4th Of July 2009

We had a wonderful 4th this year. It was both relaxing and enjoyable.

The first thing we did was a wedding. Some good friends of our's (Matt & Stacie. Matt is Jake's brother. Jake got married earlier this summer in a previous post.) got married in the afternoon. The wedding was small but very nice. It was out at a little Lutheran church in Shepherd.

Here's Nell & Izzie after the ceremony hanging out and mingling with folks.


After the ceremony and mingling were through we headed over to the park for the reception. It was very hot, but luckily we had shade to sit in.


There was food, music, dancing, presents and good company to enjoy. Here's Izzie and Lynnell playing on the merry-go-round with some of the other kids.


After the wedding we went home and took a nap to prepare for a great night of fun at Celebrate Freedom. Celebrate Freedom is an excellent community event in Billings put on by Harvest Church in the heights. When we got there we bought some burgers and had dinner. Then we wondered around visiting with friends buying excellent stuff like cotton candy and ice cream. After some wondering we decided that we better go stake out our spot to watch the fireworks. Here's Nell and Izzie enjoying some cotton candy while we waited for the show to begin.


As you can see, the skies don't look good. In fact about five minutes later the furry was unleashed. It was an epoch storm of torrential proportions. The rain beat down like it wanted through the earth and the lighting was all over the place. Most of the strikes were within a mile or so. Unfortunately one strike hit about 200 feet from us, and we later learned that it had struck and killed a young man at the event. We knew something was up when we saw people running just after it had struck; then the ambulances showed up. Our hearts went out to the family who are friends of friends.


The storm lasted about 10 minutes or so. While most people crowded into the tents, canopies, cars and outhouses that were in the area we just sat it out in the wide open. We came out pretty dry. Our feet were a little wet and maybe a bit on Lynnell and I's sides, but we did pretty good. Here we are happy as can be that the storm is over.


Then the fireworks began.


The show was excellent this year. It seems that they get better and better every year, but what do you expect from a church that seeks excellence in everything it does. It was great. Unfortunately Izzie missed half of it I think. She was too busy nuzzling into Nell because of the noise. I'm not sure why the kid has such an aversion for all things loud, but she does. She employed her newly found skill of ear plugging for a while, but maybe her arms got tired or something. Who knows. Nell and I had fun for sure.


It was a great holiday, and we had a blast. Congratulations to Matt and Stacie, and thanks to Harvest for another great event.

Random June 2009 Pictures

We obviously did a lot of great things in June and had some good adventures, but here's the other stuff (the filler fun).

We finally finished the basement in June, so when the toilet went in I left the box in one of the bedrooms in the basement for Izzie to play in. Here we are with the monkeys having a snack (pretzels and Nutella) in the our palace-o-cardboard.


Here's a quick photo Lynnell took of me putting some of the finishing touches on the trim with Izzie vigilantly watching from the back door (and without pants on... weird I just noticed that).


One of my favorite moments of the month was a wicked bad rain storm that we got. It was fairly hot outside, so I convinced Izzie that we should go out and play in the rain. We discovered that our street had turned into a river, so that's where we had most of the fun.




Here's a video of the madness.



Of course June also brought Father's Day. Here I am sitting on the couch with Izzie opening my cards.


Here's Izzie trying out my new Father's Day sleeping bag.


The best part of Father's Day this year was the dinner my ladies made for me: king crab and bacon wrapped scallops. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!


Thank you Mommy and Izzie for a great Father's Day.

One fine Thursday evening Nell and Izzie went to a Billings Mustangs baseball game.




June also marked the beginning of the fingernail painting. Here's Nell lovingly putting up with a squirming Izzie's in the interest of beauty and fun. Izzie loves her nails painted now and always makes sure that everyone notices and knows what color they are.


Here's a picture of us at dinner with some friends when we were in Helena.


And last but not least is Izzie's impression of Tina Fey impersonating Sarah Palin.

Two Year Checkup

What comes after a two year birthday party? A two year doctor visit of course. Here we are Monday morning June 29th at Dr. Tapia's office getting our checkup.






The doctor checked the usual and gave Izzie a clean bill of health (as always). Lucky for Izzie this visit didn't include shots.

Izzie's Second Birthday

The day we went to the airshow was June 27th, Izzie's birthday. So after the airshow we stopped by Costco, picked up our pre-ordered birthday cake and headed to a park in Helena for a party. Grandpa Joe, Grandma Tonia, Grandma Shirley, Uncle Mike, Aunt Kim, Cousin Irelynn, Uncle Derek, Aunts Sam, Sydnie, Hannah and Alex and of course Mom and Dad were all there... and the cake was too.



We didn't waste much time eating the cake, and soon it was time to open presents. I'm pretty sure Izzie could win some type of award or metal with the skills she now possesses for opening gift wrapped items. Those things didn't stand a chance.





Somehow Grandma Tonia managed to get the girls, Uncle D and I to sit still long enough for a sibling picture. I thought I would post it for posterity sake.


After the cake was eaten, the presents open and our immediate sugar highs worn off we headed to the carousel in Helena to try our hand at taming weird creatures that shouldn't be on carousels like frogs, otters and fish. Izzie managed to get a lovely horse though. Here she is with mom by her side as the try to loose their cake.


Because I enjoyed the music so much and there was just to much fun to be captured in any single photo I thought I'd take a video of it. Yep that's what I do in those kinds of circumstances. When a thousand words won't do I take a video.



After the carousel ride we all headed to dinner to conclude our epic day of airplanes, parties and ponies.

The next day (Sunday the 28th) was the first preview service of our new church (more to come on that later). After service we went to lunch with Grandpa Joe and family. Here we are just after lunch in downtown Helena trying to figure out what we should do next.


Turns out we were headed back to the airshow for a second viewing only this time we weren't going to go fight the crowds of people. No. This time we knew where the good spot was, so we loaded up in the minivan express and headed to our secret viewing location somewhere behind WalMart. The vantage point was excellent. We had shade, water and grass. Best of all the jets were directly over us which made it so much better than the day before. Here's Izzie and I and Grandpa Joe hanging out. Note the ear plugging skills Izzie is utilizing from the day before.


After the airshow we said our goodbyes, piled into our respective minivans and headed our separate ways. On our way home Izzie couldn't resist being even more cute than before. She started doing this new thing where she covers her mouth and giggles. It's dang cute.


That concluded our weekend in Helena for church, birthday fun and an airshow. It was exhausting yet unforgettable.

Air Show In Helena

We were up in Helena during the last weekend in June, and Grandpa Joe, Grandma Tonia, the aunties and Uncle D met us up there for the weekend. We were all there primarily for the preview service of a new church, but it just so happened that there was an airshow that weekend. Of course we couldn't miss out on that.

After we staked our claim on some concrete we headed off to explore the show and the planes. The first stop was a little ... white plane ... with an orange racing stripe ... I know nothing about planes. That doesn't matter though because when you are two (Izzie not me) you don't care either. They are just cool as can be. Here's a picture of Izzie checking it out and trying to navigate the perilous aisle.


Then we stopped on our way out for a group photo by the white plane with an orange racing stripe...


It's important to not at this point that while we were trying to explore the ground exhibits there were jets flying 200 feet over our heads at 500 miles an hour. If you've ever been to an air show that equates to a LOT of noise. Izzie was pretty scared at first mostly because she doesn't like loud noises (except her own... kind of like a small dog I guess) and also because she's a very apprehensive little girl. After some coaching and practice she learned to cover her ears though and soon she was happy as could be.


Another group photo by a tank.


Aunt Hannah was kind enough to escort Izzie around for a bit.


Here's the girls stopping for a photo op.



Just to prove that planes fly, I took a picture of the Thunderbirds (the main attraction at the show) as they flew overhead.


A few minutes later we found a Sea Hawk helicopter parked in a hangar that we could crawl into. Here's Izzie and I buckling in for an imaginary ride.



We also found a Chinook that was taking passengers, so we hopped up inside and checked it out.


After we explored and exhausted the ground exhibits we headed back to the previously mentioned concrete claim where we sat down in the sun to relax, enjoy some food and watch the rest of the airshow. Here's Izzie and cousin Irelynn enjoying some frozen lemonade.


Well, Izzie was enjoying it and Irelynn was serving it, but from the second picture I would say that Irelynn was also enjoying it.


Here's a good one of Izzie with dad.


And that was Izzie's first airshow.