Random photos

This was a post I started this last summer, probably in July, but never got it finished to upload. 

So as I was looking at it... I thought what the heck lets upload it anyways even though it is several months past.

My little Jared was only crawling at this point. Gosh things change fast.

 

And in the picture above we have dear Grandpa Joe and below is Grandpa Sohre.

 I think this is Father's Day.

And Grandma Myra with Zachy playing with the VReader.

And my little Jared before his first haircut. Gosh he is a cute little guy.

This is Jared again before he could walk. He just LOVES his puppy.

Only 2 teeth here. Now he has 12!

Up above is me and my little buddy snuggling! My favorite thing to do.

And this picture below is how the Gracie and Zachy clean. I think I had told them to clean the the toy room, so they did (so I thought). Several days later I am looking behind the toy kitchen and find all the toys... they sure cleaned alright! Funny thing is I very distinctly remember Shelly and I having the same methods of cleaning at various times when we where young twerps, except we shoved everything under our beds!!!

Hiking "Old Rag"

On my visit to see Darrin we spent Sunday morning doing a "little" hike.

Darrin tells Mandy and I he wants to leave by 6am... a little earlier than us girls would have liked, but Darrin assures us this is the best time to leave. This hike is going to take us a good 5 hours. 

So we get up at 5:30am, and by just a couple minutes past 6am we are out the door to travel to the 

Old Rag Mountain - Shenandoah National Park

I am not quite sure what I expected, but I think it is safe to say it was a much more challenging hike than I had expected.  We really had to work.

At first it was normal hiking through the woods stuff like you see in the picture above and below.

It was beautiful scenery. A beautiful morning. Weather was perfect and great company (Darrin and Mandy)!

Then about 1 1/2 hrs into the hike it starts to change. 

We get more rocks or I should say boulders and they got bigger and bigger and tougher and tougher to climb.

I

 

The picture below is what we are trying accomplish... hiking to the top of this mountain.

Here you can see we are almost there. Below is a picture of what we have already hiked and their is still more to go.

 

We teased this might be Mandy and Darrin's "Save the Date" photo!!!

Getting closer...

 

And I think we are just about there....

I think he thinks he is king of the world!

Me and my future sister-in-law, Mandy.

Me and my Bro.

These signs were on the summit. So we hiked 3.8 miles of rocks and now we look forward to 5.2 miles of hiking back to the parking lot. The back end of our hike was not near as rocky and it was all downhill, but was still some work.

On the way back we had some excitement and got to see a.... BEAR!!! It was a little one and it scrambled into the woods right away so unfortunately no picture. It was a little scary and a little exciting. Luckily we didn't see no Momma Bear, but I am sure she was around somewhere.

And here is a photo again of our great accomplishment of hiking "Old Rag"!!!

I very much recommend this adventure. It was a lot of fun!!!!

 

 

Visit to Darrin

This last week I have spent on the East Coast. I flew in last Saturday to Washington DC to spend some time visiting with my brother Darrin and his wife-to-be, Mandy. I was with them Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Tuesday-Thursday I was attending a diabetes course in Baltimore, Maryland.

After getting settled at Darrin's place after my flight on Saturday we decided to walk to a local area to get something to eat. On the way back we ended up in a rain/wind storm. Now that it is after the fact it was kinda funny... but at the time pretty miserable!! So the above photo is taken about 3 hours after I got to DC. I teased D that this is the way he welcomes me... makes me run back to his apartment in the rain!!

Mandy was off wedding dress shopping with her sisters and Mom on Saturday so Darrin and I went to a play in the evening. It was at the Kennedy Center and was called "Shear Madness". I was an enjoyable time (and we took a Taxi... so no running home in the rain!).

 

Sunday we spent doing a hike, which I will post pictures about later and on Monday D and I went to Gettysburg. Well, I should first say we went for a run in the morning down by the DC monuments. I tell you, nothing like running along side the Washington and Lincoln Memorials as well at the White House and Nation's Capital!  Then we went out to eat breakfast at a lovely diner and had the best pancakes and eggs/sausage ever. It started out to be a lovely day. Then off to Gettysburg. We went on an afternoon bus tour of the battle field and filled ourselves up on Civil War history. It is just so amazing, yet so sad that so many people had to die and endure such terrible conditions.

 

The day ended with a lovely meal at a local Gettysburg Pub and then D driving me to Baltimore to drop me off at my hotel.   Me and my bro... we had some great quality time together. I really enjoyed it. I also got to chum with my future sister-in-law and meet her Mom and sisters. It will be a weekend I will always cherish!!! Nothing like good quality family time. It is good for the heart and soul!

 

Jared's 1st Birthday

August 31, 2012  - My baby Jared has turned 1!!!

He gets 2 birthday parties. One with the Malecek family and one with the Sohre family.

On both sides of the family Jared shares his birthday with a cousin.

This year we have added Taylor to the mix, his birthday is Aug. 22, and he turned 6.

Grandma Betty bought the boys the cute birthday cake!

Here they are the cousins gathered around to sing the birthday song.

And Jared digs in....

Then the following weekend on to the Sohre Cabin for party #2.

Jared gets to share this birthday with Cousin Joe. His birthday is Aug. 26. He turned 4.

Joe's Mommy, Auntie Shelly, made Alien cupcakes for little Joey.

And a first birthday cake for Jared.

Lots of fun at the cabin. Best buds: Jesse, Joe, and Zach.

Best buds: Gracie and Paige.

And a birthday ride with the wagon and golf cart.

I think Daddy got confused... He must think it is Jared's 21st birthday!!!

My cute little buddy!

The men cutting up the pork.

Grandpa Sohre roasted a hog loin for the meal on the grill. Yummmm, oh so good.

Good food. Good company. Good times.

Everyone gathered around for another birthday song.

And here's my little guy enjoying his second birthday cake. He is just oh, so cute. 

and below we have Marley licking off the birthday cake from Jared's hands!

So here is what my little Jared has accomplished in his first year:

• Born!
• 1st teeth around 3 months
• Rolled over around 5 months
• Started to do a worm/army crawl move
• Crawled around 8 1/2 months
• Walked around 11 1/2 months
• 1st word was Mum, mum, mum, (and hasn't really said anything else)
• Started Daycare at 3 months
• Woke up to eat about 2 times a night until around 7-8 months then went to 1 time a night, around 9-10 months started sleeping through the night (yet still wakes up occasionally for a snack!)
• He likes his Nuk, even now at 1 year
• He likes his SCOUT musical puppy
• Follow's Mommy and Daddy around the house when he became mobile
• If we say NO - we hurt his feelings and he starts to cry and gets a huge frown!
• Like's to push around trucks and toys with wheels
• Favorite thing to play with is the TV remote - he points it a the TV! also hold it up to his ear like a phone.
• He loves his Mommy and Daddy - and will cry sometimes when we leave him.

WE SURE LOVE YOU BABY JARED!!!! 

Can't believe you are already turning one year old! Time goes so fast!