Hi...

6 months and:

sweet, fun, cuddley, etc.
beautiful, gorgeous, etc.
still enjoying a good scream during car rides
scooting (and I predict crawling very soon)
NOT sleeping through the night but getting close (fingers crossed)
loving food (just like her mom)
occasionally talking (just like her mom)
loving Max (just like her mom)
perfectly perfect

When asked what he wanted for his 19th birthday, Jordan replied, very unhelpfully, that he wanted a parade. Here are some pictures of his birthday parade.


Avery, the mayoral candidate and Lincoln, the band. He attempted to play Happy Birthday during the parade, but was laughing a little too hard. Apparently it is difficult to play an instrument that requires blowing while laughing. I wouldn't know, I just play the violin and have perfected the art of laughing while playing.

Mitsy and Lola our neighborhood dogs even got dressed up for the occasion. We may be taking Mitsy back with us to Texas. I love her a ton, but at times she can be pretty annoying. I suppose it isn't her fault though, her brain is probably about the size of a small peanut.

Jordan being serenaded at the end of the parade. Notice the local beauty pageant winners, the cute clowns, the little Disney princesses, a cheerleader, and Ben who was throwing out candy trying to bribe everyone to vote for Avery for mayor. We had all sorts of ideas of other things we could have put in the parade (a float, boy scouts, fire engine, etc.) but we kind of ran out of people and props and time.

We had to have the parade in the backyard as Jordan's birthday fell on a Sunday and we weren't sure if a parade around the neighborhood would be kosher. This didn't make things easy for Greg who was wearing stilts and a mask that he couldn't exactly see out of. Notice the treacherous hill that he had just completed with obstacles such as unevenly placed rocks and a deep ravine.

Here's to the guy who is willing to run around the aisles of Target having light saber wars with his two year old son. Ty, you really are the sweetest dad ever and we love you tons! Thanks for taking care of us.
Your family,
Cass, Max, and "Baby Tessa"

Here are a few pictures of the ultra marathon that I stole from Stacy's blog, which she got from Kay, who carried a camera the entire 31 miles. Considering how hard of a time I had carrying myself those 31 miles, I have to say I am very impressed with Kay. I realized as I was getting on the bus with the 45 other runners that I was, by far, the fattest one there. I was wishing I should have done a little less eating and a lot more running in preparation for the 50k. Despite my weight issues, I did finish and it was a great race. I even got to change shoes at 12 miles so I could kind of pretend like I was doing a triathlon. Our pace was usually in the 9 minute range, but it took a long time to finish because we had to do things like eat peanut butter and honey sandwiches that the volunteers would make for us on yummy Great Harvest Bread (there was definitely no weight loss occurring on this run). Oh, and we stopped for a while to help a lady who had gotten hurt falling into a cattle guard. Oh, and of course we had to walk up a "few" of the hills. If anyone is considering a 50K, this is a good one to do, it's the Red Mountain 50K, and I think next year it is going to be in April.
At the starting line. Me, TJ, Lisa, Stacy, Kay, Liisa (my mother), and Carrie (who won the females and finished a good hour and 20 minutes before the rest of us, I feel cooler just being in the same picture as her. She's amazing!) Scenery on the run. It really was beautiful.

At the finish. TJ, who had just run a marathon the week before and an Olympic triathlon the week before that and a half marathon the week before that, etc., etc, pushed his cute little baby most of the way after we got off the trails. That is the only way he could stand running as slow as us, pretty pathetic I know.