playing with my camera on july third

How's that for a title? Lame like me. Pretty much sums it up.

I am behind on my blogging so these pics are from July 3 when I was playing around with my camera, trying to figure out how to get brighter, crisper photos. I didn't succeed. If you know how, clue me in.

Wow, Samuel is bigger now than he was here. He was doing a pretty good job at grasping that pink ball, but he's even better now. He now can roll all over the place. He'll be six months in a week!!!

That last photo was in the basement which is dark so that inside photos were brighter than they usually are. The outside ones are "noisy..."

Serious Noah

Let Evie show you how to eat a delicious runny chocolate cupcake. Be very careful. Make sure you're outside wearing a white shirt...

Then show off all the remnant cupcake in your teeth and frosting around your lips and even on your nose.

Try to pretty much just be cute.

He's a handsome boy.

"Play wiff me mama!"

It was hot. Snap had a back itch.

Mama doesn't play. She takes pictures. Daddy plays. He's chasing Evie after she hit the ball off the tee. She freaks out if you catch her (as does Noah but we're trying harder to teach him not to) so Daddy is lagging behind.

Oh, and here you can see our old swing set. We got rid of it! Went to 2 good causes.

first dip of the summer

This weekend was quite hot so I had Terry pull out the kids old pool. It's got a leak, but it holds for a while. I worked really hard to set up the back patio, which I had to weed (that also set the stage for finishing that area soon).

It looks like he's squirting her but I'm not sure if he is. Perhaps!

Little squishy stacks

Cold water!

motorcycle

Right after the wedding Terry took the kids out on his old dirt bike. He misses how he used to motor around on it. There might be 2 kids on there...

Yep. 2 kids. This is ranch style you nay-sayers. They had a blast.

And here's the kids on the way home. Samuel is NOT a happy traveling dude. This was just before he started screaming.

my sister's wedding

My sister, Stephanie, married her fiancee Steve on Thursday, June 23rd, 2011. They planned and carried out a very small, intimate, casual-ish, beautiful ceremony in Spearfish Canyon in front of Roughlock Falls. Stephanie and Steve are both reserved, preferring smaller groups of people so that's how they planned their wedding. It was perfect for them. Not a lot of work involved either - the most labor intensive thing was the flowers - wild flowers. I was worried they wouldn't find any but they found some great ones and we made some beautiful bouquets, perfect for the setting.

Only family was at the ceremony. Their premarital counselor and my parent's pastor, Pat, performed the wedding. He did a wonderful job. Here we are waiting for Stephanie to arrive with my dad. No music except the falls. And boy oh boy were they loud!

I think Pat is wrapping it up. Rings given, vows recited. Time for the kiss.

Hanging out afterwards for pictures. I loved my hair. Good ol' E-Clips! I liked the dress Steph picked out for me and Ana too.

New family picture. Christmas card material?

My brother, Nathan and his wife Ana were only 5 days away from their 2 year anniversary. They're so cute. Here you can see the falls better.

Too cute are they!

I don't know how single parents do it. Terry was such a help with the kids. Plus, he recorded the ceremony. Oh, and Samuel was cute during the wedding. He was supporting his head with his hand as if he was so bored. Oh, and you can see my pretty bouquet here.

Steve admiring his ring. Love it. He got Tungsten like Terry and Nathan. And see how his flower is in his pocket? It would not stay pinned. Oh, and he got married in his chain. Haha.

Kveene's

On the way outta the canyon Terry put the kids on this boulder.

I think it's time these kids had some of their own!

Stephanie imitated Evie over the air conditioning vent. What a lovely dress.

Piece of Cake cake. YUM. Just like at my wedding.

Two Steve's.

The small reception was in the Latchstring Inn, a restaurant in the Canyon. Perfect again.

Noah walking towards me. He was ready to go.

Steph's going away dress. They drove to Fort Collins from there. How pretty her hair was!

Terry's family represented. I love this picture b/c it shows how different these two baby cousins are. Samuel requires a lot of distraction. Grace is just incredibly laid back.

Love that dude.

Time to go!

They rented a car since they were going to be doing a ton of driving in the west on their honeymoon - they camped.

Afterward, we were all feeling like this.

the day before the day before

My sister got married Thursday June 23, 2011. It was a small affair and she didn't need all that much help so we didn't go up til the day before the day before, Tuesday.

Here is what Terry did when we got to my parents house... He's test driving my dad's dirt bike. We kept thinking he was going to return to the house based on the sound of the bike but then he's pass by. He had a lot of fun and would like something like that.

We weren't going to stop there at all, but continue on to Terry's folks, but Noah threw up in the car and we needed to clean it out. We thought perhaps the stomach flu was working its way through our family since Terry had been sick the day before, but Noah was fine after he relieved his belly. Perhaps sitting in the back of the van eating greasy McDonald's isn't the best idea...

After the bike ride we didn't see Noah at first and then found him in the cherry tree. He's never done that before.

His "buddy" quickly followed (there are a couple neighborhood boys that Noah played with while we were at my parents for Terry's mission trip).

And I love this picture of my dad holding Samuel.

boys time

After church today the boys enjoyed a game of Risk on the computer. Boys time. I like it.

the blowout

I was in the shower this morning when Terry came in to announce that Samuel had a diaper explosion. And it was bad. If you don't like poop stories, read no further...

Just before this I had heard a yell from Samuel so that must have been when Terry moved him over to stand in the Johnny Jump Up. However, he didn't notice that Samuel had poo'ed his pants pretty good. And the pressure on his diaper from the Johnny Jump Up caused it all to come oozing out, down his legs to a puddle on the ground (thankfully we have wood floors there!). Of course Samuel's feet were in the puddle so he did a little skating...

Guess the larger size 3 diaper I put on Samuel earlier was not adequate... I am thankful I was in the shower.

how sweet is that?

This evening, after some ice cream celebration for the completion of some t-shirt printing, Terry brought these new cars home from his friend Kip. The kids were very happy about it (since we saw Cars 2, they've been really playing with Cars cars, but also others as well).

I was cleaning up the counters after dinner and heard Evie say something that caught my interest - something about God. I looked over and they were both admiring the new cars and the cool design Noah had made with them. I asked her what she said. "God loves us very much." I said, Yes He does. Then she went on to talk about how God gave them new cars. How sweet is that?

the big roll

Samuel might be a little wiry, but he sure is strong. Actually, when I looked up "wiry" it already means strong: being lean, supple, vigorous, sinewy. That pretty much sums up Samuel.

Would you believe this picture was taken after he rolled from his back to his belly? It's true. Monday, June 20th was his first roll. He's only 4.5 months! My other kids did this much later. But they were back sleepers...

Here's the proof:

date night

Sunday June 19 was our 7 year anniversary. Since we had been to a wedding sans kids the previous evening, I didn't think we would go out on our actual anniversary (leave Samuel for two nights with a babysitter and a bottle? outrageous.). However, I was wrong! Terry lined up our favorite babysitter and we took off. I even dressed up. We went to Ruby Tuesdays and ate a lot. Got some ice cream at Cody Park b/c it's cheap and really good. Looked at the flooded river and drove home surrounded by dark thunderstorms.

Guess whose idea the "ring bump" was?

snooze

(reminder: Terry was gone for two whole weeks at the beginning of June. He took about 30 people from Gburg to Tijuana, Mexico and LA. So I took our three kids with me to SD to pass the time. Alas, this is the life of a youth pastor's wife. Also, Terry took our camera so I only had my cell phone to document our trip.)

This is what we all felt like while in SD - exhausted. We are so incredibly glad to be home with daddy again. This is also what we did a lot of when we got home.

dinos

(reminder: Terry was gone for two whole weeks at the beginning of June. He took about 30 people from Gburg to Tijuana, Mexico and LA. So I took our three kids with me to SD to pass the time. Alas, this is the life of a youth pastor's wife. Also, Terry took our camera so I only had my cell phone to document our trip.)

The day before we left SD for good to finally come home to Terry (can you tell I was ready?), I figured we'd better do something to get out of the house and make the time go faster. First we went to exercise Bo at the pond again. Good times. Though Noah did have to do #2 and we couldn't find a bathroom. That was interesting...

Then I took the kids out to Dinosaur Park! I hadn't been there since I was a kid probably or I can't remember I guess. Anyway, it seems so much smaller to me now. All those dinosaurs used to be larger than life.

Take this one for instance. We spent a lot of time climbing on this Stegosaurus as kids and it seemed like a mountain. I'm as tall as it is now.

This was still too big for Evie. I had to help her to sit on the head - there was no way she could climb it.

Triceratops. Evie was also too small for this one. Guess she was too small for all of them. Samuel was just chillin in his baby sling with mama. That boy does not like strollers much. Not that I could have used one here...

Tyrannosaurus Rex. Da big guy. All he's good for is sliding down his tail. And playing hide and seek under. Silly kids.

SEVEN

Seven years ago, Terry Biers and Eva Kveene were joined in marriage. It had been kinda a rocky road to get there, but I don't think I've ever made a better decision.

The first time Terry met me I was sitting with his family in church because his sister Shari was my good friend. He thought I was a foreign exchange student since he had not heard me speak. His plan was, since it was his major, to teach me English. However, he soon found out that I was American and could speak English. I guess my cheekbones and deep set eyes make me look, well, Norwegian!

While Terry was on his two week mission trip, I took a leaf out of his book and made him a packet of letters to remind him of me and the kids while we were away (he did the same while I was in Mexico during college). I even used the same letters that he wrote to me - I just wrote on the back. But I included pictures as well. So he had 15 envelopes - 1 for every day. He of course saved all of the photos and I've put them on my cool MOPS collage board at the front door. It's a good way of documenting our years together:

Old MacDonald's Farm

(reminder: Terry was gone for two whole weeks at the beginning of June. He took about 30 people from Gburg to Tijuana, Mexico and LA. So I took our three kids with me to SD to pass the time. Alas, this is the life of a youth pastor's wife. Also, Terry took our camera so I only had my cell phone to document our trip.)

On the first Thursday of our trip, June 2, we went to Old MacDonald's Farm with my good friend Faith and her 3 kiddos. They're all about the same age, even baby Norah born just a month and a half after Samuel.

The kids are having breakfast at my folk's before we hit the road to the hills. Samuel later peed through that cute outfit during the kids' train ride. He needs bigger diapers or something...

It was a really hot and windy day with no trees or shade. My kids were pretty whiny but we made the most of it. There were horses, donkeys, sheep, goats, rabbits, chickens, pigs, etc. The baby nursery was definitely the cutest. Here's a little newborn goat. He was so cute.

After two hours we went to Faith's house for lunch and an afternoon baby nap - Norah on the left and Samuel on the right.