Ogden, Utah...

Uncle Jesse holding his newest niece little Bentlee Mae.

Ally Lou swinging. The last time we saw her she was a tiny preemie baby herself and now she's a very smart, walking, talking, potty trained, two year old big sister. My how time flies.

Nasia & Ally, 2 of Jesse's nieces sliding together.

Uncle Jesse pushing Ally Lou on the swing, higher & faster she would squeal with delight.

My favorite picture of Jesse pushing Ally on the swing.

Nasia and me helping Ally Lou count the change in the piggy bank.

Nasia showing Uncle Jesse how to us the Nintendo DS. They were playing games together. I think Jesse really enjoyed having Kyle & Nasia there to play video games with. He loves them and they really aren't my thing.

Baby Bentlee, Jesse's niece, who was born 9 weeks premature. In this photo she is about 3 months old. She was just released from the hospital almost 2 weeks ago. Had she come on time she would only be 11 days old in this picture. She was 3lbs @ birth and has been growing quite rapidly lately, she now ways almost 8lbs and is doing quite well.

Ally showing off some dance moves for grandma Billie and the rest of us. *Note- we were playing Jesse's band's EP when she decided to start shaking it. I think we might just have the youngest Ideal Father's fan here.

Cousin Kaylee holding baby Bentlee.

Nasia holding her cousin Ally.

Ginger, the adopted dog. 2 days before we got to town Jesse's grandma rescued this puppy from the street. She was obviously lost & all alone. After numerous attempts they have been unsuccessful in finding the owners. The dog does have tags, thus we knew her name was Ginger and she's a pretty good dog just a little chewy since she's still a puppy, but for some reason the owners don't seem to care that she's missing. If the owners don't come to claim her she may be officially adopted by Jesse's grandparents, because I really don't think the kids could stand to give her up, though I am sure grandpa could.

Ally Lou, Jesse's niece & Aunt Kathy, Jesse's mom's sister.

Jesse and his mom posing for a quick picture before she had to leave. We were glad she came up with Lacey & the girls even if it was just for 1 day. It was nice to get to see them.

Lacey, Jesse's sister, Bobbi, his mom, & Jesse.

Jesse & I posing for a picture while the girls used my camera.

Kyle, Jesse's nephew, and Jesse posing together. *Photo by Kaylee, Jesse's 5yr old cousin

Me attempting to hula hoop. I actually kept it going longer than Jesse and he practices more than me.

Jesse showing off his hooping moves that he's been working on for the last month.

Kaylee showing Jesse and I up with her sweet hula hooping moves. She makes it look so easy & she even looks adorable doing it.

Riding bikes with the girls. Jesse made fun of me & said this is the kind of bike I need to get. Mine is too big for me and we're afraid I am going to need a kid bike, because my legs are so short.

Uncle Jesse jumping with the girls. He's a total sucker and would cave every time they came and asked him to jump which was ever 5 minutes. I told him he was a softie and he said he could use the work out. Sure it wasn't their cute faces making you feel guilty for not playing with them. What a sucker.

Uncle Jesse trying to show the girls how to do a back flip on the trampoline.

Marcus in mid-air, showing off what he called his spider man flip.

Marcus showing off his trampoline moves.

The lovely mountain views from the Smith's front yard. Utah is really beautiful.

The elementary school park directly across the street from Jesse's grandparent's house. What a great place to grow up.

Nasia, Uncle Jesse, and I. *Photo by cousin Kaylee

The family, Cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, grandparents, and us having a 4th of July Bar-B-Q.

Uncle Jesse & Nasia napping together on the couch. Grandma Billie insisted I take a picture of them.

Grandpa Orlin & Nasia rocking together in the rocking chair.

Jesse & I the afternoon we left to come home. A very sleepy Kyle in the background, he was woke up to say good bye to us.

Jesse, Grandpa Orlin, Grandma Billie, Kyle, & Nasia. Thanks guys for coming to pick us up, for dropping us off, for feeding us, for letting us borrow the car, and for giving us a place to crash for our mini-vacation. It was so nice getting to see everyone and getting away from work for a mini-vacation. We both had a great time.

New Shoes...

It's hard to tell in these pictures, but they are a deep eggplant purple wedge
made in Italy.

We had an extended silent auction at work where we were able to bid on some pretty cool items for a much discounted rate all to help the museum. They were all leftover from the Museum's Big Birthday Bash @ the end of May. I won 2 things. I guess I should use the term won loosely as I actually paid $57 for them, but hey it was a steal. I won a several hundred dollar facial from a nice skin care spa, which I'm going to let Jesse have and a pair of retro looking shoes that retail for $525. Jesse thinks I should sell the shoes. Part of me wants to wear them and part of me is terrified to wear them, because I know how much they're worth & knowing me I'll scuff them up. I see where he's coming from. I could sell them on line and make a sweet profit, but I kind of want to keep them and pretend I have money. When will I ever have a pair of shoes this nice? NEVER! that's when. I think the most expensive pair of shoes I ever bought myself cost $50 and those were essential snow boots. Let me have my Sex in The City girly moment and enjoy my expensive shoes. Maybe they'll live in my closet for a while and I'll pull them out to look at them, but never wear them until one day when I'm desperate for money and I sell them on eBay. Who knows?

Ideal Fathers...

On Father's day 3 years ago the original members of Ideal Father's held their 1st live show in a basement @ a house party. Oh how far they've come! Congratulations on 3yrs as a band and congratulations on making it this far. Cheers to the future!

Happy Father's day to all the Fathers out there from your Ideal Fathers.

Happy Father's Day...

In my family Father's Day is a big deal. We have a yearly tradition where all the dads get up early to go fishing (my dad's favorite past time) and then the kids & the ladies meet up with them around 11am for a big beautiful brunch. The tradition started years ago with our immediate family & the Powells (my parent's best friends), but since it's inception the tradition has caught on and added lots of new members. Since I moved to Denver this has been one of the many traditions that it kills me to miss. I haven't been fishing in years, but going fishing with my dad & brother are some of my best memories as a kid. Happy Father's Day Daddy Father John! I miss you & mom & and I really wish I could have been there with you to celebrate today.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, especially Jared. We're glad to hear you are home safe & hope you get to enjoy your 1st father's day.

Westword Music Showcase...

This year the guys got to play the Westword Music Showcase. They played the first time slot @ noon on Saturday, but they still managed to pull in a big crowd. They enjoyed playing early and still having time to check out all the bands they wanted to. Mike P. (the drummer) made breakfast for everyone that morning and then the guys headed down to get set up before the show. I met them down town later in the day. It was a long hot day that ended in a crazy rainstorm. We ended up heading home around 6pm even though the shows continued on until 9pm. We were both so exhausted. The awards ceremony from all the online voting doesn't actually happen until next month, I guess, so we're still waiting to hear how well they did for that. Keep your fingers crossed and go Vote if you haven't yet. The link to vote is in a previous post. Follow the link for a review of the show on Westword backbeat website.

Mike King (the bass player) had a little fun Nintendo-izing the song Failing @ Friendly is Not an Option and turning it in to Failing @ Nintendo is Not an Option. Follow the link to the Ideal Father's Myspace and Check it out.

Craft time...

With all the birthdays, graduations, mother's day, father's day, babies being born we've decided that making our own cards is the way to go. We try to get cards out to everyone, but please don't be offended if we miss your day. Jesse's got 6 siblings several with spouses and 7 nieces and nephews that we're trying to keep up with. Anyone more distant that the immediate family is often put on our back burner. I have tons of left over supplies from my hay day @ Micheal's Arts & crafts store. It really paid working there, not money wise, but free stuff wise for sure. We also decided to make most of our cards into post cards. They're cheaper to mail and quicker to make. Jesse draws them, I color them, and we both write messages. Here are a few examples we've been working on today. It's a nice weekend project for us to do together. I know Jesse enjoys having a creative outlet and a reason to draw. I always enjoy crafting and we both really enjoy our crafting time together.