September 21, 2008: Travis is 14 months old!

The last 2 pictures were actually on Sept.9th.

September 20, 2008: Fall Colors (Aspen) and Fun!

Although our friends who were scheduled to go to Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park Saturday had some emergencies and could not go, we decided to still head up "the hill" and enjoy some time in Estes and the National Park. Kelly noticed that Old Fall River Road was open so we had our picnic lunch and drove up the one-way 9 mile road up to Milner Pass. The following Aspen colors were seen on the drive up Old Fall River Road. It was beautiful!

When we got to the top at Trail Ridge Store, the light rain had turned to snow so Nolan thought it was pretty funny that he had shorts on (it was almost 70 degrees down in Estes Park). We wandered through the store as usual, and saw where the interior renovations were already underway. Xanterra is going to close the store on Sept. 24th this year (a few weeks earlier than normal) to finish the interior renovations project.

After heading back down to Estes, we called up our old friends from the Methodist Church in Estes, Clint and Fran, and headed over to their condo for a little visit. It was great to visit with them again and show them how much the boys have grown in the past year.

We then decided to head back down "the hill" and head to Fort Collins for dinner. Chelsea, one of Scott's cousins, is a freshman at Colorado State University this fall and we were able to catch up with her and take her out to dinner. It was great to see Chelsea and Nolan and Barrett thought it was pretty cool to see a real "college apartment" when Chelsea showed us her dorm room.

This was a great day filled with fun, and we still rolled into our driveway at only 9 pm! Wow! We love it here!

September 3, 2008: Barrett's 1st Day of Pre-School

Although Barrett did go to some summer sessions, this was his official 1st day of pre-school.

We surprised him after pre-school by letting him know that he was going to the afternoon Rockies game against the Giants with Mom. He was really excited to hear that and had a great time even though the Rockies lost big again. Thanks to Carl from Scott's work for letting us have his tickets for this day.

August 27, 2008: A day of firsts...

Today was Nolan's 1st day of 1st Grade!

On the front porch before leaving for school.

Our traditional picture in front of school.

In the hall.

With Mrs. Powers.

One day down, many to come...

Tables are marked by the continents, and Nolan is starting the year at the Australia table.

Nolan at his seat, taken the night before school started at open house.

Barrett starts pre-school on Sept. 3rd, and he is excited to get started too!

August 26, 2008: Poppies! And More!

After two springs without poppies of our own to take the boys picture with, Kelly planted some in one of our flower beds, and here they are blooming in August!!



The boys and Scott also planted a garden in another area of the back yard. Zucchinis, Strawberries, Jalapenos, Cherry tomatoes, and Cucumbers. The cucumber plants went away very quickly, but everything else is growing well. We've so far harvested one zucchini, about 8 cherry tomatoes (with at least a dozen more almost ready) and two jalapenos. Strawberries are green and starting to ripen, so it won't be long!

August 16th, 2008: Lotsa Rain!

3.5 inches of rain in our gage in the backyard from Thursday Evening until the clouds broke up late Saturday afternoon!!!!

At the end of July at our airport, we had 6.31 inches for the entire year (4.04 inches below normal!), but then:

August 1st: 0.0
August 2nd: T
August 3rd: 0.22
August 4th: T
August 5th: 2.02
August 6th: 0.40
August 7th: 0.00
August 8th: 0.16
August 9th: 0
August 10th: 0.36
August 11th: 0.05
August 12th: 0
August 13th: 0
August 14th: 0.32
August 15th: 2.07
August 16th: 0.85 through 6pm!

That is 6.45 inches for the month, ranking 3rd for Augusts all-time...
behind 6.64 in 1985 and 6.73 in 1930!!!!!

We're now more than 1 inch above normal for precipitation, with 12.76 inches of precipitation for the year!

What a difference a few weeks makes...

August 9th: An Evening at Coors Field

We watched the Rockies get beat by the Padres Saturday night, but it was still a really fun game for Travis' first baseball game. He was wide awake through it all and seemed to be pretty interested in all the lights and people around.



Three of our tickets were in the 2nd row of the 3rd deck just above 3rd base for a great view of the game (as you can see above)! One of our tickets was in the 1st row from one of Scott's co-workers who has a season ticket in row 1 of that section. Scott's coworker went to the game on Sunday, and some of his seat-neighbors commented to him that they were impressed with Nolan and Barrett's knowledge of the game.




Before we left, a nice gentleman offered to take our picture. Travis was pretty ready to go at this point, but otherwise not a bad picture.

And that great bonus after the game, we were home by 1130 PM!!! We continue to love SE Wyo and our proximity to Denver!!!!

August 4th, 2008: Laramie County Fair Mutton Bustin' and Stick Horse Barrel Racing

Since we decided against heading to Colorado Springs for the Kwajalein Reunion picnic on August 2nd, Nolan was able to register for another round of Mutton Bustin' this summer at the Laramie County Fair, "Wyoming's Oldest County Fair!"

Barrett was also able to sign up for the Stick Horse Barrel Racing!

August 1st, 2008: The Michigan Crew Visits Wyo!

Scott's Mom and Dad, and Sister and family visited during the last week of July and here are a few pictures from the week. Of course, the driveway hockey started shortly after their arrival!

Sunday, we all took in a Behind the Chutes tour on the last day of Cheyenne Frontier Days. Then we spent the afternoon watching the CFD Finals Rodeo which was pretty cool.

Having the entire family together, we definitely had to try to get some family pictures. Below was one of the better attempts.

On Monday, the family headed for Estes Park, Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park. After catching the shuttle bus up to Bear Lake Trailhead, we headed up to Dream Lake. All of the low-landers and especially the children did great on the hike that ended in rain and an approaching thunderstorm.

Another family picture, along the trail.

And we stopped at our "regular rock" along Dream Lake for our picnic lunch. Several nice folks on the trail stopped to snap a photo of us. Here is the best of the bunch.


It was plenty hot during the visit, so here are the cousins at the spray park at the Municipal Pool here in Cheyenne.

July 27th, 2008: CFD Update

We awoke Sunday for the last day of CFD this year, and our friend Julie Rees in Ohio texted to let us know that she thought she saw Nolan's Mutton Bustin' ride on Good Morning America! Kelly looked online and indeed the 5 minute essay on Cheyenne Frontier Days included Nolan's ride!!! As our other video did not turn out, we are really happy to have this video. Watching the rest of the essay on GMA, we also noticed that the whole family (including Kelly's Mom and Dad) were also videoed at the Tuesday parade! What a cool story. We've captured the video and hope to have it uploaded to YouTube soon, but in the meantime check it out at:

http://abcnews.go.com/search?searchtext=Cheyenne%20Frontier%20Days&from=0&to=9&type=video

Then click on the "Wyoming's Rodeo Days" link.

July 24th, 2008: More from Grandma and Grandpa Findeisen Visit

July 21st, 2008: OH MY!!!!

Nolan WON the mutton bustin' competition at Cheyenne Frontier Days Monday night at the Pro Bull Riders Tour "night show" event!!!!!!!! Congratulations Nolan!!!!!!!!

**Please note, you can enlarge the pictures by clicking on the smaller versions here**

The first two pictures are after dinner when Kelly wanted to get a picture of him with his CFD tattoo on his cheek. Our neighbor behind us, Sammie, gave Nolan the tattoo after the night show on Sunday so he could wear it for mutton bustin'.

The sheep came from Colorado State University, and we wonder if the sheep knew that Nolan was probably the only kid there who would want the Rams to beat the Wyoming Cowboys! A good sign for Nolan!!!

The kids all had to gather and get paperwork completed at the Contestants Building (where we were all able to have VIP parking too!).

The kids all received a bandana from Justin Boots for participating.

After a truck ride over to the area beneath the east stands, the kids waited just outside the "ready room" for the bull riders. Several of the bull riders and bull fighters walked out and signed the kids' bandanas.

A few pictures below of Christian, Nolan and Colter waiting. These three play hockey for the Cheyenne Capitals together, and Nolan and Colter are also classmates! (Thanks to Gary Foster for these pictures).

Nolan and Christian discuss strategy in the picture below.

Cool camera angle on the arena big screens looking down into the buckin' chute as Nolan got on-board.

And off he went...

Thanks to Gary Foster for the action shots above too.

Miss Frontier giving Nolan the trophy on the big screen.

And one more wave to the crowd.

After wandering back to the grandstands, and numerous stops for Nolan to accept congratulations from the fans and to pose for pictures (seriously), Kelly took the following picture on her phone.

For winning, Nolan not only received the trophy and belt buckle, but he also receives a pair of Justin Boots!!

Thank you to CFD and Justin for a great evening that Nolan is sure to never forget!!