaret" for the weekend as she helped me get Eloise everywhere we needed to go without crying. Then we spent some time in Atlanta. We saw Aunt Maggie, Uncle Tim, Millie, and Justin on Sunday evening (sorry we didn't get a picture of that!!) and spent Monday hanging out with Jen. It was a great time! Now we're home safe and resting.

Happy Birthday Alex...and News

Sunday was Alex' 29th birthday. We had a great day! He married Kristen and Peter Ford, friends from Vero and W&L, and we enjoyed the reception very much. The entire event was perfect! Congratulations to them! Eloise stayed with the Keiths and did a fantastic job. I was thrilled that she did so well so that we could go out alone. Pictured here is Alex's extreme birthday basket from my mom. Thanks for the snacks and balloons mom...we will enjoy them from weeks to come. Very yummy!

In other news, we are moving to Washington DC in September. We are sad to leave this beautiful valley but are so excited to join Paul and Mary Zahl in their ministry there. The church is All Saints Episcopal Church in Chevy Chase Md and is a thriving congregation. We're also excited to explore DC--what a cool city to live in.

Finally, Arches

We made it to Arches National Park on Friday afternoon. By this time Eloise was done with the car seat and the back pack. However, we still persevered and made it through the park to see the magnificent arches. The sun was warm and we dreaded the thought of returning home. Oh well, every road trip has to have an end.

Bryce Canyon

Wow--Bryce Canyon is AWESOME! These rock formations are called hoodoos...some say they look like spires, some say they look like armies of men, I think they look like God picked up a handful of sand and sprinkled it down in piles. Whatever it looks like to you, it looks awesome! We loved hiking through the hoodoos. Eloise was a real princess.

Zion

After the Grand Canyon, we went to Zion National Park in Utah. It was really cool b/c the park has two very distinct parts to it. One is a really great canyon that you can take a shuttle in to and hike. The second part looks like melted lava. While hiking here Eloise learned how to wiggle out of the back pack...I thought it was a fluke until she did it again in Moab!

Grand Canyon

We're home from The Large Family Wild West Tour--it was awesome!! We loved the freedom of the road and each national park was magnificent. I'm going to do 4 posts for the 4 parks. After 10 hours in the car we finally arrived at the Grand Canyon only to wake up the next morning to 4 inches of snow--NO! We went south hoping to escape the snow! We did, however, get to see the clouds lift out of the canyon and turn in to a beautiful day. It was an amazing sight We also a good amount of wildlife. Here we have a California condor, an endangered species. At one time there were only 22 left in the world. We also so a wild goat and some elk at the Grand Canyon. Of the 4 parks, the Grand Canyon is definitely the most stunning. I don't think you could ever get used to how big it is.

More to show and off we go!

Here are some fun photos from the past few weeks. Our little girl is running, spinning, walking backwards, and yelling "NO" and "GO" very loudly. We're headed off to the Grand Canyon and other Utah national parks tomorrow. Can't wait to share photos from that! Happy Mothers Day everyone!

As I promised!

Erin gets married! Hooray!

Nothing to show...yet

Hello all! I'm sorry I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks. We went to New Orleans for Erin and Parker's wedding a couple of weekends ago. I wish I had some photos to share from that! My camera did make it to New Orleans but my battery did not. Bummer! My mom took some photos and some friends at the wedding said they'd send some to me. I hope to share some photos soon b/c it was a splendid event! We all had lots of fun and Eloise was a doll. She handled the traveling like a pro and was on her best behavior. Grandad and GiGi also loved spending time with her. We're back home momentarily and are headed to the Grand Canyon next week. I'll be sure to bring my camera and battery then!

Talking

Hair part 2

Still working on Eloise's hair.

Attempt #1





Attempt #2

Here comes the sun!

First, we had a great time at the Young Life Camp in Buena Vista this past weekend. We went with 5 of our youths and enjoyed some family time as well. Nice R&R. Nice pool, eh? Second, Eloise and I celebrated the end of the snow in our backyard on Monday. It's Spring and we love being outside!

Super Eloise!

Pajama cape, lightning speed, superhero stare, grumblings about her silly dad.

"You don't have HAIR" --Bob the Tomato

Eloise now has a LOT of hair and she definitely needs her hairbrush (Veggie Tales, anyone?). Here is one of my most current solutions to the craziness--hair clips in the front. They look adorable! but only last for about 20 minutes. This is Eloise's version of before and after photos that you see on TLC television programs and hair dye boxes (just ask Jen and Kathryn about that one--are you reading this blog...)
And yes, as you might have noticed on your nightly weather report, we are still getting dumped on out here. We're in the midst of a storm that should drop about 1 foot. The upside is this--we're going skiing tomorrow! Our last outing of the year (mountain closes Sunday despite the copious amount of snow). Hope everyone else is enjoying some sun right about now...

Compromised!

As you might have noticed, our blog has a virus. I've noticed other blogspots have the same thing. Do not click on any of the links in the comment portion of the blog. Sorry about that!