I am so blessed to have the world's cutest niece and nephew. No joke, it's proven.
I got to relax a little today, too. Last week I bought a hammock from a neighbor who is moving. What a great buy! It has a stand and sits in the shady corner of the backyard. And since it's been so hot this week, it's nice to swing out there and read in the afternoons.
This morning Jessica and I went walking at the park that's halfway between her house and mine. We do about 1.5 miles 3-4 times a week. It's nice to have the companionship and motivation, too. Benjamin comes with us and adds a little extra workout since we have to push his stroller in the gravel path. Today he fell asleep in his usual position of feet sticking out of the stroller. He's such a cutie!
...to this...
...to this...
...to this...
Yum! Even Joffa thought it was good - or maybe it was the Cap'n Crunch he had for a snack! Either way, he did really well and played in his high chair for a couple hours while I got all the work in the kitchen done. And it turned out pretty well, too - not as blistering hot as the first time I tried it!
I wanted something on the back to keep it from sliding on the table. I had an extra scrap of the anti-skid stuff you put under rugs, so I put that on the back and I think it will work pretty well! We'll have to see what he has to say after they use it next week...
And since we were on a roll, we decided not to stop there! I had made a couple shadow boxes of pictures and mementos from Grandma and Grandpa that I finally finished. Grandma's has an old glass syringe from when she was a nurse back in the 40's and her class pin. Grandpa's is part of his old Navy uniform and a picture of him from WWII. So we put those up along with their respective uniform hats. It's pretty cool.
And then there was the stairway. I had originally put up some of the family pictures there before I got too many and ran out of room! So now that I have an artist in residence (sounds so royal, huh?!) we put up some of Bob's paintings. We also got a couple shelves to put some of his ceramics on as well. Bob said it looks like a gallery, which I think was what we were going for. Anyway, it looks good!
Finally, we put up the chickens. I still think they look like quail, but either way they're awesome! My friend Jessica and I found them at a garage sale earlier this summer, and they went so well with the couch that we had to put them up! Bob calls them road-runners. Kind of reminds me of all Mom's chickens in her kitchen.
So that's what's been going up here - literally! It's nice to finally have an office floor - those family pictures were starting to take up a lot of space! And it looks good to have things pretty much finished in the house as far as decorating goes. Feels like home.
Harry Potter
You are an outgoing, fun person. You like taking charge and you're a leader. You would do anything to help someone in need and you don't understand why everyone is so infatuated with you.
On Sunday we picked up Kathy in Arizona and continued on to Utah. After a disappointing speeding ticket at Lake Powell, we arrived at Zion and set up camp. Our first hike on Monday was called the Narrows. It's a 8-10 hour hike through the Virgin River and the gorgeous canyon it carved. The water was pretty chilly and the rocks were slippery, but the views were amazing. 
Michelle and I navigating our way through deeper water. The hiking poles came in quite handy!
On Tuesday we did our most difficult hike. Angels Landing is a tiny little rock at the top of a very tall mountain. It's a 2.5 mile hike up to a spot called Scout's Lookout, and then another half mile up to Angels Landing. Kathy decided she didn't want to go all the way up, and Michelle's fear of heights only got her a little way up. I guess the fact that the trail is only 3 feet wide and there's a 800 foot drop to your right and an 1,100 drop to your left is a little intimidating. But I finished the hike and the view from the top was worth it! A challenge, but with a great payoff.
Coming down we realized just how steep the hike up was. There are 20-some switchbacks, all of them at a pretty steep grade. One section is called Walter's Wiggles and the name pretty much describes the direction of the path! We just went slow and steady and dealt with the blister as they came! :)
On Wednesday we did our last hike, Hidden Canyon. There was lots of scrambling up rocks which was fun. The park had bolted chains to the side of the rock for easier climbing, and at times it was definitely needed! We were told there was this great arch at the end of the canyon, but we were sorely disappointed when we got there - it was pretty puny. But the hike was nice and there were lots of great designs in the sandstone.
After our hike we went and sat in the river to cool off. If my memory is correct, that's where Emily lost a flip-flop when we were little! I remembered some of the park from when we went there as kids, but I don't think we did the more difficult hikes. Angels Landing would be pretty tough with little ones!
And now for the big news: yesterday Bob and I got a puppy! We've been talking about it for a while, even before he got out here, and yesterday the Colorado Puppy Rescue had puppies at the pet store for adoption. There were 4 left when we got there - a scary-looking boxer mix, a huge black retriever, a blue heeler and our little red heeler. We think she's an Australian cattle dog mix and she's super cute! We named her Inu (e-new) which is Japanese for "dog".
She's been doing really well with the housebreaking, too. Only one accident (so far!), and she's learning to go to the door when she needs to go out. She doesn't bark very often and is very cuddly. Now, we'll see how she does at the vet on Tuesday... The best part is that she was found in New Mexico! We knew then that she was meant to be a Bosscher dog!
In other news, Mom and Dad's visit was short, but nice. Jake, Megan, Joshua, Jessica and Benjamin came over for dinner Friday night, and Mom got in some quality time with Joshua. Yesterday he turned 1 and is quite the ham!
Then Sunday we went to church and did some yardwork in the afternoon. Dad helped me pick out some plants for along the back fence and now I have a spirea, 3 raspberries and a burning bush. It's really starting to look like a yard! Now Bob and I have to put up some smaller fencing to keep Inu in, but that's pretty easy.
After some great Chinese on Sunday afternoon, Mom and Dad took off for the next leg of their summer whirlwind tour on Monday morning. But it was so good to see them! Can't wait for Christmas, when everyone can meet the new "grand-dog"!
