Happy Pioneer Day!

Every year we go to the San Luis Valley in southern Colorado to celebrate the 24th of July: Pioneer Day! This year was especially fun because Evan loved the events. Especially the parade. Getting candy is, of course, the best part of any parade. Evan hoarded as much as he could.

He also loved the horses and flags. Here's everyone at the parade.

Other favorite 24th of July events are the many delicious family meals, hanging out at the cabin, seeing all the extended family, staying with Great-Grandma Decker (Wawa), and spending A LOT of time throwing rocks in the river. Somehow we don't have pictures of any of these things. Next year I promise to be a better picture taker.

What we do have pictures of are the results of a very dusty 4-wheeler ride (yet none of the ride itself):

I think we do have some photos on Jayson's phone. I'll try to post them soon. Anyway, we had a fabulous 24th and can't wait for next year!

It's a Girl!

Yes, we are having a girl. I will have to change the button on my blog. . . We can't wait to meet her!

Summer Update

My sister, Erica, says that I never post. I guess this is true. So here's an update of some of our summer adventures.

In June, Evan and I went to Colorado to celebrate my cousin, David, returning from an LDS mission. Then we stayed for a week with Papa and Nana Decker. Somehow we didn't get very many pictures of this event, but here's the ones we have.

Evan loved being at Nana's!


Here is Nana and Evan at the cabin.

Evan and his cousin, James.

We went to the park in Montrose to see the ducks. Twice, because it was so awesome!

Later, Erica came and stayed with us. We played in the pool and went to Wheeler Farm.



Evan's favorite part of the the farm were the ducks.

Erica was here on the 4th of July. In the morning, we went for a long drive into the mountains behind our house. We drove all the way to the top where we could see the valley and the copper mine. It was pretty fun, but the three of us weren't brave enough to get out because of the gale force winds.

Later, we had Brian, Jen, and Isaac over for a bbq and some kid fireworks. Here's Evan and Isaac.


Evan didn't like the loud fireworks.


He is happy with Daddy, though!



Finally, I got a bright blue bike for my birthday! And also a trailer to pull Evan along.

More spring events. . .

Going to the zoo:


We thought Evan would love the zoo because of the animals (isn't that why YOU go to the zoo?)
Instead, he didn't really care about animals, but loved the cool fences that they have at the zoo.

Another favorite feature of the zoo is the playground.

Mother's Day:
We celebrated mother's day at our house this year. Here is mother Deb:

And here is my little family!

The next big summer party was Zach's graduation party. Here I am with Grandma Decker.

And my good friend from high school, Wendy Clasen. Her brother graduated, too, and they shared the party.

Evan really loves his cousin James. And this cool table that's just his size.

And, finally, for some spring news: we are expecting another baby in December! We are very excited and hope by then Evan has learned to share and not always have Mom hold him and be very unselfish. We'll see how that goes.

Graduation

This was supposed to be a bigger post, but for some reason blogger won't let me add any more photos. So here are some pictures of Uncle Zach's recent high school graduation. Another post will follow.

Zach's Graduation:

Here is Zach giving his valedictory address.


Here we are with the new graduate.

Sitting in the stands, listening intently to graduation.

And now, a couple of random photos of Evan's favorite pastimes.

Playing in the car.

And taking a bath.

20 words

That's right. Evan can now say 20 words, so I'm recording them for posterity's sake.

The Criteria: He must come up with the word on his own, not just imitate it.
He can imitate lots of sounds.

So . . . here they are. Most are pretty standard (I assume, anyway). Some may surprise you.

1. Clock
2. Light
3. Car
4. Tree (this one has since disappeared from his vocabulary)
5. Cracker
6. Button
7. Outside
8. Guitar (it sounds like car-car)
9. Bird
10. Card (as in credit card, a favorite plaything. I'm not a bad parent. Just teaching him to live in the real world.)
11. Down
12. Shoe
13. Quack-quack
14. Book
15. Ball
16. Dot (there are lots of dots in his life. . .)
17. Dad
18. Dog
19. Helicopter (You saw it right!! Can your kid say that? It sounds like ah-cah.)
20. Key

Note the absence of 'mama.' We think he's a little confused. Evan seems to think 'da' refers to either parent. He demonstrated this at church on Sunday. I was playing the organ, and he pointed to me and loudly exclaimed, "Da! Da!" Pretty cute, but we definitely need to straighten him out.

Easter

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. I am so grateful for my Savior and his resurrection. We had a wonderful time celebrating this special day.


On Saturday morning, the Easter bunny came!


Evan was delighted with his surprises.


Once he got the idea, he loved finding the eggs.


And eating the contents.


He loved the Book of Mormon that he received.

It was definitely a good time.

Then, on Sunday, we had a special (and delicious) dinner at Grammy O's house.

Evan is an equal-opportunity mess maker. He'll clean out your cabinets, anytime, anywhere.

We hope you had a wonderful Easter, too!