Go Bengals!

The Bengals are on their way to the play-offs, so luckily Uncle Dan & Aunt Cindy sent Patrick a new Bengals shirt to wear every Sunday. We're going to try to go to a play-off game in Cincinnati - stay tuned for more on that.

Aspiring Photographer

Patrick loves to play with anything electronic. I have multiple phone numbers he has "programmed" into my cell phone, he knows the remote control practically better than we do, and he LOVES to play with the camera. So, here are some pics he has taken of himself.

Ok, so I don't think he actually took this one of himself and Daisy (in the background), but the picture cracks me up because I've seen Donny give this exact look a few times! I really didn't contribute much to this kid - he's all Daddy!

Pioneer Christmas Party

We took most of these pictures for Jeff & Asha, but I thought I'd post them anyway. I think Patrick has licked the camera a few too many times, because there seems to be a haze on these pictures! We'll try to get that fixed before the next batch.

Don't we all LOVE Santa?

Um, maybe not so much! Patrick loved seeing Santa from a distance, but when we got up close to him and I sat him on his lap....well, you can see what happened!

In all fairness to Patrick we had waited for almost an hour and it was exactly his nap time when it was finally our turn. Still pretty funny though!

Halloween 2009

For Halloween this year we took Patrick to Salt Lake to Trick-or-Treat in my cousin's neighborhood with her kids. We had lots of fun walking the neighborhood with Greg and their nice neighbors. One little boy in front of us was dressed like Elmo and Patrick just kept pointing and saying Melmo, Melmo....I think he was a little surprised to see Elmo actually out walking around! Thanks to our cousin-in-law Greg for taking the great pictures!

Lil' Bat Patrick, Batman Max, Tinkerbell Claire, Hans Solo Will & Baby Bumblebee Kate

He's got his bucket ready for lots of candy!

Patrick's Tree

Our very good friends Jeff & Asha MacDonald are moving to Ohio on Thursday. We're going to really miss them and the many fun evenings we've spent together eating, playing games & laughing. They are both fantastic artists (they did Patrick's bedroom ceiling) and I feel very fortunate to own one of Asha's paintings which she gave me for Christmas a few years ago. So, I can't tell you how excited I am that Asha GAVE us another very special painting of hers that we call "Patrick's Tree". This painting is of a fertility tree in India that people tie a string around to bring them fertility. Jeff & Asha tied a string around the tree for us when Donny & I were trying to conceive and Asha painted the tree some time afterwards. It is a beautiful painting - the oranges are SO vibrant and fantastic (this picture does not do it justice). It is hard to let them go, but we know this is a great professional opportunity for Jeff, so we're excited for them. Good luck Jeff, Asha & new baby Iyla - we'll miss you!

End of Summer

Don't look now, but I think we're headed into Fall. The temperatures dramatically decreased over the weekend and the sun is setting earlier. We stayed really busy this summer enjoying all the sunshine we could get. We got 3/4 of our landscaping finished and tried to play as much as we could. It's a lot to accomplish in a 12 week Summer!

Over the last couple of months, Patrick grew his two front teeth, learned how to walk (ok, that was just last week) and learned how to say an entire vocabulary of words (momma, daddy, grandma, grandpa, Daisy, Boone, clock, tree, car, truck, food, banana....) he's such a little sponge - it amazes us the words he picks up.

Donny was able to spend 1 week in Leadville, CO the last week of August for the International Preservation Trades Workshop where he was an instructor of re-locating a log building and participated in several other preservation demonstrations. Patrick & I spent the week with Grandma J who spent lots of time bonding (babysitting) him while I was at work. It was great to see her for all of that time!

Patrick's surgery in July was a success! He has completely healed and we have witnessed him peeing several times and.....still just one hole! So, we are so grateful for that.

Sorry I haven't posted much - just busy. I'll try to do better, but in the meantime - enjoy these pics of Patrick!