The Kitchen Remodel is Done... Well Almost : - )

For the past month, we've been cooking on the back porch, washing dishes in the laundry room sink, constantly sweeping and vacuuming dust. Yes, it's terribly inconvenient to not have a functional kitchen, but it makes it all worthwhile when the final product turns out the way you want it to. See the difference for yourself:

Before (Looking East):















After (Looking East):

A Tribute to Ivy

Well the past year has flown by, and our baby, Ivy, turned 1 year old yesterday. We got some good photos of her celebrating.

BEFORE Dessert: AFTER Dessert:

Ben's The Winner

So we held the 1st Annual Howe Man Foot Race this morning... see the results for yourself:

Baby Ivy Has Arrived!

Late this afternoon, Melissa gave birth to Baby Ivy! Ivy Jolene was born at 8 lbs. 1 oz and came in at roughly 20 3/4" in length. Both Melissa and Ivy are doing fine!

Here's a couple photos:

Lillian: Queen of the Mountain!

So Lillian had a requirement in her Faith in God booklet to plan and conduct a parent/child activity. So we started talking about what kind of activities they meant and came to the conclusion that it was more important that the planned activity be a "together" activity than a "reform/overhaul society" activity.

So we decided to go backpacking. Lillian planned our menu. I planned our needed equipment and trails. So we packed our packs and hit the trail... twelve miles later, we were done.

Lillian can fill you in on the details, but here's a couple photos from our little expedition.

Lilly's Violin Concert

Another Recent Family Field Trip - The Queen Mine

So this past Saturday, we decided to go on another family field trip.  THis time, we decided to venture out a bit further.  We went to the Queen Mine in Bisbee.  The kiddos loved it.  And we got to learn about mining copper; which happens to be a pretty important thing here in southern Arizona.

Here's a couple photos from our trip: