Cousin Joseph

Tess had a big weekend. She got to fly on the airplane to go visit her cousin in Albuquerque. We thought the airplane was pretty cool, especially the earphones. Uncle Brian and Aunt Maggie were excellent hosts and fed her lots of guacomole and honeydew melon. She got to enjoy the children's musuem, the zoo and old town Albuquerque. Brian and Maggie also told the Easter Bunny that Tess would be at their house so he left some eggs for her to find.

Joseph was a wonderful, handsome baby and was full of smiles.

Maddy's Birthday Party

Tess started going to "work" at a new babysitter at the first of this month. She adores her new friends at Dana's house and couldn't wait to go back when Maddy had a birthday party last weekend. Here are some photos from when she was standing still long enough. Finger -paintin' is serious work.
Gathering up all the balloons to see just how many she can carry!
We are on our way to visit cousin Joseph and family this weekend, so hopefully we will get some good photos.

Hoo-ah

Eric was promoted to Major last night.

Pictured above is the patriotic Major family.
Hiliary and Barak were also in town, but neither stopped by.

Tess couldn't stand that someone else was getting attention, so she had to go stand with Daddy while Major Romero read the official orders.

Tess is the one not in camo!





Tess and the Major. She is glad the Army uses velcro now instead of the pins, this makes it much easier for 2 year old to stick on the oak leaf.

Big kid bed

Celebrating a big kid bed!

Cow work

We moved the heifers today. A rare photo of momma on a horse. Note the stylish new chaps, Daddy picked them out of course.
Tess and Momma, Banjo and Rosie

On the Road Again

Last weekend, Tess and Jacob took their moms on a shopping trip to Colorado. They were delighted. Tess (and her mom) thought Gena's mini van was cool becuase you sure can store lots of toys and strollers and juice and balloons in it. In fact, Tess was lucky Gena was in charge, because, once again, Tess's mom is a slacker when it comes to being prepared for trips with kids!

Miscellany

It has been hard to find us in one place recently, so here's some miscellany to fill the void. This is what normally happens when I try to take pictures of the horses.
Latest construction photo, on the inside we have beams and a fireplace!
Tess is a big help in the kitchen, here we are making chicken and dumplins'. She got to help make Valentines for servicemen & women this weekend and thought that was fun. Last week she got some pet fish and this is a big highlight. She loves to watch, count and feed the fish.
Eric has been working hard and working with the contractors on house decisions. He is patient with Tess and they like to play airplane and ball in the evenings.
Two weeks ago I flew to Oklahoma City to argue a case in front of the 10th circuit court of appeals. I spent about 24 hours in Oklahoma to argue for 15 brutal minutes. But I relish the experience.
Tess has a new cousin Joseph who has had to spend some nights in the hospital, but we are thankful everything is ok and we hope to go visit him sometime soon.

Waiting for the 4th

If we wave the flag long enough, maybe it will be the fourth of July?

This is the front porch.

Tess went to the Dentist last Monday and no one got hurt. She got to play with her first friend Gena and kiddo's from Cheyenne and had a great time. Gena even posted some pictures of Tess on her blog, which you can find here: http://goodtimes2003.blogspot.com/ Everything I know about blogs I copy from Gena. She is the one to blame for my new layout. :)

Tess calls everyone her "friend" now. She happily introduces me to everyone. "This is my friend Daddy."

Eric and I have both been so busy it is hard to see straight, but we haven't driven off the road yet.

Go Speed Racer

Photo from the first annual Palen downhill sled races. Tess won the award for the most rides. Cooper for the shortest ride. Eric for the most trips pulling the sled uphill and Wendy for the biggest wreck. Tune-in next year.

We had a wonderful Christmas - hope you did too!

Eric got an elk license this year and has spent the past few weekends out hunting with my dad, who also got a license. Pictured is Banjo in his hunting get up. Happily, Eric was able to get an elk shortly after this picture was taken. Banjo is only three and this was his first experience with gun shots. Banjo stood still and wasn't phased a bit. I think they may have caught the hunting bug.

Next is a photo of the house progress. Things have been moving quickly and everything is now framed and enclosed.

Of course, Tess thinks that this is a great dancin' floor.

Some of our Glendo friends roped us into being on the Rodeo Arena committee. The committee sponsors the chariot races in Glendo so we spent last weekend gambling and outriding. Eric, of course, was the outrider, helping to catch the horses at the end of the race and to get them in the gates. It was 3 below and the wind was blowing a gale both days of the races. I helped with the calcultta and gambled, my job was much easier - taking other people's money and loosing my own.

I turned 35 this weekend. I feel older and wiser -- hope you do too.

First Haircut

Tess said goodbye to her long locks today. She is going to have a harder time twirling her hair while sucking her thumb, but she doesn't look quite so much like a wild child. She is very proud that she got her hair cut and now says "mom don't touch my haircut." It is pretty darn cute.
I am slowly learning to deal with her independence. Yesterday, I was instructed to "go away." When I tried to explain that "go away" wasn't a very nice thing to say to momma, I was instructed to "go away, Please."

More construction pictures

Pouring cement for the foundation.
And Tess posing, stomping and running on the floor, which she calls a "bridge."

Scary

Boo! Happy Halloween from the little mummy! It didn't take her long to learn the "treat" in trick or treat!
Here we are at Cottonwood Hall for the Coleman/Paisley/Collins Halloween extravaganza! We hope this is an annual event, as it was great fun! It took Tess a while to warm up to all the wild kids in costumes, but once they brought out the cold spaghetti, she thought things were a-ok. Except, she preferred to eat the spaghetti rather than find the eyeballs. That's grandma with the blue hair in the background.
This scary monster is a 7000 pound slab/step of concrete at the back of our house, where there used to be a porch. We needed it out of the way to pour the new walls and foundation. After attempts to move it with a backhoe and skidsteer, Pops had to bring the loader to get it to budge. Seems like "more power" is a common theme in my posts.
We finally got it away from the house, but still couldn't pick it up.
So with chains we drug it to the center of the hole where it will become a permanent part of the new crawlspace! 100 years from now someone will wonder, "what were they thinking?" That is, until they try to move it!

More power

Tess, like her mother, appreciates a good mixer. We made cookies for weaning on Saturday and Tess thought the mixer was the funniest thing she had ever seen. She laughed and laughed and laughed. Of course it didn't take long for her to figure out that eating the cookie dough was even more fun.

Big 'ol Mess

We have started working on the house and Tess tells us it is a "Big 'ol Mess."

Here she is modeling her new snow boots, she loves shoes. She has now learned about the camera and wants me to take her picture all the time. Hopefully I can now have more pictures. Before, 2 out of 3 were blurrs.

Tess had the opportunity to gather with her Prosser cousins this week. Pictured are Brock, Darci, Cami Ann, Evan, Austin and Tess. One had to be fast with the camera, as most of my pictures had blurs where the little ones were suppose to be.
Unfortunately, the gathering was for the funeral of Tess's great grandfather Dean, which was a sad event, but he accomplished many things in his life which we will remember for many years to come.
Below is Clay, who is now 5 months old. Nowadays they include photos on AQHA registation papers, so I have photos of him from every angle.
Tess started with a new babysitter this week, as her former babysitter is due to have another baby of her own in a month or so and thought four would be too much. She is adapting well, as when I went to pick her up she said she didn't want to go home because she "have to finish playing Lego's first, mama."

Watermelon crop

Tess loves watermelon, so we planted some in our garden this summer and here are the results. She had to settle for "pink watermelon" but that was good enough. Watermelon growers in Wyoming can't be choosey. This one at least tasted a bit sweet, the first looked and tasted like cucumber on the inside.

Don't try this at home

The Supervisor

I left out the pictures of Eric 12 foot up in the bucket operating a chain saw.

Almost there

"Good-ole-red-cow-who-got-struck-by-lightening" was the finishing touch