Fourth of July Weekend

So Fred and celebrated our 1 year of being together this weekend. It was a blast. I had a 3 day weekend because of the holiday. We celebrated on Friday because I found tickets to see Dwight Yoakam in Camp Verde (about 1 hour south of us). We went to Sedona and had a lovely snack and then jammed with Dwight. Afterwards, there was an incredible fireworks display. I actually can't remember the last time I saw fireworks. I think it was before I moved to Arizona! My friend Allison watched Galen that evening-overnight, and since Galen did not nap at school that day, he slept for her almost the entire time.


Me and Fred at the concert

On Sunday I realized that my child was developing quite the mop head. It took months and months, but finally Galen's hair was getting wild! See before photo.

Mop Head

And after his hair cut, he looks like his mother actually grooms him without chopping it all off.

Mister Handsome

Then me, Galen and Fred went to the horse races that they have at a county park every Fourth-of-July weekend. Afterwards, we went to a local tavern and listened to a friend of ours play bluegrass. It was a lovely day.

Thinking about a bet....

We're winning!

Being silly with Fred

My new favorite photo with Galen

Forever and a day since last we spoke...

Well as usual, life's been busy. At the end of May I went to Nashville for a training with DMORT. My friends Allison and Marci took turns watching Galen with help from Fred while I had to be away. I feel blessed to have such wonderful people in my life who also help out with Galen. In Nashville, I was staying next to the Grand Ole Opry and Steve Martin was billed to play bluegrass so of course I went and it was great! Here's a picture of Steve! (Taken from nose-bleed seats which is why it's so granular looking-the camera was on super zoom).

After I returned I took the following footage of my liitle hero slaying imaginary rats!

Later,in June, Fred and I had a 12-day holiday. We went to Canyonlands N.P. in Utah, relaxed and hiked around and then eastward to the San Juan Mountain range to Telluride, Colorado for the bluegrass festival. We saw some amazing performances. Here are some of the photos from the trip.

All dressed up for a night out

Tent-City, aka The Compound, aka Ship of Fools, aka Base-camp

We did this trip without Galen. My folks (2 more people I'm blessed with in my life) came to Flagstaff and watched Galen for the entire time. And to boot, their time with Galen began with a night of Galen being the most sick to his stomach I have ever experienced. It made for an extremely worrisome start to my trip in 2-fold; I was worried about Galen and then feeling guilty about leaving my folks with a puky child. But Galen pulled through and the next day he was tired and done with the crummies.

My folks took some really cute photos of Galen while they were staying with him so I thought I would share those photos with ya'll. Check out the little kid he's become-no more toddler/baby!

Helping Grandpa

Hangin' with Auntie Boo

Life's been busy (so what else is new?) and last weekend my friend Marci (a.k.a. Auntie Boo) visited. We went to see Willie Nelson (first time for me and it was great) and then we hung out for the rest of the weekend. On Saturday we took Galen to the Deer Farm. This is a place just west of Flagstaff by about 25 miles. They have exotic deer (no native ones for some reason), bison, camel, pot-belly pigs, goats and birds. There's even a marmoset (primate). I brought the camera and got some great footage of Marci and Galen.

Galen is adjusting well to his new pre-school. He says he likes the teachers and the kids. We had a open-house for school last week. It was fun. Galen showed me the lessons he was working on (more like games really but learning is a side affect of these games). I talked to Galen's teachers and they said he was doing really well. Horrah!!!

Well that's all for now folks!!!

The L.A. Zoo footage finally uploaded!!

Here you go folks, us at the LA county Zoo in March.

Love, Amy and Galen

Eater Egg Hunt

Happy Belated Easter Everyone!



So the Easter bunny arrived in the afternoon for Galen, while he napped. As you can see in the first video, Galen was not impressed that the Easter bunny came and was more concerned with his beauty sleep! But once he learned that candy was involved, well, we had a whole new outlook on the situation!

Catching Up

Well it's been a while since I blogged for Galen; life has been hectic. At the end of March, Galen and I drove to southern California to Marci's (Aunie Boo) house. My folks and my brother, sister-in-law and niece all joined us at Marci's house. There are several videos of that weekend posted below. We went t0 the park, the L.A. Zoo and the Train Museum (we were thinking of you Grandpa Bob!), we even got to ride the train! Even though we did alot, it was really relaxing for me. Pehaps it was the wine...











Mom came back with me and Galen for an extended visit in Flagtaff. It was so nice. My stress levels were the lowest in a year at least. The visit was wonderful and Galen and mom really bonded. Mom met Fred and helped me celebrate his 42nd birthday in early April. We showed the video you see below at his party at the Wine Loft (his shop/bar). Mom helped me make a cherry tart and it turned out tasty and hearty!




So Galen has started a new pre-school. It's a Montessori school on the east side of Flagstaff. Because it is so far from both home and work, I'll probably be moving from my little house in the woods to be closer to his school. Right now we travel 40 miles/day round trip! That's alot for me; I'm used to less than half that/day. The school is great and Galen is still adjusting to the new routine. It'll take some time, but we'll grow from it for sure.

Had trouble downloading the zoo footage; I will add that later. Keep an eye out for the Easter posting...coming soon!

I'm melting...what a world, what a world...

So I know I haven't posted in a while. I'm still getting over this persistent bug with a hacking cough and early last week Galen got it. Poor little guy. His runny nose is almost better but now he has the cough. His energy is back up and for the last 2 days, he's been making us imaginary cookies. Not just cookies however, BIG, HOT COOKIES! As he likes to put it. He found the cookie cutters and he plays "making cookies" constantly.

Last week he was playing "making pizza". He was using his transformer that a friend gave him as the pizza. He put it in the oven and we both forgot about it. On Tuesday, I turned on the oven to bake a lasagna and then came the smell...at first it was curious, like "hummm, I wonder what that smell is?...and then wow, that strange smell is getting stronger...and then I realized that the smell was coming from the oven. I opened it up and there was a very warped and melting transformer. I caught it in time though and was able to take in out before the oven got wrecked. So I got him a new transformer and learned a lesson, always check inside the oven for toys before ignition, lest there be a casualty. Three year olds keep you on your toes for sure.

So sorry there are no new photos or film, life's been busy wth a sick kid, getting better myself and interviewing new baby sitters. 'll get some new pictures soon. We wish you all well and love you.

Love, Amy and Galen