Grandma and Grandpa Zerbe + BBQ

On the way home from camping, we decided it would be nice to go see Kaleb's Grandma and Grandpa Zerbe! The weather was great, it was fairly early in the day, so we stopped by - only to find that they were having a get together and a BBQ! How could we pass that up (especially since Sindy is an amazing cook!) From the moment we got there Kaleb was attached to Grandpa Greg's leg! They ran around in circles, playing with the dogs, eating snacks, meeting people, and being silly! Kaleb had a great time! Everyone doted on Cameron and her red hair and fair skin, saying she was just adorable! Joe and I met and mingled with everyone and just enjoyed being outside and eating amazingly good food (especially these little "poppers" - peppers with cream cheese and sausage filling!!! AWESOME) I was able to finally get some good photos of them with Kaleb, and quite a few of them! Long overdue! Here are a few...

Kaleb sitting with Grandpa

Silly faces with Grandpa!

"Smile!" with Grandma

Daddy with Grandpa's sunglasses on - "Musical Glasses!" Although, Kaleb held on to these for a long while!

Slapping game with Grandpa, YIKES!! Kaleb was excited to be there and VERY wound up! Luckily Greg and Sindy have the energy to keep up!! Espeecially Greg, he is a big kid himself!!

Silly Faces! (Kaleb took these pictures!)

Kaleb helping in the kitchen

Grandma and Kaleb racing to the creek to throw the ball in for the dogs!

Kaleb outside by the grill (and Grandpa!)

1st of Many!

Well we have officially started off our summer of camping! As always our annual summer kickoff camping trip was a blast! We headed up to Sprague Lake for a fun weekend of camping, fishing, smores, tanning (burning), and good old fashioned fun! It was a blast! Me, Joe, Kaleb, Cameron, Katie, Dad, Mom, Grandpa Smith, Uncle Russ, Aunt Lori and Riley all made it up to spend time together and play games (we even got Grandpa to play pickle ball!!) Although the fishing was slow, we spent many hours on the boat trolling and managed to catch a few very nice sized rainbow trout! Both kids had a blast, Cameron ate lots of goodies and Kaleb enjoyed fishing, Grandma, treats, Grandma, the sunshine, Grandma, no naps, and GRANDMA!!! hehe...here are some pictures... (I will get more up later but its late and I gotta get to bed!)

OH! And Kaleb learned the joy of painting rocks this weekend! I have an awesome selection of ladybug rocks he painted for me!! Aunt Lori brought all the stuff and showed him how to do it! I remember when I was a kid and she would let me paint rocks with her!!! It was great!

Thunderstorms!!

Monday night we had an incredible thunderstorm come through Troy! Joe and I loaded the kids up in the car to watch "God's fireworks"! We took the opportunity to explain the lightning and thunder to Kaleb. To teach him of the beauty as well as the dangers of lightning. We ended up seeing one of the most amazing lightning shows I have ever seen! I had my digital camera (so the photos arent spectacular) and we were able to record some footage that I was able to extract some photos from! Here they are...

Potty Trained!

So it has been a little while - he hasnt had a pull up on in a little over a month! He has done so good - so long as he has boxer briefs "just like my daddy" he says with a huge smile! It is AWESOME to be down to one child in diapers and one that takes care of his own business!! I really really appreciate having only one child in diapers now, so does our bank account!! lol....

Well, being potty trained is awesome - but we recently encountered a problem that we really never thought about?! On our way back from collections the other night, our ever patient Kaleb pipes up say "Mom, I gotta go peeeeee"! Me and Joe in a slight panic, on the middle of the little highway, still 12 miles from home, find the nearest side road and explain to Kaleb that sometimes its ok to pee outside!! lol....

Here is how it went:

He knows he makes his daddy soooo proud!

Kaleb says "OUCH"

I am begining to think that Kaleb is my "aware" child gone "accident" child. Just last year he was so aware of his surroundings. Scared of everything that could or seemed like it could cause him potential danger/harm! He seemed so calculated in his stepping, how he held things, how he played, all trying to make sure nothing hurt him! But I think that we can officially say that that phase is over - because now, he trips, stumbles, falls, and runs into everything!!!! Sometimes on purpose, sometimes on accident! lol...I have always scrapped his little "boo boo's" with funny little notes commenting on them, and this is no different:

A couple days ago, Kaleb and his little friend Sy were outside playing. Sy is a little younger than Kaleb but he is very unafraid and Kaleb tries his best to keep up. Sy and Kaleb were walking on this little (maybe 12 inch) cement curb by the end of our yard (not in the road!) like a balance beam! Next thing I know I see Sy jump off and roll down the hill into the yard, Kaleb went to do the same and caughthis flip flop on the ledge and ran his shin down the whole curb. :( He got up quickly and seemed ok, but when he looked down to see how his leg was, he lost it! He started crying and running/limping over to me, screaming he hurt himself. I have to admit, of all the boo boo's this one was the hardest to see him get. He had the most pitiful look on his face and was so concerned that he just got his first "big boy boo boo". I picked him up and carried him to the couch to rest his battle wound! I bent over and spoke to Kaleb trying to make a bad moment for him a little better. Once I had him giggling, I ran to get my camera to take a picture of him! Here is the boo boo:

Sunshine!!

Today was absolutely beautiful! We had what felt like 70 degree weather with a nice little cool breeze, it felt wonderful! Me and Kaleb both woke up with the itch to be outside, so we loaded up at about 8:00 this morning and headed into Moscow to play at the East City Park. We played there for a few hours then came home. Once we were home, we still didnt want to waste the beautiful weather so we set a blanket down in the side yard, and soaked up the sun. Kaleb loved it, he explored the yard and surrounding areas while Cameron and I played on the blanket! We finally came inside at 3:30 in the afternoon! A nice long day outside! It is nice, Kaleb loves being outside, and it seems as though Cameron is most happy under the sun! Here are some pictures of our outting today!

Mother's Day!

So I forgot my camera so I dont have any pictures, but I thought I would still write a little bit about my wonderful mothers day. First, this sounds kind of funny (especially for Joe) but he got me an orbital sander! I know, most of you are thinking, "he got her a power tool for mothers day?" hehe...BUT - I needed it for my wood crafts! I kept borrowing Michele and Jesse's! He also got me some new scrapbooking papers and items. Once he gave me these, we got up and got the kids dressed for church. Church was great, we had great speakers, and then the young men gave all the mothers flowers! During primary we had all the mothers come in and the jr and sr primary sang a couple mothers day songs to their moms! It was adorable! Then, after church we took two loafs of bread (the last of our bread!) and drove down to Asotin, Wa. We went a little park where we came across 6 mother/father geese, and about 50 goslings! Me, Joe, and Kaleb (cameron watched from a blanket) threw bread at them until it was gone. Some were very brave and would get closer and closer, but most of them stayed about 6 feet away at all times! It was neat to see the mothers "honk" at the other geese when they tried to beat the little ones to the bread! Good mothers! Then we met up with my parents. Joe gave me his big pouty lipped, blue eyed sad face as he said "Em, can I go fishing with your dad? Please, but i wont if you dont want me to..but i - well i want to, if you will let me." hehe...So him and my dad went fishing for a little bit while Me, Mom, Cameron, Kaleb, and Katie went to the other park to play on the toys! It was nice, letting the kids play...as I watched them I thought, those two little children are what makes me who I am...I am not just a mother, I am their mother and I am so thankful for that. Then we went back to my parents house for some dinner. After dinner I gave my mother her presents: 5-6 new frames for her new house (and an IOU for some pictures of the kids), the movie: Australia (see it if you havent, its great), and the perfume "Halle" by Halle Berry. She loved it all! Then we watched "The Curious Case of Benjamine Button" and I must say it was not the ideal way to end mothers day! I cried and cried and cried at the end, I could hardly breathe! But, that aside, it was a great movie, very well done, the CG in it is amazing! Then we drove home and crawled into bed at about 1:00 am.

THEN....

Just when I though Joe was done - he cleaned the house, did the dishes, and did all the laundry! I couldn't believe it! He knows me all too well! I am one of those people that could do without gifts..I love it when he offers to help me with the house or kids!!! I love breaks! OH...and also, Monday night - I got an awesome long back rub! I am the luckiest woman in the world! :)

Storm Drive...

Earlier today there was a beautiful rainstorm moving through town. I say it was beautiful because the clouds where thick, the rain was hard, and the sky was the most beautiful mixture of blues, greens, browns, oranges, and blacks. So we decided to go for a drive, just get out of the stuffy house. We headed out of Troy, towards Deary, then on through to Helmer, and on still to Bovil. On our way back (just past Bovil) Joe turned onto a small dirt road and said he had a suprise for me. We seemed to go back further and further, through extremely thick forest! Then it opened up to the most beautiful two lakes. He said they were called the "blue lagoons". The kids were sleeping so we stepped outside (the rain had stopped) and once outside, we witnessed what has to be one of the most beautiful views on the planet. Joe summed it up quite nicely "if anyone ever questioned a higher power, they haven't seen this". I didnt have my camera with me, although I dont think a picture would have done it justice. To start off, the green fields and pine trees were so green it looked as though they had been brushed with a light green highlighter. It almost looked fake, like out of a fantasy movie! And the sunlight shining down seemed to shine on everything with a delicate ray, bringing life to everything it touched. Then we looked to the sky, we had made it to the storm front, to the east was beautiful crystal clear blue sky. To the north and south was the richest blue (almost aquamarine) sky you'd ever seen. It carried directly over us to a dark black/blue color. But to the west was the most beautiful array of clouds. They were light brown and looked as though someone had taken the time to hand paint giant pillows of perfectly smooth block shaped clouds. I dont really know how to explain the shape, I have never seen clouds like this before - they beat out the sky in Montgomery Alabama in 2000 when 5 tornado's surrounded the city we were in. It was beautiful. Joe and I just stood there looking all around in awe. There was even the remains of a vibrant rainbow to the north. BEAUTIFUL. And the lakes, they were this deep bright green color, stirred up from the rain, they just seemed to come alive. I wish everyone could have been there to see this. Then on the way home, not that this view wasnt enough already, we came across a wide variety of animals. We say several herds of deer (mulies and white tails), a little bunny rabbit, an otter (which I thought was so neat, I made Joe stop the car and watch it swim across the lake), a blue heron, an owl, a hawk, and a herd of 53 elk. What an amazing drive! Sometimes its hard to believe there could ever be somewhere more beautiful than this little town we call home.