Josiah's 5!

This is a little late in coming but someone very special had a birthday in our home on the 2nd of July! Josiah is now counting every finger on his hand to get to his age...which could mean he is a handful! :) He is such a joy and keeps us all smiling! We love him to death...he's a keeper! :)

Josiah with his baseball cake

David helping pull the candles out of the cake

Two little boys trying thier hardest to fly! :)

Here's a Laugh :)

Tiny Town

We weren't that desperate to make it to Tiny Town, but it was a lot of fun...
Aunt Angie, Alexandria and Grandee made a quick trip to visit us a couple weeks ago and this was one of the outings during their stay.

A group picture with everyone looking at the camera!

Cutest thing to ever find smiling out a window...

It was so much fun to see all the little people running from house to house. Alexandria, Josiah and David in particular enjoyed finding the houses they could fit in. This picture was of them inside one of the churches.

Most of the houses have been there for many years. Some of them you can actually get inside of (if you're small enough) and the ones that are closed up have appropriate decorations inside. This barn was the site of a square dance.

The boys - we found out that they are very well trained when it comes to picture taking. For the most part, they'll patiently be posed and re-posed and then sit still while the shutter clicks multiple times.

Me with one of my boys in front of a very picturesque location.

The Messrs. Mischief - here proving that they can hold still :)

Another of my boys who really is almost as tall as I am.

Alexandria was so excited by all of the houses that were her size.

Four boys in the Opera House.

We capped off our visit with a ride on the Tiny Town Train. The boys rode in the caboose. Believe it or not, we have pictures from years back of Sarah and I in this caboose.

They have some humorous decorations along the train route.

Aunt Angie and Mom

Baseball and Boots

David loves playing baseball with his brothers.

He also likes his cowboy boots! :)

Conference Highlights

The homeschool conference is one of the biggest events of our year. This year was not an exception. The speakers we were able to listen to were challenging and brought wonderful messages, we had fun browsing the vendor hall (I - Anna - made it out relatively unscathed with only four books; that makes it approximately one book per 10 minutes of shopping :), and on Friday evening we had the pleasure of attending the special concert featuring the Colorado Wranglers and the von Trapp Children. We actually met the von Trapps at the first Father/Daughter Retreat, got to talk with them when they came for the 20th anniversary conference a few years back and were pleasantly surprised that they remembered us from those occasions. Despite being seasoned international performers, they are unpretentious and easy to talk with.

Group picture

I think here we were discussing the different foods they've had to try during their travels.
The one that got the worst reviews was liver mush, from right here in the USA.

After the concert with their accompanist.

Having too much fun with Mr. and Mrs. Chapa - only you can't see him. Those smiles should have broken our faces because Mr. Chapa was behind Ben (who was taking our picture) crossing his eyes and pulling Ben's ears up to look elfish. :)

Dad was Mr. Klicka's assistant for the weekend and here Dad is introducing the boys to him.

Mr. Chapa displaying his menagerie like a veritable zoo-keeper.
All the girls deny being wild things. :D

Many faces of Beth! :)

Elisabeth is one month old!

It's hard to believe that Beth is already a month old (actually...a little over a month now :). She is the most precious little girl around and still very much a snuggle bug! Here is a picture Becca got of her on the day she turned one month! :)

Oh and she is giving us a lot more smiles now! :)