'What a Guy Otta Do"

My dad often says "What a guy otta do..." followed by an idea to build or make something, or a guiness money making idea. We often say we ought to put all his ideas in a book. Sometimes he follows through with these guiness ideas and result is varied. He built/owns a homemade cannon that shoots bowling balls hundreds of yards up and forward. He also built this antique tractor that he proudly displays in parades and tractor shows etc. He now belongs to Spokane's Tractor Association. To celebrate Pioneer Day he led a little church parade in Spokane.

Notice the red rag in the back pocket, totally finishes the look! Love this guy, who could ask for a better dad.

All that is needed to complete this photo below is a pitch fork in my dad's hand and an apron on my mom! Can you believe my mom is 70 and my pa is 72 in October! They look so great!
My brother Chris and his wife Paula drove my Dad's model A car behing the tractor, which was pulling a trailer full of grand kids throwing out candy!
Maycie loved it! Her excitment is seen below!
My little man!
My blue eyed girl!
Here they are getting ready to lead the parade!
I love that my dad is so inventive and fun! He makes great memories!

Raspberry Fingers!

My mother has always kept, for as long as I can remember, a large raspberry patch. I have memories of having to get up early before the day got hot and pick raspberries for several hours. We used to put the raspberries on our fingers. I know there is a picture just like the one below of my brother doing the same thing as Nelson. These are not your dainty little raspberries. These are your bonified 'big ones'.
Check the dimple, love this boy!
Maycie is a diligent raspberry picker, this is her second year in a row. She stuck right with Grandma til' the job was done. She was very careful to only pick the ripe ones. She gave me strict instructions as to which ones those were. They had to be red, not pink.
How cute is this, Grandma Folsom and Maycie picking raspberries together, totally brings back memories. However, truth be told I did not enjoy picking like Maycie did, I used to evade this chore like no other.

Janie Girl!

Our little Jane is 20 months old today. It seems strange but tis' true. We can hardly call her baby Jane anymore. We finally got a new camera, our other has been on the blitz for awhile now. This afternoon I followed Jane around and tried to capture her little personality with our new camera. After just about every meal Jane comes back to help 'clean up'. She likes to eat the lefts overs, over and over again. She is my motivation to clean up quickly after meals. Here she is with a cob of corn after dinner tonight. She is my best eater to date!

Jane likes to point. She often will come to me and complain in her jibber jabbers about what one of her siblings is doing and she points to the culprit as she rats them out. It is pretty darn cute. She says lots of words. The word she says the most lately is OW. She often says it then comes to me to kiss her fingers. I hear ow about fifty times a day and it doesn't get old, it is cute every time. When asked what a cat says she replies " OOOOWWWW"! It is hands down her word as of late.
Kevin likes cookies and he especially likes Chocolate No-Bake cookies. He made some today. We typically sit with spoons and eat them before they have time to set up, we have no patience when it comes to sweets. Jane decided to for go the spoon today.

After eating 'trough style' she stood up and put her foot in a cookie. That was no problem for her she just ate if off of her foot. We were all dying laughing as we watched her.
Jane loves music and lately her favorite song has been 'The Dance' by Garth Brookes. She can be howling and Kevin starts to sing that song and she instantly stops and cuddles into his arms. It is a magical song. I should get it on video, you have to witness it to appreciate its effect.

Usually with the other kids by the time the youngest was 20 months old I am six months pregnant. It has been nice to really enjoy this age without being sick with a pregnancy.

When I was pregnant with Jane I had placenta previa and so there was high risk issues we were dealing with. During this time I asked Kevin for a blessing. This is something that is done in our church. It is where he places his hands upon my head and speaks a blessing. He blessed me that all would go fine with the pregnancy, that the doctors would do what they needed to in order to avoid problems and he also blessed that the new child would be a joy to our family. Jane has truly been a little joy to our family, collectively and individually. We are so happy to have her.