Noah's Ark, Paging Noah's Ark

Boy, that Wyoming weather just let loose tonight. All of a sudden, I could hear rain pelting the front door. The front door is set back three feet under an overhang. Not only was it raining hard, but that Wyoming wind was blowing it sideways!
Dani is the fun, impulsive one in our family, very giggly, and she couldn't resist running out into the storm.

Monkey see, monkey do, and Connor joined her. They were only out there about 10 seconds and got soaking wet!

It all blew over in about 30 to 45 minutes, and then Dani took this beautiful picture of our Wyoming sunset.

P.S. It's official - we will be there for the campout in August! Zen's family reunion is the week before, so I'll be able to bring myself and all my heathens for the Cox reunion. I'm not sure if Zen will be able to make it, but I'll be there with my tent, and lots of valium (it's a joke.)

Cake In Your Face!!

Here's our little party we had for Emma on Sunday. Super simple, but still fun:


It's the quickest, easiest idea I could come up with (sorry, can't stand store-bought cakes with the 99% grease icing), and they were pretty yummy.

Singing happy birthday.







Look, we're messy, too!!

Dani was being so silly, wanting to have a messy face just like Emma. Emma also had fun gnawing on the wax candle. Mmmm, reminds me of crayons...


Grammie (my Mom) sent some cute outfits for Emma. We're so lame, we forgot to buy anything for Emma, except cake.

But Emma's favorite present was the musical card Grammie sent. Deega has been wandering around the house for several days, listening to "Winnie-the-Pooh" music and dancing, while I sing along with the card for her. I'll have to post some pics of that. The card is pretty mangled, but still playing music.

Happy Father's Day

Good Father's Day this year, but then I'm not Zen, so maybe I can get him to sum up his Father's Day in the comments (hint, hint).

We also finally had Foofie's birthday-cake-in-your-face little family party, but I'll blog that one tomorrow, 'cause it's already past midnight.

My Mom sent Zen this really cool book about American Special Forces soldiers on horseback in Afghanistan. I think he really liked it. I also got Zen the "Pursuit of Happyness" movie with Will Smith, a great movie about fathers and never giving up.

Dani's card (see below).

Now, you know I'm all about the funny cards, and I found so many good ones this year, Zen got 4 cards, one from each of his kids:




I dig the sound cards these days. Some of them are really funny. When you open this Darth Vader card, you get the infamous breathing, with him saying, "I AM YOUR FATHER!!!" Put it all together, and it makes this card hilarious!



Mom also sent Zen a funny Simpson's card, but Connor carried it off somewhere. I'll scan it and post it tomorrow if I can find it.

I also talked to my Dad on the phone, and afterwards, I found myself wishing I had the dough to take him and Kathy for a trip to see his Mom. Now that he is on oxygen and his legs are in constant pain, his mobility is even more limited, but a junkload of dough would go a long way towards getting him down to Bullhead City. It would take some special travel arrangements to make that happen. But, at the very least, I should call him more often.

Sorry, not anything deep to say on Father's Day, except I just feel gratitude for the men in my life. I'm thankful for my hard-working husband, my great father-in-law, and for the great memories my own father gave to me growing up.

One Year Old!

Emma Foofie-Loo Bunny Deega Diggs
Happy Birthday!

One Year Old

This is my favorite place to take pictures at my house - right by the wood fence in the front yard. It has been so rainy lately, so we were lucky to get a few pics done yesterday on her birthday. We're waiting to do the actual b-day party with the traditional cake-in-your-face when Zen can be here. He should be in from the field Friday or Saturday.



"Don't mess with a girl's binky."


Eleven Months Old

Ten Months Old

Nine Months Old

Eight Months Old

Seven Months Old

Six Months Old

Five Months Old

Four Months Old

Three Months Old

Two Months Old

One Month Old

Born one year ago!

Learning to Go Down the Stairs

We've been trying to get Emma to go down the stairs for a long time now, and today she was finally willing to do it herself, just in time to be one year old tomorrow!




Midway, attempting the 2nd half.

The Little "Baby" That Could.

All the way to the bottom. Success!!

Boneless

Babies and toddlers can pick the weirdest places to just drop down and sleep. Here are a few pics I missed with my recent blogging laziness.

Emma fell asleep on the coffee table, of all places.

Cutie Patootie. 8 June 09

Scottish Festival 12-13 June '09

There should be something for everyone here - 20+ pics!!! Enjoy!


Friday night at the Tatoo, drum majors tossing their sticks/batons high.

No wonder he collected some phone #'s, what a good-lookin' kid!

Foofie-Loo happy to be out of the car and walking everywhere!

Connor and Dani dancing at the tatoo. Zen and I took the babies home early when it started to rain, but Dani and Gil stayed with Grammie to listen to the Wicked Tinkers.

Liz and Zen, Saturday at noon for the welcome/clan presentations.

Love those bagpipes and Scottish kilts!

The drum majors and bagpipe bands. The announcer made a joke about the "littlest drum major", the small boy you see here.

Our clan, the MacGregor's, "Royal Is My Race".

The kids decided to walk with Grammie in the clan parade.

Dani and Connor, but I don't think he was ready to wait so long for his turn to march.

Daddy has such good, big shoulders.

Emma out in the grass by the MacGregor clan tent.

Connnor had a blast running around the tent, playing "catch me if you can" with me, the family paparazzi.

My pretty Dani.

Katy, Liz, and Avy. Good to see the kilt!

Sedona, snacking on Grammie's provisions. Thanks for the snacks, they were a lifesaver, no to mention a pocketbook saver!

Hey, Chris, thanks for cheesin' it up for the camera! And good to see your Dad, too.

Avy, happy to show off her treasures from the Scottish Festival vendors.

Thanks for the seefood Connor. NOT.

Dude, traveling with Emma is just torture. She screeches her head off almost non-stop, wanting to get out of her seat. So, even though it was only 25-30 min. from home, we couldn't take it anymore, and we stopped at Little America for a break.

They had a nice playground there.

Emma was happy to move around, and taste wood chips. Uhghh.

Hope to be at the Scottish Festival next year! We'll see what loot Mom and Jane pick up in Scotland this summer!