Flying Dog

Now that Trixie, the yellow lab not pictured here, is recovered form her surgery, we have been able to get out and do more walking, and swimming! The dogs are getting old!  The still love to swim and jump in, as seen here, but they get tired so fast now!


Tafton has good command of the dogs.  They listen well and don't run over him when he has their toys.

The house is coming along!

The stone work is done on the outside of the house.  We are excited to get moved in as soon as possible.  It is looking like a few weeks yet before it will be done.  There seems to be a crush of little things that we are running into as they are putting on the finishing touches.  Issue with the sink in the island, the LED lights won't dim, etc!

Our dogs are so neglected!

Happy Birthday Scott

Happy Birthday, Scott!  It was fun!

High Speed!

Super fun shots of Tafton jumping into the pool! We had to have a talk about going feet first, he really wants to dive.

Funny things said

Avery and I raced to the bathroom and she won.
Me: "How did you get so fast?"
Avery: "My mommy made me that way."

Funny stuff our kids say.

Tafton's toenail is about to fall off from his accident in Mexico.  He asked,  "Is there a toenail Fairy?"
Angela: "No, sorry buddy. No toenail Fairy."

He just watched his buddy loose his first tooth so they have been talking about the tooth Fairy.

Tafton's Five Year Weekend!

What a fun weekend!

Tafton turned five with friends and family this weekend.  The Mesdag Family, (Lucas, Robyn , Caden, and Laina) came to Billings to hang out and catch up.  We haven't seen them since last summer down in San Diego.

In the morning in our front yard the sun hits these ornamental grass bunches and it looks so cool.  I convinced Tafton and Avery to stand in front of this one for a quick picture.  There are a definitely some things we are going to miss about this house.

Laina, Caden and Avery making cupcakes for Tafton's party.  The kids had so much together!

Laina, Robyn and Tafton frosting the cupcakes.  Robyn is an amazing cook!  We tried to get her to stay to be our chef, we even offer to take Lucas in too, because we knew they come as a package deal! :)  But with their better judgement, they graciously declined.  I think we just need to sweeten the pot a little, because not only can she cook, but talk about crafty!  Angela and Robyn sewed skirts and purses, she taught us how to make kettle corn AND she showed me how to set up this blog!

Tafton's birthday party was a bowling party at Fireside Lanes.  He was excited to go bowling with his friends.  There were plenty of open lanes, turns out the summer is the slow time for the bowling alley.  I would have thought people would want to come in and enjoy the air conditioning.

Mario Kart cupcakes.  Tafton loves to play the Wii.  We really try to limit the amount of time he gets to play, so he thinks about it a lot!  He has been asking for a Mario Kart cake for this party, but we thought cupcakes would be easier at the bowling alley.

His new favorite game!  Wipeout!

The adults bowled too.  Even Grandma Hirt!  Turns out William's dad, Adrian, is a lane shark!  He rolled a huge game with style!

We tried to go to the hot air balloon "glow" in the evening, but it was a little windy and it was getting late enough for the kids, (and the adults) that we bailed before it got started.  The kids had fun rolling down the big hill.

Caden and Tafton playing Bean bags.  Apparently, in other parts of the country this game is called "corn hole."  Lucas gave me a funny look when Angela asked the kids if they wanted go outside and "play corn hole?"

Grandma gave Tafton a pogo stick for his birthday.  Before his birthday, she told me she had got that for him and I expressed my concern about broken arms or other injuries I could fore see.  She came back with, "Well it's either he sits inside playing video games or he goes outside and plays with the pogo stick."  Touche', Grandma, touche'!

We wrapped the weekend with a visit to The Oasis!  It's a fun water park that our kids are the perfect age for.  There are not many big kid activities at this park, so it works great right now.  Caden and Laina are excellent swimmers.  I think Tafton was inspired because he was jumping off the side and having a blast with Caden!

Robyn and Angela went down the one big slide, all suites stayed on!