Nina and Papa came to town!

Ben and Tina will probably want to kill me when they see I've placed them front and center on this post, but I just thought this was such a cute picture of the two of them! They came to see us for about a week and we loved having them!
Nina and Papa took Jemma to the duck pond one morning while I was at a doctors appointment with little Carter. She is such an active little thing it is SOOOOOO difficult to get decent pictures of her these days...I thought this was a cute one they took while feeding the ducks...I like that you can see her shadow...
On the Saturday they were with us, the five of us (Ben, Tina, Brandon, me and Carter...we left Jemma with her Aunt Jewels) went to Jackson to see the Bar J Chuckwagon show. It's a western style meal with country/old cowboy style music and stand-up comedy...it's all about the entertainment. If you ever have a chance to go, these guys are pretty darn good.
Jemma has a thing for sword fighting, but only with a play broom and an over-sized toothbrush from my dental hygiene school days...we still don't know where she learned to sword fight. Anyway, she had Papa dueling with her just minutes after he and Nina got inside the house.
If you're wondering why I posted a picture of these guys when Jemma's head was turned, it's because she would never look at the camera unless she was making an unpleasant facial expression...she must be two.
It was a miracle to have Jemma looking at the camera AND smiling! This one is going in a frame. It might be a while before we get all of us looking at the camera and smiling again...especially as we continue to increase in numbers.
Is that not adorable!? If only we had Papa in the picture too! Thanks again for coming to see us! We had tons of fun and were sad to see you go. Love you guys!

"THE" Project

Last summer, a family in our neighborhood moved out and before they left, they put a whole bunch of garbage behind their house in the alley of which included an old door. Well, months after they left, I decided that I would aleve the neighborhood of one piece of all that trash and I dragged the old door home into our garage. At that point, it was COVERED in mud. Jemma and I washed all the mud off and then I later painted and distressed it (with the intent to someday make it into a corner shelf). Well, almost a year later, Brandon's parents came to visit us and his dad, Ben is a huge handy-man...he can make ANYTHING! I'm serious! So, here are a few pictures of the transformation. I just forgot to get a shot of it before it got cut in half...just picture a regular door...well, not entirely regular...it has an old brass door handle and the hinges are all rusty...very cool. Jemma - helper or hinderance?Top and bottom shelves attached.
Another Shelf!!
The master carpenter at work.
All done, painted, distressed and in the house! I love it tons! Ben did a better job than I ever could have hoped for! I wish you could all see it up close. There's molding/trim on the ends of the shelves and the old door handle and hinges add tons of character. Thanks soooooo much for your time and talent Ben!

The Reed's came to town!

We had Granddad and Grandma Reed with Aunt Heather and Uncle Austin come visit our family for the last five days. We barbequed, bowled, watched movies, went shopping, played with Jemma, held Carter, played with Jemma, changed Carter, played with Jemma and enjoyed Carter. :o)

Jemma at the park...Grandma Debbie was able to get this shot of her smiling on the swing because Uncle Austin was on the swing next to her making her laugh! Thanks Austin for helping us capture this "Kodak Moment".

Jemma loves slides! Whenever we drive by a park, she says "SLIDES!"

Grandma Debbie with Carter the Sunday we blessed him. The little sweater he's wearing was made by the wife of the dentist I work for. In fact, she has Angora rabbits that she harvests the fur from, makes into yarn, has dyed and then knits them into little keepsakes. How talented is that! I'm glad we recieved one of the benefits of her hobby/talent. He sure looked handsome!

Aunt Heather and Carter.

Just a cute shot of Jemma and Daddy on Sunday.

Granddad Reed and a sleepy Baby Carter.

Uncle Austin and Jemma on our walk to the park.

Thanks for coming to visit us!

Photo Shoot

So, my sister Melanie is FAMOUS (at least within our family) for taking random/cool photos. If you want some hard evidence, visit her blog and scroll down through some of her pics...her and her friend Leanne are pretty creative. But to get to the point, her and Jemma took these pictures while Melanie was here and I thought they were so cute! Perfect for a scrapbook page! Thanks Mel for sharing these pics with me!