Anya had a pretty big weekend….she took her first steps all on her own! Jason & I were both lucky enough to see it and we even got it on videotape. She didn’t make it to far…just 3 little steps….but it was enough to get a huge reaction out of her mom and dad! She has been cruising pretty fast along the furniture and behind her walker toys, so I do believe it is only a matter of time and we will be having foot races around here!

Another new trick she has learned is whistling. We aren’t exactly sure how she does it…somehow she manages to do it by inhaling through her lips. The girls at daycare said the first day she started doing it there they thought they had a baby bird somewhere in the room. Anyways, she does it quite often and it cracks us up more and more each time she does it! I tell ya…it is always something new around here!

We had a pretty quiet weekend. Friday night Chad & Jodi came over for supper and we ended up hanging out on the deck until after midnight. Saturday we spent the morning over at the new house meeting with the current owners and going over some stuff with them. Then we ran errands in the afternoon. The rest of the weekend we spent around the house packing up some stuff when Anya was napping and playing with her. It was a fun weekend and, like always, went very fast.

Here are a few pictures of Anya playing over the weekend. More later…

Anya and Daddy had lots of bonding time together on Father’s Day while I was off at work. No wonder she is such a Daddy’s Girl!

I’ve created a new blog for myself, where I can post “not always family related” items. There are a couple fairly useful items on there right now, like how to put an end to telemarketing phone calls and those Pre-Approved Credit Card forms that spill out of my mailbox on a daily basis. You can visit it now from the link in my Blogroll on the right, or click here to visit Jason McArtor’s Blog.

This was a sad week for us. As Jason posted earlier, his Grandpa Miller died suddenly and unexpectedly last Sunday. Although it left us and the rest of the family shocked and very sad, we know that it is the way he would have wanted to go as he led a very active life right until the end. His funeral was on Wednesday, so we headed down to Washington Tuesday night for the visitation and then the funeral. It was a very nice service and he would have been very happy to know that all 3 of his children, 8 grandchildren, 8 great-grandchildren and many other family and friends were all there to celebrate his life. He was truly one of the nicest men around who loved his family and had a family that loved and adored him. He will be missed by many. The picture posted above is of the immediate family at the lunch after the funeral.

We also had a visitor here during the week as Papa Ron has been in town for the World Pork Expo. Ron came Wednesday night and was busy out the state fair grounds tending to and showing his pigs. He ended up having 2 pigs fall into the same class, so Jason got to help him show the pigs on Friday. Anya and I enjoyed watching the show and it was fun seeing Jason run around the show ring. He had quite an energetic pig, so he got quite a bit of exercise thanks to his pig!

In preparation of our big move next month, Jason also got a new toy…a riding John Deere lawn mower. The yard at our new house is significantly bigger than what we have here now, so Jason was excited about the prospect of getting a riding lawn mower! It turned out that we were able to buy the mower from friends of ours that are moving across country and didn’t want to take it with them. So, it was a win-win situation and Jason was very excited to give it a test drive in our yard here. Anya even got to take a spin on it with daddy and thought it was pretty spiffy!

Yesterday we made a trip to Adventureland with Jason, Jill, Zachary, Noah, Jared and Emily. Although it wasn’t the greatest weather, we had a good time and the boys really enjoyed the rides. Anya was pretty content most of the day watching the “big kids” running around and we even managed to get her to take a nap in her stroller! We were all pretty pooped after the week, so we had a pretty quiet Sunday night around here!

Well, here are a few pictures to go along with all the recent happenings. Take a look and we will write more later.

I went outside and looked up at the sky today and wondered if my Grandpa could see me. I know he knew I loved him, but I wish I could have told him how much he has meant to me and our family. I look at the people in our family, all of whom he has touched with his kindness and caring, and see some reflection of him in all of us. He was truly the root, from which we have all grown. I’m glad he had the chance to hold our daughter, Anya, and I hope my grandchildren feel the same about me some day.