Masquerade and be sure to know your own limits

Another few weeks and here I am again at the computer looking over the pics and seeing what we have done in the past few weeks.  Fortunately I have a lot of pics to choose from.

We have been taking a lot of pics of James lately

He loves to pull himself up on things and stand

The other night we were eating dinner and Brenda spotted a deer in the backyard.  We have seen lots of "sign" of deer, but this is the first one we have seen on our actual property.

I got a week and a half ago to go out to Billings for some urgent sampling needs so off I went.  I left on Saturday and was back on Wednesday.  In the meantime my rents were on their way to Bozeman so my dad could have a final interview for a position at Manhattan Christian.  They stopped by the house on the way and were able to keep Brenda and James occupied (the former is usually harder than the  latter).  Good news is my dad got the job and now they are going to be moving there in a few months.  I can't wait to visit them there and explore that area more.

James thought playing with my dads pen was the funniest thing ever.

Getting back home after just four days and I think the kid lost some weight.  Brenda and him both got violently ill as I did two weeks before that and he really slimmed down.

Then it was back to work.  For those of you who are concerned that I have girled up and have taken to reading the directions, let me assure you I have not.  I basically use the book as a reference to see how they think the bike should be put together and then I put it together my way and make notes where they were obviously wrong.

The bike is coming along nicely and I cannot wait to get it going.

James loves the camera and it is kind of hard to keep him away from it....I assume he got this from his mother.

Going on a bear hunt is a favorite right now.

Last weekend Friday we went to wedding of a couple in our lifegroup.  They wanted an alternative wedding with a theme of being "dramatic victorian".  Now this is something that I would not normally be into, but I think that the wedding went well and actually was a very good time.

They had masks for you for the masquerade ball reception.  Here are a few other girls in our small group.

They call me the golden bandito, stealing hearts one at a time.   James must have wanted a turn as well.

Our friend Laura made her own mask by knitting it...she did a great job.

James got a chocolate mask

The throne and the ladies.

Note Brenda rocking in the background.

Classic Brenda dancing technique....hot.

Sunday it was 60+ so we went to the park.

I was not feeling great on Saturday morning and my stomach was killing me so I took it easy.  Sunday was the same so I actually took 2 naps and tried to stay immobile.  The pain during the night was too much though so Monday I went to the doctor to figure out what it was.  It was not a normal stomach pain and I thought it may be my appendix.  Well after a bunch of tests and going to an ultrasound it is official....I am not pregnant.  I did however have some sort of hernia.  It was one of those "you know your getting old when..." moments.  Good news, all in all though since it actually felt great today.  So, I started thinking what could have caused it?   I have not been doing a heck of a lot of lifting lately, but then it hit me.  Recently I changed to 16oz can of Keystone from my normal 12oz....eureka!!!!!  I am going to switch back immediately and hopefully it will not happen again.

The 16oz can strikes again.  Note to self, my limit is 12oz.

Ooooppps

Life has been pretty normal and I think sometimes when it is that way we forget to take pictures of the things we do.  Last weekend Brendas folks were out here along with some other friends for the Washington State B basketball tourney.  It was great to have them out here and we actually got to go to a game and have some classic high school basketball fun.

The week before that I was out of town for work and just happened to get the stomach flu.  Sweet, puking at the job site is a great way to start off the week and loose weight at the same time.  That may have been the worst week of work ever.

Ben and Laura gave us the great toy in the background of this picture.  We went to see them a while ago since I had to drive to Sunnyside for a short job and it was nice to see them.

James is very happy and always is ready for a game of hide and seek.

We were messing around the other day right before our small groups came over and then it happened.....James fell, or more accurately, I dropped him and man did he cry.  Big ooooppppss.  I felt like a idiot and about the worst dad in the whole world.  He looked ok, but was acting a little off.  A nurse in our small groups soon arrived and assessed the situation.  Seemed to be fine, but then it happened, he puked.  Classic sign of a concussion.  After he puked he was much more like himself and actually smiled and seemed like himself, but the puking concerned us.  So off we went for James's first trip to the ER.  He was checked out and monitored for a hour, but they thought he was fine and sent us back home.  Close call, but I guess parenting is about learning and I will have to tone down the roughhouse a bit, and be way more careful. 

I want to have the bike done soon so I got on making the bars.

And then I got some new rubber to get the bike ready for the road.