Goats! (and kittens!)

Just like we did two summers ago, we took a trip over to Unc's nephew's house to see the baby goats that his kids raise.  They were so adorable!  Little and furry and noisy and cute, just like my two boys.  Ben was interested in them, but when Dan saw two kittens running around, he only had eyes for them.  I'm not sure why, but Dan is obsessed with cats.  Poor guy--that's the animal that I'm most allergic to, so there's no way that we're ever getting one.  At least he got to play with a couple on the farm!

One of my favorite pictures of Dan, ever!

"Don't mind me.  Just playing with some rusty wire!"

Having fun indoors

When we just couldn't go outside because of the heat, we had to make our own fun indoors.  It's a good thing that Aunt and Unc's house is really big and has a lot of rooms and closets and stairs to explore!  My mom and Aunt were especially good about following the little buddies around to make sure they didn't get into anything they weren't supposed to.

Dan did (inadvertently) play a great joke on Lauren.  He picked up a dead spider, carried it over to Lauren, and tried to hand it to her.  Not having any reason not to trust him, she reached out and almost grabbed it.  If you know Lauren, you know that she is deathly afraid of spiders, dead or alive.  So she screamed and ran the other direction while Dan just stood there, arm outstretched with his gift, looking really confused.  If only I had that on video....

Cooling off in the pool

After a hard day of playing in a dirt pile for Dan (or a hard afternoon nap, in Ben's case), nothing felt better than a quick dip in the pool.  And since we were in the middle of nowhere, we decided that swimsuits were overrated.  I think the water was a little chilly at first because Ben kept trying to climb up and over the side, but everything quickly warmed up in the late afternoon Oklahoma sun.

A big ol' pile of red dirt

After the weekend of parties, we dropped Zach off at the airport on Monday, June 13th, and got down to the business of relaxing.  This was a vacation, after all!  And where's the best place to really get away from the hustle and bustle: Aunt and Unc's farm in Oklahoma, of course.  So that's where we packed up and headed to on Tuesday.  We stayed for six days, so there will be several posts documenting our big trip.

Dan loved every second of the farm, of course.  About 10 minutes after we arrived on Tuesday afternoon, Unc used his tractor to dump a big ol' pile of red dirt under the big shade tree in the backyard.  Dan was in heaven!  Even though it was about 100 degrees every day, it was only 95 in the shade of the tree, so he was perfectly content to just sit and dig.  And when it got too unbearably hot, we broke out the little pool and hopped in, but that's for another post.

40th Anniversary Party

Just as we recovered from one big party, we moved right on to the next!  On June 12th, 1971, my parents got married, so we celebrated exactly 40 years later.  My parents didn't want a big fancy party but they did want as many of their friends and family to be there, so my sisters and I threw a very casual barbecue supper at their church.  Poor Dan--after going to the wedding and then to this party, I think he was expecting a party every single night we were home.

Here are a few pictures from my mom and dad's wedding (don't they look like they're 15?!):

Forty years later:

Besides the delicious cake for dessert, we also had a chocolate fountain with all the dipping treats.  It was definitely a mistake to dress Dan in a white shirt, that's for sure.

Sorry there's not more pics of the boys, but I was pretty busy the whole night!  There will be plenty of pictures of them in upcoming posts when we go to the farm in Oklahoma,  I promise.

Cousin Julie's wedding

On Saturday, June 11th, my cousin Julie married her sweetheart, Tim, in Topeka.  Thankfully, the boys stayed at my Aunt Chris's house during the wedding but they joined us afterward at the reception.  We had a great time, getting dressed up, watching a beautiful ceremony in the church where Julie's grandfather was a minister for many years, and eating and dancing at a fun reception.

Dan absolutely loved the reception--or the party, as he called it!  It was held at the Top of the Tower, a restaurant/banquet hall on the top floor of an office building in downtown Topeka.  It was a clear evening, so we had views of about 40 miles.  Dan loved looking out the huge windows, down at the train tracks and the construction yards and the river below.  He tore himself away from the view long enough to eat but he was back at the windows as the sun was setting.  When the music came on, he was the first one on the dance floor, showing everyone else his moves.  Congrats to Julie and Tim!

(Note 1: Zach has asked to not have his picture on the blog anymore, but we did take some great pictures of just the two of us!)

(Note 2: I got my fantastic green dress from Zach's cousin Anna's vintage shop in Buffalo.  Check her out at Sempre Vintage, but if you buy the Frye boots that I've been looking at, we will not be friends anymore.)

Backyard fun with friends

After a fairly uneventful day of traveling (the only casualty was our stroller, which is still missing in action--how exactly does a gate-checked item get lost?!), our first day in Kansas was spent relaxing, destroying Grandma's house, and getting together with some girlfriends from high school.  Zach grilled burgers for us so we could just watch the kids splash in the pool and catch up with each other.

Sarah came from Dodge City (with Charlie and Leo, her two youngest), Vicki came from Kansas City (with Reese), and Melanie lives just a few miles from my parents (Noah came with her).  Charlie and Noah were born on the same day in February 2009 and Reese was born that month too!  We all last saw each other in Colorado last April but we picked up right where we left off.  I guess that's the mark of long-lasting friendships--no awkward pauses or dead silence.  When in doubt, we can always gossip about people we knew in high school!

Just helping out in my mom's garden!

Noah, Charlie, Reese, and Dan up front