Grampy and Grammy came to visit!

Grampy and Grammy Stockwell left today after a wonderful visit over the last few days. On Saturday, we took advantage of the beautiful weather by heading to Mount Charleston. We hiked to Mary Jane Falls. Dane was a real trooper!

Lovebirds.

Family photo.

After a few hours on the trail, Dane finally zonked out!

A new friend at the Rainforest Cafe.

Two little monkeys emptying the toy basket.

We got to meet Hilary and Jan Michael in person! We have been "acquaintances" through the blogging world, but it was so much better to spend time together. Thanks for visiting!!

Dane has been requesting "Uncle Benny" a lot lately.

I think he really likes his music!

Story time with Grampy.

Modeling his favorite "shippers," handmade by Great-Grandma Stockwell!

I'm sure that Grampy and Grammy will have a bunch of their pictures on their blog shortly! (They took just a few!) Sadly, we had to take them back to the airport today and say good-bye. Lucky for us, Grandpa and Grandma Anderson just flew in this evening and will be here for a little over a week!

Trick or Treat!

A bunch of scallywags!

Renee and her ducklings!

Kevin and Jessica with their "bun"!

Carter, Dane, and Bryanna.

Wagon ride.

Bryanna and Dane went for their first trick-or-treating outing together.

Happy Halloween!

Last weekend, we made a trip to the Pumpkin Patch with Jeff and Renee and boys. This was an attempt at a photo shoot with our energetic toddlers. As you can see, we weren't very successful! Dane is watching the activity elsewhere, and Carter has had enough sitting, thank you very much!

Little Camden, on the other hand, is quite easy to photograph! This little guy will sleep anywhere!
Dane decided to show us just how strong he really is!

Seeing spots!

Today, Mike helped with an after-school carnival at one of the local elementary schools. Dane and I stopped by to take in a great magic show and to meet their reading/literacy dalmation. So cute and very well-behaved (the dog, that is)!

Another quick trip

Dane and I made another quick trip back to Minnesota last weekend for Benny's CD release concert. While we were back, we took a day trip with my parents over to Wisconsin to visit Dad's parents. Dane hadn't ever met this set of great-grandparents, so it was well overdue! On the way, we had to stop in Abbotsford, WI at the Hawkeye Dairy for ice cream, string cheese, and squeaky cheese curds. Mmmmm!

As a native Minnesotan and Vikings fan, Mike must have already had that all-important talk with Dane because he would not wear the cheesehead!!
Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day with temps around 70 and gorgeous fall colors. I didn't get any pictures that do the trees justice.
Riding along with his Wisconsin cow!
Riding the lawn tractor with Uncle Freddy.

A picture with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa. Dane just wasn't in a picture-taking mood!

Dane eats Doritos with Uncle Benny.

Hamming it up over Sunday lunch.

Playing with cousins Joel and Clayton on Monday.

Thanks to my parents for watching the kiddos while Jenny and I went out for some girl time on Monday. So fun to go shopping and out to lunch together! Later that evening, we took in Benny's amazing concert. What a fun night! I apologize for not getting any pictures- for some reason I pretty much quit taking pictures after Saturday. I know that Benny has some more pictures on his Flickr account, and hopefully my parents will share some of theirs soon on their blog.

(Mostly) Finished Product

Our new tile and countertops are done, and we are loving them. We still have some finishing touches to complete such as painting all the new baseboards and some other painting that needs to be redone or touched up. However, these are small projects in comparison. Here are some pictures of the kitchen- it feels completely new to me!!

Always busy...

Camden Brown Shepherd

Jeff and Renee welcomed another beautiful boy to their family Thursday, Camden Brown.

Mike and Dane meet little Camden for the first time.

Renee and Camden.
Renee, Camden, and big brother Carter. She's got her hands full, but she's doing amazing!

18 month photos