Happy 1st Birthday, Caitlin!!!

Happy birthday to Caitlin, our petite and happy one-year-old!

Because we spent so much time working on the house, the party got put on the back burner. The cake was a disaster and fell completely apart. When family and friends showed up we were still trying to snarf down dinner! But despite our lack of ability to do a million things in one day, we pulled off a pretty grand party. Twinkies were substituted for cake, and rather than worry about serving we just let everyone dig into the disaster cake on the living room floor. The kids loved that! Caitlin had a wonderful time being the center of attention. She loved her presents too. Thanks to everyone who helped us this year to adjust to a new family member and a new situation. We so love your love!

Caitlin is a ray of sunshine in our lives. She cuddles, she smiles, she jabbers, she crawls, she eats, she steals our hearts one hundred times a day.

The house is about three weeks from being finished. This week the garage door was installed, the stucco magically appeared, we finished laying our flooring, Mike put doors and knobs on, and I painted the ouside doors. Mike and I are both feeling a little burned out, but it is coming along very nicely. Cabinets, countertops, tile tub surround, railing, driveway, lights, ac, carpet, plumbing fixtures, and then we should be there!

Firework Foibles

This year Mike and I signed up to sell fireworks in front of the market for a week. Now that we are through the week, I can honestly say that it was a blast! *no pun intended :) Joshua enjoyed it almost as much as I did. I loved talking to all the different people. Joshua seemed to be a natural born salesmen. His enthusiasm got more than one customer to buy things.

As fun as it was, we also had some interesting and bizarre challenges. Our credit card machine was broken he day it came and had to be replaced overnight. Then the Gunnison winds blew one of our side walls down while mike was in the trailer. But the one that takes the cake is this: on Sunday the stand completely blew over onto its back. Crazy, eh? Was anyone in the stand at the time you ask? Thankfully, no. Mike and I had decided that despite the profits that might be made the day before the 4th, we would observe the sabbath day. I love instant testimony-building blessings.

We rushed over when the fire chief called to tell us, and spent an hour emptying out the trailer. Caitlin thought it was Christmas morning. Then some helpful neighbors showed up and with their chain and moral support Mike pulled things together. A quick restocking, and we were open the next morning for 4th of July business. When we called our regional rep, he said he had never heard of that happening in his whole career. Of course it had to happen to us. Never a dull moment!

Mater in Gunnison

Look who came to our town to hang out in front of the movie theater! The boys, *all three* were very excited!

This is our new and current adventure. It has felt like we have been grasping at every opportunity this year, and this is one of them. So far selling fireworks has proved to be fun, profitable, and a great way to get to know more people in the area. Now, if the temperature will just stay below 100 degrees, we will be thankful!

Caitlin + chocolate = happy baby

Last night we were all craving scookies. Mike mixed up a brownie batter and poured it in the scookie pans. He had quite a bit of batter left over, so he just gave the whole bowl to the kids! Very happy kids! The funny thing is we still managed to eat both the scookies with ice cream on top. Yum!

Paint!

It is finally time to paint the house. I have been on such a learning roller coaster! Doing the trim ourselves was quite a challenge, but I managed to figure it out...and it actually looks pretty good too. Heaven bless Carrie for coming down for 4 days to help. We were suposed to be painting, but because we were behind schedule Carrie ended up doing a lot of sanding and calking. Yuck. Not the fun job. That's just how much she loves me! The cousins had a wonderful time playing while the three adults took turns tending and working. Aside from getting sick and passing it along to everyone else, it was a very productive week. Monday I had a grand adventure with a paint sprayer. I had never used one before, and now that I have the hang of it I love it! 5 hours to prime the entire house, 4 hours for each coat of the white. Nice! Today I rolled the first coat of wall color. Rolling definitely takes more time, but the end result will be very nice. One negative side effect of a paint sprayer: Overspray! I laughed so hard when I saw myself in the mirror after that first day!