Friends

I know, I know. I've violated one of the cardinal rules of blogging by not posting in eons and eons. But NOW I'll find out who really loves me. Who will come back and visit me after my long absence? LOL!

We had some good friends visit from Colorado a few weeks back. Sam and his friend met in 2nd grade and even though his friend has moved here there and everywhere, his family comes back each year to visit. Each year when they return it's like they have never left. We all just pick up from where we left off.

This year, we took our friends to the State Fair (along with Princess Ruthie, of course!)


Seth is showing his niece what a cow is.

"I KNOW what a cow is, Seth"
"Geesh"


Seth was finally tall enough for his first driving experience .

And, Rebecca was finally tall enough to ride the little roller coaster.

We moms REALLY appreciated Sophie. She mothered the little girls and took good care of them which meant we moms DIDN'T have to ride the little roller coaster. Once you turn 30 (or 40) those rides give you a different sensation than they do when you are younger.

I have a love/hate, fear/fascination relationship with horses. I used to love them until a trail horse tried to end my life a few years back. Now I keep my distance.

Becca, if you are reading this, could you please whip one of these cakes up for Sophie's birthday here in a few weeks? I'm sure she would appreciate it.

Becca is our family cake maker/decorator. A few years back she entered a cake in the state fair and won. Pretty impressive!

The gardening aunt met us at the fair. She conveniently arranged for us to be in the Horticulture building during a heavy downpour.

Here she is instructing the kids on the finer aspects of gourds.

(Note the camera....if she doesn't have a camera in hand it's because she has a hoe in hand!)

OK. So while we are waiting for the rain to end.....

Rebecca, Ruth, and Seth posed for the camera! This is an interesting picture because all 3 are within 6 months of each other. It will be interesting to see how they even up in size as the years progress.

Here's the whole motley crew (I wonder what the word "motley" means? - Should I look it up before I use that word on my blog? Nahhhh......it sounds good.....I'll leave it).

Nathan and Sam are the same age as well. Someday they'll be all grown up and Nathan will probably be bigger than Sam. His mother said that her brother grew 9 inches in one year. Once Nathan has his growth spurt I'm sure he'll pay Sam back for all those head pats this year.

Always the uncle teaching the niece

("I know, Seth, I KNOW. You don't have to tell me!")

I hope they're always best friends.

I hope he always watches out for her.



Come on guys, just ONE nice picture! PLEASE?



I think it's physically impossible for boys to hold still and pose for ONE picture.






Unlike girls who are usually pretty obliging.



Here's my friend, Julie. She's threatening me about taking her picture. It's OK though. She doesn't read my blog, so we'll keep it a secret that I posted her picture, OK?

All in all, it was a WONDERFUL trip to the state fair, a WONDERFUL visit with our good friends. The kids are already talking about their next visit. They can't wait!