Our precious niece (Evelyn Butler) is here!

Evelyn Jane Butler was born (at Wyoming Medical Center in Casper) Saturday, June 23rd at 8:01am. Amy was to be induced on Monday, June 25th but was happy to have little Evie before that time. Evelyn was 21 1/2 inches and weighed 8lbs 13oz. I didn't get to be at the hospital at the time of her birth but Aubrey and I were in route to meet her. Here are a few pictures of Evies first 2 days out of the womb.

Paul Bunyan & his trusty ox, Babe

We went to the Paul Bunyan camp in Eau Claire WI and learned all about him today so I thought I would share pictures and his story:
The legend of Paul Bunyan is the creation of lumberjacks from Canada to the United States and from Maine to the Pacific Northwest. It probably had its roots in a real person. There was a soldier, named Paul Bunyan, who fought with Papineau in the French-Canadian revolt of 1837. The Paul Bunyan was a fierce soldier, taller and stronger than most and he did own a lumber business after his military career. Because he was fair and highly respected leader, stories began to be told about him in the logging camps of Canada.

Lumberjacks in the U.S.A., many of whom came down from Canada enjoyed a good yarn. The tales about Paul Bunyan moved westward with them from Maine to the Pacific coast along with the constant search for new stands of timber. The tall tales of Paul and Babe, his big blue ox, grew constantly as lumberjacks competed to one-up the previous yarn spinner and tell an even more fantastic tale during the long winter evenings in the bunkhouse. Often the tales took on certain regional details like Paul's fingerprints forming the Finger Lakes of upstate New York, or footprints of his blue ox, Babe, filling with water all over Minnesota to form the 10,000 lakes or Paul's careless dragging of his gigantic ace forming the Grand Canyon. It didn't take long for the "jawin" lumberjacks to expand on the many stories of Paul Bunyan's fabled logging exploits. Soon a whole cast of characters was added. Sourdough Sam was busy strapping bacon squares to the feet of his cook's-helpers so that could skate around on Paul's gigantic flapjack griddle greasing it for the many batches of cakes it took to feed the Paul Bunyan crew. Swede Ole, the blacksmith, was hammering out over-sized shoes for Babe's mighty hoofs and Johnny Ink slinger was keeping complete records of the entire goings on in the camp. All the while old Paul was hitchin up Babe to the Mississippi river to stretch and straighten some snaky curves that were "jammin" up the log flow. The amazing feats of Paul and his crew are well known over the northern portion of America. Many localities claim to be Paul's birthplace or proclaim themselves as the site of his famous Lumber camp in order to identify with the broad shouldered, "can do" image of this folk icon. What must be remembered is that Paul's Tall Tales are large enough for all to share.

Growing like a weed...a flower I mean

I saw this on my fridge and thought I would share it. Aubrey gave this to me after being in the nursery (she made it with the help of the nursery caregivers) for Mother's Day. It makes me happy every time I see it. I leave you also a picture of Aubrey that melts my heart.

Somebody promised me the sunshine...

These first pictures were taken with Bryan's camera phone on Friday evening. I was out with my old roommates celebrating a birthday and he called and said there was a full rainbow outside our house. I didn't realize how brilliant it was until I saw these pictures! I don't use my camera phone a lot but it is nice to have them for times such as these:





Drew got a great shot of the sky later on that evening.

SIDE NOTE: As for the title of this post, it is a line from the song Roses and Rainbows sung by Julie Budd in the 1981 Disney film The Devil and Max Devlin. I've been wanting to watch this movie again for a while (simply for nostalgic purposes) but can't find it on Netflix.

Explanation...none

Have you been to Baia my friend?

This song has been in my head lately so I just thought today I would look it up and just like most things, it was right at my fingertips. Does anyone would remember this random episode? I am quite confident of that my siblings will.
Have you been to Baia?

Our precious niece (Alexa Allen) is here!

Happy Anniversary Drew and Charlotte!
What a great way to spend your 3rd Wedding Anniversary. I know you must be filled with such warmth to be with your precious daughters on this special day.
To everyone else, here are the pictures of Baby Alexa as promised. I can't take credit because I snatched most of them from Drew's flickr. These are some of my favorites. Enjoy!!

I heart pasta!

Buck's perspective:


From the moment Aubrey started eating solid foods, it has been interesting to see her preferences for certain foods such as strawberries, grapes and pasta. If I could make a list, those would be among her favorites, especially spaghetti. See for yourself:

You gotta laugh a little...

I have to apologizes for the lack of posts lately. My focus has been more on uploading pictures to our flickr account. I will start June of 2007 right by promising 2 posts a week. I know that seems small but it is a lot better than what I have been doing and I figure by putting my commitment on a post, it would encourage me to actually stick with it. I will start by posting this picture of our precious daughter and follow up later this week with a slide show of my new, precious, niece, Alexa Allen. SO THERE! (that last little comment was for my dear friend Beth)