Natural Bridge

Ayres Natural Bridge

Many doctors and local people here in Casper

have told us that we have to go to

the Natural Bridge while we're here and that its

absolutely beautiful.....

And indeed it was!

And not just the bridge itself but all the surroundings.

They've made it into a park where you can camp,

picnic, and walk around. The whole place is beautiful

and very well kept. There are a lot of picnic tables and

park benches. There is even a big playground for kids

to play on and a volley ball court. And the best

part is its FREE!!! (all of it)

Its amazing to me how natural causes can create
such beautiful structures over a long period of time.

Just one of our favorite places...

Bridal Falls

@ Rotarty Park

Bridal Fall in

the summer

Bridal Fall in

the Fall....absolutely beautiful

in my opinion.

This is one of our many favorite places to go here in Casper.

It's beautiful

Its fun

The hike to it is short (like 5 minutes)

Theres lots of fun trails to explore

Theres water to throw rocks in

Its in the mountains

Its only 15 minutes away from our house

And we just can't get enough of it!

Best of Friends....

...well at least most of the time!

Addie is such a great big sister and

Trey just loves to follow her around

and do everything she does.

They really get along great and

I love it when Addie makes Trey laugh,

or when I can hear them both

laughing together while playing in another room.

They are the best of friends....

...and they love each other

And for that I am very grateful!

I feel so blessed to have these wonderful kids in my life.

I love my kids.

Meet our new pet...

His name is "Chitchee"

(named by Addie)

He is a black and yellow striped spider who

lives in the daisy bushes by our front porch

and spins a beautiful new web every night while we're sleeping.

I explained to Addie that spiders build webs as they're home

and as a way to catch other bugs so they'll have something

to eat. I told her that if a bug gets caught in the web

the spider rushes to his prey and immediately starts spinning

it up in the silk string the spider produces.

So we decided to try and feed

Chitchee so she could see this process

I had just explained to her. The first couple attempts

of dropping little bugs into the web didn't work. They would

just fall or squirm out of the web. So I got some tweezers

and caught a little grasshopper. We stuck that sucker

right into the web and let Chitchee come and get it.

Sure enough...The slight movement of the grasshopper in the web

caused Chitchee to rush to his prey and start the

spinning process.

It was incredible. He had that grasshopper all spun

up with in seconds. In this pic you can actually see

the silk coming out from his abdomen as he is

finishing up.

All finished. After Chitchee was done wrapping up

the grasshopper he left him alone for little bit

(probably to finish up dying) the went in for the feast.

The next morning the grasshopper was gone and

another beautiful web had been spun.

I have to admit I'm not a fan of spiders but it's been

fun to feed Chitchee and watch him.

18 months....

I can't believe how fast our lives are moving these days.

I can remember the day I had Trey like it was yesterday.

And now a year and a half later .....

he's not my baby any more, he's my little

boy who gets into things,

vrooms cars and trains along the floor,

pesters his sister,

spills water from a cup on the floor for the fun of it,

has the sweetest smile,

does a happy jig when food is placed in front of him,

loves to play in dirt,

loves to follow his sister around,

has to do EVERYTHING his sister does,

still has his chubby cheeks that I love,

loves sticks and playing outside,

loves animals especially dogs,

loves playing at the park,

bruises his head almost weekly,

loves to say hi to people,

loves goldfish,

gets so excited to see mommy and daddy,

loves his naps,

loves books and being read too,

has the cutest laugh,

lives life to the fullest!

We love our little Trey boy!

At 18 months you say:

Momma, Daddy, Addie, Hi, Buh Bye, Dog, Please, More

Jesus, shhh, hush, Grandpa, bird, Go, Bubbees (bubbles),

Kitty, and Out.

At 18 months you weigh:

29lbs.

At 18 months your Height is:

33 in. tall

Happy 18 months to you buddy!

Home Sweet Home

This is our new home.

Some things I love about our new home....

* I love that we have a little flower patch

*I love that we have a hose..1 in the front and 1 in the back

(silly..i know...but i really do love it)

*I love that our mail box is attached right to our home

* I love that we have a clothes line!

* I love that we finally have a fenced in backyard

* I love that the kids love playing outside in that fenced yard

* I love that we have a garage

*I love that I have my very own sewing room

* I love that we are close to all the major shopping stores

* I love the big trees that shade our yard

* I love that we have such nice neighbors

* I love that I can feel safe here

* I love that we have great friends here

* I love that there is a park on every corner in Capser

(not kidding)

* I love the walking path directly behind our home.

*I love that there is a park 5 minutes away on that walking path.

* I love that we go there almost EVERY day.

(not kidding again)

And most of all...

* I love that I can say I really do like Casper, Wyoming!

(at least in the summer and fall...we'll see how the winter treats us!)

However,

I am still missing people, things, and places in

Iowa like crazy. There will always be soft spot in my heart for Iowa.

Things we miss about Iowa.....

* Our many wonderful friends at Maple Grove

* Spring cleaning!!!

* The lush green corn fields

* The yummy corn and the Adel corn festival

* Shopping at Hyvee...love that place.

* The Country Pride frozen chicken at Hyvee

(again..silly I know.)

* Old navy

*Pella

* The rolling hills of the Iowa

* All the fun Pumpkin Patches

* All of Addies best friends she loved and played with...

(She misses you terribly) :(

* Her sandbox which all those friends came to play in

* The Blank Park Zoo

*The splash pads

And the list could go on and on.

At least we get to go back for graduation! Yay!

All in all, I've learned that no matter where you go,

where you might live, or where you end up....

Have fun! Make the most of it! And Enjoy life!
And that's what we spend our days doing here in Casper!

Welcome to casper....

This is a non-fiction story depicting

our dear little Casper, Wyoming

Once upon a time in Casper, Wyoming

they had A LOT of:

Trains

Dogs

Grasshoppers

And Pronghorn a.k.a Antelope.

THE END.