Happy Belated Labor Day

It was a fun-filled weekend. Friday my office closed early, so Joe and I were able to clean up our old place and turn in the keys. It looked so much bigger without any furniture in it! It reminded me of when we first moved in and didn't have Ella. Once she arrived with all her baby gear, the walls started closing in and the house got much smaller.

Saturday our good friend Casey came over and tore off the shutters, fixed the wood around the garbage bin, and installed the screen door on the front door, all with Joe's help of course. Saturday afternoon Uncle Curby and Aunt Gina arrived with cousins Sam and Nate. It was a great few days hanging with them and playing with the boys. They may be 6 months younger than Ella, but they weigh the same and are almost as long. Needless to say, they are two big boys! And they are SO cute! Ella isn’t yet at the age where she knows how to interact with other babies, so she usually just stares at them for a while, then starts playing with her toys. We did have a new experience though when Ella decided that they boys could not play with her toys. When they grabbed doggie, we understood why she didn't like that. And when they grabbed Elmo, again, we completely understood. But when she would take away EVERY TOY we realized that we needed to work on sharing.

Joe took Curby to his first Nationals game on Sunday, so Gina and I got to hang out at the house and take the kids for a walk. We talked to our neighbors down the street that used to live in Wyoming. They actually lived in Fort Washakie (that’s wah-shuh-key…not wah-shake-ee), so it is always good to talk to them about WY. Sunday night after all the babies went to bed, the adults had a great time staying up late and telling funny stories. Sometimes I forget how hysterical my brother is. It was great having the Alexander side here.

Monday morning Joe and Curby put together Joe’s new grill. When we started this whole house-hunting process I promised Joe that he could get a new grill. We have never lived in a place that was conducive to grilling out. At our last place we tried getting this little charcoal grill, but it was too small and would take forever to cook anything and could only hold a couple of burgers at a time. So now Joe has a man’s grill, complete with a griddle and side burner. In honor of the new grill, we had some people over Monday night for a cookout…our first. We cleaned out the living room and set up our card table, and enjoyed some time with great food and wonderful friends.

We were exhausted last night from a busy weekend, but it was so much fun having all of our company. Now I really need to start working on getting our bedroom in order.