May visitors

Living in Laramie has its perks--one of them being that we are on the way to many places, so we get lots of passing-through visitors. We are also a destination to visit--who would have thought little ol' Laramie had so much to offer?

My Aunt Lisa and Uncle Ned stopped by for a couple of days. They are serious birders, so walking around the property was very enlightening--I never knew we had so many different types of birds!

Aunt Lisa meeting her namesake, Aunt Lisa III (Aunt Lisa II was one of our original 6 chickens back in MN). The kids love to say that "Aunt Lisa lays green eggs."

Uncle Cookie reading to the little boys--they could have had him reading all day! They snuggled right up to him like he was their long-lost best buddy.

Next to visit was Papa!! The first gift of Papa was a .22 rifle. Sadly, we didn't get to shoot it with him while he was here...and I still need to set up a target and table on the hill.

Ruthie took right to Dad, and they were best buds the whole time he was here. She loves my hair--always curling it around her fingers while nursing or snuggling. She loved Dad's beard in the same way, and I think there is a sense of security in his big hands. Whatever it is, she just loves him!

While Dad was here he and Stephen (and various children) started work on the duck house, fixed up the pig pen (ooh, ooh! I helped with this one!) and worked on the tractor. Because what's a vacation without a little bit of work? Dad took a work-ation...

Dad took each of the kids on a "Papa date"--I think every date involved a visit to Rocket Fizz (a candy and soda pop store). They also went out for lunch and dinner, shopped at the thrift store, went to a movie and the Ivinson Mansion...they all had so much fun together. And of course they read books.

Our penultimate Papa date was a family visit to the Territorial Prison. When I saw this sign, I just had to get a picture! I think Mom would've gotten a kick out of it, too. :)

For my Papa date Dad, Elise, Mason and I went to a conceal & carry gun class and then had pizza. I'd love to be more comfortable shooting my gun, but alas, that requires more time than I currently have. We were all sad to see him go. Maybe we'll get Thanksgiving together again this November (and we can go to the shooting range)!

Lincoln parrot

Lincoln kept spacing out while repeating scriptures the other morning. Stephen finally asked, "Lincoln, are you paying attention?" Lincoln, hearing his name, parroted back, "Lincoln, are you paying attention?", then burst into laughter when he realized what he had done.

It's kind of a relief to have a quote to record for him--for weeks he has been trying to say witty and clever things for me to quote on the blog. He'll say something he things is funny and immediately remind me to record it on the blog, which in itself it hilarious.

Tick-tock

The other day I found a little beetle crawling in Trevor's hair. Very uncharacteristically, I picked it out all by myself. (Usually I get Sammy to take care of bug removal.) As I went to flick it outside, Stephen commented on how brave I was. I replied, "Well, it's small, and NOT a tick."

Trevor perked up at this comment and innocently asked, "Was it a tock?"