Weeks Worth of Updates

Obviously I don't have this blogging thing down where I am able to update as often as I like. Sometimes it is just too darn hard to boot up the computer in the evenings and then to link to the camera and post some pictures . . . it's just a lot to ask. I am "pooped" and really looking forward to our vacation coming soon.

Let's see . . . this past weekend we got to enjoy some pool time again at the Bounds house; I baked three batches of Banana Bread (two loaves and 18 muffins); we helped the economy with trips to Babies R Us, BevMo, and REI; and we watched the continuous slide of the Diamondbacks. The Banana Bread is for our trip but the boys convinced me to let them have one loaf to enjoy now . . . . I love making Banana Bread - it's the one thing I can really bake. I use a recipe of Martha Stewart's and it is really easy! This weekend I'll be baking about 6 batches of my Lemon Drop Cookies to take on the trip and hopefully some Chex Mix.

The weekend before last we enjoyed a visit from Grandad (JP's Dad) who was here to do some research on a railroad in Northern Arizona. That weekend was all about baseball - watching and playing. Ranger really has the bug right now to play baseball and as you can imagine with temperatures over 100 degrees every day, we tend to play inside. He is working on the fundamentals but he really likes to set up his toys as various players and his latest thing is sliding which doesn't work to well on the tile or even the carpet. We also took Grandad to the Train Park which was fun although a bit warm. Hopefully Grandad and Betsy can come in the cooler months for a longer trip to the Train Park.

To comment on this picture, it is really dark. I am in the market for a new camera that will allow me to have more manual control of my photos and I have been doing a lot of reading about light, exposure, shutter speed, and aperture so I can take better pictures.

And now let me be perfectly honest about what's really been taking me away from blogging in the evenings . . . we got a Wii. If you happen to not know what a Wii is you can check it out at http://www.nintendo.com/wii. I swear the first week we had it, I lost 2 pounds. You just really never sit down when playing golf or bowling. It's a hoot!

And now an update on Pickle: she will be 8 months old on Wednesday. I know parents say this all the time but I really can NOT believe how quickly she is growing up. In the last week she has really increased her speed and become more adventurous. Here she is standing in the bath tub . . . no matter how many times she falls down she gets right back up laughing the whole time.

And that will be it for our updates tonight. JP shut down his computer which means I don't have network access to the pictures. Tomorrow I will provide an update on the garden!