Mondays with Soren

We've been keeping Soren Mondays. It's been great to get to know him more and see him loosen up. Today he was really relaxed and we had fun getting him to dance and sing. He's a pretty fun guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2NpzBYOXtk&feature=youtu.be

In Gathering

Every September our church has a "camp out" called the in-gathering. Camp out is a loose term here, because camp outs illicit images of games, fishing, grilling out, and warm weather. The in-gathering, while very fun in some ways, involves cold weather, lots of ash/smoke, Psalter style singing, and more of an alternative flair. We only went out for two evenings, but it was really nice to reconnect with friends, sing really loudly in the woods, and watch some babies crawl in the ashy dirt.

Here is the very random assortment of photos collected at the event.

Jethro and Kelly making a connection

Oh my word, is he ever cute.

Uriah Wettig

Cooking Jason for dinner

Ashy mud

Daniel's face

The Wettigs at their finest

Daniel's hair

The Zoo

At the end of September my sister Emily came and visited with her two boys. We made a looooong day trip into DC to visit the zoo. Ethan is three and a half, which I thought would be a great age to tour the DC zoo. He did seem to have fun, but I think his favorite parts (in order from greatest to least) were getting his face painted, running through the crowds/exhibits/hands-on activities, and climbing on the animal statues. It was good to be able to talk with my sister though, and spend some good time together. Ethan also really enjoyed playing with "Uncle D" and our roommates Phil and Kelly.

Cutest little five inch tall owl

Multi-tasking Mama

Outing to Baltimore

At the beginning of September we went to Baltimore with Gracie and Yugo, who were visiting from Indonesia.  We went camping for two nights at Patapsco Valley State Park and during the day we went on an excursion into Baltimore to see the sights.  We also got to see Miranda, a good friend we met in Missoula.  We had a great time walking around the city and being in the woods.

Inner Harbor

We visited the American Visionary Art Museum

We also visited this guy

Cool, cool

We had a great time with Grace and Yugo.  They both enjoy having a good time and we spent a lot of time laughing and walking.

Growing nieces and nephews!

August has definitely been a family time. We were able to visit with Tom, Candice, and the kids in Ohio, and then my family in Pennsylvania on the way home. Sparkling Springs Rhodes family camp out was a highlight, and we appreciated the visits to Peace House from many siblings, nieces, and nephews.

Yesterday we met Lila Luree Stuztman, who was less than one day old! She's beautiful!

Soren also had a good time visiting. He looked so big next to tiny Lila.

We didn't get any pictures of Dietrich or Betst, but they came too.

Lydia with Soren in his Crafty Ewings get up.

Claire and Tom at Sparkling Springs (Ohio Rhodes/Mast)

David, Anita, Atticus, and Ada (Pennsylvania, Clymer/Rhodes)

Eliza (Ohio)

Luke (North Africa)

Jason, Elijah, and Isaac (North Africa)

Silas (Mast, Ohio) Annalies (Hburg Whitmer/Rhodes)

Silas

Soren (Hburg, Fisher/Rhodes)

David, Anita, Ada (PA) and Dara (North Africa)

Claire (Ohio)

Dara (North Africa)

Annalies

My dad with my sister's son Ethan

A spontaneous side hug!

The first lightning bug we've seen since we left for Montana

We got to meet Ivan, born on Mother's Day!

And we had a sparkler extravaganza

Our niece/nephew count is now up to 17!