Lake County Fires

This picture is from a couple nights ago about 20 miles north of us. There were 3 separate fires, possibly started by arson, but they are mostly under control now. 

The possibilities for sarcastic comments equating Lake County to hell positively abound.  But I'll refrain.

10 Years!!

As of August 9th, we have been married 10 years. Woohooo! Made it to the double digits! We are a bit superstitious about our anniversary. Of our 10 anniversaries, we have spent two in the hospital with sick kids (Josh's sisters with E. coli and Guildy with a kidney infection), two consecutive years violently ill with stomach flu, two when we weren't even in the same country, and 3 travelling to other people's weddings. Thus, we always think we ought to take cover and hide out as August 9th approaches. Fortunately, nothing bad happened this year, aside from me having to get a tooth pulled a few days prior to our anniversary. 

Josh's mom and sister took Hadley and Talby for the WHOLE WEEK of our anniversary, while Josh and Guildy and I worked feverishly (figuratively and literally in the triple digit heat) on our sweet 1956 Spartan trailer house. Incidentally, this will be the 10th house we have lived in since we got married. As my brother says, "Home is where you live.....right now." Anyway, the ability to work together and unhindered by the perpetually rummaging 1-year-old was the best gift I've ever received:o) 

We did make time for a bike date on our anniversary. Chinese food,  ice cream cones, and good company:o) Josh even pulled out his Wedding Shirt, which he wore for our wedding and to every wedding we've attended since. 

A Wisconsin Wedding

We ventured out to Door County Wisconsin a couple weeks ago for Josh's cousin Katlin's wedding. The area was beautiful, the wedding was gorgeous, and the family time was great.

Aunt Candi and Katlin. Sadly, Uncle Frank passed away last year. He was greatly missed.

Katlin and Bedo, officially hitched and looking amazing:o)

An aerial view of the wedding. From this vantage point you can't see our nephew Oatus, who scurried off to the right hand side of the seating area and peed during the wedding. It was pretty much the highlight of the ceremony for me.

Being the silly parents that we are, we thought,  Hey, the kids are all clean and dressed up. We should take pictures.This is what we got. In descending height order: Guildy (7), Georgie (5), Hadley (4), Owen (5), Oatus (3), Talby (1.5), and Milli (4.5 months).

Talby was no longer interested in taking pictures. 

Clean. In one place. The majority of eyes open. That's about the best we ever do:o)

Camping Fun

 A few weeks ago, we did a rather impromptu close-to-home camping trip on Guenoc Ranch about 10 miles away. The spot had great swimming and spear fishing, so everyone had a great time in spite of the 110 degree heat.

Hadley is the dirtiest child I have ever met.  This is her in her natural state:o)

A close second in the Grubby Child department. 

Uncle Zech working on his dutch oven cinnamon bread, with close supervision by Guildy and Owen.

This picture of Guildy and Cousin Owen is actually from a different outing, but worth posting. Soon after the picture was taken, Owen fell out of the tree, but thankfully suffered no major body damage.