Spencer Comes to Visit!!

We had a special time with a former NHM child. Spencer was almost 1 when he left the mission. He is 9 years old now and all though we have spent time with him before, this was the first overnight visit we had together. It was so much fun reuniting with him and making new memories. He is the "Son of our Heart". We love you Spencer!!

Snapshots from our 4 days together....

Spencer and Bradley found a red ant hill and destroyed it with what they called the "Rock of Death!"

One evening there was a beautiful rainbow that lasted around an hour. The children took their ice cream cones and admired it from the fort. It was really neat.

Spencer licks the chocolate off the spatula. He loved the Scotcharoo Bars I made.

Each day he would chat with his Auntie and Uncle and fill them in on the fun that happened that day.

Catching Frogs!!

While working at the Organic Farm on Thursday morning, these boys had a blast catching frogs in the irrigation ditch. Brad and Spencer tried to sneak 3 little frogs along home in the van. I pulled off to the side of the road and explained that in this family we do "Catch and Release!!" They put them into the irrigation ditch to live out the rest of their little froggy lives!

The Dinosaur Museum in Canon City

I took the children to the Dinosaur Museum. They have a great children's discovery and learning room with lots of hands on things to do. The extra girl is Sierra and she is spending 4 weeks with our neighbor this summer. She is 13 and she and Tori enjoyed playing together.

Frozen T-Shirt Race!

I made t-shirts wet, wrung them out a little and folded them, placing them between pieces of wax paper. Then I put them in the freezer for a few days. On this hot day we pulled them out and each child was to unfold their t-shirt and put it on. What a laugh!! There were all kinds of interesting ways to warm up the shirts, with shrieks of "It's freezing me!" as we raced to see who could be first.

AHHHHH, That's COLD!!!!!!!!!!

Making Tie Dyed t-shirts

The girls were so into dyeing things, that they brought out lots of other garments to dye. Kelly would have dyed her entire wardrobe if I would have let her!

Showing off their t-shirts......

Buddies....these boys had a great time playing together, acting crazy and even testing each others patience!

Local Ice Cream Festival & Competition!

So what did we do to enter an ice cream competition? Our entry fee was a gallon of each ice cream flavor we wanted to have judged and that was served to the public. We entered cookies and cream, vanilla, and coffee ice cream. Any one could come and purchase an ice cream cup, spoon and 10 tickets for $1.00. They walked around and tasted ice cream, with each scoop requiring one ticket. They could vote for which one they thought was the best and that was called a People's Choice Award. We also were judged by a panel of 3 judges to determine 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Even though we didn't win any prizes, we had a fun trying and had a great day!

We needed to make another batch of coffee and cookies and cream.
Ummmmm....this is tasty!

Brad listens to the band.....

another ice cream booth....

Kelly JOY......

This little girl has the correct middle name! She brings so much JOY to those around her. Her favorite colors are pink, purple and white, while her Baby Emma and her "horse" Dandy are the toys of choice right now. Singing and with great enthusiasm, she proclaims to the world how much she loves Jesus. Her favorite song at this time, "Our God is an Awesome God!" She shows me every day how to LOVE LIFE and live it to the FULLEST! Here is a glimpse of our Kelly!!

More of our Kelly.......